Test Match Special - Day 2: Relentless England bowlers swing it England's way

Episode Date: July 25, 2020

Jonathan Agnew presents from Old Trafford where England are in a good position to win the 3rd Test - and the series - against the West Indies. Stuart Broad's rapid-fire 62 helped Joe Root's side to a total of 369. He and his old pal Jimmy Anderson then took two wickets apiece as the tourists closed on 137-6. Aggers, Michael Vaughan and Carlos Brathwaite pick over the day's play while Eleanor Oldroyd chats both to Broad and to Kemar Roach, who joined an exclusive group of West Indian bowlers to take 200 Test wickets. Elsewhere, there's an interview with two sisters who have composed Full Tosca - TMS: The Opera during lockdown and we rewind to 1991 to hear a classic View from the Boundary interview with the legendary actor Peter O'Toole, who recalls playing cricket on the set of Lawrence of Arabia with Omar Sharif.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. To embrace the impossible requires a vehicle that pushes what's possible. Defender 110 boasts a towing capacity of 3,500 kilograms, a weighting depth of 900 millimeters and a roof load up to 300 kilograms. Learn more at landrover.ca. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. You're listening to the TMS Podcasts. from BBC Radio 5 Live.

I'm Jonathan Agnew. Welcome to the TMS podcast, looking back on the second day of the deciding England versus West Indies test from Emirates, Old Trafford. To come, we'll get the thoughts of Carlos Brathwaite and Michael Vaughn, and we'll get reaction from Stuart Broad and Keimar Roach.

Plus, we'll play you the Agar's Aria from the full Tosca, TMS, the Opera. This is the TMS podcast, from BBC Radio 5 Live. Well, bad light has stopped. playing. We'll begin our review of the third day of this third and final test match between England and West Indies at

Emirates Old Traffat. It closes on West Indies in their first innings on 137 for 6. The captain Jason Holder, 24 not out, and Shane Dharic is on 10, not out. It means there are 232 runs behind England, and so as everyone will work out, that means they need 33 more runs to avoid the question, or the

possibility of being asked to follow on by England, who lost six for 100 and 11 this morning. They were bowled out for 369. They lost 4 for 22 and then there was a stand of 76

between Broad and Best. Broaders went out to smash the ball all over the place. He hit the third fastest half century by an Englishman. His 50 came off 33 balls and he was finally caught. It was a horrible dismissal really because he just, I think, premeditated a slog sweep. It got an absolute pie from Chase, a lowful toss that he hit

straight down deep mid's wicket throat. But he made a very good 62 and in the light of what had happened before that, Pope out without adding to his overnight score of 91 and he was dropped before he was bowled by Gabriel as well. Butler made 56 Wokes made one Archer made three and

Anderson was the last man out for 11 with Donbess on 18 not out the best of the bowl as Kuma Roach took four for 72 but again another very wholehearted display by a Shannon Gabriel has kept running in and kept running in and kept running in. So that was what happened this morning. Three

69 all out and West Indies have finished on 137 per 6 I said it's end to the third day it's actually under the second day

isn't it Michael but there we go well it's a fascinating day 12 12 wickets falling I've been sort of saying around

around the place I think England would be really disappointed about that morning because that was warning they could really

have nailed this going down if I had scored another 100 runs then the whole follow on issue might have looked clearer

shall we say yeah but I think you've got to give the West Indus bowlers for that first hour they were tremendous of Kiemar Roach

got movement ball, the perfect length. They held a couple of chances. You know, they've had two times in the test match. It was yesterday after T, where they had to win that hour, the West Indies. When England were four wickets down, they didn't win that hour, allowed England to finish the day strongly. This morning they get four wickets, the 280 for eight,

and you think the West Indies have to win the next half hour. Blow England out for 290, 300. And they allowed Stuart Rour to come in and play with so much freedom. He played with risk, and it's hard to. set fields because the ball's travelling to all parts but when you only get three balls to hit the stumps or would have gone on to hit the stumps from the scene ball as you know that you've just not got it

right. Jimmy Anderson came out there, number 11 spinners are on, they didn't even have a short leg or a silly point and that was the moment I thought wait a minute you've just lost it a little bit here Jason and then once they got the batting hand in these conditions clouds around the Duke ball Jimmy Anderson Stewart Broad

probably English cricket's test match best ever combination you're not going to get too many you're not going to get a huge score with the lack of experience in the West Indies batting line up and it just feels to me it's just a matter of time

before the West Indies loser's. Even when they have a small partnership and it develops, you always sense it's just a matter of time before something happens and full credit to England they kept coming and they keep bowling the right zone just after T when Anderson and Broad were together

