A Thirst for Life: With the Accent on Cricket |
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Henry Blofeld
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Pages: 431 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 034077049X
Pub: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Pub date: 2000-09-28
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 798794
Reader Reviews:
An absolutely splendid read (0/0 people found this helpful)
Blowers is a national institution. Henry Blofeld seeks to distance self a little from Blowers the claret guzzling, cake munching, wisecracking, clubbable cricket commentator on BBC Test Match Special. Not everyone can claim to be the son of James Bond's implacable enemy, yet this seems to have no obstacle to the young Henry's , a promising cricketing career (a Cambridge blue no less) tragically cut short as a result of an accident with a bus !. One wonders if that explains his fascination with helicopters, buses and pigeons ? Anyway, failing to get on in the City Henry takes up the craft of journalism, and makes a successful career for himself in the newspapers and later to become a much loved figure on Radio and TV. Blofeld in interviews and in these memoirs is not quite the ebullient character who fills the radio waves on an English summer. We find a sensitive soul, a cooly determined professional, a master of his craft carefully honed in the shadows of EW Swanton and John Arlott. Blofeld writes moving about his heart operation, his happy marriage, his disabled stepson, his love of PG Wodehouse and the pleasures of family life. That he's made such an imprint on the game of cricket its fitting that he can write such an attractive memoir and reveal a little more of himself to his adoring public. My dear old thing, thank you!
Blowers is no joke (10/10 people found this helpful)
Henry Blofeld has developed his 'my dear old thing' persona rather a la Brian Johnston, maybe to differentiate himself from other cricket commentators. But in this autobiography, we see the full person - in turn suave, scathing, generous, amusing and loving - but always readable, erudite and knowledgeable. His story has a twist at the end, and the description of his illness is beautifully told. This isn't one of those name-dropping autobiogs. It is an interesting and personal account of a life of a cricket writer, and worth reading by anyone who loves the game.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> Sport -> Cricket
Books -> Subjects -> Sports, Hobbies & Games -> Cricket
Books -> Subjects -> Sports, Hobbies & Games -> General
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Hardcover
Books -> Refinements -> Condition (condition-type)