Following Brian Johnston''s death in 1994, Prime Minister John Major appeared to speak for the nation when he remarked that ''Summers will never be the same.'' To an Englishman''s ears, the sound of leather against willow will always be closely associated with the cheerful tones of Johnners.

Brian Johnston was a man who admitted: ''I have this absurd hankering to make people laugh.'' He also summed up his books as ''the meanderings of a remarkably happy and lucky person, to whom life, like cricket, is a funny game and still a lot of fun.''

Lovingly edited by his eldest son, Barry, A Delicious Slice of Johnners is a wonderfully enjoyable compendium of three of Johnners'' best loved books, the autobiographies It''s Been a Lot of Fun and It''s a Funny Game, and Rain Stops Play