Eddie Butler obituary

Eddie Butler was a rarity in top-class sport. He became more famous once his playing days were over for his work as a broadcaster, journalist and novelist. The one-time captain of Wales was the natural heir of the “voice of rugby”, Bill McLaren, with whom he shared the BBC commentary box in his early days as a broadcaster. Butler became, more specifically, the voice of Welsh rugby, his mellow tones from those chilly, winter afternoons high in TV gantries and press boxes warming the listener, while his printed words on the game equally delighted readers of the Observer and Guardian.

Butler, who has died in his sleep at the age of 65 during a walking expedition for charity in Peru, was universally admired in the worlds of rugby and journalism. With one of his daughters, Nell, he was raising money for prostate cancer on the hike to Machu Picchu. Butler, who played 16 times for Wales and was called up as a replacement for the Lions in New Zealand in 1983, was a tireless charity fundraiser.

The BBC also wheeled Butler out when big, multi-sport events were taking place, his seemingly effortless bardic style bringing them to life. Some of his finest broadcasting work came in the form of montages and voiceovers during the London Olympics of 2012.

Born in Newport, south-east Wales, Butler was a first-generation public schoolboy and a first generation Welshman. One of his grandfathers was a brickie in the steelworks in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. His grammar school-educated father, Kenneth, was a research chemist who played amateur football for Wycombe Wanderers and three times for English representative sides as an inside-forward. Eddie’s mother, Margaret (nee Asplen), was a Londoner and later the couple ran a guesthouse in Raglan,