"Hello My Dear Old Thing" - Exclusive interview with Henry Blofeld on Stephen Whitton's "Every Day People"

By Stephen Whitton

When you get the chance to interview an iconic broadcaster and legend of cricket commentary, whose internationally renowned catch-phrase is “my dear old thing” – how else would you expect the interview to start?

Henry Blofeld (Blowers) has been a stalwart of Test Match commentary for four decades and during that time his international travel, on and off-air antics and personal hobbies have enabled him to build an in-exhaustible source of stories and anecdotes. Couple that with being quintessentially an English gentlemen and his extremely courteous, witty and slightly eccentric zest for life, makes him a fascinating and very entertaining interviewee.

To coincide with his appearance at The Stables MK on Saturday 30^th April, alongside Peter Baxter, for the next leg of their Rogues on the Road tour, I had the immense pleasure and honour of interviewing “dear old” Blowers for my Everyday People show, Secklow Sounds 2pm Saturday.

As the youngest of 3 growing up in Norfolk, Henry describes his mother as a cross between Queen Victoria and Attila the Hun, but recounts how he adored her. His father was best friends with Ian Fleming (author of the James Bond stories) which is how Fleming “borrowed” the name Blofeld for one of his villain characters.

A member of the school Cricket team, Blowers’ cricket ambitions were curtailed slightly following an altercation with a bus, which left him hospitalized for over a month – but forever “onwards and upwards” he pursued a career in sport journalism and ended up as a long-serving member of the Test Match Special (TMS) team alongside other greats like Brian Johnston and John Arlott.

Not being a cricket fan myself (outside of chalk stumps drawn on a tree in the park, many, many years ago), I worried unnecessarily about what Henry and I would talk about, as he recounted many stories with humour and irreverence.

Henry “Blowers” Blofeld is appearing at The Stables on Saturday 30^th April and you can hear the interview in full, together with his choice of songs and music, on “Every Day People” on Secklow Sounds at 2pm, this Saturday.