Peter Alliss
With his father Percy Alliss, who was among the finest players of his generation, it was perhaps inevitable that Peter would also make a career in golf. Percy hired Peter as his unpaid assistant at Ferndown Golf Club, allowing him time off during midweek to compete in tournaments. With some degree of success in his first professional tournaments, Peter quickly established himself among the top young players of the time.
Between 1954 and 1969, he won 21 professional tournaments – including three British PGA championships and was twice winner of the Vardon Trophy. In September 1958, he won the national championships of Italy, Spain, and Portugal in three consecutive weeks.
Peter played in the Ryder Cup on eight occasions – in the days before the team became Europe of course. In 1963 he beat Arnold Palmer and halved with Tony Lema on the same day…
His first appearance in the Ryder Cup was in 1953, and with the single exception of 1955, he represented Great Britain and Ireland in the event until 1969. He is one of only two father-and-son duos to have represented their country at this level.
He spent just six weeks on the American tour, in 1954, and therefore was known primarily as a commentator in the USA. Peter retired from the professional golf circuit in 1969.
Broadcasting
After retiring from playing golf – in a professional sense, at least – Alliss moved into the commentary booth, where his descriptive and dead-pan style became the soundtrack to the BBC’s coverage of major golf events.
Peter made his broadcasting debut way back in 1961, as part of the BBC team covering the Open Championship at Birkdale which was won by Arnold Palmer. His retirement from international golf at the relatively early age of 38 led to a full-time career “on the other side of the ropes.”
By 1978 he was the BBC’s chief golf commentator following the death of his co-host and great friend Henry Longhurst.
Peter once claimed he was a golf commentator only because he was “there as an old player, a lover of the game and a good weaver of stories”. Modesty would prevent him saying that Golf Digest described him as “the greatest golf commentator ever” – but to many that’s what he was.
“One good thing about rain in Scotland — most of it ends up as Scotch.”
“Oh, he’s here again. Chloroform, nurse please.”
“The British are a wonderful race. As soon as the sun comes out, out come the shorts, may be demob issue 1952… 1945… it doesn’t matter…”
But it’s not only as a commentator that Peter is revered: he became a part of TV history, fronting 140 episodes of the popular BBC series Pro-Celebrity Golf, between 1974 and 1988, and progressed to an informal chat show on the fairways, Around with Alliss. His most recent television series, A Golfer’s Travels, is still being shown across the world.