sporting memorabilia
TRANSCRIPT
taking aim FOR tHE gamESThe art of archery
OLYmPiCCRiCkEtA missed oppportunity
SHaREd gOaLSCricket in summer, football in winter
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MCC MAGAZINE
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FROM THE CURATOR
COnTRibUTORs
COLLECTiOn nEWsCorinna A.W. Pike celebrates the game’s finest trophies, plus the shortlist for The Cricket Society and MCC Book the Year Award
EATinG OUT
MY LORD’sRichard Heller meets cricket novelist and politician Sir Alan Haselhurst MP
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Contents.MCC MAGAZINE ISSuE 5
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ART THAT HiTs THE TARGETStephen Lloyd praises works from the Royal Company of Archers
OLYMPiC ARCHERY: THE bAsiCsA guide to the sport hosted by Lord’s this summer
OLYMPiCs DiMinisHED David Rayvern Allen makes the case for cricket’s inclusion in the Games
FiVE RinGs OVER MCCPhilip Barker examines the club’s historic connections with the Olympics
kEEPinG iT REALLord’s is not just about cricket, reveals real tennis enthusiast Patrick Kidd
inTO THE LiGHTCharlotte Goodhew interviews the artist behind Rob Fahey’s portrait
CRiCkET in sUMMER, FOOTbALL in WinTER Kevin Moore explores the relationship between Britain’s favourite sports
Features
10.David Martin, Sir James Pringle of Stichill, 4th Bart (1791–5), oil on canvas
22.Former England batsman Claire Taylor on the real tennis court at Lord’s in November 2011
28.An illustration of the 1891 FA Cup final held at The Oval. Notts County, in the striped kit, were defeated 3–1 by Blackburn Rovers
ContactEdward Monagle
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Origins of Golf – The Jaime Ortiz-Patiño Collection
London, King Street • 30 May 2012
Announcing the sale of the world’s foremost private golf collection
Sir John Lavery The Golf Course, North Berwick oil on canvas
£200,000–300,000
A long-nosed scared head putter
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A fine and extremely rare feather-filled golf ball
signed McEwan, circa 1836£15,000–25,000
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MCC MAGAZINE
5From the Curator
Published on behalf of Marylebone Cricket Club by Royal Academy Enterprises Ltd. Colour reproduction by adtec. Printed by Tradewinds London. Published April 2012 © Marylebone Cricket Club 2012. Text © The Authors 2012. The opinions in this particular publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Marylebone Cricket Club. All reasonable attempts have been made to clear copyright before publication. Publication of an advertisement within this magazine does not imply the approval of the publishers or MCC for goods or services offered.
The MCC Museum here at Lord’s is a founding member of the Sports Heritage Network (SHN) and 2012, the Olympic year, sees the culmination of its ground-breaking series of exhibitions throughout the UK, ‘Our Sporting Life’. It is a year in which to celebrate sports heritage in all its forms and in this issue Kevin Moore, the Director of the National Football Museum newly opened in Manchester, celebrates its renaissance and the links between football and cricket.
As part of the Network’s celebration of the London Olympics, MCC hosts a one-day conference on 19th April that invites a celebrated list of speakers to give their opinions on the state of sport in 2012. ‘Moving the Goalposts’ has been organised in partnership with the World Rugby Museum at Twickenham and includes tours of the Ground and an evening reception.
The variety of sport created in the UK is breathtaking and provides a timely context for an issue that investigates Lord’s rich history as an entertainment venue. David Rayvern Allen and Stephen Lloyd of the Arts & Library committee discuss cricket’s history with regard to the Olympics and the story of the Royal Company of Archers respectively. The Royal Company of Archers, founded in the seventeenth century, still shoot longbows in the grounds of Holyroodhouse and have kindly lent a number of exceptional items from their collection for display at Lord’s this summer.
The highlight of these is undoubtedly the Musselburgh Arrow, a stunning seventeenth-century silver trophy (pictured on page 13). Cricket really did not boast a trophy until the 1960s, but Corinna Pike, Jewels Designer and Heritage Manager at Garrard, the world’s oldest jewellers, discusses those her firm has created.
