Ball boys

Brian Johnston had a keen sense of the ridiculous and would often have the commentary box in fits of helpless laughter with inappropriate jokes. Once, after describing Tony Greig polishing the ball on his right thigh, Johnston called the aftermath of the next delivery: "The ball rolls to Hendrick at mid-on, who picks it up this time and throws it straight to Greig, and now, to ring the changes as he walks back, Greig polishes his left ball."

In this match, at Edgbaston in 1978, fast bowler Chris Old took 7 for 50 in England's innings victory over Pakistan. Christopher Martin-Jenkins later recalled that during his first live cricket broadcast for the BBC World Service - from a Surrey-Yorkshire match - he handed back to broadcaster Paddy Feeney at the studio, saying, "The outstanding feature of the morning has been the bowling of young Old." Feeney responded: "Oh, yes, I remember his father, old Young."

Henry Blofeld was cautious about reading out notes on air since his colleagues liked to pull pranks on him. One, allegedly from Evesham Cricket Club, asked their scorer, Richard Head, to return to the club from Edgbaston. Blofeld read out the note: "Dick's a shy man and wouldn't want to hear his name read out over the ground's public address system. Please help us get him back for our afternoon match." And then he added, "So, if you're listening, Dick Head, please hurry back to Evesham."

"I'm joined by the Balls... I mean the Boil," Johnston once announced while introducing Trevor Bailey (called "Boiley" by cockney football spectators) to the listeners. Johnston was always quick to pick up on any possible (but unintentional) double entendre from his colleagues. When Bailey once said of Waqar Younis: "It's amazing how he can whip it out just before tea", Johnston went "Whoop, whoop!" from the back of the box.

Yorkshireman Don Mosey was known for his distaste for public school boys. In Ahmedabad in 1981, producer Peter Baxter was losing his temper trying to get the broadcast started. "Get off the line, Bombay, and let me hear London. You're not Ahmedabad. How can you be Ahmedabad when I'm Ahmedabad?" Finally, Mosey intervened: "You public school twit. You're both Ahmedabad because you're actually carrying out a conversation with the Sikh engineer in headphones standing five yards behind you."