Peter West interviewed by Ahmer Khokhar

Reference

AV/4/4

Date:

2002

Level of description

item

Extent

2 cassettes: 53 minutes 34 seconds

Part of

Audio Cassettes (AV/4)

Scope and Content

Cassette recording of an interview with Peter West conducted by Ahmer Khokhar. The recording consists of two sides.

Side A: [0:00-1:30] West talks about his childhood and his early memories of cricket, [1:30-3:30] West talks about his cricket heroes growing up including Frank Woolley and L E G Ames, [3:30-8:20] West talks about playing cricket and rugby at school and becoming a journalist after the Second World War, and assisting with writing reports for C B Fry who recommended him for a job commentating for the BBC, [8:20-10:30] West talks about his trial as a BBC commentator at Lord's and meeting Rex Alston, and recalls an incident where Alston's obituary was printed in a newspaper by mistake, [10:30- 13:20] West talks about his commentary debut for BBC at Edgbaston in 1947 (Warwickshire vs. South Africans) and his decision to pursue television commentary, and his first Test match in 1952 (England vs. India, Old Trafford), [13:20-16:35] West talks about cricet commentary in the 1950s and the success of the England team in the 1950s, [16:35-20:00] West talks about the impact of technology on umpires, [20:00-29:45] West talks about his favourite cricketers in particular P B H May, Len Hutton and J M Brearley and discusses who he would include in his personal English all-time XI, [29:45-33:50] West talks about the England team's performances under Nasser Hussain's captaincy, [33:50-36:25] West talks about his biggest on-air embarrassments during his career and how he dealt with them, [36:25-40:45] West talks about the highlights of his broadcasting career including England winning the Ashes in 1953 at The Oval and listening to B A Johnston's commentary of the winning runs, watching Bishen Bedi bowl, and Jim Laker's performance against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956.

Side B: [0:00-5:00] West talks about watching cricket on television and his regret at not covering overseas England tours and talks about R G D Willis, [5:00-10:40] West talks about an incident in Spain where he was caught bathing in the nude, [10:40-12:45] West talks about the letters he received from viewers, and how he would like history to remember him.

Associations

Frank Edward Woolley
Peter West
Leslie Ethelbert George Ames
Charles Burgess Fry
Rex Alston
BBC
Peter Barker Howard May
Sir Leonard Hutton
John Michael Brearley
Bishan Singh Bedi
James Charles Laker
Robert George Dylan Willis
Brian Alexander Johnston
Nasser Hussain

Subject

broadcasting, commentary, Australia in England 1953, Australia in England 1956

Institution name

Marylebone Cricket Club

Conditions governing access

Open

Language

English, 6574, , , , , , , , ,

Size

2 cassettes: 53 minutes 34 seconds

Hierarchy browser

• Audio Cassettes (AV/4)
  
  • Peter West interviewed by Ahmer Khokhar (AV/4/4)