Kubusuku obuninzi ndibuyile ndaya e-Sheffield City Hall kunye neqaqobana losapho ukubona uHenry Blofeld noPeter Baxter besenza eyona nto bayenza kakuhle-ukubalisa amabali kunye nokutyhilwa kwezinto ezenzeka kwibhokisi ye-TMS. Ngokungafaniyo "nabadlali abaninzi" abaqale ngexesha 7:30 kwaye iqhubeke (nesithuba esifutshane) until past 10pm. If they’re coming to a place near you and you have a free evening I really recommend getting a ticket and going down — it was one of the best evenings of entertainment a cricket fan could ask for
I’m not going to spoil the show by repeating all the stories, and I suspect its only vaguely planned anyway as both are wonderful raconteurs and to some extent probably make the show up as they go along. However I will give a little detail of some of the stories. There were many stories of drink including an incident with a pint of whiskey. There was the story of the first TMS team in India, where Henry decided to drive and a friend took him in a 1920’s Rolls Royce. There was even a story where the press coach was held up by armed militia! And there were plenty of stories involving 3 wonderful former commentators: John Arlott, Brian Johnston and of course CMJ.
Lastly — thee was the revealing story about the famous “Bowlers Holding” commentary. According to Blowers this really didn’t happen — the story originates from Johnners talking about it in interview and saying he didn’t know if he’d said it, but that he had received a letter saying that he had. The give-away that it was all made up was the name of the sender on the letter, but I wont spoil Henry’s story by giving that detail away here.
“Ibhola epinki ibonakala ingwevu / luhlaza ngombala obomvu / oluhlaza, kuxhomekeke kubukhali bayo. Ndenze ulinganiso ngobumfama bombala…”