{"id":14476,"date":"2025-07-22T03:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T03:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/14476\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T03:11:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T03:11:11","slug":"tommo-are-you-well-i-thought-you-were-and-so-much-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/14476\/","title":{"rendered":"Tommo \u2013 \u2018Are you well? I thought you were!\u2019, and so much more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Derek Thompson will commentate on a race for the final time on Tuesday evening at Wolverhampton. Here, we look at \u2018Tommo\u2019s\u2019 take on his near 60-year career in broadcasting.<\/p>\n

On where it all started<\/p>\n

\"DerekDerek Thompson first commentated as a 15-year-old (George Selwyn\/PA)<\/p>\n

My dad, the late Stanley Thompson, he started commentaries in point-to-points and I think it was 1965 and halfway round at Great Ayton he turned the microphone off and said \u2018I can\u2019t see them anymore you take over\u2019. I picked up the microphone and switched on and said \u2018they go towards the next on the far side\u2019 and that\u2019s how it started.<\/p>\n

On becoming involved in the Shergar mystery as a negotiator with the kidnappers<\/p>\n

\"ShergarShergar won the Derby in 1981 (PA)<\/p>\n

I never want to go through that again. That was absolutely horrible. It is something I can still remember vividly to this day and it was just awful. Going to Belfast in the height of The Troubles, going into the (Europa) hotel. As soon as I walked in it was \u2018would Mr Thompson pick up the hotel phone?\u2019. And that\u2019s where a voice said \u2018I\u2019m watching you from the other side of street\u2019 and you think \u2018what?\u2019 and do this and do that. We tried to get the horse back, it was just absolutely an incredible time and I talked to the supposed kidnappers of Shergar. I think there were about eight or nine phone calls and it was the last one at half past midnight where I kept him talking for a minute and a half. If I kept him talking for that long they could trace the call, and I said to the policeman who was sitting next to me with the earphones on \u2018did we trace the call\u2019 and he said \u2018no, I\u2019m sorry the man who traces the call went off shift at midnight\u2019. We never found the horse.<\/p>\n

On his now famous line of \u2018Are you well? I thought you were!\u2019<\/p>\n

I was doing a promotion for a hotel in Bawtry quite a few years ago and I\u2019d done a piece outside the hotel \u2013 \u2018this is the Crown Hotel in Bawtry, let\u2019s see what it\u2019s like and go inside, blah blah blah\u2019 \u2013 and walked inside and there were the girls at the bar, they were the people who worked there. They were looking like they were having a drink at the bar and I walked up and I don\u2019t know why I said it \u2018hello, are you well? I thought you were!\u2019. Why on earth would anyone say that? It just went from there, Greg James from Radio One rang me one day and said \u2018Tommo, it\u2019s Greg James here\u2019. \u2018Greg James? You\u2019re Radio One\u2019. He said \u2018yeah, Tommo I want to ask, are you well? I thought you were\u2019 on the radio and it just went on from there.<\/p>\n

On the equally famous \u2018It\u2019s a man actually, Derek\u2019<\/p>\n

When I handed over from the studio to Bob (Robert Cooper, on At The Races) at Hereford, I just looked at my screen in front of me and I just saw the blonde hair, so I said \u2018oh, you\u2019re with a beautiful woman\u2019, he said \u2018it\u2019s a man actually, Derek\u2019 and that got to Glastonbury. On the stage in the background were signs in bright letters \u2018it\u2019s a man actually, Derek\u2019 \u2013 I mean what is that? Greg James was there and he sent me a photo and said \u2018you\u2019re on the stage at Glastonbury\u2019. Crazy.<\/p>\n

On owning horses with his wife, Caroline<\/p>\n

In the year @tommoracing<\/a> steps down from commentating, a moment to savour at his local track. Cheerleader, owned by Tommo and his wife Caroline -and trained by sister-in-law Tina Jackson \u2013 lands the Join Racing TV Now Handicap under @jomason90<\/a> at 66-1. Well done, Big Fella! pic.twitter.com\/pOtTApPZsM<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Redcar Racecourse (@Redcarracing) May 19, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Cheerleader won at Redcar and Catterick. It was my wife Caroline who bought the horse because she wanted to ride and so we put the horse out in the field. She (Cheerleader) just flourished and it was Tina (Jackson), my brother\u2019s partner who trains near Whitby, who said \u2018I think you could race her again, I think she could win\u2019. We weren\u2019t going to because we were just going to retire her. Caroline said \u2018come on, shall we do it\u2019 and the horse has won twice. We are so lucky and we\u2019ve got a few other shares with My Future Champion who are great syndicate guys, so it\u2019s lovely to be involved that way as well. We\u2019re very lucky, but it\u2019s all Caroline\u2019s fault! She was the one who said we\u2019re going to have this horse. Another time I tried to talk her out of it but she was absolutely spot on, so well done Caroline.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his greatest memory from racing<\/p>\n

\"DubaiDubai Millennium winning the Prince of Wales\u2019s Stakes (Sean Dempsey\/PA)<\/p>\n

Dubai Millennium. I started commentaries in Dubai with Sheikh Mohammed. Henry Cecil had got me over there and my greatest memory was Dubai Millennium winning the 2000 Dubai World Cup by 10 lengths. I still miss him to this day (Dubai Millennium died aged five due to grass sickness) and whenever I go to Newmarket, I always try to go to where he\u2019s buried and I always pay my respects to him.<\/p>\n

On working with John McCririck and Alastair Down on Channel 4<\/p>\n

\"DerekDerek Thompson (second right) and John McCririck (right) with their ITV colleagues (PA)<\/p>\n

They were the ultimate professionals. People didn\u2019t see the work they did behind the scenes, but I did. It was just a joy to watch. I always remember that Big Mac used to wear two watches and I said \u2018Mac, I\u2019ve got to ask you after all these years, why do you wear two watches, one on each wrist?\u2019. He looked at me and said \u2018well, in case one stops\u2019. I suppose it\u2019s right because you\u2019ve got to know exactly what time it is. He was a great journalist and a great broadcaster. He brought something to The Morning Line which you couldn\u2019t buy. It was just incredible. I thought he was superb. Alastair Down was a great journalist. He had a way of putting things into words that nobody else could do. Every time I used to read him, I marvelled at the way he expressed himself and it was so good for racing. It attracted a lot of people into racing who were watching it on TV or reading it in print.<\/p>\n