Rob Fahey is a name engraved countless times on silverware over the past ten years as he is the outstanding champion of real tennis worldwide. Patrick Kidd, himself a player, reflects on the game and Rob’s contribution as a new portrait of the latter is hung in the dedans at Lord’s; Charlotte Goodhew continues her series of interviews by talking to the portrait’s painter Rupert Alexander.
The ‘spirit’ of sport will be more closely examined this year than usual and it seems that there is much to debate. Issues of racism, corruption, economics and politics are currently being broadcast. In cricketing circles, the recent passing of Basil D’Oliveira gives cause for reflection once again as South Africa return to our shores; doubtless Tony Greig’s MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture in June will do much the same but for different reasons.
Adam ChadwickCurator of Collections
Spirit of the Game
Cover Image A target at the archery test event at Lord’s, October 2011. Courtesy LOCOG
Editorial Publishers Jane Grylls 020 7300 5661 Kim Jenner 020 7300 5658Editor Sam PhillipsDesigner Catherine Cartwright AdvertisingJanet Durbin 01625 583180 MCC Arts and Library DepartmentCuratorAdam Chadwick 020 7616 [email protected] Officer Neil Robinson 020 7616 [email protected] Officer Charlotte Goodhew 020 7616 [email protected] Tours and Museum ManagerAntony Amos 020 7616 [email protected] and Photography ManagerClare Skinner 020 7616 [email protected]
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MCC MAGAZINE
6 Contributors
David Rayvern Allen ELECTED 1982
David Rayvern Allen played piano in theatre pits until a production of This Way to the Tomb signposted a change of direction. Subsequently, as a BBC producer, his programmes included features and concerts. He has authored over 40 books on cricket and many other subjects.
Charlotte Goodhew Charlotte Goodhew became responsible for the management of MCC’s Collections in 2008 following stints at various museums ranging from the Dallas Museum of Art to the Royal Scottish Academy. She plays cricket for Hampstead CC Ladies First XI.
Neil RobinsonNeil Robinson studied librarianship at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen and has worked at the MCC Library since 2006. He has also written for Wisden Cricket Monthly and The Journal of The Cricket Society, and published Long Promised Road, a book about a walk across Europe.
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Philip Barker Philip Barker is a writer and broadcaster. He has covered five Olympic Games and is Associate Editor of the Journal of Olympic History. He was part of Sky’s 1992 Cricket World Cup production team and has subsequently reported on cricket for Sky Sports.
Richard Heller ELECTED 1976
Author and journalist Richard Heller has written two cricket novels, A Tale Of Ten Wickets and The Network. He is also a swing bowler, who moves the ball both ways off the bat. As a two-time BBC Mastermind finalist his specialist subjects included Sir Garry Sobers.
Stephen Lloyd ELECTED 1994
Stephen Lloyd is an independent art historian and member of MCC’s Arts and Library committee. He is a former Senior Curator at the National Galleries of Scotland and President of the International Council of Museums’ Committee for Collections of Fine Art (2004–10).
Kevin MooreKevin Moore is Director of the National Football Museum and the Chair of the Sports Heritage Network, the professional organisation of the UK’s sports museums. He has written on museum and cultural studies, including the books Museums and Popular Culture and Management in Museums.
Corinna A.W. Pike Corinna A.W. Pike is a jewellery and silver specialist; her particular areas of interest are regalia and ceremonial silver. She has worked many years for the royal jewellers Garrard and is currently the company’s Heritage Manager and also the Designer for bespoke fine jewellery and silver.
Patrick Kidd ELECTED 2011
Patrick Kidd is a sports writer for The Times, for whom he has worked since 2001, and author of two books: Best of Enemies (about England’s sporting relationship with Australia) and The Worst of Rugby. He has been playing real tennis with very little success for more than 15 years.
