BELOVED English eccentric Henry Blofeld has an innings at Swindon Arts Centre tonight, as part of his Farewell Tour, 78, Retired.

Henry ‘My Dear Old Thing’ Blofeld has hung up his microphone after 50 years commentating on international cricket.

The cherished golden voice of cricket decided to celebrate by touring the country with his brand-new show, full of unheard anecdotes from on and off the pitch, as well as stories from the Test Match Special box not allowed on the radio.

Born in 1939, Blofeld went to school at Eton and he played cricket for Eton against Harrow at Lord's when he was fifteen. A year later he slogged a hundred at Lord's for the Public Schools against the Combined Services.

On leaving school, Blofeld went up to King's College, Cambridge but says he was kicked out after two years, though he made it into the Cambridge cricket side in 1959 and had the luck to play in first-class matches against Denis Compton and the great Australian all-rounder, Keith Miller. And he scored a first-class hundred at Lord's.

After three years in the City of London, bowler hat and all, - a time he describes as 'ghastly' - he began to write about cricket as a freelance for the Times in 1962.

Broadcasting came along ten years later when he joined the famous Test Match Special team for two one-day games against Australia and he has been entertaining cricket fans over the airwaves ever since.

Blofeld has written fifteen books, mostly about cricket. His book about Kerry Packer, called The Packer Affair, was a great success and so too was his autobiography, A Thirst for Life.

He has known many famous people, and of course his family name was borrowed by Ian Fleming for the name of one of his chief villains in the Bond books, Ernst Stavros Blofeld.

Blofeld met Fleming, who introduced him to writer Noel Coward at a lunch party in Jamaica.

The golden voice of cricket finally retired in 2017

Don’t miss the chance to wave a bat in honour to the last bastion of the original Test Match Special team, that who made it the much-loved programme what it is today. The summers of cricket will never be the same without our ‘Dear Old Thing’.

Tickets are £22.50. To book, call 01793 524481 or visit swindontheatres.co.uk.