TELEVISION presenter Henry Kelly had his speech terminated by a show of hands among the 400-strong audience of dissatisfied diners at the Surrey Championship dinner at Sandown Park recently, according to the Surrey Advertiser newspaper.

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Journalist Richard Spiller attended this "anarchic" night in Esher, which started with the late arrival of Kelly, acting as master of ceremonies. "Kelly quickly lost the ear of his audience with a somewhat lame start in which he appeared to believe cricket was 15-per-side," wrote Spiller. "And in overseeing the presentation of trophies – 'it seems there’s something for everyone here,' Kelly said – he infuriated a number of clubs who were waiting to receive rewards after a long hard season, be it at first or fourth team level."

Kelly stumbled over several pronunciations, and when Thames Ditton and Valley End were called up, he added 'whoever you are'. That prompted Donald Kingsnorth, from Valley End, to say: "We felt insulted. We were recently voted Surrey sports team of the year, provide recreational cricket to hundreds and introduce many more to the benefits of sport and cricket in particular."

Spiller added that Kelly lost all control of the proceedings and resorted to demanding "respect" from his audience, some of whom had long stopped listening. Those continued to listen were increasingly irked by lectures from him about etiquette.

A question-and-answer involving Surrey managing director Gus Mackay, manager Chris Adams and coach Ian Salisbury was equally chaotic, not least when off-the-cuff questions – including one about the redundancy of several community coaches – rather than questions given in advance were deemed to be "in the wrong forum" and it was aborted.

Then as the rambling Kelly was given a slow handclap, one man got up to ask in disgust: "Are you being paid for tonight?" Kelly retorted: "So you've had your second drink then."

Another diner commented: "Kelly was bloody awful. Being late wasn't really a problem, he was just rude and boorish from the start."

Then came the final humiliation. Spiller said: "The audience was asked to take a vote on whether his speech should be heard, and those in favour did not even reach double figures. Thus ended the night in surreal style."