John Norman

Aug 4 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

THERE was, this being Wales, due consideration given to a cup of tea, but there was also dedication to the job, which arose from the enthusiasm of the workers.

Then there was the genius below – without his perfect timing, chivalrous temperament and supreme athleticism, there would have been nothing.

When all these factors came together, history was not only made, but recorded.

It was August 31, 1968, and the setting was St Helen’s cricket ground, Swansea, where Glamorgan were playing Nottinghamshire in a County Championship match.

Glamorgan were second in the Championship, trailing far behind Yorkshire. Their visitors were fifth. On the face of it, the match didn’t promise a lot.

But the scattering of fans were enjoying the innings of Garfield (Gary) Sobers, rated by many as the greatest all-round cricketer in the world.

Even so, the bosses on BBC’s sports programme Grandstand had told John Norman, their producer at the famous old ground, that he should shut down the cameras and have a cup of tea.

But Wilf Wooller, a fine old player himself, who had led Glamorgan to the County Championship in 1948, was commentating, John Lewis, the cameraman, was focused, the great West Indian was at the crease and Nottinghamshire were on 308 for five. Quick runs were needed for a declaration, which would give his bowlers a go at the Glamorgan batsmen, before the close of play.

Well, we can thank Norman, Lewis, Wooller and the good Lord for those running cameras. Malcolm Nash, normally a left-armed seamer, was experimenting with spin.

Sobers was about to become the first man in first-class cricket history to strike six sixes in a single over.

Nash’s first delivery cleared the ground, bouncing on the terraced street beyond. As the over progressed, the crowd started chanting, “Six, six, six”.

Roger Davies appeared to have caught the fifth ball, but the umpire judged that he had crossed the boundary first.

The sixth ball cleared the ground. The five-minute film is still one of the most viewed in the world. Sobers’s bat was sold at auction for £54,257 in 2000 and the ball for £26,400 six years later.

A splendid sportsman himself, the Cardiff-born Norman joined the BBC from the RAF in 1955, being for a while head of broadcasting in Nigeria.

John Norman, TV producer; born December 27, 1928, died July 29, 2008.