Talk:Test Match Special

Untitled
Excellent, an article that is as irreverent as the show, because taking cricket too seriously is, well, not cricket. Well done --Drgs100 19:16, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Agreed. I would hand someone a barnstar for it, but this appears to have been a community effort, so I'm awarding it to everyone who's worked on it. Modest Genius  talk 21:49, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Congratulations! Linked to by its subject
BBC Cricket TMS links to the article. Great achievement when the subject of an article links to the Wikipedia article about it! PeterGrecian 08:46, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

The Early Commentators
At present Wikipedia doesn't have articles for Howard Marshall, who pioneeered Test Match commentary on BBC Radio in the 1930s, or on Rex Alston and Robert Hudson, two of the leading lights in the early days of TMS in the late 1950s and 1960s. I've been doing some research on the Web, and hope to put up articles on all three shortly. (To add to the one that I recently wrote for Arthur Wrigley.) I haven't been able to determine the date or place of birth for any of them, so if anyone knows I'd be delighted to hear from you. Also, I believe that Robert Hudson is still alive, but does anyone know to the contrary? JH 20:23, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Now done for all three - see links in TMS article. JH 22:33, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

The Bowler's Holding
Is there any evidence that "The bowler's Holding the batsman's Willey" ever happened? It's a well known story and it certainly could have happened, but did it? If so, who said it on air, on what date? Failing that, when was the first time it appeared in print? E.g. who was the first commentator to put it in one of their memoirs?

I think this is one of the stories about TMS that may well not be true. In any case I think the evidence should be cited here. My strong suspicion is that somebody made it up wishing they had said it, probably Johnners. The story seems to have got stronger since the "LegOver" incident, since that showed that the most outrageous things could happen on TMS. But it's notable that the exact date (and time) of that is easily located, while this one is mysterious.

Note that the same story is told on the Holding and the Willey pages. Again without evidence. I guess I will put a similar notice there.

I'd be tempted to put at least "citation needed", or even say that it's a well known story which has not been tracked down.

A 2003 article has Blowers saying it was in 1976 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/test_match_special/2664751.stm. That is not really contemporary.

--85.210.32.94 21:10, 23 January 2007 (UTC)


 * It could only have been in 1976 or 1980, since those were the only England v West Indies series in England where both cricketers were playing. I too am suspicious about the story's authenticity. JH 21:32, 23 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I've now found the following in CMJ's Ball by Ball, on page 160. Discussing readers' letters, he says: Brian Johnston was taken to task by a schoolmistress, feigning indignation, for saying... during a West Indies Test commentary: "The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey." This, in fact, was one of the few faux pas which Brian has not committed. JH 09:21, 24 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks JH, that was rapid and brilliant.   --85.210.32.94 10:16, 24 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I was lucky enough to have the right book to hand, and that "humour" was an entry in its index. Which brings me to the new Johnners stories that have been added in the last day or so. Other Johhners' classics include, "there's Tony Grieg standing at second slip -- legs wide apart, bending over, waiting for a tickle;" I've read that Johnners said that about Neil Harvey, back in the days when he was in the TV commentary box. It's not impossible that he decided to reuse the remark, of course. JH 21:34, 26 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I think it's more likely that the story was added from memory and the player (whose identity isn't really integral) was guessed at - that's what I tend to do when telling stories like this. If you can remember where you read it then I'd change it and add a source. --Cherry blossom tree 23:22, 26 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I am doing the Wisden Trophy and believe it to be in the either the 4th or 5th test of 1976. See the citations in the Wisden Trophy article for more details. I cannot be more specific than this however:( Monsta666 23:26, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

I seem to remember that the story came about when one of the presenters read a letter from a 'listerner' who complained that she had been supervising children when the remark was made


 * That's right. See my earlier comment, further up. JH (talk page) 16:52, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

