A heart attack claims the life of the respected TV broadcaster Veteran television sports commentator Brian Langley has died after a heart attack at his home in Singapore. He was 57. The 'voice of sport in Asia', who moved to Singapore in 2000 after living in Hong Kong for nearly two decades, is survived by his wife and three sons - a 13-year-old boy and nine-year-old twins. His sudden death on Wednesday shocked and saddened his friends. They said Langley had been very healthy and his recent physical check-up had not indicated any problems. One of his close friends, journalist Stan James, described Langley as one of the best sports commentators in the business - and one who had started his career with little formal background but with a passion for sport. 'It's very, very sad. He was quite a remarkable man, a very strong man. He had a very engaging character,' he said. Another journalist and friend, Spencer Robinson, lauded Langley as a consummate professional. 'Langley possessed the rare ability of being able to keep his viewers and readers entertained and informed all the time,' he said. 'It was his incisive commentaries on golf and soccer for which he was perhaps best known, and won him widespread praise and respect across Asia, and beyond.' Derek Currie, an ex-Hong Kong league football player, said: 'He was a great man, great company, a great professional and his voice will be sorely missed on television.' Langley had worked for various television stations including TVB and Star TV before going freelance in the late 1990s. He also wrote occasionally for the sports sections of the South China Morning Post and Singapore's The Straits Times. He last visited Hong Kong in August to comment on Real Madrid's exhibition soccer match. Langley, a former solicitor in London, brought comprehensive international sports coverage to television in Hong Kong when he first arrived in the early 1980s. He wrote to TVB, which had no regular sports programme, offering to produce or direct an hour-long show. His plans so impressed management he was asked to host an English soccer programme. Six months later, he pioneered the first one-hour sports programme for Hong Kong with Pearl's Sports World in 1982. It was so popular, ATV later followed suit.
