Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Brian Johnstone

Catching up with Winston's blog, I was reminded of some of Brian Johnston's sayings. He was on the radio the other day, in a 1992 recording, doing an anecdotal talk to an audience and he mentioned - I should explain to non-Brits that Brian Johnstone was a much-loved cricket commentator - that on one occasion a batsman had been hit in a very sensitive place. He was allowed to rest for a few moments before continuing. When play did resume, Brian Johnstone, in his live commentary, to remind listeners how far the over (of six balls) had progressed, said, 'One ball left.'

He was infamous for his gaffes, which, to be fair to him, must be almost unavoidable when someone's talking about balls and men. Other famous unintentional innuendos included:
"Welcome to Worcester where you've just missed seeing Barry Richards hitting one of Basil D'Oliveira's balls clean out of the ground."
"Ray Illingworth has just relieved himself at the pavilion end."

And most famously:
"The batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey."

Update
Welshcakes mentioned another classic commentary and, on googling, I found it had taken first place in the BBC Radio Five Live Greatest Ever Commentary poll. You can listen to it via this page if you so wish.

8 comments:

Gledwood said...

Blwyddyn Newydd Hapus!

(fi'n meddwl bod fy-na yw Cymraeg proper, ond soi'n gwbod yn really...)

Gledwood said...

That means basically I'm wishing you a fantastic new year Liz!

Leslie: said...

from me, too, Liz! :D

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Thanks for reminding me of those gaffes - and then there is that famous one about the "leg over" where none of the commentators can stop laughing.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the mention, Liz, though I am not certain what I said that prompted you to think of gaffes... or balls... Funny stories! Thanks!

Liz Hinds said...

And an equally fantastic 2008 to you too, Gledwood!

And Leslie!

Yes, welshcakes, they played that one on the radio show. It was so funny. I wonder if it's available on the net ...

Winston, you had a piece about sports commentators. Didn't you?!

Bill Haydon said...

I thought "the bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey" was apocryphal. The "leg over" was most certainly not apocryphal; the beauty of it is that is gets funnier as the presenters dissolve into giggles. Even if you don't find the initial remark funny, their laughter is so contagious that it's impossible not to chuckle by the end.

Liz Hinds said...

It's true, td, that on the radio programme Brian Johnstone himself said that he wasn't aware that he had made that comment until a listener wrote in and told him. Still he wasn't sure.