The Carlsberg Hampshire Cricket Challenge, Hackwood Park

Johnners' plays umpire as Hampshire's cricketers - past and present - meet at Hackwood Park for the 1991 Carlsberg Cricket Challenge

Hackwood Park near Basingstoke is the venue for a special cricket challenge match in 1991 - featuring players from Hampshire County Cricket Club past and present. Brian 'Johnners' Johnston makes a guest appearance in the role of umpire while the players chat and mingle with guests, friends and members of the media. TV cameras jostle with press photographers as the players toss a coin to decide the innings. Play begins but as always the rain isn't far away.

Brian Johnston joined the BBC’s Outside Broadcasting Department in 1946 where he began working on live radio programmes transmitting from theatres and music halls. That summer he made his television debut as a cricket commentator – a role he continued until 1970. Transferring to radio that year he became a national institution on Test Match Special, being especially noted for his humour and his many light-hearted gaffes. Brian Johnston, or ‘Johnners’ as he was known to millions of cricket fans all over the world, died in January 1994 aged 81.