Ashes hero is dull as dust

A special treat this morning when I accompanied my (other) friend John (McIlroy) to Headingley Carnegie Stadium to watch a live broadcast of BBC Radio 5 Live's Fighting Talk.

If you haven't heard the show before, I suppose it's best described as a kind of sports version of Have I Got News For You. But the four players collect points for being funny rather than correct, and compete against each other rather than in teams.

Three of the four guests - comedian Ian Stone and journalists Des Kelly and Martin Kelner - although perhaps not universally known, had the 350+ audience laughing out loud for the entire hour.

But "star" guest Michael Vaughan stood out for very different reasons. He barely spoke during the 20-minute off-air warm-up. His stories throughout the show were generally predictable and almost exclusively about cricket. And, as soon as the show was over - unlike the other guests who were happy to hang around to speak to members of the audience - he was out the door like a brick through a window.

Whilst undoubtedly a fine England cricket captain in his day, I've long believed that Vaughan is one-dimensional, arrogant dullard. And nothing I witnessed today led me to alter this view.

To be fair, his mood may not have been helped by the treatment meted out to him by the show's host Colin Murray who, I have to say, was brilliant.

I wasn't a huge fan of his either when he first boomed out of our radios and appeared on our television screens (I can be very hard to please). But, since he started presenting sports shows on Radio 5 Live a few months ago, my opinion has changed completely.

Nothing or no-one was free from his sarcasm which he ladled on thick. And Michael Vaughan was often the brunt of his jokes (which Vaughan clearly wasn't happy about).

To illustrate, Murray began the show by predicting Vaughan would be last and that he was only there to plug his new book anyway. And he repeated these points several times during the 60-minute programme. But rather than hit back with a witty riposte or a touch of self-deprecation, Vaughan just sat there looking bored and a bit put out. Very disappointing. And, funnily enough (not that he was funny), he did come last and I'll certainly not be buying his book (that'll teach him).

But a terrific morning's entertainment nonetheless, and a show well worth listening to if you get the chance some Saturday morning.