If you like an old scoreboard, or a mildewed pavilion; if you want to know where to fi nd the world’s oldest bowling green, or the best Art Deco grandstand in London; if you’re fed up with homogenised, commercialised sport, and long to dive into a Victorian swimming pool with gorgeous ceramic tiling; if you think potting balls all afternoon in a dimly-lit billiard hall is defi nitely not time mis-spent; if you have ever wondered why tennis and suburbia go together so well, then Played in Britain is for you...
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KNIGHTS
Large watercolour portrait of W.G. Grace c1915by Louisa Townsend, sold for £24,080 inclusive, March 2012
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Art that Hits the TargetAs archery takes centre stage on the hallowed turf at Lord’s, curator Stephen Lloyd introduces exquisite objects and paintings from the Royal Company of Archers
To mark the hosting at Lord’s this summer of the Olympic sport of archery, a choice selection of trophies and pictures is generously being loaned to the MCC Museum by The Queen’s Body Guard for Scotland (The Royal Company of Archers). This body was formally established in Edinburgh in 1676, probably in light of the enthusiasm in which King Charles II and Catherine of Braganza held the sport, and it has continued to operate right up to the present day, competing for a number of prizes on the Edinburgh Meadows, Leith Links or in the nearby town of Musselburgh. Originally a private archery club, every third year it competes against the Woodmen of Arden, the oldest archery society in England. The Company’s members are all male and either Scottish or of Scottish descent. The membership currently numbers around 500 men, essentially drawn from the aristocracy, the landed gentry and the military, as well as from the professions alongside the political and business worlds.
As the foremost society of archers in Scotland, the Company received its Royal Charter from Queen Anne in 1704, granting “perpetual access to all butts, plains and pasturages allotted for shooting arrows with the bow at random or at measured distances. ” In return and as a mark of loyalty, the Company was to give back to the monarch, when requested, ‘one pair of barbed arrows’.
After shooting, members of the Company used to dine in a nearby tavern, but in 1776 its governing Council organised a subscription to raise funds from members to build a formal dining hall on Buccleuch C
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Street beside the Edinburgh Meadows. Designed and built by Alexander Laing in 1777, Archers’ Hall was extended by A.F. Balfour Paul in 1900, and is still used for formal dinners and to house the Company’s fine collection of portraits depicting archers and senior officers.
In 1822, King George IV made his triumphant visit to Scotland, the first by a reigning monarch since the Act of Union of 1707, and a series of spectacular events, ceremonies and processions – devised by Sir Walter Scott, himself a member of the Royal Company – were held in and around the capital city of Edinburgh. The Company was requested to provide a bodyguard for the King when he landed at Leith and as an escort for his carriage as it drove into Edinburgh. The King was presented with the Reddendo, a ‘pair’ of three arrows, according to the condition of Queen Anne’s
charter. Three years later the King further honoured the Company with a gold stick of office to be carried by its most senior officer, the Captain-General.
The Company has acted as the Sovereign’s Body Guard in Scotland for all successive monarchs since George IV’s visit. It carries out its duties at the request of the Queen at the various state and ceremonial occasions that occur in Scotland. These include being in attendance at Her Majesty’s annual garden party at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, at the installation of Knights of the Thistle at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, at Investitures and during the presentation of new Colours for Scottish regiments. The Royal Company has also been in attendance at state visits to Scotland and the opening of the Scottish Parliament. They also provided a watch at the Lying-in-State of H.M. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, one of their few duties outside Scotland. When in attendance on the monarch or performing at competitions, members of the Royal Company, while holding their bows, wear a field uniform that is comprised of a dark green tunic with black facings, dark green trousers and a Balmoral bonnet decorated with a golden eagle’s feather and the Company’s badge.
The centrepiece of this summer’s display at Lord’s is the spectacular arrangement of the Musselburgh Arrow and Medals (see page 13), which has been competed for since 1603, the date of the earliest medal attached to the late Victorian stand that encases the original arrow. As archery declined as a form of warfare across Europe during the sixteenth century, in light of the rise of guns and shooting,
Opposite Attributed to David Martin, Unidentified Officer of the Royal Company of Archers, called James, 5th Earl of Wemyss (c1780–90), oil on canvas Right Sir Henry Raeburn, Dr Nathaniel Spens of Craigsanquhar (1791-3), on view at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
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Company, and also a committed collector of materials relating to the history and practice of archery in Scotland.