I think there was 60-odd balls bowled and they scored seven seven runs in 60 odd balls and that's what they do they're relentless they don't give you much and there comes a time where you think well you've got to take a gamble you've almost got to try and force the momentum

back onto them by gambling somewhat but it's very very difficult it's almost impossible to get a huge huge score against this kind of England attack in these conditions yeah Carlos has joined us so we talked about that session

after team and obviously there was a wicket fell I've been three fell in that session Where do you think West Indies are at the moment? I mean, it's a rather meandering innings, wasn't it, really? Generally, I think Holder obviously move things along a bit towards the end. Yeah, in this test, I'd say they've been outskilled. With the ball, after tea, the attacking intent showed by poor from Butler,

they didn't have an answer to it. As long as they were able to regroup and come again, today's first session they were good as soon as broad counterattacked again they're a bit unsure of where to go when you look at the batting unit everyone is getting caught on the crease

probably John Campbell is the only person getting a striding that was his eventual downfall getting the short ball from Joffre and getting in a funny position but Ross & Chase has been out LBW are bowled pretty much the same way in every single innings

bar the lifter from Joffrey in the first test Everyone is caught and the crease. They have the hands searching for the ball and they need to find the way I mean it's probably too late now but what I would say the positive thing is the bowling unit would have learned

from the second test. You saw an increased number of bouncer and actual plan B at certain points in the innings and it's for the batsmen to learn as well when the ball is swinging around how do I get my weight forward and into the ball

so that if I am hit on my pad like all the port was at least I'm outside of off stumped with the majority of the batting milling and a half-stump. When the short ball plan comes, how do I go about it? Do I duck for 11-overs? Do I fire some shots? How do I attack or be positive, whether in

defense or in attack, against the short ball plan? So, if the batting unit learns from this series, the same way the bowling unit, obviously they've done from test match to test match, then I think this series would hold them in good stead going forward, but they have been outskilled in this test

match. Let's join Ellie Old Royce. She's with Kimmer Roach, I think. Yes, absolutely. A man who joined very, very distinguished company today by getting 200 test wickets. Congratulations, Kimmer. Thank you very much, man. Yeah, what did it feel like? Did you have

that milestone on your mind for the last few days? Yeah, I guess a little bit too much. It was on my mind, some sleep last night. You know, obviously looking back at my spells before, obviously, to get some confidence going into these test matches. So it's a good feeling to get over that bar. Ryan now. It's obviously on to see how much more it can get for the best in these, and hopefully 300 would be great.

When we talk about the likes of Ambrose, Walsh, Sobers, Holding Roberts, who was your hero growing up? Michael Marshall. Markle Marshall is definitely one of my heroes growing up. I didn't get a chance to really meet him, the great man, rest in peace. But obviously, the videos I saw, the input and the advice I got from other people about him, like he was a fantastic human being, obviously, and a fantastic bowler. so I'm trying to emulate him as much as I can. How far do you want to carry on and how many more wickets would you like to get? I'll try for 300. I'll try for it.

It's going to take a lot, but I think I have it in me to get 300 test wickets. So I'll work hard towards that and let's see how far I can go after 300. You had such a brilliant spell at the start of today with Shannon Gabriel and then things maybe just went slightly weird with Stuart Broad out there.

What was that? How did you assess today? Yeah, we started well, as you said, picking up four wickets pretty early. It was pretty good. But obviously, Strip Ward came in and he played his shots. Things went his way, played well as well. So, yeah, things just drifted a little bit against us, but we still did well to bowl the team out. And obviously, we're back in now, a little bit of a tough position. But I'm confident the guys will stick it out and obviously fight for this test match.

Yeah, a lot to fight for. If you can retain the Wisden Trophy, then that would be a special way for you to finish this tour. Oh, definitely. Yeah. Well done, Kimmer. Thank you very much to talk to you. Cheers. Keimar Roach, on to 300 he goes.

