In a career spanning 25 years, Billy Birmingham, through his comedy creation – The 12th Man – has become one of the most successful spoken-word recording artists in the world, with sales in excess of two million albums in Australia alone and many more bootlegged worldwide. The 12th Man is the only Australian recording artist in history to have seven consecutive number one albums and is a multi-ARIA award winner, including the prestigious ARIA for highest selling album of the year. It seems fair to ask – where else but in Australia could someone achieve that level of success with a series of non-musical recordings that take the mickey out of sport? In what country, other than Australia, could a spoken-word recording artist spend 25 years at the top of the album charts, right alongside the Barneseys, Farnseys, Kylies, Oils, Chisels, Madonnas, U2s and other international music royalty. It says a lot about Australia really – but no one knows exactly what!

The 12th Man’s much loved comedy masterpieces have mainly focused on cricketing and commentating legend Richie Benaud and his fellow Channel Nine cricket commentators, but his ‘Wired World of Sports’ albums also feature a menagerie of sports presenters and sportspeople from around the globe. Into their collective mouths Birmingham has put words their mothers would probably have washed out with soap, as well as quips, comments, twists, stumbles, asides and observations that a commentator would never, ever dream of unleashing anywhere near a microphone. Such has The 12th Man cult become over the past 25 years, that many of his most inspiring utterances have become part of the language. Kids hurl them across playgrounds, adults across workplaces and sporting fields. And so, as The 12th Man brings his remarkable innings to a close, for his many fans, old and new, EMI proudly presents ‘The Box Set’ – the complete works of The 12th Man on CD. Perhaps your last chance to finally replace those 12th Man cassettes that melted on the dashboard years ago, or the vinyl L.P. that you can no longer play, or the CDs that Davo or Johnno or dad or grandpa borrowed and never returned. Your chance to own a piece of Australian recording history.
The 12th Man – we will never see his like again.