His grandson was stunning the football world by becoming the youngest Englishman to score an international hat-trick, but Brian Carter could not see any of Theo Walcott's heroics.

The retired aircraft engineer took to the streets of Salisbury to try to catch the 19-year-old's moments of glory – but could not find a pub showing the game, thanks to the TV rights wrangle which left millions of football fans tuning into their radios for news from Zagreb.

Brian, 75, knew Theo was starting just his second competitive game for England, in the crunch World Cup qualifier away to Croatia.

Son-in-law Don, Theo's dad, had travelled to Croatia to see the game. But, like many others, Brian and his wife Naomi do not get sports channel Setanta at their Wiltshire home.

So when Theo's mum, Lynn, called her dad to tell him of his first-half goal, Brian set out to try to catch the rest of the game.

"I went to the pub to try and watch. But it wasn't even on in there," he said.

"It's a terrible shame so many families across England were deprived of seeing our team."

He returned home to news that Theo, whose first major club was Swindon Town, had scored two more goals to become the hero in a 4-1 thrashing of the side that had stopped England qualifying for Euro 2008.

Brian always believed his grandson, who grew up near Newbury, had potential to burst onto the world stage after two years developing at Arsenal.

"I knew this would be his year. Before the Croatia match he said he had a buzz about it.

"He told his dad he was really going to go for it. Theo had that hat-trick boiling up inside him

"It was only a matter of time. He's still very young, and what we've seen is just the beginning. Speed has always been his secret weapon. He could run faster than me at the age of six.

"Theo has a calm approach. The game is his passion, but he treats it as just a job."

Theo played his first organised game of football at a relatively late age – 10 years old – and was playing for AFC Newbury under-11s when Swindon Town scout Phil Cannon spotted him and approached his father.

Phil said: "Don was standing on the sidelines and I asked if he would consider signing for Swindon. He had only been playing for a week and Don said 'I didn't think he was that good'. I said 'he will be'. He is the fastest player I have ever seen."

Theo soon switched from Swindon to Southampton, where he became their youngest ever player at the age of 16, before signing for Arsenal in a multi-million deal.

With the move, he bought a home near the Gunners' training ground in Hertfordshire, and lives there with his parents and girlfriend, Melanie Slade.