Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"He'll be a great coach, he can talk cricket on an everyman level so even the stupidest Yorkshire fast bowler can understand. I just hope that when he does retire, the ECB get him in and don't tell him he's got to go off and get his Level 4 coaching badge or whatever."

What will Anderson do after retiring from playing?

Luke Sutton, Anderson's agent: "I can see him coaching, but also other things. Because he's so involved with cricket, he needs that little bit of creativity outside of cricket - like the radio show with Swanny and Greg James."

Luke Sutton, Anderson's agent: "The demand for him is high all the time. He's a good-looking boy and an absolute superstar in what he has done. Going into the summer, if he has broken the record and with the Ashes coming up, it will ramp up even more."

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"It was great when his face was on the back of all of those London buses last year - just so I could say to him 'You've got a face like the back of a bus'."

What is Anderson like to manage?

Luke Sutton, Anderson's agent: "We're mates as much as anything. He does have his moody times. I have sat in the car with him going to go a corporate event and told him to buck up his ideas and turn it on. He loves his job, his family. The fanfare that goes around it is not for him. The key for me managing that is to understand that - if it gets in the way of cricket, he's not going to do it. As long as I understand that, it's fine."

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"He realises how important this game is to his mum and dad, wife and kids. He'd rather it wasn't his 100th Test, but he realises how much it means to these other people - and he will be happier as soon as this record is broken."

Listen to "The Real Jimmy" on TMS via the audio icon (available in UK only).

Luke Sutton, Anderson's agent: "He hugely admires Beefy [Sir Ian Botham]. He's still coming to terms with the fact that he is so close to the record. There's massive respect there."

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"Jimmy's not one to hold grudges. There are one or two people in the dressing-room who really don't like criticism and certain members of the press, but Jimmy's not one of them. He's got the ability to say, 'Well, I'm better than he was anyway.'"

Listen to "The Real Jimmy" on TMS via the audio icon (available in UK only).

Luke Sutton, Anderson's agent: "Jimmy will definitely play as long as he can. Cricket is in his blood. He might not like me saying this, but e is a student of the game. He watches so much cricket - at a time when young players don't see it as being cool. It's in his DNA, so he will play for as long as he possibly can. And he will stay in that beyond that, definitely."

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"He's got so many sidelines thanks to Luke - he's got his own wine and clothing range. But he loves cricket, and when it's time to go back and play for your county, more than anyone in that dressing-room, he will always put his hand up and go back and play for Lancashire."

Listen to "The Real Jimmy" on TMS via the audio icon (available in UK only).

Luke Sutton, James Anderson's agent: "I did keep wicket to him at Lancashire. At first hand I got to see his skill-set, so it was great."

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"Cricket is so much a part of Jimmy's life that I think he'll go on as long as he can. He's got to earn a crust, and live radio broadcast may not be his forte!"

Listen to "The Real Jimmy" on TMS via the audio icon (available in UK only).

Image source, Reuters

BBC Radio 1's Greg James: "I've become a bit of a cricket tourist, we thought this is the Test we'd pick as we thought this was where he'd break the record, and I'd never been to the West Indies. There's a great group of us here. If he doesn't do it, I will be asking for a full refund!"

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"One thing that gets overlooked with Jimmy is how good he used with the old ball. He's unparalleled within the England set-up. He's so naturally talented with his hand and his wrist. There's a reason that he's the leader of the England attack: the other bowlers can still learn from him."

Listen to "The Real Jimmy" on TMS via the audio icon (available in UK only).

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"You used to know in the first three or four balls whether he'd take wickets. Lord's for me was Stuart Broad's ground - Trent Bridge, before they put the drainage in, was Jimmy's. He was an absolute genius at having it swinging round corners. Simon Jones cracked reverse swing early on, but it's a different skill to get it reversing."

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"His diet is appalling. I've never seen a man eat as many burgers. He never puts a scrap of weight on. My wife used to tell me not to eat with Jimmy Anderson on tour."

Listen to "The Real Jimmy" on TMS via the audio icon (available in UK only).

Image source, Getty Images

What do you admire most about Jimmy, cricket-wise?

BBC Radio 1's Greg James: "The control. I've chatted to him, without trying to bore him, about his hand position and wrist position - he watches so much cricket, he always wants to develop new stuff and that's why he's at the top, because he wants to learn. And physically, he's a machine."

BBC Radio 1's Greg James: "It's incredible to see the switch between off-the-field Jimmy and the on-field competitor. He's really fierce and he really wants to get all the wickets. I remember filming a nets session with him, and he said to me: 'Aren't you going to wear a chest guard? I'm going to knock your block off.' When you see him bowling, you think: 'That's not the guy that I had a beer with a couple of weeks ago, is it?'"

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

What about the sledging side of things? Why does he do that?

"He hasn't got any malice towards any batsman, he does it to wind himself up and get the best out of himself. He loves a guy coming back at him and squaring up to him, that's why he does it. India tried to wind him up last year, but that was the worst thing they could have done as it fired him up."

Listen to "The Real Jimmy" on TMS via the audio icon (available in UK only).

Jack O'Brien: Any XI must include Marron Samuels.