Bjørge Lillelien
Bjørge Lillelien in 1962.
Born
Roar Bjørge Lillelien

(1927-03-29)29 March 1927
Slemmestad
Died26 October 1987(1987-10-26) (aged 60)
Oslo
EducationNorthwestern University
Occupation(s)Football and winter sports commentator
EmployerNRK

Bjørge Lillelien (29 March 1927 – 26 October 1987) was a Norwegian sports journalist and commentator for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. He was considered to be a popular and engaging personality who commentated on many sports, particularly winter sports and football. It was not unusual for Norwegians to turn off the sound on the TV and listen to him on the radio instead.[1]

In September 1981 he came to international prominence when he said “Maggie Thatcher your boys took a hell of a beating” in commentary following Norway's 2–1 victory against England in a World Cup qualifier.

Career

Lillelien went to Northwestern University to study journalism in 1948. After going back to Norway for his military service, he got a job in the newspaper Fremtiden, after which he joined the Norwegian broadcasting network.[1]

In 1963 he began a long-term working relationship with former Olympic champion skier Håkon Brusveen at a cross country ski race at Holmenkollen.[2] This collaboration would last for the rest of Lillelien's working days. Brusveen continued to work for NRK after Lillelien's death.

Although privately Lillelien was quite reserved and reflective, he developed a gregarious on-air persona. He said "We shouldn't necessarily make a boring radio programme even if it is a boring football match. We should make a sports show that excites people".[1]

He continued to work in broadcasting until just before his death from cancer in 1987.

"Your boys took a hell of a beating"

Lillelien commentated on radio on Norway's 2–1 victory against England in a World Cup UEFA qualifier in Oslo on 9 September 1981. At the end of the match, alternating between the English and Norwegian languages, he exultantly proclaimed amidst scenes of jubilant Norway supporters and players in the football stadium:

"We are best in the world! We have beaten England! England, birthplace of giants",

before taunting a roll call of English historical figures:

"Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana, vi har slått dem alle sammen, vi har slått dem alle sammen! (we have beaten them all, we have beaten them all!). Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me? Maggie Thatcher ... your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!"[3]

A significant portion of his excitement was due to how English football was held in very high regard in Norway at the time, as it was often easier to watch the Football League First Division on television in Norway than in England during the 1970s, with one match broadcast live each weekend, and with score updates from other simultaneous matches.

Although the broadcast was initially meant solely for the Norwegian home audience its content soon made its way across the North Sea and became legendary in the history of sports commentary in England. In 2002 it topped a list of the “10 greatest bits of commentary ever” in The Guardian newspaper.[4]

Full Norwegian/English version

The full Norwegian/English version reads as follows:

"Vi er best i verden! Vi er best i verden! Vi har slått England 2–1 i fotball!! Det er aldeles utrolig! Vi har slått England! England, kjempers fødeland. Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana--vi har slått dem alle sammen. Vi har slått dem alle sammen.
"Maggie Thatcher can you hear me? Maggie Thatcher, jeg har et budskap til deg midt under valgkampen. Jeg har et budskap til deg: Vi har slått England ut av Verdensmesterskapet i fotball. Maggie Thatcher, som de sier på ditt sprog i boksebarene rundt Madison Square Garden i New York: Your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!"[5]

Translated version

The full version, completely translated to English:

"We are the best in the world! We are the best in the world! We have beaten England 2-1 in football!! It is completely unbelievable! We have beaten England! England, birthplace of giants. Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana--we have beaten them all. We have beaten them all.
"Maggie Thatcher can you hear me? Maggie Thatcher, I have a message for you in the middle of the election campaign.[lower-alpha 1] I have a message for you: We have knocked England out of the football World Cup.[lower-alpha 2] Maggie Thatcher, as they say in your language in the boxing bars around Madison Square Garden in New York: Your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!"

Parodies and homages

In 2002 Lillelien's words were designated the greatest piece of sports commentary ever by The Observer's Sport Monthly magazine. Such is its place in British sporting culture that parodies of the commentary have been written to celebrate domestic sporting victories, such as the following when the England cricket team beat Australia to regain the Ashes in September 2005:

"Kylie Minogue! Steve Irwin! Holly Valance! Crocodile Dundee! Natalie Imbruglia! Ian Thorpe! Mrs. Mangel! Can you hear me? Your boys took one hell of a beating!"

