The cricket legend with Norfolk in his blood
BBCFormer cricket commentator and Norfolk raconteur Henry Blofeld has been speaking about his love for his home county ahead of a one-man show on Sunday.
'Blowers' is well known to cricket fans as the voice of BBC radio commentaries and was awarded an OBE in 2003.
Born in Hoveton, near Norwich, he played for Cambridge University and for his home county before turning to sports broadcasting.
Now approaching his 85th birthday, Mr Blofeld said: "I'm like Edinburgh rock - wherever you cut me, I've got Norfolk written across me."
The proud Norfolk man, who still lives in the Hoveton area, was known for his insatiable appetite for his work - whether that was his theatre shows, writing books, public speaking or writing for newspapers.
He officially announced his retirement from BBC Radio's Test Match Special after 45 years in the commentary box in 2017, at the age of 77.
Wherever work took him, he was always glad to return to his Norfolk home.
"I love Norfolk, I was born and bred here and it's always really been my home," he said.
"You walk around, and reminisce about the old days and you suddenly come across a corner in a field, and you think gosh, I remember falling off my bicycle and a tractor nearly running me over - things like that."
"And then you go through Hoveton, although it's changed of course, I mean the butcher's gone and the fishmonger's gone, and the chemist's moved but it doesn't matter - it's good old Hoveton, and I love it."
Recalling his early cricketing days, he said: "Hoveton and Wroxham played on the old park land - a green pitch laid down by my father.
"I first played for Norfolk when I was 16 and I made my highest score for Norfolk, I think it was in 79 against Nottinghamshire second XI, in my first match.
"And the other great moment I had, I went in and had a tremendous slog and got about 40 and when I came off, Bill Edrich - the great Bill Edrich - handed me my county cap... and I remember that very, very well indeed - as you can imagine."
He may be referred to as retired, but Mr Blofeld said: "I really am working quite hard because I'm in the theatre with my one-man show anything up to 50 or 60 nights a year, perhaps."
An Afternoon with Henry Blofeld is at Beccles Public Hall and Theatre at 14:30 BST on Sunday.
And perhaps it is just as well that is the title, as the previous time he appeared at that Suffolk venue, he forgot it was a matinee - and nearly did not show at all.
"I was sitting in this house at three in the afternoon thinking it was a 7:30 kick-off, and the telephone suddenly went and it was someone saying, 'you realise it's a matinee?' - and the curtain was due to go up at half-past-three," Mr Blofeld said.
"So I got in my car, broke every speed limit in the book - police are still trying to catch me, I think," he joked.
This time around he has assured organisers he will be there well ahead of curtains-up.
"Fingers crossed - no mishaps this time," he quipped.
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