A former chairman of the Lord's Taverners, he first started acting shortly after the war.

Q: What is your first cricketing memory?

A: A unisex game at school when we were all about five. I deliberately hit my own wicket first ball as I wanted to return to the boundary where I had been sitting with two pretty girls.

Q: Which player was your boyhood hero?

A: Perhaps Herbert Sutcliffe. In young manhood, Peter May, Colin Cowdrey and Jim Laker. But there were many...

Q: Did you play for a school or a club team?

A: Yes - Scarborough College Prep School 1st XI, then Bromsgrove School Junior Colts and Colts.

Q: Which current player do you most admire?

A: Michael Atherton, Alec Stewart, the Waugh brothers and Graham Thorpe. I could go on...

Q: Which is your favourite cricket venue?

A: Probably Lord's, though Newlands in Cape Town takes some beating.

Q: Should technology be used to help umpires with lbw decisions?

A: These days, yes. Microscopic TV coverage is here to stay. In the interests of protecting umpires from derision and ridicule, technology must, sadly, be used.

Q: Why are England so much better at Test cricket than one-day internationals?

A: I don't know that that is necessarily true. These things go in cycles.

Q: Is the County Championship living on borrowed time?

A: Possibly, but it must be retained to provide a nursery for aspiring professionals.

Q: Do you believe the ICC when they say match-fixing will be eradicated in 12 months?

A: I would like to.

Q: Which fast bowler past or present would you least like to face?

A: Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson. I fielded first slip to him bowling flat out in a Sunday charity game. That was enough!

Q: Which do you prefer watching - Tests or one-day internationals?

A: Both have their fascination and merits. If it was a final choice between one of the other, I would choose Test cricket.