Yeah. Which he might well do these days. A lovely bowler and well done him on getting his 200. Let's talk about Stuart Broad because when you've got a left-handed batsman, he's got a great eye, which he does have, he's got a lot of shots. But when a left-hand in particular, it seems to me, gives himself a little bit of room. That whole off-side is just opened up, isn't it? He can scythe it from almost first slip round a long off.

It can just go all over the place. And it's dangerous. dangerous when he connects like that. Yeah, I mean, they just got it wrong. I mean, my belief, and when I was captain, I got it wrong a few times as well because you're out there and the emotions and you're trying to bowl yorkers and bounces

and before you know it, he's got to 1520 and then you try and get a cup in the right zone he's in, he swings one over your top of your head, it goes for four, and then an edge goes for four, an inside edge goes for four, top edge pool goes for four, so it's not easy. There's two things that they should have done. They should have kept it simple.

Should have kept it very simple. just aim for the furniture aim for the three sticks or they should have gone wide of off-stom and just say right we'll go wide of off-stom and really make him fetch the ball and pat the off-side and make him do something different but it's very difficult to stop the momentum

when a player like that comes out and gets to 20 so quickly I think you got to 20 and 10 balls and all of a sudden you're trying to drag it back and it's then as a captain you need some real senior players around you that just go up to you as a skip and just say skip I think we're getting this wrong can we just go back to the basics of the game

you know, he's hitting us to our part. Let's just go and let him hit us to one side of the ground. But I've been in that kind of situation and I can understand that you get a bit flustered and you kind of think he's just going to chip one straight in the air and you'll get him out eventually. Where it's there when you just need that little bit of calmness or someone next year to say, let's get the basics right.

And the West Indies didn't cover the basics well enough. And if the DeBold England out for 280, 2.90, you know, you go out to take your guard and it just looks so much different to the 360 odd that, They had to take guard with. And, you know, it also gives broad a huge amount of momentum to get the ball in hand. You know what it's like if you've got a few runs as a bowler, really. And you're then bowling, you think, well, I've already contributed to the game situation.

I've put our team in a strong position, and now I've got the chance to bowl on the venue that I've bowed so well on just a few days ago. Broad's been great. I mean, there's something in his mechanism that when he gets a bit of stick and a bit of criticism, it's happened before. You only have to go back a year or two ago. I can't remember when it was. I think I kind of prodded him with something and he came back, proved me wrong, fine, great. He misses the first test.

He does an interview, puts himself under pressure. It takes a mental kind of toughness in your own game and your own confidence to be able to then deliver. And it's the second week now that he's delivered. All right, he's playing a West Indies side that he would expect to deliver against, but it also takes a huge amount of mental strength to do it under the pressure that he put himself under.

Must be frustrating, Carlos, because the fast bowlers know he doesn't like. the short stuff. So he set the fields but actually one of the first bounces he got from Roach actually bang he hit it for six and suddenly go whoa hang on a minute perhaps he can't do this good they didn't bowl many more after that real

proper sort of head hunting bounces yeah when you look at the way he came up to bat Roach probably won over left had a long spell Shannon Gabriel same thing then you think Jason Holder not really been threatening you with a boxer Rochey dug one in which was good

I think Shannon dug one in as well and it just missed him. But in that situation, as Vonney said, you want someone to slow the game down, you want him to think about it. You want him to have to rely on his skill, his batting ability, which he obviously has.

But the fear that he's had from the short ball overtakes the batting ability more often than not. He just went off emotion, he just went off adrenaline. And before you knew it, because of the lack of faith in the batting lineup, it all of a sudden turned until we need to save runs. As soon as it crosses,

300, then Jason Holder's always counting down. How much runs do I actually feel my batting line up can get me? If you had a Viracoli, a Pujara, Rahani, you'll say, yeah, go on, keep knocking it about. You probably get to 30 or 40 a little quicker, but you keep fielders in catching positions. You make more chances because you're sure that your batting lineup can repair the damage done by your short, broad blitz. when you're not so sure the first thing

well he's proven to do is to get defensive and going a shell and then you see everyone spread to all parts and then as a result Don Best got probably the easiest 18

anyone's ever scored in test cricket no threat no catchers I knew who's there really did we block block single block single

but Carlos that's probably why the explanation of Jason Holder bowling first you know it's very easy for it oh you should have batty But in his mind, he's thinking, wait a minute, I've got a 300 team.