Martin certainly did paint the magnificent full-length portrait of Sir James Pringle of Stichill, 4th Bart, who was President of the Council of the Royal Company from 1783 until his death (see page 3). This was commissioned by the Company in 1791 and was completed four years later at the modest cost of £50. Pringle is depicted, standing alertly, in an Edinburgh park landscape with a thistle placed in the foreground, either being about to loose or just having loosed an arrow. He wears the field shooting uniform of 1789 pattern, a high-feathered bonnet with green and white cockade and a green tartan coat with silver-tasselled loops over a white waistcoat.
At the same time as the Company ordered the portrait of Pringle from David Martin, the senior artist in Edinburgh, it also commissioned another full-length for the same sum from his younger contemporary, the supremely talented Sir Henry Raeburn, who went on to become – alongside Sir Thomas Lawrence – one of the two finest British portraitists of his generation. Raeburn, also a member of the Company himself, was asked to portray the pre-eminent physician and archer Dr Nathaniel Spens of Craigsanquhar in what has come to be considered one of the most original archery portraits and also one of Raeburn’s greatest masterpieces (see page 9). Spens had joined the Company in 1750
and was an archer of great skill, winning many prizes including the Musselburgh Arrow. He is depicted in action by Raeburn loosing an arrow, while wearing the shooting uniform of a Brigadier-General of the Company, dressed in an open single-breasted coat of a 42nd or Government tartan, crossed by white belts, one supporting the arrow case at his left hip. The portrait is notable for the prominent thistle in the foreground and the exceptionally daring compositional use by Raeburn of the arrow and the string of the bow to frame Spens’ face. This portrait was hung in Archers’ Hall in 1795. The following year it was engraved in line by John Beugo in a fine print that was published by subscription from the Company’s members.
A few years earlier Raeburn had painted another masterly double portrait of two young members of the Company, the brothers Ronald Ferguson of Raith and General Sir Ronald Ferguson, which remained in the possession of the descendants of the sitters’ family until acquired in 2001 under the acceptance-in-lieu procedure by the National Gallery, London (see opposite). In this unusual composition with its muted colouring and contrasting use of light, Raeburn daringly depicts the elder brother Robert actively in profile and about to loose an arrow, while the younger brother Ronald, later in life a distinguished commander in the Napoleonic Wars, is shown passively, framed by the extended bow, waiting his turn to compete.
While not all these portraits will be on view in the MCC Museum exhibition, the selection being loaned from Archers’ Hall – alongside the silver arrows and medals – celebrates the sport and pastime of archery in Scotland over the last four hundred years. Notwithstanding the development of archery since the early twentieth century as a modern and Olympic sport, these notable loans from Edinburgh form a display that reminds us of the longstanding tradition in these islands of the ancient and venerable weapon of the longbow.
‘Archery in Scotland: A Loan Display from The Royal Company of Archers’, MCC Museum, 14th May–9th September 2012 (020 7616 8595; www.lords.org/history/mcc-museum)
Above The Musselburgh Arrow and Medals (1603–present), unmarked silver. At the summit of the cylindrical shaft is a two-barbed head of an arrow; the three struts of the structure are engraved to represent arrow feathers
archers continued to practise their skills as a sport and as a pastime. Around 1600 these activities were encouraged by the burghs and towns across Scotland, and bowyers and fletchers continued to practise their crafts. It would appear that the practice of the burghs holding competitions and presenting silver arrows as trophies was inspired by archery guilds in the Low Countries. The Musselburgh Arrow is an outstanding example of this tradition of encouraging the sport in these islands, and it is the earliest example that is still competed for regularly. Since 1676 this arrow has been shot for exclusively by the Royal Company of Archers, with each winner adding a new medal. The medals were originally hung off the arrow itself and since the late nineteenth century the hundreds of medals have been displayed on the purpose-built stand, thus presenting a remarkable and continuous history of archery as a sport in Scotland since the Union of the Crowns over four hundred years ago.
