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Thanks, Johnners
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Review
‘A splendid book…Like TMS it is funny, fluid and conversational.’ THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
‘So good that I felt as if the radio had been surreptitiously switched on and I was, in fact, listening to Test Match Special…it is the easiest and most enjoyable of reads.’
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
Product Description
READ BY JONATHAN AGNEW AND FOREWORD READ BY THE MAGNIFICIENT STEPHEN FRY WITH SURPRISE CONTRIBUTIONS FROM JONATHAN’S TEST MATCH SPECIAL COLLEAGUES!! Perfect for cricket fans everywhere, Thanks Johnners is a warm and witty tribute to Brian Johnston and his time at the helm of Test Match Special.
READ BY JONATHAN AGNEW, FOREWORD BY STEPHEN FRY AND SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCES FROM TEST MATCH SPECIAL COLLEAGUES. The Test Match Special on-air incident, in which Jonathan Agnew's comment on Ian Botham's attempt to avoid stepping on his stumps – "He just couldn't quite get his leg over" provoking prolonged fits of giggles, most notably from Brian Johnston, has been voted the greatest piece of sporting commentary ever. The friendship between "Aggers" and "Johnners" became immortalised through that broadcasting classic, but there was a far deeper bond between the two men, as this fascinating book reveals.
Jonathan Agnew had grown up to the sound of Johnston, Arlott, and a young Martin-Jenkins et al on TMS as he followed his father around on the family farm, ear glued to the transistor radio, but the two men met formally only when Agnew joined the BBC team at Headingley in 1991.
Thus began a great working partnership which, fuelled by a mutual passion for the noble game, bridged the generation gap and ended only with Johnston's sudden death in 1994. As this book demonstrates so convincingly, Johnners's wit, warmth and sense of fun was a feature not only of his cricket commentaries, but also in the way he lived his life. His influence on "Aggers" is clearly recognisable in the same amiable and informal manner in which his successor presents Test Match Special today.
Thanks, Johnners is a rich blend of biography and anecdote, of antics and dramas on and off the pitch, in and out of the commentary box, its pages filled with stories about the great names of cricket including Fred Trueman, Geoffrey Boycott, Vivian Richards, Michael Holding and Ian Botham. Just as TMS is the sound of summer, so Thanks, Johnners is the fresh breeze rippling the long grass of remembered pleasures.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Ostensibly a book about the best-loved commentator on cricket of the 20th century, this book on Brian Johnston is so much more than that.
It provides a warm, witty set of recollections of behind the scenes on Test Match Special both during the time Brian Johnston and Jonathan Agnew spent together at the microphone, and afterwards too.
Like the best of the commentary from Test Match Special, this sparkles with humour, with cheeky stories and wind-ups, and is told in the warm, conversational style that listeners to TMS have become accustomed to from the BBC's cricket correspondent.
All in all - rather like the rain breaks on TMS - this offers Aggers the opportunity to let loose from the commentary and enjoy the freedom to reminisce as one story leads naturally on to another.
Perfect for everyone who's missing their fix of TMS until the Ashes!
It provides a warm, witty set of recollections of behind the scenes on Test Match Special both during the time Brian Johnston and Jonathan Agnew spent together at the microphone, and afterwards too.
Like the best of the commentary from Test Match Special, this sparkles with humour, with cheeky stories and wind-ups, and is told in the warm, conversational style that listeners to TMS have become accustomed to from the BBC's cricket correspondent.
All in all - rather like the rain breaks on TMS - this offers Aggers the opportunity to let loose from the commentary and enjoy the freedom to reminisce as one story leads naturally on to another.
Perfect for everyone who's missing their fix of TMS until the Ashes!
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
`Couldn't put it down' is an over-used cliché. But Aggers' "Thanks Johnners" is the first book I have ever read in one sitting... I didn't put it down.
I accept that Johnners, Brian Johnston, is a hero of mine -- and of course a legend. Jonathan Agnew's book celebrates more than the life of the master of broadcasting, but cricket too. Cricket in its pure form. A game played by gentlemen, to a set of laws and an unwritten spirit that sadly appears to have been transgressed all too often in the past decade.
His defence of TMS, Test Match Special, is well made and balanced; one can only hope that the hierarchy at the BBC have the sense to understand Aggers' points well made.
Aggers superbly balances the life of Johnners with the enduring legacy that Brian Johnston laid down. You come away with a deep feeling of `cricket' -- not just cricket the game, but cricket the code that Johnners' lived by and more of us should adopt as our credo.
