Test Match Special 50 Not Out: The Official History of a National Sporting Treasure

by Peter Baxter (Editor)

In 1957, a whole day's play of a Test Match was broadcast on BBC Radio for the first time with the slogan 'Don't miss a ball, we broadcast them all'. This book celebrates 50 years of Test Match Special with anecdotes, stories, reminiscences and champagne moments of five decades of cricket commentary. Sprinkled throughout are "My First TMS match" articles by top-class writers and commentators such as Jonathan Agnew, Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Henry Blofeld, Bill Frindall, Simon Mann, Vic Marks, Mike Selvey and Angus Fraser. Edited by Peter Baxter, the organizing brain behind TMS and the producer for 29 years, this is a comprehensive and celebratory account of this most respected and prestigious brand in cricket.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 3, 2007

Reviews

[Stephen Dawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

To me (and maybe I'm just narrow-minded or self-centred), Test Match Special is a wonderful embodiment of much that is great about Britain and England. This book celebrates its first fifty years. As a history book, which it is billed as, I think it lacks a good deal in terms of the politics and backstory of the programme within the BBC output, and relationships with other broadcasters. Perhaps coming from the team currently producing the programme, that isn't surprising, but it is a hole that should be filled one day. Much of the book is an entertaining and informative mix of anecdote which mirrors the tone of the programme so delightfully, though the large sections devoted to commentators and summarisers of old is perhaps somewhat less interesting to the relatively recent newcomer, but nevertheless adds to the historic backstory within which the gradually evolving format fits. Well worth reading for the TMS fan.