Did the members of 10CC* actually like cricket or not (answer THEY LOVED IT!) Cricket has, for want of a better word, a fuddy-duddy image. It has panama hats, dress codes and ties for supporters. And whilst charming young gentlemen like this members of England’s Barmy Army try to move it into the progressive, cross-dressing 1930’s, this image is still difficult to shift.
But Test Match Special, the flagship radio show, is fighting this image. Whenever they see a member of a hip young rock and roll band in the stands, why they rustle them into the box for a chat. And to the credit of the young rock band members, they often aquit themselves well chatting to Aggers et al. But then the obtuse and somewhat jokey atmosphere on Test Match Special is not a million miles away from being interviewed on Popworld by a Christmas Pudding.
In my opinion though this is a hiding to nothing. Cricket’s image is one of its assets. By all means invent 20-20 Cricket, with Girls Aloud playing at half-time. But bear in mind that Test Cricket takes five days and stops for lunch and tea. Enless you change the name to EXTREME LUNCHEON, and RED BULL BREAK, you are never going to shake that off. No matter how many members of Razorlight or McFly you have on your side.
Actually especially if you have members of Razorlight on your side.
*What is the difference between 10CC and the ICC? NOTHING!
I chanced across a much earlier TMS pop moment on the radio yesterday – a fragment of a David Essex interview (from 1989, I think). Johnners asks DE to sing a song from Evita (I think it’s Oh What A Circus) and then Johnners joins in doing trumpet noises. I’m fairly sure none of the current crew would attempt such a feat, and that’s surely a good thing.
So Harry Judd, whose interview on TMS helped trigger Pete’s original post, was arguably pop’s sole representative at the TMS 60th anniversary celeb + veterans match (there was also that ex-Blazin’ Squadder who was on Love Island, but his fame is essentially reality-show-derived*). Judd made 33, with batters obliged to retire when they had passed 30, in a losing effort.
Meanwhile, Aggers has made the entirely unsurprising declaration that he is a Gilbert & Sullivan man.
*Radio 1 DJ Greg James was man of the match.
A brief change of sport, if you’ll allow me. To Kiev, where Radio 5 Live’s crew – Kelly Cates, Mark ‘Lawro’ Lawrenson, Chris ‘The Waddler’ Waddle*, Alan Green and John Murray – were being collectively baffled by Dua Lipa’s performance before the Champions League final. One of them (Murray?) spelled out her name for the others – and got it wrong (an extra ‘p’). Lawro wondered what had happened to the promised Sean Paul, and was informed he had been on stage. Green was stereotypically apoplectic. Cates – ‘I’m as much of a Dua Lipa fan as the next person’ – was the only one who had a clue, despite protesting that she too is old.
(I mean, I agree with them that random pop star isn’t a particularly useful warm-up for a football match).
*Briefly a pop star himself, of course.
Cricket World Cup time again, and Michael Vaughan stays dutifully on brand when suggesting a hard rock band the guitarist at The Oval resembles – Sheffield’s Def Leppard, of course.
Meanwhile, Tuffers is baffling Prakash Wakankar, who seems blissfully ignorant of both football and 1980s British pop culture, by trying to explain Glenn & Chris’ Diamond Lights… (Tuffers is a fan).
Today’s lunchtime guest on TMS was Lily’s dad Keith, introduced by a blast of Vindaloo. Turns out that as well as his more famous interventions in pop, Keith was a member of Rough Trade’s cricket team, the Old Roughians. The only other performer I can find mention of having played for them was the Go-Betweens’ Grant McLennan, although Joe Strummer was apparently their biggest fan.
Anyway, the interview was conducted by Dan Norcross, who very familiar with Allen’s varied career. And reading Pete’s original post and the comments that have followed over the years, it’s clear something has changed. Because 12 years ago, TMS and pop did indeed seem an odd mix. This absolutely was not a generation gap thing – Christopher Martin-Jenkins was younger than Mick Jagger, and Jonathan Agnew was born a couple of years after Madonna – but one of culture.
Nor was it universal then – as we’ve learnt, Boycott, the oldest current regular, is a proud (real) pop fan, and Mike Selvey was a classic ’70s figure (he describes himself as ‘guitar hero’ in his Twitter biog). But now Aggers really does seem to stand alone in the TMS world in his lack of pop cultural fluency (or maybe he’s just bypassed the pop era and gone straight to the social media one) – there’s no such clueless avuncularity to be had from Tuffers, let alone Isa Guha or Graeme Swann or, alas, Michael Vaughan.