And again, when England's cricket team finally won a game against New Zealand in the 2006/7 one-day series, the BBC's web coverage came up with:

"Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Peter Jackson, Neil Finn, Sir Edmund Hillary, Jonah Lomu - we have beaten them all! Helen Clark, can you hear me? Your boys took one hell of a beating!"

Following Scotland's 2–1 victory against Norway in Oslo in September 2005, the Daily Record parodied the quote, using known Norwegians:

"King Olaf, Roald Amundsen, Liv Ullmann, Edvard Munch, Vidkun Quisling, Thor Heyerdahl, Henrik Ibsen, Edvard Grieg, Monty Python's Norwegian Blue, Morten Harket, and Anni-Frid from ABBA. You boys took a helluva beating!"[6]

The Deputy Editor of the Daily Record at the time, Murray Foote, later issued an apology for the inclusion of Vidkun Quisling in the quotation:

"While I naturally assumed Quisling was not one of Norway's favourite sons, I was truly unaware of the deep loathing his name engenders amongst your countrymen. Had I been aware of this, I would not have used his name and I apologise unreservedly for the offence it caused."[7]

Following Manchester University winning University Challenge against the University of Cambridge Pembroke College in March 2012, a commentator for the Manchester student newspaper observed "We have beaten Pembroke College, Cambridge! Cambridge, birthplace of giants. Rab Butler, Clive James, Ted Hughes, William Pitt the Younger, Eric Idle, Peter Cook, Bill Oddie! Bill Oddie, can you hear me? Your boys took a hell of a beating!"[8]

The speech is also parodied in the 2001 British drama film Mean Machine, starring Vinnie Jones. In the film, at the conclusion of the match between the guards and the prisoners at the fictional Longmarsh prison, in a 3–2 win for the prisoners, the commentators, Bob Likely (Jason Flemyng) and Bob Carter (Jake Abraham) quoted "Guards of Pentonville, Guards of Wandsworth, Walton nick in Liverpool, Policemen of Britain, Traffic Wardens, Parole officers, Wheel clampers, your boys have taken a helluva beating today, a helluva beating!".[9]

During a "Phoenix from the Flames" segment of Fantasy Football League, Skinner and Baddiel visit Norway to recreate Hallvar Thoresen's winning goal against England in the 1981 qualifier. After this, Thoresen suggests they dress up and act out as all the people Lillelien labelled. Once this is done, Thoresen mentions Norway's victory against Holland, to which one of the hosts (possibly Baddiel) puts on a Norwegian accent and quotes: "----, Vincent Van Gogh, ---- finger in the dyke! ---- (Oh, no, that's wrong.) ---- Oh, what were they called? ----, that's them! George Holland, probably! ----, some prostitutes, ----. Dick Van Dyke, can you hear me? Dick Van Dyke, your boys took one hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of one beating!""

See also

  • Huang Jianxiang, Chinese football commentator with a similarly memorable match commentary
  • Guðmundur Benediktsson, Icelandic football commentator, also with a similarly memorable match commentary

Notes

  1. ↑ The election campaign was the Norwegian parliamentary election of 1981, which was held on 13 and 14 September of that year.
  2. ↑ In fact England went on to qualify for the finals, while Norway were eliminated, eventually finishing bottom of the qualification group.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Aftenposten 22 June -85
  2. ↑ Aftenposten 16 March 1985
  3. ↑ "Video: "Maggie Thatcher - can you hear me, Maggie Thatcher! Your boys took a hell of a beating!"". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  4. ↑ "The 10 greatest bits of commentary ever". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  5. ↑ "Bjørge Lilleliens seierstale" [Bjørge Lillelien's victory speech]. YouTube (in Norwegian). 10 October 2008. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  6. ↑ "Dro fram Quisling i seiersrusen". 100% Fotball (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 29 August 2007.
  7. ↑ "Beklager Quisling-humor". 100% Fotboll (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
  8. ↑ "LIVE: the University Challenge final". The Mancunion. 19 March 2012. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  9. ↑ "Mean Machine (9/9) Movie CLIP - The Game Winner (2001) HD". Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2017.

Bibliography

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