Farewell to John McCririck – the flamboyant face of racing

He may have divided opinion over the years, but flamboyant racing pundit John McCririck was a larger-than-life personality who will be greatly missed.

McCririck, or ‘Big Mac’ as he was known, who died on Friday aged 79, enjoyed a television career spanning four decades – one that rarely had a dull moment, with plenty of controversy thrown in for good measure.

His outspoken views split the public – but there was no doubting his colourful image, backed up by his trademark cigar, sideburns, deerstalker hat, multi-coloured clothes and gold jewellery, made him instantly recognisable.

In fact, it could be argued that, for many outside of the sport, he was the face of racing.

Born in Surbiton, Surrey, McCririck – who was deeply thoughtful and considered in his views off-camera – was educated at Elizabeth College in Guernsey, Jersey’s Victoria College and Harrow, where he was the school bookie. He left school with three ‘O’ Levels.

He worked briefly as a waiter at the Dorchester Hotel in London, before becoming a bookmaker, then moving on to be a tic-tac man – the elaborate art of touching the head and using hand signals to denote a horse’s odds.

McCririck’s journalistic career took off on The Sporting Life, which he worked for from 1972 to 1984, winning two British Press awards. He was also a racing sub-editor for BBC’s Grandstand.

A fervent supporter of Newcastle United and often seen sporting their black and white colours on television, McCririck married Jenny in 1971 and affectionately tagged her ‘The Booby’. The couple did not have any children.

In 1981, he joined ITV Sport’s horse racing coverage, which later moved to Channel 4, where he would spend more than 25 years at his familiar spot in the betting ring.

He worked with the likes of Brough Scott, Derek Thompson and John Francome, not to mention John Oaksey – whom he always referred to as ‘My Noble Lord’.

With his trademark catchphrase of “come racing”, McCririck took the armchair racegoer into the betting ring, giving them an insight into what he described as “the jungle”.

He got what betting meant, and made it his mission to transmit the excitement and intrigue to viewers.

McCririck was a stalwart of The Morning Line magazine programme on Channel 4 on a Saturday, when the show attracted a cult audience. His paper reviews and banter with the rest of the cast were a highlight.

So, too, was the double act he forged with Tanya Stevenson, tagged the ’email female’ by McCririck, who was awed by Stevenson’s mastery on her laptop of the emerging phenomenon of betting exchanges. He called it her ‘magic machine’.

Despite his prominence in the racing world, it was McCririck’s reality TV appearances that made him a household name in later years.

Stints in Celebrity Big Brother and Celebrity Wife Swap, starting in 2005, cemented his pantomime villain character.

His protests in Celebrity Big Brother about being refused Diet Coke remain some of the most memorable the series has aired.

In Wife Swap, he teamed up with also-outspoken politician Edwina Currie, creating strangely absorbing television as his co-star refused to buckle to McCririck’s obstinate ways.

The Telegraph described them as “like a real-life Alan Partridge and Lynn”.

In 2007, he was in hot water with Alan Titchmarsh on his chat show for insulting Chris Tarrant’s estranged wife, Ingrid. At one point, Titchmarsh ejected McCririck from the teatime programme, saying: “Go on, off you go”.

He appeared in various other mainstream programmes, before he acrimoniously left Channel 4 Racing in 2012, subsequently losing an age discrimination case made against the station and production company IMG Media Limited.

He was a firm believer that money was for spending, and the Mail On Sunday said he once splashed out £20,000 on a holiday to Las Vegas – celebrating Donald Trump’s presidential win in a luxury hotel.

Resident in Primrose Hill, North London, he continued making television appearances and was a regular on the Sunday Forum programme on At The Races.

For all his outspokenness, McCririck always remained the one person media outlets would turn to for a view on the latest big headline or drama – and racing should be thankful for the profile he gave it.