There's only one Blowers

THE star of Test Match Special and national treasure, Henry Blofeld, comes to Arlington Arts, Snelsmore, on Friday. There is so much more to Blowers than the cozy old Test Match Special commentary. He has lived life to the full. His views are prickly and funny. The pompous, politically correct, prancing popinjays on every platform of life, are kicked unceremoniously into touch. In Shaken, not Stirred he reveals all, letting us into all sorts of secrets. First Blowers tells us about his upbringing in the family schloss. Capital punishment was compulsory, parents and schoolmasters alike were constantly ganging up against him as he lurched on a wholly unacademic pathway, from governess to classy prep school and on to Eton and Cambridge. He talks about his entry into the world of journalism and broadcasting, with some hysterical stuff from the Test Match Special commentary box and great stories of John Arlott, Brian Johnston and others... There’s name-dropping in spades, with Ian Fleming in Jamaica and Noel Coward. Dear old ‘Don’t panic, Captain Mainwaring’, Clive Dunn is another of his friends, then Lawrence Olivier and Alec Guinness get a mention. Arlington Arts is offering “more than an hour-and-a-half of uncomplicated fun and laughter which makes everyone feel a great deal better”. Tickets, priced £15, are available from the box office on (01635) 244246, online via www.arlingtonarts.co.uk and from Mary Hare Hearing Centre, Weaver’s Walk, Newbury.