I admit a personal interest -- I worked with Johnners whilst as a sound engineer at the BBC (and many others mentioned in the book), a kinder, more generous person you could not hope to meet. My grandfather served with Brian Johnston in the Grenadier Guards, I dropped this into the conversation one day. Johnners immediately asked after him and even remembered the name of my grandmother despite it being decades since they had last met. That is Johnners.
This book is an absolutely 'must read' and not just for cricket lovers. I have just ordered ten as Christmas presents... maybe not a good idea as I suspect that turkeys will go uneaten and other presents unwrapped as collective noses get stuck-in, because they too could not put it down.
I accept that Johnners, Brian Johnston, is a hero of mine -- and of course a legend. Jonathan Agnew's book celebrates more than the life of the master of broadcasting, but cricket too. Cricket in its pure form. A game played by gentlemen, to a set of laws and an unwritten spirit that sadly appears to have been transgressed all too often in the past decade.
His defence of TMS, Test Match Special, is well made and balanced; one can only hope that the hierarchy at the BBC have the sense to understand Aggers' points well made.
Aggers superbly balances the life of Johnners with the enduring legacy that Brian Johnston laid down. You come away with a deep feeling of `cricket' -- not just cricket the game, but cricket the code that Johnners' lived by and more of us should adopt as our credo.
I admit a personal interest -- I worked with Johnners whilst as a sound engineer at the BBC (and many others mentioned in the book), a kinder, more generous person you could not hope to meet. My grandfather served with Brian Johnston in the Grenadier Guards, I dropped this into the conversation one day. Johnners immediately asked after him and even remembered the name of my grandmother despite it being decades since they had last met. That is Johnners.
This book is an absolutely 'must read' and not just for cricket lovers. I have just ordered ten as Christmas presents... maybe not a good idea as I suspect that turkeys will go uneaten and other presents unwrapped as collective noses get stuck-in, because they too could not put it down.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As you might expect of Jonathan Agnew, this book is a warm and entertaining read, giving a flavour of the way that BBC radio has covered cricket over the last 50 years or so, particularly from the viewpoint of the current BBC cricket correspondent.
While the anecdotes about Johnston (and Agnew) are amusing, what is more interesting are the occasional references which indicate the outside world in which BBC cricket coverage operated; for example, the public-school Old Boys network which gave someone like Brian Johnston his first BBC break, the influence of the South Africa boycott, or the introduction of commercial cricket coverage.
All in all a recommended read, even for those who are not necessarily huge cricket afficionados.
While the anecdotes about Johnston (and Agnew) are amusing, what is more interesting are the occasional references which indicate the outside world in which BBC cricket coverage operated; for example, the public-school Old Boys network which gave someone like Brian Johnston his first BBC break, the influence of the South Africa boycott, or the introduction of commercial cricket coverage.
All in all a recommended read, even for those who are not necessarily huge cricket afficionados.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Lightweight Puffery
Having paid 1p for a new copy of this book, I can see why, (and it was over-priced at that).
It's nothing more than a self-serving, extemely light-weight Agnew biog. Read more
It's nothing more than a self-serving, extemely light-weight Agnew biog. Read more
Published 3 months ago by R. E. Lee
A mixed bag
As other reviewers have pointed out, the title of the book is very misleading because it is not just a biography of Johnners. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. A. J. Clark
An Excellent Book
This is an excellent book from Jon Agnew and is a must for all cricket fans particularly those who listen to Test Match Special on the radio and who had the pleasure of listening... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. R. Parkes
A Wonderful Tribute
Fans of cricket will get the chance to enjoy some of the stories surrounding the best loved commentator of the game in the 20th Century. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Gareth Wilson - Falcata Times Blog
Wonderful
This is a wonderful book if you adore the game of cricket and look forward to summer days spent in the company of Aggers et al. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Vaclav Havel
Thanks Jonners
Fantastic listening.I didn't want it to end.
Just wish Aggers wouldn't keep saying the name Brian over & over again.
We know who it is about. Read more
Just wish Aggers wouldn't keep saying the name Brian over & over again.
We know who it is about. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Trevaro
Johnners
What a disappointment. Was looking forward to a funny and cheery book, but it turned out to be a repetitive and very thinly veiled autobiography of Johnathan Agnew. Boring!! Read more
Published 15 months ago by GCU
Gentle look behind the scenes of TMS
For those of us who have spent countless winters listening TMS under the blankets or turned off the sound during summers past this book is a look at some of the chaarcters who we... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Mr Tombs
The return of Johnners
This book by Jonathan Agnew almost brings Brian Johnston back to life again. No matter how many books or stories I read about Johnners they still have the capacity to literally... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Andrew Robinson
A really good read if you love cricket
This is a terrific book if you love cricket. Aggers writes with an easy style and from years of experience. Read more
Published 16 months ago by David Way
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