Woodrooffe continued to work for the BBC, and in 1938 he was the main commentator at the FA Cup Final between Preston North End and Huddersfield Town, the first to be televised. Ī year later his phrase "the fleet's lit up" was used as the title of a musical comedy, and in 1940 Hubert Gregg wrote the song "I'm gonna get lit up when the lights go up in London." Parts of Woodrooffe's commentary were used by the British rock band Public Service Broadcasting in their track Lit Up. The BBC later said that he was " tired and emotional". He repeatedly said "the fleet's lit up", and at one point he told listeners "I'm sorry, I was telling some people to shut up talking." His incoherence was such that he was taken off air after a few minutes and suspended for a week by BBC Director-General Sir John Reith. He had met some of his former colleagues before the broadcast for a drink, and was inebriated while giving his commentary. In 1937, he commentated on the Coronation Review of the Fleet at Spithead from his old ship the battleship HMS Nelson. HMS Nelson off Spithead for the 1937 Coronation Fleet Review. He was one of its main commentators during the 1930s, covering amongst many other events the opening ceremony of the 1936 Summer Olympics and Neville Chamberlain's return from Munich in 1938. Īfter his retirement he became a commentator for BBC Radio. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and left the Navy in 1933. He joined the Royal Navy in 1917 and served on HMS Resolution during the last year of World War I. He was born in Adelaide, Cape Province, South Africa to George Borries Woodrooffe (1868-1923) and Elizabeth McFarlan "Bessie" Jameson (1872?-1941). Thomas Borries Ralph Woodrooffe (24 January 1899 – 25 March 1978) was a British naval officer, broadcaster and writer.
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