So I need to bowl really England out for 200 like I did in the first test. And if there's any moisture, I'm worried with my batting that we could get ball out for 120, 140, and that's game over. So you've got to look at it at two sides of the fence. It looks like it's an awful decision the second week on the trot. But from his perspective, with his team, he feels that the best way to win, if there's any moisture in the surface, which there wasn't as much as he probably thought, is to bowl England out for just over 200. his team get 300 and then do a similar thing to what happened in Southampton knowing that he'd have to chase probably 200 in the last innings of the test match

when you've got that kind of team batting lineup I understand what he's done I do understand it but you kind of look and think oh wouldn't it have been worth just to try a different method to what didn't work last week yeah yeah sorry I think for him Southampton is perfect if Anthony is to move to number one in the world and be the best test team ever they need that Southampton blueprint every test match you play but you come to Manchester

you face with overcast conditions then it gets hot the pitch doesn't do as much as Southampton not as much inconsistent bunks you're then forced with passages of play which you've got to mix it out have a plan B have a plan C you saw storks running in when West Indies got

a bit of a partnership both 11 on the trot just short balls from around the wicket West Indies don't have that neither with the bowling at the moment or the batting to be able to counter interact that. So when the game is just bat and ball down the channel

battle of patience, the wrestling these will win because they've become a very patient side and they execute the basics on a longer basis in comparison to recent past. However, when they're taken out of their comfort zone and ask questions of the skill set, the

mindset, the intensity, them intent that's when they're found lacking. And in Manchester, these two test matches have thrown up. So many plan B, Cs, Ds, we've run through all alphabet. You can come back to Manchester. You actually described Manchester as hot. Did he? Yeah, he described it as hot. All he was. I heard he said it was hot. Did he? Yeah, you can come back, Carlos. Tell you who just before, we've got a couple of minutes to go,

who missed out today, I think, who was Josh Butler. There was a chance actually to put away a lot of the noise and just to, well, he didn't have to necessarily to get together. a hundred but just to a big school 44 test matches for 100 for his ability he knows it's not not what he would have expected you know all I'll say to him

is that make sure that you keep that technique going forward because his technique has been so much stronger this week just so much able to get back towards the ball where it's come from with that opening up balance of being able to play a forward defence again I keep saying it but if you can play a forward defence at test match level you can back

for a period of time if you've got any kind of ounce of negativity or doubt that that forward defense won't be played with balance, you're just not going to survive. There's always going to be a ball that just nips back onto the stumps and you're going to be back into the sheds quicker than you would have liked. So all I say is continue to play in that fashion. Whatever the kind of mental kind of state that he's been in this week, whatever the kind of triggers are in his own mind for that technique to work, write it down. Write it down now this week and bring it out against Pakistan because what he's done there in getting that score and having that strong

partnership with Ollie Pope, he's guarantee that he's going to play the full three test matches against Pakistan. I can't think that they're going to change, but just bring that technique week after week. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Let's get some reaction now from the England camp then. Stuart Broad had another good day this time with bat and ball, and he's been talking to Eleanor Oldroyd. Well, Stuart, you've had quite a day with bat and with ball.

How do you reflect on that? Yeah, a really good day. We set out this morning wanting to try and get 400. But actually, you know, I think the West Indies bowled beautifully this morning asked us a lot of questions. So 400 would have been way above par actually. But it also gave us some encouragement as a bowling unit, seeing how well they bowled and how much they got out the pitch,

that if we could bring the West Indies batsman forward and play with a straight bat, we'd be in the game. So I think we probably got just over par with the bat. credit to how the guys went about it yesterday, Butler and Pope and Burns and then the way we bowled was exactly what we wanted to do. We wanted to apply pressure, control the rate, build momentum that way and then when wickets come, the West Indies haven't gone anywhere.

So it was a brilliant day in that respect, but we've got to go again tomorrow. Let's talk about your batting. Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff, Alan Lamb, Stuart Broad, England batsman who've got 50s in 33 balls or less? I know, yeah, it's quite fun that. I'm a bit annoyed I sort of slowed down at the end and started knocking ones.

