Name Peter Baxter | ||
Peter Baxter (born Derby 1947) was a producer for BBC radio, in particular he was for 34 years the organising brain behind Test Match Special.
Career
Baxter joined the BBC in September 1965 after a spell in British Forces Broadcasting.
He first worked on Test Match Special in 1966, and produced it from 1973-2007.
In tandem with his work on cricket he was also the rugby union producer for eight years and the University Boat Race producer throughout the 1980s.
He co-ordinated the BBC's cricket coverage from every one of the Test-playing nations, and has also frequently been part of the commentary team himself. Baxter commentated on the end of the 1992 World Cup Final between England and Pakistan in Melbourne
There have been many amusing moments over the years, but being locked out of the ground by the groundsman at Galle, in Sri Lanka, in 2001 was not one of them. He and BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew eventually watched the action from a nearby fort.
Baxter retired on 19 June 2007—with his last TMS production going off the air at 18:30. He was succeeded by Adam Mountford, the former cricket producer of BBC Radio Five Live.
He is a Fellow of The Radio Academy. and president of the Bedfordshire Cricket Board and Metro Blind Sports.
In December 2009 Baxter started a regular podcast on the cricket website thecricketer.com. He is an accomplished and entertaining after dinner speaker.
He has edited several books with the Test Match Special team and on his own account, 'World Cup - Cricket's Clash of the Titans', 'The Best Views From the Boundary', the autobiographical 'Inside the Box' and 'Can Anyone Hear Me?' on experiences with Test Match Special on tour.