What represents the best of being British? Why, Test Match Special!

WALKING along the Eastbourne promenade this morning on a bright and crisp start to the day, the lawns near the bandstand had been recently manicured and the flowerbeds festooned with blooms.

Up the way, near the Western Lawns, barriers have been laid out for this weekend's carnival, as well as for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations next week.

Then, while walking through the town centre, plenty of shops and homes have already got their Union Jack bunting out.

There's nothing like the best of British to bring the party spirit out, especially when the sun in shining!

And that got me thinking. How would you describe Britishness in a couple of words or even a sentence?

Is it all the flags and bunting, the pomp and circumstance, Land of Hope & Glory, the Queen, Big Ben, men in bowler hats on their way to work in the city?!!

Bizarrely, if you wanted to capture the essence of being British, the good qualities which define our isles, then I would throw into the ring....Test Match Special!

Okay, hugely left-field and to the younger generation (jeez, I am sounding old and decrepit) a revered institution whose significance would fly right over their busy heads. But this BBC cricket programme, broadcasting live ball-by-ball coverage of England's Test matches, quintessentially represents the heart and soul of our nation.

Of course it's not about the cricket; the sport is an ancillary, a running thread to the programme. In fact, if TMS was just about the cricket, probably no-one would listen!

No, TMS is about the characters who have frequented the commentary box over the years, their quirky and witty observations on life, and the cake-loving commentators' carefully crafted interaction with their devoted listeners. They are people you trust and would love to spend time with chatting over dinner.

My one regret in life is that I'm not able to listen to TMS as often as I would like. In fact, if I was stuck on a Desert Island, give me a shelf-full of Wisdens and a rack of recordings of TMS going back in time, and I wouldn't even need beach babe Pamela Anderson to give me a daily rub down.

I was listening to TMS over the weekend during the second Test match with the West Indies at Trent Bridge. At times, the commentary is much ado about nothing, but the characters are charming, their conversations absorbing. The modern day team of Jonathan Agnew, Henry Blofeld, Tony Cozier, Michael Vaughan, Vic Marks and even Sir Viv Richards are just decent chaps. There is no jingoism about their commentary, there is fairness and thoughtfulness about their words and observations.

Five-day cricket Test matches have stood the test of time despite all the modern sporting innovations of the limited over game and notably Twenty20. Tradition is sometimes looked upon with disdain, but too often we try to reinvent something which is far inferior to the original for the simple desire of change. TMS is about tradition, respecting the past and revering the present.

TMS, going back to the great days of Brian Johnston, John Arlott, Trevor Bailey, Don Mosey, Tony Lewis, Jack Bannister and Fred Trueman, has for 55 years also represented the very best of British.

There is a levity about the programme, no-one takes themselves too seriously. It is that sense of fair play, maybe even a touch of old school tie, appreciating the core values which seem so easily lost in this dog-eat-dog world we live in.

The detractors would say the TMS concept is snobbish, a commentary team consisting of Home Counties' privately-educated toffs who don't have a handle on real world reality. What tosh!

The phrase "it's just not cricket" is very apt, because the spirit of cricket is true today as it was in the days of WG Grace. "It's just not cricket" should be a mantra for our daily lives.

For me, however, TMS represents the heart and soul of being British and long may it carry on.