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Start the Car: The World According to Bumble
Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of "Bumble,” the legendary SkySports cricket commentator who's one ball short of an over and delivers madcap moments galore in this ebullient, endearing, and hilarious new book. David "Bumble" Lloyd is a legend in the living room?a genuine "good bloke" all cricket fans feel they know inside out because of his infectious, larger-than-life personality and that distinctive Lancashire burr. Bumble has become the one constant for passionate English fans in cricket's rapidly changing landscape. He has earned cult status as a commentator and pundit, with viewers loving his unerring dedication to the game's great fables. This account revels in the quirkier and humorous side of cricket while offering behind-the-scenes action of Lloyd's years spent following the sport around the globe, from Accrington to Lahore. Bumble waxes lyrical on everything from the genius of Shane Warne to the merits of a Lancashire hotpot and the delights of finishing the day with a couple of pints and a curry. Enjoy the camaraderie that exists among the SkySports team?including former England captains Sir Ian Botham, Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, and David Gower?and laugh out loud at the stories and anecdotes which have forged Bumble's character. Whether he is holding up play to retrieve lost balls from the top of sight-screens or enacting mock pitch reports from car parks, Bumble is capable of stealing the limelight at all times.
310 pages, Hardcover
First published May 27, 2010
24 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
David Lloyd
12 books7 followersDavid Lloyd, aka "Bumble", is a former Lancashire and England cricketer who also coached both sides. He first came to prominence on the iconic Test Match Special radio show before becoming a leading member of the SkySports cricket commentary team, and the face of their Twenty20 coverage. He writes a fortnightly column for the Daily Mail, a blog on the SkySports website, and appears regularly on Cricinfo's cricket podcast. Bumble is a massively popular after-dinner speaker and has also been a star turn in Countdown's Dictionary Corner.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
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May 1, 2017
If you've watched Cricket for any period of time you'll know all about David 'Bumble' Lloyd and his voracious appetite for life in a weird light. It's a great book for a good insight in to a man who was the coach of England and has always had a finger firmly in that camp despite it not officially supposed to be there.
His private life is nothing spectacular, which I think if you know about him could be quite disappointing. It's mostly his views and the things he says that interests us all to sit and listen to him. He's a dear man, and one the whole Cricket community loves-from the players to the pundits, but in truth it's just a bit of a boring book when you consider what else is out there.
I would like to thank Bumble for introducing me to the band Half Man Half Biscuit, though. Oh my, that was a good day.
His private life is nothing spectacular, which I think if you know about him could be quite disappointing. It's mostly his views and the things he says that interests us all to sit and listen to him. He's a dear man, and one the whole Cricket community loves-from the players to the pundits, but in truth it's just a bit of a boring book when you consider what else is out there.
I would like to thank Bumble for introducing me to the band Half Man Half Biscuit, though. Oh my, that was a good day.
January 19, 2018
A ragbag of anecdotes, opinion pieces and stories from cricket and from his life outside cricket. Amusing but not quite as good as the publicity suggested.
August 27, 2015
A book that is rather like the curate's egg, good in parts, 'The World According to Bumble' has two threads to it. Firstly it deals with his life as an umpire, as an England coach and as a commentator and the personalities that he mixed with during his time in those roles and secondly it covers his private life outside the world of the media and sport. The first proves to be very interesting, the second not so interesting.
Having followed Lancashire cricket all my life, I am very familiar with 'Bumble' as he is universally known, and the tales that he tells all have the amusing slant that he puts on life about them. He is particularly funny when discussing his fellow commentators, Michael Atherton, aka Captain Shabby, Nasser Hussain, aka Unlucky Alf, Ian Botham, 'I'll make you famous' was his phrase to Bumble on one occasion, and Geoffrey Boycott, who he describes as 'Him from the other side'.
He tells funny stories of his time as an umpire, one involving West Indian fast bowler Tony Gray of Surrey is particularly amusing, and speaks highly of his spell as England coach, even finding time to poke fun at himself for his never-to-be-forgotten comment of how England outplayed the home side when only drawing with a weakish Zimbabwe side in Africa.
