Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Timeless TMS is keeping all its wits about it

Michael Henderson has written a rather brave piece for this week’s Spectator in which he brands Test Match Special ‘Radio Halfwit’ and argues that it has lost its edge. This is braver even than admitting that you don’t #lovethenhs because TMS is an institution even more beloved and revered the world around. Perhaps Danny Boyle missed a trick in the Olympic opening ceremony by not projecting a giant light-up image of ‘Boycott Bingo’ onto the floor of the stadium.

Criticism is hard to take, especially when it is aimed at our most loved institution. I adore TMS, and during tests in different time zones, frequently go to sleep with the radio buzzing gently throughout the night. This makes for a fitful sleep if England are, as Blowers would say it, calypso collapso-ing, or if Monty Panesar is attempting to not get run out. I was woken early during the third test in New Zealand by Jonathan Agnew shouting ‘and he’s fallen over!’ as Panesar skidded over the line after a mis-judged run.

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