When summer is in full bloom, I do enjoy a dalliance with cricket. It is not just the game, but also the gathering of eccentricity that circles around it. Cricket is a towering bastion of the great characters, and radio’s “Test Match Special” draws them like a moth to a bulb.
Henry Blofeld, beloved TMS commentator, is one such of these characters. In this book, he lovingly tells the tales of many others. My personal favourite was the cricketing Prince and trickster, the Nawab of Pataudi, who played 46 Test Matches for India, 41 as captain.
Blofeld brings him to life with gentleness, sympathy and, great humour, as he does with the many other characters he met on his travels. It is a lovely book and one that has the same grand feel of a Lord’s Test Match.
The one thing that keeps you coming back to the pages is Henry Blofeld’s joy and pure love of life. It is comforting how much of this life is enjoyed with the accompaniment of a rather good wine. A mind-boggling array of vineyards and cakes are sampled as the stories run their course.
I sometimes wonder if joyous people like Henry Blofeld are sadly on the decrease. At times, it felt as if Henry, the dear old thing, was signing off for an era of innocent larks and amateur sommeliers. But then, I remember those cold winter mornings, not too long ago, when I could switch on Radio Five Live Extra, in the car on the way to work. There, as I carefully traversed the pitch M27, I would be cheered by the mirth of PCR Tufnell. TMS is, wonderfully, still alive.
You wouldn’t necessarily need to be a cricket fan to enjoy this book, but it would certainly help. I found it to be well-written, warm, and funny. It even had me scurrying for the dictionary a couple of times! Very highly recommended.