If I'd have known that, I'd kept going. But yeah, it was probably the right way to go. I think we saw how much movement that Shannon and Kumar were getting from nibbling the ball around the stump line. So I thought if I let them just continue doing that, I'm going to get out. So I wanted to try and strike the ball

and put them off their lengths and then once I got going I sort of couldn't rain it back really so it was great fun I thought Bessie was brilliant to bat with out there almost showed brilliant experience for such a young guy to keep playing the way he did

and didn't let me sort of swiping away changed the way he went about his business so yeah it was great fun I have done some tactical work with Peter Moore's in the lockdown period well, after the lockdown period, in our training bit, and looked a lot at how Shane Warren batted and just scored in different areas

and was awkward to bat to Bolto, particularly in that sort of 05 Ashes series. And that's something that I looked at and wanted to try and replicate. And it's hard in this biosecure environment. We don't get a lot of match time unless you're playing test matches, which is strange for us.

Normally at this time of year, we'd have played 10 first class games. So it's hard to really know how you're going in the net, so it was good to spend a bit of time out there. Yeah, it was your first 50 since 2013, I think, wasn't it? I scored one at the MCG when Cookie got 2.30 odd, I think. Right, well, there you go. Yeah, you don't forget such things, but I was going to ask you if you'd done work on that.

Have you done work psychologically as well as technically? Not really. I think the tactical side of it is probably the most important to realize where, how you want to go about it. because for me, there's no point me trying to hang around for an hour and play a lot of defensive shots because I think the bowlers, when it's doing as much as that, will be too good for me. So to try and put them off what they're doing

and try and get in the West Indies bubble like that, it was probably a thing that would suit me, especially batting at number 10. But yeah, I really enjoyed it. I think I got a lot of confidence at the Wanderers, batting with Mark Wood, where we put on nearly 100 really quick. and I think that sort of style

really suits my striking technique really I want to take the game away from the bowlers and it was perfect for that scenario and then you come out to bowl and you take a wicket in the first over we talk about momentum did you gain confidence from scoring those runs potentially and last week

I felt like I bowed really well and I felt that that end really suited me so it might be a bit loud that but yeah I found I was running into bowl almost feeling like I was in last week's game so I wasn't finding my feet I was just running in and getting going and I think the way we built pressure all of the bowlers today was was brilliant it was brilliant opening the bowling with Jimmy again and sort of proving that we can the way we go about our business is is successful in test match cricket and we'll just have to try and repeat that tomorrow morning. It was lovely to see you bowling together. It was actually quite sweet watching you sharing a jumper as well. Yeah, that was your jumper, I think, wasn't it? My jumper.

It sort of, I think, when you're bowling, obviously, you don't need a jumper on because you're too warm. But when you have those six balls off, you do need a jumper to try and keep the back warm. So we decided to, I don't know why, but decided just to keep swapping jumpers to save the 12th men having to do 50-yard sprints every over. well it was great and it obviously worked and confident that tomorrow you can go finish the job and set up the win in the series yeah absolutely I mean our number one aim is to win this test

match and to take the series but I think as a short term goal we should try and get these wickets to try and enforce the follow on that's got to be an aim for us in the morning that'll keep us very focused and looking after the run rate because we don't have too many runs to play with but when you do

that you get wickets so I think we want to be in the position where we could enforce a follow-on and that means we'll have to bowl really well in the first hour and just a quick final one you've now got more than twice the number of test runs as your dad have you pointed that out to him i didn't know that but it's a nice stat to have but i won't i won't say anything yet because he's still match referee and i still i still under his control so to speak so i might mention it to him after the test match when he can't find me thanks Stuart well done thank you you're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

Well, you may remember last summer we heard about two music teaching sisters, Anna and Sarah Willby, who began to write Fultosca, TMS, the Opera, on Sarah's canal boat. We played the opening chorus last year, but the lockdown period has allowed them to finish the whole opera, and they've even managed to record some of it virtually. So we'll hear from Anna and Sarah in a moment, but first let's listen to the Aguzearia, Stolwit, and I am Agnes, stalwart and true, leader of this resolute crew. My heart is pure, my tongue is light. To commentate is my delight.

Why are we all here? Is it just having this time of the year? Good gracious now, our bloodies up, We're here to win the Cricket World Cup. Welcome to Lords for the final match of the 2019 Cricket World Cup. England have snatched hope from the jaws of defeat to get this far, breaking their losing streak to beat India and then Australia in style. in style.

All this now rests on one final test New Zealand and the host A morning glass These are good Leader of this present crew His heart is new

His time is life To volunteer Why are we all here? Why are we all here? Is it just habit this time of the year? Good gracious snow, our blood is our We're here to win the cricket world club We're here to win the cricket world come

That's the first one I've heard that. Anna and Sarah, hello. Just remind us how this opera started. You're on your canal boat, won't you? We were, yeah. So I was actually on the Trinity League and had a baby, and we were trying to go somewhere where we could all be together and sinks.

And on the way down, we had heard the last hour. I think you'd had rain, so you'd played it again, the World Cup. and we just thought it just sounded like an opera it had such poetry to it and motion and terrorism and drama so we thought

that's absolutely inspiring stuff and with the chorus in the backgrounds really this audience were just singing their hearts out it sort of wrote itself in many ways so we had the mad idea

managed to get hold of some manuscript paper and jotted down few bits and pieces and actually it's just gone from there it's it's been really really good fun and so many people have got involved well that's that's what's really nice about it so this is a full-length opera and how many you heard the the aria there that he's very kindly dedicated to me as it were but what how many other songs are there in there i think there's probably about ten separate movements the idea was to try and introduce all the characters of TMS as well, has had some chorus numbers.

And trying to make it as jolly and fun as they all is for everybody, was a tap dance number, obviously, for the umpires, kind of wrote itself, to be honest, as well. Appetition blues, almost, yeah, things like that today. Yeah, it's been really good fun, we've really enjoyed it. And obviously, with lockdown having happened, so many people desperate to get the picket back going that we've kind of kept it going a little bit

ourselves in our own little way and so we've managed to complete it but it is an opera in one act so no one gets a chance to leave halfway three right okay well I mean my next my next question really was I mean is there a story to this is there a narrative to this opera or is it just really is this

some music that you've dedicated to various people who appear on TMS well it's all set around the final of the the World Cup. So it starts with an overture which would have to Jerusalem in the minute that the audience has to sing. And then it introduces

the sets the scene, introduces the main TMS characters and then concludes with a musical setting of the super overs from the final. Lovely. And Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond, does he feature in there? He does, but don't tell him.

He would have to, because because Lords was just absolutely ringing to that for that last hour in particular. So how have you recorded this then? Because obviously I heard a man's voice there

singing that aria. How have you managed to get people to record this opera for you? Well, it's a wonder of social media. So we put out a post a few days ago saying were there any gauze musicians around and thankfully, yes it were.

The Agus figure himself is there as husband, Edward Allen, fabulous and then the chorus is a lovely voice by the way far better than mine he has is brilliant yeah it'd be very proud of sorry so like after the page of and but the rest are a lot of our friends who answered the call and we sent out a backing track and the music and they sent us their recordings and we edited it all together oh and I see one of the songs called boycott's nightmare which rather caught my eye and I'm quite pleased about that you better you better tell us about that song and the actual

what happens, what is boycott's nightmare? Well, we were faced with the problem that he wasn't actually at the World Cup, so there's a little bit of artistic license, but essentially he kind of is set with him in bed having a nightmare, and he's just sort of rambling away with all his main saying, sick of rhubarb, etc, etc. Excellent. And a lot of patriotic Yorkshire, no.

Yeah, it's very important. Proper boycott bingo. You went through the whole card, did you? We did, absolutely, yeah. That's right. Now, what are you going to do that? You've obviously recorded a lot of this virtually. But, I mean, are you planning to actually perform it somewhere?

Absolutely. I mean, we're both music teachers, so we're in this great situation where kids have to do what we're telling. So we're going to put it on at school as soon as we're allowed, basically. And I think our vision is that the opt-to- itself is about 30 minutes, so that it would be a way of bringing together lots of aspects of school life. So we'd actually start with a 20-20. cricket match and then have key

and then everybody into the hole for the performance of the opera that's the class. That's fantastic. I mean any thoughts of a sequel? I mean I suppose the World Cup finals was a bit of a one-off wasn't it? Yeah we'll put it on first three and you never know. The TMS podcast