His stories with his mates have moments of slap-stick and, for cricket followers and players, he identifies some splendid watering holes around the country and overall provides a light-hearted look at life, which makes for an enjoyable read.
Having followed Lancashire cricket all my life, I am very familiar with 'Bumble' as he is universally known, and the tales that he tells all have the amusing slant that he puts on life about them. He is particularly funny when discussing his fellow commentators, Michael Atherton, aka Captain Shabby, Nasser Hussain, aka Unlucky Alf, Ian Botham, 'I'll make you famous' was his phrase to Bumble on one occasion, and Geoffrey Boycott, who he describes as 'Him from the other side'.
He tells funny stories of his time as an umpire, one involving West Indian fast bowler Tony Gray of Surrey is particularly amusing, and speaks highly of his spell as England coach, even finding time to poke fun at himself for his never-to-be-forgotten comment of how England outplayed the home side when only drawing with a weakish Zimbabwe side in Africa.
His stories with his mates have moments of slap-stick and, for cricket followers and players, he identifies some splendid watering holes around the country and overall provides a light-hearted look at life, which makes for an enjoyable read.
May 5, 2011
Bumble is a unique phenomenon behind the microphone, and reading this book is like listening to him during a commentary stint. His absolute utter joy and love for the game comes through from start to finish. Make no mistake, he is still the little boy, privileged that cricket has been his life.
His humour is also evident. I was silly enough to read this book on a train, and I got more than one odd look as I laughed uncontrollably at his humour and antics.
However, it is not just a book of comedy. He takes you behind the scenes of world cricket, tells some tales about some of the games greats, and also reveals the essence of the success that Sky have had covering the game.
His knowledge is absolutely unquestionable, and he is very direct and uncompromising in calling for change in certain areas of the game.
Truly a great read for any cricket aficionado.
His humour is also evident. I was silly enough to read this book on a train, and I got more than one odd look as I laughed uncontrollably at his humour and antics.
However, it is not just a book of comedy. He takes you behind the scenes of world cricket, tells some tales about some of the games greats, and also reveals the essence of the success that Sky have had covering the game.
His knowledge is absolutely unquestionable, and he is very direct and uncompromising in calling for change in certain areas of the game.
Truly a great read for any cricket aficionado.
January 20, 2011
funny look at bumble's (aka david lloyd) world and at this time as sky sports presenter, cricketer , some parts of the book are laugh out loud, this book would suit cricket fans
August 6, 2022
The jocular style of this book got gradually more irritating and while it was ok to start with when it focused on cricket, the later subjects were often fairly tedious.
The earlier parts were what I expected the whole book to be, stories from his cricket days and his life, some of which were funny and some interesting. There are also some jokes which haven't aged well (at the expense of Indians or Chinese speaking English) but generally it was a light-hearted read about cricket with a bit of personality.
Later chapters seemed to be included because Lloyd liked the subjects rather than because they were worth reading about. The fishing, golf and drinking friends chapters were particularly dull lowlights but the writing style also also became quite wearing. One of the last chapters featured Lloyd telling Australians that he knew some people that could knock their cricketers out in a fight and that Steve Smith was worse than the Bangladesh cricketer Ashraful. It was a strange thing to put in a book in the first place but it didn't really reflect well on him, along with the more old-fashioned humour. It didn't quite scrape the barrel of his best dreams but it wasn't far off at times, and what could have been a pleasant and undemanding book was irritating by the finish.
The earlier parts were what I expected the whole book to be, stories from his cricket days and his life, some of which were funny and some interesting. There are also some jokes which haven't aged well (at the expense of Indians or Chinese speaking English) but generally it was a light-hearted read about cricket with a bit of personality.