Alongside the many arrows, trophies and prizes for which it still competes, the Royal Company of Archers has commissioned and collected a unique collection of portraits of its senior officers, usually shown in the evolving uniforms worn by members of the Company, for display at Archers’ Hall. The earliest of these portraits was painted around 1700 by the little-known artist John de Ryck and depicts an unidentified officer of the Company holding a bow and arrow (see above right). On top of his wig he wears a blue velvet
bonnet adorned with a silver tassel and silver-gilt badge, and topped with a cockade of black and white ribbons. His lavish dress is comprised of a slashed tartan coat of small ‘sett’ or pattern, and with the collar and cuffs of black velvet and silver lace.
Such spectacular and extravagant tartan dress continued to be worn by senior officers of the Company throughout the course of the eighteenth century. There is no doubt that many members of the Company were sympathetic to the cause of the Royal House of Stuart during the Jacobite uprisings between 1715 and 1746, which meant that the Company was looked upon with suspicion by the Hanoverian government for some time. A noted Jacobite was James, 5th Earl of Wemyss, who was Captain-General of the Company from 1743 until his death. He may be the subject of a fascinating but puzzling painting of a member of the Company (see page 10), who wears the decorative tartan uniform, heavily laced and fringed with silver, black velvet ‘cape’ or roll collar and deep cuffs. He wears a silver-laced sash around his waist and his arrow quiver on his left hip is slung over the right shoulder with a silver and black strap. Shown holding an arrow in one hand he stands in an Edinburgh park landscape beside a square ‘clout’ or target. This portrait has been erroneously attributed to the great Scottish portraitist Allan Ramsay, but stylistically it would appear to date from 1780 and may well be a ‘fancy’ portrait from the hand of his pupil David Martin, who was himself an enthusiastic member of the Royal
Above, from left Sir Henry Raeburn, ‘The Archers’ (c1790), oil on canvas, on view at the National Gallery, London; John de Ryck, Unidentified Officer of the Royal Company of Archers (c1700), oil on canvas
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The necessity for pinpoint precision under pressure makes archery a sport that requires nerves of steel as well as skill, and one that promises suspense for viewers whether they look on at Lord’s or at the television this summer.
How does the point system work?Each target, which is also known as a ‘boss’, is marked with ten concentric circular rings that spread out in even spaces from the centre. Each ring is assigned a different points value from one to ten, in descending order from the centre: the central circle is worth ten points, the next one out nine, and so on, until the outer ring that is worth one point.
Colour helps differentiate the different rings. The centre two rings are gold, the next two are red, then blue, black and white. If an arrow touches the boundary between two rings (known as a ‘line breaker’ or ‘line cutter’) it is awarded the higher score.
The target in Olympic archery is 122 centimetres in diameter and participants shoot at the target from a distance of 70 metres. The centre circle is just 12.2 centimetres wide.
How do archers compete with each other at the Olympics?There are 64 competitors in each gender in the individual competition. First there is an all-important ranking round: all competitors shoot 72 arrows (the highest possible score is 720) and they are seeded according to their total. The competition then proceeds by head-to-head knockout rounds, with the top seed playing the 64th seed, the second seed playing the 63rd seed, and so on.
In the knockout rounds, matches are played over the best of five sets, with each set consisting of three arrows per archer. The winners of each match qualify for the next round, until two archers are left to compete for the gold medal.
Olympic Archery: The Basics
Opposite a computer visualisation that illustrates how Lord’s will host archery during the OlympicsRight Haziq Kamaruddin of Malaysia draws his bow in front of the Pavilion during the test event at the Ground in October 2011
A team competition also takes place at the Olympics. Twelve national teams of three archers participate against each other. The knockout rounds are in a best-of-24-arrows format.
When will the archery take place at Lord’s?The archery starts with the ranking round on Friday 27th July, ten hours before the opening ceremony, and the competition continues for a week until Friday 3rd August.The Paralympic Archery takes place at the Royal Artillery Barracks, from Thursday 30th August to Wednesday 5th September.
Where will it take place at Lord’s? Archers will shoot from in front of the Pavilion across the cricket square towards the Media Centre. The Nursery Ground will also be used for the ranking round. Temporary stands will be constructed to accommodate around 5,000 spectators. A test event for the Games that took place in October was very successful and saw two world records broken. Korea’s Im Dong-Hyun broke his own world record in the ranking round, amassing an exceptional 693 points, before helping his national team score 233.
Who are the favourites for medals?Im has been world champion and won many Olympic titles with the dominant Korean national team, but has yet to win an individual gold – this could well be his year. But he will face stiff competition from
his compatriots, and also the winner of the Olympic test event at Lord’s, American Brady Ellison, now world number one. The US team are also a good bet in the team competition, having beaten the Chinese to win in October, as are the French team.
The top three ranked women are, predictably, Korean: in descending order, Jung Dasomi, Ki Bo Bae and Han Gyeonghee. Keep an eye out for China’s Ming Cheng, however, who won last year’s World Cup Final. India are second to Korea in the team world rankings and boast world number five Deepika Kumari.
Have the British got a chance?The environment at Lord’s will be as new for British archers as athletes from abroad, so there will not be the home advantage that comes with knowing the conditions inside out – although the support of the home crowd could well give their prospects a boost.
Alison Williamson, bronze medallist in Athens, is still a strong competitor at 40 years of age, but her world ranking has slipped to 23. Amy Oliver and Naomi Folkard are the two other British hopes in the women’s competition.
Simon Terry was in the world top ten not too long ago, but has slipped down to sit around the teens with fellow Brit Laurence Godfrey. The British men’s team crashed out in the first round at the Lord’s test event, but with a smaller field than the individual tournament, the team competition may be Great Britain’s best chance of causing an upset.
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Olympics DiminishedThe game’s money men have stunted the growth of cricket by excluding it from the Games, argues David Rayvern Allen
“If only . . . ” is a bemoaning cry usually made after an event and yet with the 2012 Games in London shortly to be upon us, we can only but lament a grave omission in the schedule even before it gets underway. For here in the birthplace of the greatest game invented by man – if we are to believe J.M. Barrie, an idea of the Gods, no less – that game which epitomises the Olympic ideal more than any other team sport is notable by its absence. What a missed opportunity, you may think and certainly I would agree. In the last few years and months, intermittent calls for cricket’s inclusion in the Olympic Games have come from several eminent international cricketers, among them Steve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist. There has also been welcoming comments from the President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, but no concerted bid from cricket’s rulers has been forthcoming.
Cricket and the Olympics do have a history. The game had been scheduled for the first modern Olympics at Athens in 1896, but there were insufficient entries and the event was cancelled. In Paris four years later initially there were four participants – Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Great Britain. When the O
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representing the UK, and All Paris, representing the host nation, was for the Olympic crown. Not that either side knew it at the time. The twelve-a-side match was set against the backdrop of the 1900 Paris World Exposition and it was not until later that it was given Olympic status. Devon County Wanderers (an amalgam of Castle Cary CC players and former pupils of Blundell’s School) beat All Paris (mainly British expatriates in the Standard Athletic Club) by 158 runs in a rain-affected game with five minutes to spare. The winners were given a silver medal and a souvenir of the Eiffel Tower, the losers an identical souvenir and a bronze. It was not until 1912 that the International Olympic Committee upgraded the medals to gold and silver. In the interim there had been a cricket competition scheduled for the 1904 Games at St Louis, but at short notice it was cancelled due to a lack of facilities.
