Julian Wilson

Who was Julian Wilson?

Julian David Bonhote Wilson was BBC Television's horse racing correspondent from 1966 until his retirement in 1997. He was succeeded by Clare Balding. Between 1969 and 1991, he was one of the commentators for the Grand National and for a time he had editorial control over the BBC's midweek racing coverage. Born in Sidmouth, Devon, his father was the Daily Mirror sportswriter Peter Wilson.

Outside his presenting career, he was a racehorse owner and racing manager. His winners as an owner included Tumbledownwind, a two-year-old winner at Glorious Goodwood and Tykeyvor, a winner in the Bessborough Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1996, trained by Lady Herries. He was a racehorse manager to Sir Clement Freud and Walter Mariti.

Wilson was a former pupil of Harrow School. In his autobiography Some You Win, published in 1998, he revealed a rift with Peter O'Sullevan, his long-time colleague at the BBC, as well as saying that he had a strained relationship with Balding.

Wilson died of cancer on 20 April 2014. He was twice married. Once to Carolyn Michael in 1970, then to Alison Ramsay in 1981. He had one son, Thomas, with his first wife.