Start gifting
Libro.fm for Business
Start a membership, get two free audiobooks
Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create account
Limited-time offer
Get two free audiobooks!
Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.
Sign up today
Gift audiobook credit bundles
You pick the number of credits, your recipient picks the audiobooks, and your local bookstore is supported by your purchase.
Start giftingJohnners At The Beeb
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreJovial Johnners was the doyen of cricket commentators, as well as a consumer of chocolate cake, a reporter, presenter, quizmaster and much-loved voice at State occasions. For nearly 50 years the ever-affable, always enthusiastic Brian Johnston brought warmth and wit to a wide range of BBC programmes - commentating for Test Match Special and the Boat Race, reporting for In Town Tonight and presenting Down Your Way, playing games on Twenty Questions and Trivia Test Match, and describing Royal events such as the Coronation and the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Here, selected and introduced by his son Barry, is the best of Johnners at the Beeb, a marvellous kaleidoscope of the man at the microphone. The gaffes and the giggles are all included here, of course, helping to make an unforgettable portrait of this inimitable raconteur.
Brian Johnston was born in 1912. He joined the BBC's Outside Broadcasts Department immediately after the war and worked first on live radio broadcasts from theatres and music-halls all over Great Britain. He was one of the first broadcasters to work for both television and radio and began his long association with cricket commentary in the summer of 1946. Between 1948 and 1952 he also presented the live feature 'Let's Go Somewhere' for the popular Saturday night programme In Town Tonight.
He became the BBC's first Cricket Correspondent in 1963 and held this post until his retirement in 1972, after which he continued as a regular member of the Test Match Special team. He took over presenting Down Your Way from Franklin Engelmann in 1972 and continued for fifteen years.
He published two autobiographies and fourteen other books, including Now Here's a Funny Thing, It's Been a Piece of Cake and Someone Who Was. He died in January 1994.
Barry Johnston is the eldest son of legendary cricketer Brian Johnston. He was educated at Eton before becoming a songwriter for Apple Publishing, and in 1969 he joined the vocal harmony group Design. He sang with them for the next eight years (under his stage name, Barry Alexander) and appeared on over 50 TV shows in the 1970s, as well as writing several of their hit singles and many album tracks. After the band split up, Barry continued writing and, for two years, was manager of The New Seekers. He left the music business in 1983 to start a career in broadcasting, first on Californian breakfast show KLOA-AM and later with Radio Sussex and Radio 5. In 2006, he established Barn Productions, and has since produced over 100 audiobooks, including the award-winning Johnners at the Beeb and An Evening with Johnners. He has also edited several books and is the author of two biographies, Round Mr Horne: The Life of Kenneth Horne and Johnners: The Life of Brian.