No, the bowler was Willey
What I heard BJ say, with the TV picture on (so my memory is visual as well as aural), more probably in 1980 than 1976, was 'The batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey'. Not surprisingly it got switched round, but in fact Willey was bowling to Holding, so the version cited here is indeed apocryphal. Rothorpe (talk) 18:09, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Well CMJ doesn't believe that he said it at all, and we have a citation from his (CMJ's) book for that whereas - sadly - your own memory isn't citable. JH (talk page) 19:33, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Sadly, no. But you may be interested in the earlier conversation I had about this, in 2007, on the Talk:Brian Johnston page. I see there's now a 2009 anonymous comment right at the bottom with a version of how the story probably got rewritten---especially plausible as it took place during another TMS only a short time after (and in 1976, not '80). Rothorpe (talk) 23:36, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Commentators et al.
I've created a category for all the relevent TMS commentators, summarizers, scorers etc, so any new members to the list on the main page can also be linked to the category. Mdcollins1984 15:39, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

The Peter Moores link goes to the wrong man, should be Peter Moores Cricketer — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.31.43.143 (talk) 17:46, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Article on TMS in 2007 Wisden
The 2007 Wisden, which has just come out. marks the 50th anniversary of TMS by an article about it. Amongstt other interesting stuff, there is what is supposed to be a complete list of everyone who has been a commentator or summariser. When time permits, I'll use the list to update the lists here (unless someone beats me to it). JH (talk page) 16:51, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

World Cup 2007
Is it maybe worth mentioning in the initial fews lines that TMS is covering all the games in the World Cup not just England ones. Well they skipped one. Or too pedantic?

Champagne Moment
Has anyone got a list of the champagne moments. I think it would be a nice addition to the page.Robruss24 09:01, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

View from the B
Lots of big names have been guests Eric Clapton, Russell Crowe, etc. Could a few of the bigger names be listed? Jagdfeld (talk) 18:26, 22 August 2009 (UTC)
 * The difficulty would be knowing where to draw the line. Everyone would be tempted to add their own favourite celebrity guest, and it would be easy to finish up with several dozen names or even more. JH (talk page) 19:51, 22 August 2009 (UTC)
 * That is always the problem with these things, but still it would be worth having a few names. I can't imagine that there will be an avalanche. Jagdfeld (talk) 20:18, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Shifting the lists
The lists that appear would not be seen as encyclopaedic and they do bloat the article. May be worth extracting them, and if they are worthy of keeping, then poke them into a dedicated list. billinghurst  sDrewth  13:51, 18 December 2010 (UTC)


 * There is already a separate List of cricket commentators that arguably is all that is needed. JH (talk page) 18:34, 18 December 2010 (UTC)


 * On a related point, should matches under the aegis of the TMS operation that aren't actually Tests count as far as the list of TMS commentators is concerned? I ask because someone has just addeed Aakash Chopra, who was a commentator on the India v South Africa match today in the Champions Trophy and who I suspect may not have previously commentated for the BBC. JH (talk page) 17:36, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

Alternative theme tune
I vividly remember another theme tune being used for Test Match Special before Soul Limbo was adopted - which makes sense if you think about it, as Soul Limbo was only released in about 1968, after TMS began. Does anyone remember what it was, and if so, shouldn't we have it here? This alternative theme was used for away Tests well into the 70s, from what I remember. --TammyMoet (talk) 17:32, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

Ireland
In the last couple of seasons, some matches involving Ireland have been broadcast under the TMS aegis, and I wonder if these should be included, despite them not involving England teams? --TammyMoet (talk) 17:33, 8 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I would say yes. JH (talk page) 17:59, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

Swann
Graeme Swann has been a summariser in the England v Sri Lanka 2-match series this summer. Does he go under regular or occasional summariser? I'm not sure. Tony Holkham (talk) 13:02, 23 June 2014 (UTC)


 * I think one requires more than two in a series (of events) to establish regularity. SovalValtos (talk) 15:14, 23 June 2014 (UTC)
 * ✅ Discovered Swann is a regular (since Feb 2014) so added cit from BBC Tony Holkham (talk) 21:44, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

"Legover" needs correcting
This is usually presented as 'commentator hilarity' that occurred during live coverage of play, whereas if you listen to the entire sequence (and this aligns with my own memory of it, having heard it 'as it happened') it's quite clear that it occurred AFTER the day's play had ended, during Brian Johnstone's (and the team's) summarising of the day's main events.84.13.116.220 (talk) 15:00, 12 December 2016 (UTC)