So, given that fragmented and rather unsatisfactory record, why should there be a case for resurrecting cricket as an Olympic sport? Well, for a start, we now have Twenty20. The structure, nature and uncertainties of the shortened form of cricket are tailor-made for a competition where participating nations are likely to be
co-hosting tenders from the first two countries fell through, they withdrew from the cricket tournament citing difficulties in raising sides. So the Concours de Cricket played at the Vélodrome de Vincennes over two days in August between Devon County Wanderers,
Above an aerial view of London’s Olympic StadiumOpposite a handbill for the Olympic cricket final in Paris in August 1900
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indeed around London, there would be a number of clubs only too delighted to host Olympic cricket; therefore basically no new costly infrastructure would be needed.
It’s not surprising that the International Cricket Council has not been in a hurry to climb aboard the Olympic band-wagon. In an already dangerously over-crowded schedule in the professional game, why would they create further problems for themselves? They live in a world of hard-nosed pragmatism where cricket’s livelihood is governed almost solely by television’s expansive pockets. Beholden to their masters, they think there is no money in Olympic cricket, so why bother? But for those who are slightly more inured to fiscal blandishments if only through being many removes from the action, there is temptation to fantasise for a little longer. Let us see if there is a ready-made solution to this problem.
There is a precedent in Olympic sport, particularly football, for teams of Under-23s. Could not representative cricket sides of Under-23s turned out for the major cricket warmly in favour of cricket being licked
by the Olympic flame. The attractive missionary zeal fundamental to the concept is very much allied to the heyday of the nineteenth-century missionaries themselves and the muscular Christianity ethos embodied in cricket at that time. But now in the 21st century, will our national, nay international game and the Olympics ever be joined at the hip? Maybe eventually, but only if there is a change in the present mindset.
Cricket, of course, has its World Cup, European Championship and is part of the Asian Games, Pacific Games and, on one occasion in 1998, ventured into the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Sixteen teams entered that 50-over competition including seven of the then nine Test-playing nations. As is normal at a Commonwealth Games, the Caribbean islands that entered participated as separate entities, not as the combined West Indies
of dissimilar strengths. With ICC Associates and Affiliates, cricket now registers over 100 countries playing the game, and if one adds those nations known to be playing the game in a recognised form that figure, according to Richard Holdsworth, until recently Head of European Cricket, rises to 161. Inevitably there would be one-sided contests, but equally assuredly there would be extraordinary upsets. What greater motivating tool could there be for spreading the gospel of cricket to improbable corners of the globe? The romance and widespread excitement engendered by say a Vanuatu or Rwanda defeating a country much higher in the pecking order is easily imagined.
Outlining a possible format is not difficult, although admittedly now and for long after 2012 it is a fruitless exercise except for the purposes of this argument and possibly the long-term future. However, let us continue on the assumption that with the right will and determination some years back a viable competition could have been put in place for the London Olympics.
Depending on the number of entries, it might have been necessary to have had a preliminary pre-Games qualifying tourney. Ideally, then at the first stage proper, participating teams would have been split into groups comprising four or five nations, thus ensuring every country would play at least three or four games and be able to benefit from the experience. In the UK, Games in Manchester four years later,
though the ICC are making initial soundings with regard to its inclusion in the 2018 Games in Australia.
Meanwhile, once again we are left ruing a lost opportunity. The Olympic Games are diminished by cricket’s non-appearance. The thought of arrows pinging above Lord’s hallowed turf instead of cricket balls landing on it tempts me to adopt an Agincourt salute. And as for ridiculous gimmicks like synchronised swimming being part of such an important event, one almost feels compelled to drown the competitors. Mind you, it would only be necessary to deal with one, because the others would surely follow suit!
To be serious, the time is long overdue for cricket’s chieftains to pick up the Olympic flag and to realise that there are some things in life more worthwhile and uplifting than the resonance of the cash register.
team, and memorably Northern Ireland also entered (naturally not the usual all-island Irish team) and scared the eventual winners South Africa before succumbing.
