As he returned to the BBC airwaves without a crackle of emotion in his voice, John Hunt did not hint at the unimaginable horrors he has faced of late.
Yet the esteemed broadcaster’s appearance in Cheltenham’s commentary box above the winning post on Wednesday was nevertheless an emphatic message to Kyle Clifford.
Hunt had been delivering on a pledge he sent just 72 hours earlier to Clifford, the crossbow killer. “I want you to see what real courage is,” Hunt had told Clifford, who was gutlessly absent from Cambridge Crown Court as a judge handed down three whole-life sentences.
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In contrast to Clifford’s cowardice, Hunt vowed on Tuesday to carry on “no matter what” to honour his murdered wife and two daughters. “You failed,” he had told Clifford.
Returning to the Radio Five Live airwaves at 1pm on Wednesday, and simply exchanging a friendly discussion with presenter Mark Chapman, Hunt gave another example of his pure class.
Introducing him to listeners, Chapman said: “John is in his usual commentary position yet again.”
Hunt responded by saying: “Yeah, absolutely. I am just thinking about the individuals who illuminate this sport. Nothing else matters Mark. Galopin des Champs is the Antoine Dupont of horse racing. He has looked magnificent. His form is rock solid.”
Chapman then said: “This is your 30th Festival, John. Your first Gold Cup was Best Mate.”
Hunt responded: “It really does take me back. Everything about Best Mate was geared to Cheltenham. I think Galopin is even better than Best Mate. The weight of history can prove too heavy a toll. Strange things can happen – he’s still got 22 fences ahead. If he’s cherry ripe he will bring this home.”
And Chapman added: “And John will call them home as only John can.”
Clifford’s failure to face up to what he had done this week could not have felt more stark as Hunt returned to the day job in unthinkably difficult circumstances.
Colleagues knew the consummate professional would not want a fuss. There was barely a whisper in the Alastair Down press room as he pulled the headphones back on and with minimal fanfare returned to the airwaves ahead of the first race of the day, the JCB Triumph Hurdle.
“I am lucky,” Hunt had insisted on Tuesday, a barely conceivable sentence after three-quarters of his family – wife Carol along with daughters Louise and Hannah – were murdered by Clifford at the family home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, in July last year.
However, his moving 1,900-word courtroom statement – after sitting through horrifying details of the case last week – made plain that life must go on, beginning with Cheltenham’s famous Gold Cup day.
“As you are consigned to a fate far greater than death, I can draw on the love and strength that I still feel from the girls in every moment of every day,” he had said. His statement on Tuesday had moved a courtroom to tears, but Hunt has now said his piece.
Friends, BBC colleagues and contemporaries in the press box at Cheltenham described Friday as a chance for him to start turning the page. There was little surprise too that Hunt, as he had done after initially returning to call races last autumn, made no reference on air to the horrors he had endured. Tributes flowed at the racecourse for Hunt’s refusal to let Clifford break him.
Those to express admiration include Cornelius Lysaght, the former BBC racing correspondent who had recommended him to corporation bosses in the early 2000s.
Hunt, who worked for the police before beginning his broadcasting career with Ladbrokes in the 1980s, “just loves” Cheltenham and will have felt a duty to listeners, Lysaght explained. “Because so many people listen to the radio who don’t necessarily switch on a racing TV programme, his voice has become absolutely synonymous with some of the great Cheltenham events of the last 20 years or so,” Lysaght said as he welcomed Hunt back.
“People love his voice at Cheltenham, and he so obviously loves Cheltenham. The timing of everything at the moment is just unimaginable, but he loves this place – he knows the importance of this place to so many people, and I think that he will want to be part of it yet again, and people who listen to the radio will want him to be part of it, but all the time, thinking of the absolutely unimaginable things that he’s going through at the moment.”
Hunt had confirmed with BBC colleagues in midweek that he was ready to return. Darren Owen, who had been deputising for Hunt as lead commentator on the opening three days, described how the racing “family” had rallied behind him. “All of us are behind him 100 per cent of the way,” he said. “You can’t put into words what actually happened. He is the most lovely, lovely individual.”
Such sentiments are shared by Rupert Bell, the Talksport commentator who has also been in text message contact with Hunt in recent weeks. “He is a remarkable human being,” said Bell. “I know how desperate it’s been but it’s great that he’s been able to get back, even in keeping a low profile on racecourses. It’s just wonderful to hear him out doing his job. He’s so good at it.
“There’s no one who would remotely have a bad word to say about him. Everyone just always enjoys him being around. He always seems to have a charming smile on his face.”
Admiration and messages of support for Hunt are not just reserved for racing. Chapman had paid a tearful on-air tribute last summer on the day the horror unfolded.
Mark Pougatch, Dan Walker, Jacqui Oatley and former England striker Michael Owen, a keen horse-racing enthusiast, also sent messages of support.
Those at the course on Friday point out the wave of well-wishers was not just out of sympathy, but out of genuine admiration for a commentator at the top of the trade.
Months before the murders, clips of Hunt’s thrilling calling of the Grand National had gone viral. A BBC Instagram post described it as “racing commentary at its finest”.
Bell said the entire broadcast world is in admiration of his professionalism. “Even to hear him now on commentary, you wouldn’t think anything had gone on. He is an outstanding commentator, not just in racing. His swimming commentaries are as good as anyone in the past. I just hope Cheltenham is a great opportunity for him to go out and do his day job and be able to feel the love and appreciation of everyone around him, because it’s obviously been a wretched year. I have nothing but admiration for him and always have.”
Nick Luck, the former Channel 4 Racing presenter who now hosts the Nick Luck Daily podcast, added: “John’s not only the most exemplary professional, brilliant at his job, but he has always been someone that everyone in the press room has looked up to. Old and young alike and from every walk of life – he would treat everybody in exactly the same way. He is somebody that you’d always feel that if you had something on your mind, you could go and speak to. The strength of feeling for him over the last few months has been immense.”
It came as little surprise to those who admire his work that his witness statement in court on Tuesday was so well crafted. To put Clifford in his place, the commentator had quoted Harper Lee. “Louise’s favourite novel from her schooldays was Harper Lee’s classic, To Kill a Mockingbird,” he had told the court.
“She was captivated by the goodness of Atticus Finch both as a father and a lawyer. She would often quote lines from the novel to match life’s challenges... All their lives Carol, Hannah and Louise similarly spent their time bringing joy and colour and happiness to other people’s lives. You killed three beautiful Mockingbirds, Kyle.”
Hunt again cited the book while giving an insight into his own determination to carry on. “Even though the days are difficult and feel on many occasions, impossible, I will channel my inner Atticus Finch at all times. He said, ‘I want you to see what real courage is. Instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you are licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what’.”
That courage was evident in bucket loads at Cheltenham.