Later chapters seemed to be included because Lloyd liked the subjects rather than because they were worth reading about. The fishing, golf and drinking friends chapters were particularly dull lowlights but the writing style also also became quite wearing. One of the last chapters featured Lloyd telling Australians that he knew some people that could knock their cricketers out in a fight and that Steve Smith was worse than the Bangladesh cricketer Ashraful. It was a strange thing to put in a book in the first place but it didn't really reflect well on him, along with the more old-fashioned humour. It didn't quite scrape the barrel of his best dreams but it wasn't far off at times, and what could have been a pleasant and undemanding book was irritating by the finish.
May 16, 2018
This book reads like an England cricket innings.
A solid opening with a middle order that occasionally sparkled. However, it finished with a whimper.
The good news, it is an easy and quick read but could have been more like a T20 match: a short, sharp entertainment.
A solid opening with a middle order that occasionally sparkled. However, it finished with a whimper.
The good news, it is an easy and quick read but could have been more like a T20 match: a short, sharp entertainment.
April 23, 2020
If you like cricket and you like David LLoyd's sense of humour you'll like this book. It is a very easy, unstructured, largely unplanned set of ramblings from a man who has lived for cricket and achieving far more than just making witty comments on Sky.
February 5, 2022
A good light book with David Bumble Lloyd talking about his journey as a commentator and presenter more than a cricketer. His stories from travel all around the world and his pub experiences from UK are worth reading.
May 4, 2021
Just what I expected from Bumble. Down to earth and very funny guy.
July 29, 2023
Although interesting at times, I found that there was too much waffle
August 6, 2023
My 3rd DNF. I have read this before a few years ago when the things written were slightly more relevant. Couldn’t finish this as there have been so many changes in cricket, both formats and players.
August 14, 2025
Some enjoyable anecdotes, but the it rather felt as though the author ran out of content.
December 30, 2016
This was a very mixed bag. I loved the stuff about his time as a cricketer, especially when he played test cricket for England. Only a short career between June 1974 and January 1975. Not sure why so short when he scored a double hundred in only his second test. (Some of our newer batsmen get a much longer stint). His later career as an umpire (as an answer to a miffed bowler he would say "Good appeal. Well worth a shout. Might have been hitting, might have been missing, so I would have to make a cultured guess to give it out. Would you like me to start guessing when you're batting?) and then with Sky Sports are both very interesting. Not so some long and tedious anecdotes that I felt were just padding.
April 25, 2011
A must-read for any cricket fans. Plenty of insight from one of cricket's biggest and engaging personalities on a range of topics such as the purpose and place of T20, the importance of Test Match cricket, the authority of umpires, the use of technology in modern day cricket and much more cricket and non-cricket stuff. As you would expect from someone who has been part of the game for 50 years as a player, umpire and commentator there is many an amusing anecdote about the greats past and present. A perfect afternoon's reading, or even a companion for a day's cricket.
November 18, 2013
For one, I never knew that Bumble never played for England and was the captain for Lancashire, as well as umpire and the coach. But I did enjoy his stories of some of the great super stars immensely. The Bart one was Wasim Akram's which I won't spoil by repeating it here. The book is written in a style which I found rather difficult to follow. I therefore lost most of the intended funny stories narrated by the author. There was also not a great deal of international coverage form the author which was rather disappointing.
November 19, 2011
An entertaining easy read. Some good stories I'm sure were taken from his after dinner repertoire. Comes across as a genuine bloke the same way he does while commentating. I'll now try and dig out his autobiography
October 14, 2012
Not the most in-depth autobiograpy you'll ever come across, but the book is as easy-going as the man himself - and has the same infectious sense of humour. Short chapters make it ideal loo reading :-)
February 24, 2011
This is very funny and just like the man himself
July 9, 2013
Only for cricket officionadoes!
July 31, 2013
A nice read from crickets finest commentators.
August 16, 2013
Enjoyable book. A bit of light reading and a few laughs.
August 26, 2013
Gotta love Bumble! Terrifically funny stories and experiences
August 11, 2014
Bumble is without a doubt my favourite cricket commentator and the book didn't disappoint. Great stories from behind the scenes and some touching moments especially in the last chapter.
Read
October 16, 2019The
March 27, 2014
An entertaining read. (If you like cricket).
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews