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Description Denis Compton was one of England's -indeed cricket's -greatest batsmen. In the summer of 1947 alone he scored 18 hundreds. A flashing strokeplayer who could take any bowling attack apart, he also played football at the highest level, winning an FA Cup-winners medal with Arsenal. The original 'Brylcreem Boy', perhaps British sport's first true media personality, Compton cut a dashing figure, and when he died was mourned as the kind of cricketer whose like we shall never see again. 'Never have I been so deeply touched on a cricket ground as I was in this heavenly summer when I went to Lord's to see a pale-faced crowd existing on rations, the rocket bomb still in the ears of most folk -see this worn, dowdy crowd watching Compton. The strain of long years of anxiety and affliction passed from all hearts at the sight of Compton in full sail... There were no rations in an innings by Compton' Neville Cardus 'Compton was not the last of the double internationals, but he was the greatest' Michael Parkinson
Whenever an august figure departs the world of cricket, The Daily Telegraph records a decorous tribute. There will certainly be an obituary – in days of yore penned by the doyen of cricket writers, E.W. Swanton, in recent times unafraid to be a lot more whimsical, waspish, and even extremely funny. There will often be an appreciation by one of the paper’s stable of cricket correspondents, such as Derek Pringle, Michael Henderson or Scyld Berry, most likely drawing on their memories of having played against the subject or watched his deeds. And sometimes a hero’s demise will prompt a heartfelt tribute from someone whose only qualification as an elegist is their own eloquence, as John Major displays on Denis Compton and Michael Parkinson on Keith Miller. And those cricket lives deemed worthy of memorialising need not be illustrious Test careers, though all the great names from Bradman to Bedser, Cowdrey to D’Oliviera, are here. They can also be quixotic county mavericks like ‘Bomber’ Wells, self-effacing professionals like Tom Cartwright and Derek Shackleton, or charismatic one-offs like Colin Milburn or the Nawab of Pataudi. They may not even be cricketers, but rather much-loved commentators and broadcasters like Brian Johnston and Christopher Martin-Jenkins, players-turned-umpires like David Shepherd and Bill Alley, or, like the Bishop of Liverpool who previously opened for Sussex and England, have made their name equally elsewhere. Their achievements are often hymned by their peers – Mark Nicholas on his Hampshire team-mate Malcolm Marshall, Tony Lewis on John Arlott, Colin Croft on Alf Valentine, and Simon Hughes on facing the fearsome Sylvester Clarke. Here, then, are more than eighty greats of the game – Australians and South Africans alongside Somerset yeomen and Yorkshire’s finest. For any cricket lover, this little book is an endlessly browsable testament to the sheer richness and variety of the cricketing life.
Record-breaking England cricketer, wartime RAF hero, Tottenham Hotspur footballer, and husband to five wives... this is the captivating life of one of England's most remarkable yet often overlooked cricketing heroes. 571 first-class matches from 1934 to 1958. 36,965 runs. 29th on all-time lists. 86 centuries. 479 wickets. Bill Edrich was one of the biggest cricket stars of his time along with Denis Compton and Len Hutton. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1940 and played football for Norwich City and Tottenham Hotspur during the 1930s. In the first biography for 30 years, award-winning writer Leo McKinstry recounts Edrich's audacity both as a cricketer and an RAF pilot. Edrich's flying prowess brought him a promotion to Squadron Leader and won him the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) after his part in a courageous daylight raid over Cologne in August 1941. The same action-filled intensity applied to his turbulent private life. A man of keen amorous enthusiasms, he was married five times but rarely allowed his ardour to be inhibited by any wedding vows. Equally unrestrained was his fondness for alcohol and partying, though this trait brought him into conflict with both the cricket and the judicial authorities. After one particularly exuberant display of intoxication during a home Test match, he even lost his place in the England team, only to return for the famous Ashes triumph of 1953. A history of cricket victories, explosive controversies, wartime glory and a life lived to the fullest, this compelling biography reveals the story of one of cricketing's greatest characters.
The spirit of the game was first nurtured on the playing fields of the English public school, and in the pages of Tom Brown's Schooldays- this Corinthian spirit was then exported around the world. The competitive spirit, the importance of fairness, the nobility of the gifted amateur seemed to sum up everything that was good about Britishness and the games they played. Today, sport is dominated by corruption, money, celebrity and players who are willing to dive in the box if it wins them a penalty. Yet, we still believe and talk about the game as if it had a higher moral purpose. Since the age of Thomas Arnold, Sport has been used to glorify dictatorships and was at the heart of cold war diplomacy. Prime Ministers, princes and presidents will do whatever they can to ensure that their country holds a major sporting tournament. Nelson Mandela saw the victory of the Rugby World Cup as essential to his hopes for the Rainbow Nation. Mihir Bose has lived his life around sport and in this book he tells the story of how Sport has lost its original spirit and how it has emerged in the 20th century to become the most powerful political tool in the world. With examples and stories from around the world including how the sport-hating Thomas Arnold become an icon; how a German manufacturer gave Jessie Owens a pair of shoes at the Berlin games of 1936 and went on to dominate the world of sport; how India stole cricket from the ICC; how an Essex car dealer become the most powerful man in Formula 1; and who really sold football out. Praise for Mihir Bose: 'Mihir Bose is India's CLR James.' Simon Barnes, The Times. 'Mihir's insider knowledge is unsurpassed' David Welch. 'His Olympic contacts are second to none. He knows everybody.' Sue Mott.
When Andrew Strauss's team seized the world title in the summer of 2011 they finally recovered what had been lost at the Adelaide Oval in 1959. In 1953 England became the 'unofficial world champions'. Len Hutton's victory at the Oval in that coronation year heralded an apparently golden age in England's Test match history. There were many heroic performances not only from the immaculate Len Hutton and the dashing Denis Compton but there were controversies, too. The title, 'Bent Arms' refers also to the petty constraints that its Test players endured while 'Dodgy Wickets' reflects the political sensitivities associated with being Imperial ambassadors.Key features- Book tells the story of the triumph and loss of the England cricket team in the 1950s through the memoirs of those who took part, for and against- The tale is set against a backdrop of a declining British Empire, the institution that had helped spread the game, fostering also a complacent attitude about enduring British supremacy- Written by critically-acclaimed author Tim Quelch, whose previous books on football - Never Had It So Good and Underdog! - have received high praise for capturing the social aspects of the eras each covered
A year after the death of Margaret Thatcher, a young historian arrives to ask Peter Stothard, Editor of the Time Literary Supplement and former editor of The Time, some sharp questions about his memories of the Thatcher era. During the interview the offices from where he long observed British politics are being systematically flattened by wrecking balls. From the dust and destruction of a collapsing newspaper plant emerge portraits of the Senecans, four of the men who made the Thatcher court so different from that of her successors. As well as love of Britain's first female Prime Minister they shared strange Latin lessons in a crumbling riverside bar. They took their name from their taste for the work of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a pioneer writer from Cordoba in Roman Spain, a philosopher, courtier and acquirer of massive wealth from the age of the Emperor Nero.Blending memoir with ancient and modern politics in the manner of his acclaimed diaries, Spartacus Road and Alexandria, Peter Stothard sheds a sideways light on Margaret Thatcher's "believing age", a personal picture of our recent history. In finally identifying his interviewer he also answers questions about his own literary and political journey.
This novel takes up where Bragg's The Soldier's Return left off, following the lives of the Richardson family from 1947 to the mid-1950s. The family is forever altered by the father's return from WWII.
Inspired by real events, Mary’s Reflections tells the story of a very strong woman who survives many hard knocks. Mary’s life spans two world wars as she goes from rags to riches. This heartfelt novel follows Mary from her poor childhood to old age as a wealthy woman. It portrays her life as a servant, her family dramas, loves and losses, and war survival. I was filled with apprehension. What had I done to be summoned to an audience with the mistress? Would I be sacked? A hundred thoughts entered my mind as I made my way to her sitting room and knocked on the door. “Come in,” she called. “Mary,” she said as she came towards me, “your father has just been to see the butler who has informed me that you are not to go home this Sunday on your day off. Your little sister Bertha has been taken with diphtheria. She went quite quickly in your mother’s arms. I’m afraid, with the exception of Frank, all your brothers and sisters have got it.”
You do not leave school one day and win an Olympic gold medal the next. This book is about 50 sporting champions and how they got started. It contains a biography of each followed by their career records. It shows in detail their achievements from school, youth, under 20, under 30, to seminar level, from county, area, national and international honours. It is a multi-sport book that should appeal to multi-sport lovers.
Cricket's greatest legends. Sport's fiercest rivalry. Wisden's fakest diaries. CrickiLeaks charges headlong onto the players' balcony and imagines 40 cricketing diaries of rare wit and invention, along with the illustrated book covers they might have inspired. Featuring spoof journal entries drawn from throughout Ashes history, CrickiLeaks reveals for the first time the innermost thoughts of the greatest cricketers of the last 129 years. And Mitchell Johnson. CrickiLeaks includes imagined diaries from players on the most recent tour (Andrew Strauss, Ricky Ponting), diaries from the all-time greats (Shane Warne, Freddie Flintoff, Sir Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Donald Bradman, W.G. Grace), as well as contributions from less obvious personalities. An irreverent and entertaining collection of Ashes diaries, CrickiLeaks finally lays to rest some of cricket's greatest mysteries: - What exactly was going through Gatting's mind as he faced the ball of the century? - Why did Ricky Ponting lose his rag with Ronald McDonald? - What really went on between Douglas Jardine and Daphne the Koala in Adelaide Zoo? A riotous and uniquely scurrilous addition to any cricket-lover's library.