Henry Blofeld

Infobox cricketer biography
playername = Henry Blofeld


country = England
fullname = Henry Calthorpe Blofeld
nickname = Blowers
living = true
dayofbirth = 23
monthofbirth = 9
yearofbirth = 1939
placeofbirth = Hoveton Home Farm, Norfolk
countryofbirth = England
batting = Right-handed
role = Wicket-keeper, commentator
club1 = Cambridge University
year1 = 1958 – 1959
club2 = Norfolk
year2 = 1965
type1 = First-class
debutdate1 = 7 May
debutyear1 = 1958
debutfor1 = Cambridge University
debutagainst1 = Kent
lastdate1 = 11 June
lastyear1 = 1960
lastfor1 = CU
lastagainst1 = Free Foresters
type2 = one-day
onetype2 = true
debutdate2 = 1 May
debutyear2 = 1965
debutfor2 = Norfolk
debutagainst2 = Hampshire
deliveries = balls
columns = 2
column1 = First-class
matches1 = 17
runs1 = 758
bat avg1 = 24.45
100s/50s1 = 1/2
top score1 = 138
deliveries1 = 18
wickets1 = 0
bowl avg1 = –
fivefor1 = –
tenfor1 = –
best bowling1 = –
catches/stumpings1 = 11/0
column2 = One-day
matches2 = 1
runs2 = 60
bat avg2 = 60.00
100s/50s2 = 0/1
top score2 = 60
deliveries2 = 0
wickets2 = –
bowl avg2 = –
fivefor2 = –
tenfor2 = n/a
best bowling2 = –
catches/stumpings2 = 0/0
date = 14 May
year = 2008
source = http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6297/6297.html CricketArchive

Henry Calthorpe Blofeld (born at Hoveton Home Farm in Norfolk on 23 September 1939) (known as Blowers, thanks to the late Brian Johnston) is a sports journalist. He is best known as a cricket commentator for Test Match Special on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra.

Blofeld had an exceptional career as a schoolboy cricketer, cut short by injury. Since then, he has created a reputation as a commentator with an accent and usage of English commensurate with his background as an Old Etonian. He also writes on cricket.

Early life and cricket career

Blofeld's family were landowners in Norfolk. He was the youngest of three siblings. His older brother, Sir John Blofeld, became a High Court judge. Henry Blofeld's father went to school with Ian Fleming, and his name was the possible inspiration for the name of James Bond supervillain, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. [cite news | author = Ben Macintyre | title = Was Ian Fleming the real 007? | publisher = The Times | date = 2008-04-05 |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3652410.ece | accessdate=2008-04-08] Blofeld's uncle was the Honourable Freddie Calthorpe, (see Gough-Calthorpe family) who captained England on their first-ever tour of the West Indies in 1929/30.

Henry was educated at Sunningdale School and Eton College, and played cricket at both. He was wicket-keeper for Eton from 1955-57. In 1956, playing against Harrow at Lord's, he was the third Eton batsman dismissed in as many balls by Harrow bowler Rex Neame. Later that year Blofeld was one of only three batsmen for Public Schools to score a century against Combined Services (the others being Peter May and Colin Cowdrey) and he was given the Cricket Society's award for the most promising young player of the season.

Selected as Eton captain in his final year at school in 1957, Blofeld suffered a serious accident, being hit by a bus while riding a bicycle to the Eton cricket ground. His injuries curtailed his subsequent cricketing career, though he did go on to play 16 first-class matches for Cambridge University in 1958 and 1959 (his team captain in 1958 was Ted Dexter), kept wicket for Free Foresters in their match against Cambridge in 1960, and played one Gillette Cup match for a minor county, Norfolk against Hampshire in 1965. While playing for Cambridge he scored a first-class century against MCC at Lord's in 1959. He attended King's College, Cambridge, but left after his first two years, and did not formally receive his degree.

ports journalism

Blofeld took a job at a merchant bank, but it was not to his taste and he drifted into sports journalism. He reported on the England tour to India in 1963/4, and was close to being picked as an emergency batsman to replace the ill Micky Stewart for the 2nd Test in Bombay. In the event, Stewart was picked despite his illness, but was unable to play any part in the match after fielding in the first two sessions. [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1960S/1963-64/ENG_IN_IND/ENG_IND_T2_21-26JAN1964.html] Blofeld continued as a print journalist until 1972, when he joined the Test Match Special team. He has remained a regular commentator for Test Match Special, except for a period at BSkyB from 1991 to 1994. He also commentated for ITV in the 1960s.

Blofeld's cricket commentary is celebrated for his plummy voice and his idiosyncratic mention of superfluous details, including cranes, pigeons, buses, aeroplanes and helicopters that happen to be passing by. He is also known to talk about the food on offer, in particular cakes, for extended periods of time after the tea and lunch breaks with occasional interruptions of the situation on the field. He also uses the phrase "my dear old thing", or variants thereof, to address fellow commentators and guests.

He frequently makes errors, for example failing to identify players correctly (one example was calling the England spinner Monty Panesar 'Monty Python', and paceman Ryan Sidebottom "Ryan Stringfellow"), and is quite often lost for words in the more exciting passages of play. This doesn't detract from the love that many loyal listeners to Test Match Special the world over have for him, demonstrated in the Test against Pakistan at Headingley in 1996 when a flat overlooking the ground was draped with a huge banner proclaiming "Henry Blofeld is God".

Blowers has been commentating less recently; he did not commentate at the 2007 World Cup despite having covered the opening ceremonies of the two preceding World Cups in 2003 and 1999 for TMS to popular acclaim. Many TMS fans wondered whether he was choosing to step aside, or if the BBC was gradually reducing his commitments. Speaking to Michael Parkinson on BBC Radio 2 on 26 August 2007, when asked by his interviewer why he was commentating less these days, after initially attempting to side-step the question Blowers observed that "they obviously want to bring in new faces", and added that during the Ashes tour in Australia during the winter of 2006/7 "I felt in a funny way that I wasn't part of it any more". That said, as of summer 2008 he appears to have resumed his full quota of commentary stints on (at least home) Tests and ODIs, with his enthusiasm undiminished.

Outside sport

Blofeld was awarded an OBE for services to broadcasting in 2003. The following year he appeared alongside Fred Trueman in the "Tertiary Phase" of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" radio series.

Blofeld has written a partly autobiographical book entitled "My Dear Old Thing: Talking Cricket". He undertakes an "Evening With Blowers" theatrical show and has been successfully touring it all over the UK for the last few years with a continuing full roster for 2008, as well as many other public speaking engagements.

DVD

A DVD of An Evening with Blowers will be available in September

References

*Blofeld, Henry, "My Dear Old Thing: Talking Cricket" (ISBN 0-09-173704-4)
*Blofeld, Henry, "A Thirst for Life" (ISBN 0-340-77050-3)
* [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/PLAYERS/ENG/B/BLOFELD_HC_01006314/ Player profile] from Cricinfo
* [http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6297/6297.html Profile] from CricketArchive
* [http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/development/kingsparade/issues/autumn2005.pdf Mervyn King on Henry Blofeld]
* [http://www.cricketsociety.com/blofeld.html Henry Blofeld: The First 'Young Cricketer of the Year'] , from the Cricket Society, by Douglas Miller