One context where I get the chance to sing (but usually don’t) is when attending sporting events. I made an exception at the (officially) third day of the Test Match between England and South Africa at the Oval. <\/p>\n
We were sitting in the Bedser Stand, and before play the England team plus South African opening pair walked down the stairway a few yards away in silence instead of to the usual cheers, applause, trumpeter and so on. After a minute’s silence a singer, Laura Wright, appeared for what is usually a formality at internationals, the singing of the national anthems. (She obviously has a line in this, as we spotted her performing the same duty on Match of the Day<\/i> a week later.) The crowd listened politely to South Africa’s polyglot anthem, but when she moved on to God Save the King<\/i> – as our anthem had officially become with the proclamation of the new King an hour earlier – thousands upon thousands of us around the ground sang along. Possibly the only time the pre-match anthem was so fraught with significance at a Test might have been when South Africa returned after apartheid.<\/p>\n
BBC commentary from Test Match Special<\/a> One context where I get the chance to sing (but usually don’t) is when attending sporting events. I made an exception at the (officially) third day of the Test Match between England and South Africa at the Oval. We were … Continue reading
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