from BBC Radio 5 live I wonder when we'll see the first full performance of TMS, the Opera. You can watch highlights of events here at Old Trafford on today at the test on the BBC IPlayer or via the website and there's plenty more to enjoy on BBC sounds including some classic view from the boundary interviews such as this one from 1991 with Lawrence of Arabia star Peter O'Toole with Brian Johnston you didn't as a start appear to be sort of in an acting family or anything how did you get into acting oh it looking back on it now

there seems to be an inevitable logic to it all but it wasn't I really stumbled it into it from one thing to another somebody got ill and I took it over in an amateur production and then someone said you ought to do it professionally and I thought well shall I try this and then I got a scholarship to the RADA and it went from there yeah and you got the scholarship by all

just barging in and making nuisance yourself so I'm told so Kenneth Barnes heard you and you're very well informed well I know people at that Rada and they said you were making so much noise he came out and said what's going on and said well give the chap a test and having given you the tests, he gave you a scholarship.

Is that right? It's too good to be true. It's not quite true, but what is true is that I'd spent the night in Stratford on Avon watching Michael Regbrae play King Lear. And looking for somewhere to sleep, I had no money. I slept in a field with a chum. And we'd covered ourselves with what we thought was straw, and it was indeed merely the cozy to a dung pile.

And so when we'd thumbed our lift into lunch, We weren't exactly fragrant, but the lorry driver dropped us at Houston Station. Pretty quickly, I should think. Very quickly. And even that was a bit terrifying. It was a lorry carrying beer barrels. And we were standing on the beer barrels, rattling around. Got off at Houston, aiming for a men's hostel where we had, indeed, had booked a bed.

And I passed the RADA. And I thought, oh, Royal Academy from Metagard, yes. And I popped in, and I began a conversation with the sergeant, the commissioner of the door, and we were looking at a bust of Bernard Shaw. And the sergeant and I were telling stories about Bernard Shaw. And Sir Kenneth Barnes did come along and joined in the storytelling. And I think one of my stories may have intrigued him or something. I think you'll smell it.

still ponging then? Well, my companion said you would be removed from there O'Too by a person with a clothes peg on his nose.

Lawrence of Arabia, one or two others turned the part down. Did they not? Weren't you told? They said Finney turned it down. I'm delighted that they did.

You snapped it up as soon as it was off as soon as it came my way. I felt I was in the slips and the bottle came my way. I thought I'll have that one. You were not pretty Sandy Wicket, though, for a long time, weren't you? Mary, and Omar Sharif, another good cricketer.

Did you ever have any games in the desert? In the middle of the desert. Did you? Did you? To the hundred and twenty degrees, yes, we played cricket to the astonishment of the Bedouin who hadn't the foggiest idea of what was going on. Did they feel for you? No, they didn't, but they looked at the ball with great suspicion, and one of them

picked it up and thought, oh, this is a wonderful weapon, and they were flinging at each other. Well, it did it take an awful long time to do. I mean, it was a long film. It took a couple of years. Did it? Out of your life? In my life, it became my life. It was more than just a film.

It was a huge adventure. I mean, it was everything that a young 28-year-old man could wish, or I could wish, at least, to be out into the desert, into the Holy Land, to be working with a genius, David Lean, with a first-class script by Robert Bolt with a company of superb actors. Quite a few in the company, to say the least thousands. I mean, I need a score sheet, or I'll leave some.

But it really was. And I was like a young Matador. Another bull would come in. I'd play with the... Who's this morning? Anthony Quinn. Who's the day? Alex Guinness.

Who's the day? Anthony Quayle. Who's the day? Donald Wulfit. Who's the day? Donald Welfit. It was astonishing. Not a bad 11, that.

Not a bad. You can enjoy plenty of classic view from the boundary interviews on BBC Sounds. We're back on air at 1015 for our highlights half hour and then from 1045, also on Radio 4 Longwave.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Juergen, you're a big fan of the BBC Sounds app. Oh yes, oh yes. Well, we've heard reports that you've been enjoying the Football Daily podcast on him. I loved it. That makes me quite happy, to understand. Jose, Football Daily is bringing top analysis and comment on BBC Sounds. How do you feel about that?

Of course, it's the best thing in football. Are you a fan, Oli? Yeah, I love that. Wow, this is massive. Pep, Football Daily has some big-named guests. Are you excited to listen? This is a good news for us. The team is really good.

Listen to the Football Daily podcast on the BBC Sounds app.