Description
This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the cricket commentator Henry Blofeld. Blofeld's become known as much for his musings on pigeons, planes, double decker buses, tea ladies, cakes and his catchphrase 'my dear old thing' as he is for his cricket commentary.
As a teenager he showed great promise as a cricketer and was even thought good enough to play for England until his dreams were dashed after a serious accident when his bike hit a bus. He dropped out of Cambridge and toyed with the idea of a career in merchant banking before realising his true vocation. Advised in his early years to 'paint a picture' for his listeners, 'Blowers' has since gone on to become a much-loved stalwart of the Test Match Special team.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Cricket commentary by Brian Johnston, Jonathan Agnew, John Arlott
Book: A Pelican at Blandings by P G Wodehouse
Luxury: Personal photo album
Dame Alicia Markova was born Lilian Alice Marks in December 1910, in a two-bedroom flat in Finsbury Park, London. She began ballet classes because she was flat footed and knock kneed. Her natural talent, when she was ten, was spotted by Diaghilev, the Russian artistic impresario who founded the...
Published 10/14/22
Sue Lawley's castaway is the actress Kim Cattrall. Kim Cattrall became a household name in her forties as a result of playing man-eater, defiant singleton and PR mogul Samantha Jones in Sex and the City. She is about to star in the play Whose Life is it Anyway? in the West End of London.
She was...
Published 12/26/04
Sue Lawley's castaway is the singer Engelbert Humperdinck. Engelbert Humperdinck is one of Britain's most successful entertainers. He is known as the King of Romance and has been at the top of the showbusiness ladder for nearly 40 years - selling more than 130 million records including sixty-four...
Published 12/19/04