The Independent today runs an obituary for John Norman, an otherwise unremarkable producer for the BBC who once saved the skins of his bosses – by ignoring their instructions.
During a routine broadcast of Grandstand in 1968, he received the call to turn off cameras at a county cricket game between Glamorgan and Nottinghamshire in Swansea. But he decided to carry on filming because the legendary West Indies all-rounder Garfield Sobers was at the crease for Notts.
It was a piece of great fortune as Sobers was destined to make cricketing history by becoming the first man to hit a six on every ball in an over. If the BBC cameras had missed it, there would no doubt have been necks on the line.
You can see the footage of Sobers’ remarkable feat here: