HAWKEYE MEETS.......

TERRY RIPO
Taking the mic
When the 1968 speedway season started, the Hackney Hawks' team was largely the same as it was in the previous season. However, behind-the-scenes there were a number of changes, not least of all in the announcer's box.
After one season as team manager Maurice Morley resigned his position. The new team manager was Dave Erskine. A public relations executive was appointed and that was Peter Douglas. Douglas was essentially a football man and admitted he would be on a learning curve where speedway was concerned. 
One of his first moves was to bring in a new announcer to replace Ted Sear. He tried to brighten up things at The Wick by appointing former pop singer and disc jockey Ron Lines. The new man, like Douglas, knew nothing about speedway and that was to prove his downfall, so much so that he was replaced after one meeting.
Derek Jarvis, who had worked for Hackney Speedway in numerous capacities since 1963, took over the announcing role and worked alongside his wife Beryl, who was the club's first Radio Goldhawk. Jarvis took to the job like a duck takes to water and proved himself to be a top-notch mike man. Alas, after he had done 10 meetings it came to light that he had accepted an important post in South Africa and a new announcer was needed.
Hackney staff controller Steve Meddemmen took the microphone for a second half, but decided the role was not for him. Next on the scene was track staff man Mick Manning, who announced at three meetings. Manning also replaced Jarvis as Rayleigh's announcer and somewhat ironically it was a situation that occurred at The Weir that led to Manning's departure and the entrance of Terry Ripo as the man on the mike.
Ripo began his announcing career at Hackney on June 28, 1968 and remained in that position until half way through the 1972 season. Hawkeye tracked him down to an address in Alresford, near Colchester in Essex and spoke to him about his announcing career.
Ripo began watching speedway at Waterden Road a few meetings into the 1963 season and a couple of years later fancied a job on the track staff.
He soon noticed that Hackney had two graders, but only one was in use which was driven by Lew Stripp, who later moved on to become one of speedway's top referees. Ripo questioned Hackney's team manager at the time, Alec Ford, as to why only one grader was used. Ford said words to the effect that there was nobody available to navigate the other one and Ripo immediately volunteered to drive it. He subsequently became well-known in Hackney track staff circles and Len Silver discovered that he was a qualified electrician. Silver was about to launch British League Division Two speedway at Rayleigh in 1968 for Allied Presentations and asked Ripo if he would do the electrics for the starting gate, referee’s panel and so on, to which he agreed. Silver wanted Ripo to be present at each meeting in case of any electrical faults and it was that situation that opened the door to his announcing career.
Manning was keen to get away early at a particular meeting and left the stadium after the league match and Ripo took over for the second half. Silver was so impressed by his announcing style that he asked him if he would become the resident announcer at both Hackney and Rayleigh. Ripo's appointment to the announcing post at Hackney ensured that the mike man would never be late for a meeting at The Wick because, at the time, he lived only half-a-mile away in Mabley Street. Ripo's announcing talents were quickly recognised by other promoters and he was the mike man at Mildenhall for 14 years. 
He also stood in for celebrity announcers David Hamilton and Ed Steward at a number of Wembley meetings, announced a few times at Milton Keynes and did a one-off meeting at Peterborough.
Hawkeye asked Ripo to name who he believed were the best referees during his announcing career. He said: "The top man in my opinion was Arthur Humphrey. He handled meetings firmly, but fairly; he didn't panic; he didn't rush into hasty decisions; and he also had a wicked sense of humour."
Ripo also spoke highly of John Eglese and believed Lew Stripp to be the most under-rated referee on the circuit. He said Stan Mellish was quietly competent and easy to work with; and of those referees who were coming through the ranks at the time, he said the outstanding one was Graham Brodie who, incidentally, was trained by Humphrey.
Hawkeye asked Ripo if he would name a referee whom he found it most difficult to work with and his answer was Frank Ebdon. Ripo said: "Everything was black and white with him. He didn't give himself time to reflect on whether he got a decision right or wrong. There were occasions when he created havoc."
Ebdon was renowned for pressing the two minute time allowance button almost as soon as the riders had crossed the finishing line for the previous race.
Ripo said: "On one occasion I asked Ebdon to give me time to make my announcements, but he ignored my plea. I became so frustrated that I left the announcer's box and began making my proclamations from the centre green.
"Ebdon eventually telephoned me and asked me to return to the box where he would agree to my request. Things did improve, but he was a difficult man to work with." Ripo claimed there were a number of referees who, on occasions, doubted their own judgement. He said: "The referee's box at Hackney was in line with the starting gate, but it was rather low down on the terraces and in a close finish, it could give the referee a problem. "The announcer's box was up in the main grandstand and while it was situated ahead of the finishing line, my view was arguably better than the ref's. However, I was never consulted on a race outcome and if I had been, I would have said it wasn't my job to comment."
Ripo made the point that the spoken world cannot be recalled and said there isn't an announcer in any walk of entertainment who hasn't made a faux pas. He added: “If I said something of a minor nature that I didn’t mean to, I always thought it best to ignore it, rather than give out a correction thereby drawing attention to it.”
Ripo worked for numerous promoters, so I asked him who he felt was the most accomplished. He replied: “Without a shadow of doubt the best promoter I knew was Len Silver. He was a showman; he created a terrific atmosphere; and he wasn’t afraid to take referees to task if he felt they had got a decision wrong.”
Ripo said he thoroughly enjoyed his announcing career and would do it all over again. He liked to get the crowd involved and this meant leading a war cry and talking up the home team. However, he would always give the away side credit where it was due.
With current crowds on the thin side, a war cry would be out of the question and I’m not sure if current regulations allow a bit of home bias.
Here you are promoters – if your mike man or woman is not up to it, give Terry Ripo a call and he might agree to come out of retirement and liven up proceedings at your track.