Henry Blofeld, a distinctive commentary voice on BBC radio’s Test Match Special for 43 years, is really a stand-up comedian who loves making people laugh.

Perhaps that is why he twice emphasised that his latest unscripted show, a two-hander with TMS producer Peter Baxter, is not about cricket “per se”.

“We will probably spend two or three minutes talking about Australia (England’s 5-0 Ashes defeat) and Kevin Peterson, and we answer written questions for about 15 minutes at the end,” he said.

“There’s two bits of an hour each. It’s a completely new show, all about the broadcasting high jinks we get up to. We don’t talk about who’s the greatest player in the world or nonsense like that,” he added.

But when they come to Bradford next week they will be telling a few stories at the expense of former Yorkshire and England batsman Geoff Boycott, such as the time when TMS was broadcasting from India and the late Brian Johnston said he had discovered a new curry, a Boycott curry – “You get the runs but they come a lot more slowly”.

Affectionate leg-pulling rather than ridiculing became a feature of the programme. Johnston took to truncating his co-commentators names so that Jonathan Agnew became “Aggers” and Henry Blofeld “Blowers”.

“One thing about Test Match Special is that people who don’t know how to laugh at themselves don’t last very long. I think it’s a dangerous place to come to if you are too highly self-regarding. People are always pulling my leg and I love it.”

If Henry Blofeld is the man behind the mic, the man behind Henry for the last 34 years, so to speak, has been Peter Baxter, the man who kept TMS on the road.

Blowers and Baxter don’t do the same show every night. Drawing upon a combined total of 75 years of broadcasting experience, they ad-lib, always with the purpose of entertaining the audience.

“It’s about laughter. We live in an age that’s gloomy and doesn’t laugh enough. When you have a good laugh you feel better,” Henry added.

It doesn’t appear to be work to him. At 74 he’s animated by the idea of taking his show out on the road, driving from one end of the country to the other.

“I love it. I never, never will retire. If I didn’t have something to get out of bed for, what would I do? We drive around the country and it’s terrific fun,” he said.

Memories Of Test Match Special is at St George’s Hall next Thursday. For tickets, call( 01274) 432000.