Henry Blofeld
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Henry Calthorpe Blofeld (born at Hoveton Home Farm in Norfolk on 23 September 1939) (known as "Blowers") is a cricket commentator for BBC Radio 4, although he also commentated for Sky Television from 1991 to 1994. His cricket commentary is celebrated for his plummy voice and his idiosyncratic mention of superfluous details, including, in particular, pigeons, buses, aeroplanes and helicopters that happen to be passing by. He also uses the term "my dear old thing", or variants thereof. He has written a book, which is partly autobiographical called "My dear old thing: Talking cricket".
Blofeld played as an amateur wicket-keeper for his school, Eton, from 1955-1957. He suffered a serious accident in his final year at school, being hit but a bus while riding a bicycle, which curtailed his subsequent cricketing career, but still went on to play for Cambridge University in 1958-1960 (his team captain in 1958 was Ted Dexter) and for a minor county, Norfolk, in 1965. While playing for Cambridge, he scored a first class century against MCC at Lord's in 1959. Blofeld was awarded a OBE for services to broadcasting in 2003, and the next year appeared alongside Fred Trueman in the Tertiary Phase of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series.
Henry Blofeld's father went to school with Ian Fleming, and his name was the inspiration for the name of James Bond supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, leader of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (the SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). Blofeld's uncle was the Honourable Freddie Calthorpe, who captained England on their first-ever tour of the West Indies in 1929/30.
References
- My dear old thing: Talking cricket by Henry Blofeld (ISBN 0091737044)
- Cricinfo page on Henry Blofeld (http://www.cricinfo.com/db/PLAYERS/ENG/B/BLOFELD_HC_01006314/)