Several of the major cricketing countries were to varying degrees below full strength because of fixture clashes with such as the Sahara Cup, but in no way did the competition feel denuded. Australia sent a high-powered squad of Test and ODI regulars. England declined to send a team at all on the grounds that September saw the climax of the County Championship. They were widely regarded as the party poopers and as such generally attracted much criticism. I was there throughout the tournament and found it difficult to defend what I thought was an unsupportable decision. “Surely some sort of representative side could have been sent?” I was continually asked. It came as no surprise that cricket was not part of the subsequent Commonwealth
playing nations? These could have possibly been predominately amateur, with three ‘flagged’ players allowed (had it happened this year my vote for one of them would have been Paul Collingwood, and who better as captain?). If that had been done, the inherent problem of the over-crowded calendar and strain on frontline players would have also largely been solved. Former MCC President Christopher Martin-Jenkins broadly accepts that premise:
“I am strongly against inclusion of, particularly, established professional international teams, but all in favour of a largely amateur competition to encourage the smaller nations and to promote the game in some unlikely places.”
Not so very long ago Afghanistan could have been thought of as an unlikely place to promote cricket, but their success story is now common knowledge. Before sadly he departed back to Australia, I asked MCC Secretary & Chief Executive Keith Bradshaw for his thoughts on the matter:
“My concern personally is that the people who argue against cricket being an Olympic sport do so for financial reasons, the reasons being if you have the foremost countries playing in the Olympics, who is going to pay the players if we don’t get the broadcast rights? What if they are injured during that time, they’re never going to be able to play another bilateral or one-day series around the world during that time etc. My view is that I’d love to see cricket become an Olympic sport and I hope it will happen in my lifetime.”
“How about Twenty20 in 2020, which is an appropriate configuration of terms?’ I interjected with what I hope looked like a smile. ‘Or even at Brisbane in 2024?”
“Gosh! I wonder if it could be implemented by then to be honest,’ replied Keith. ‘The changes that would need to occur, the shift in the policy of the ICC and the major countries around cricket, for it to be an Olympic sport – I feel that it is going to take quite a period of time. It’s something I would support. As an administrator, that probably wouldn’t make me popular with some of the governing bodies, who would say but you don’t understand the amount of money we would lose if that ever happened. But as an ideal, the Olympic ideal, it would be a great thing.”
Presented with the Under-23/amateur proposal above, Keith Bradshaw was even more – if that were possible –
The ICC think there is no money in Olympic cricket, so why bother?
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Above South Africa celebrate gold after the final against Australia at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1998
Above the Devon County Wanderers squad for the Olympic final of 1900, comprised of part-time cricketers from Devon and Somerset C
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They are the most powerful club in world sport and, for three weeks this summer, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will have exclusive access to the Pavilion’s Long Room as they watch the archery at London 2012. It is the first time that Lord’s has held an Olympic event but the IOC have been this way before, back in 1904.
The Reverend Robert Stuart de Courcy Laffan, then a member of the IOC in Britain, wrote to MCC early in the year with information on the coming Olympic Games to be staged in St Louis. Later Lord Kinnaird contacted the MCC Committee, whose minutes of 23rd May state that “in reply to which the Secretary was instructed to say that the Committee would be glad to see a deputation of the committee of the St Louis exhibition, about 12 in number.”
So it was that a small party made their way to Lord’s. Waiting to welcome them were Lord Darnley, C.B. Fry (who had at one time equalled the world long jump record) and W.G. Grace. It seems hard to believe that Grace had been an athlete, but in 1866 he won the 440 yards hurdles in the National Olympian Games at Crystal Palace. This after hitting 224 not out for an England XI v Surrey at The Oval. All in a day’s work for a talented eighteen-year-old.
The guests watched Middlesex v South Africa. Bernard Bosanquet, the inventor of the googly, hit a century for Middlesex in the first innings and top scored in the second innings with 44. Bosanquet took a keen interest in the Olympics and later joined Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on a committee to raise funds for the British Olympic team. Unfortunately, the IOC had left to watch archery in Regent’s Park by the time the day’s play ended intriguingly poised. The match eventually finished in a tie.
During their stay in London, the IOC decided that the host city for 1908 would be Rome. Pierre de Coubertin, the
IOC President, set aside 2000 francs for a cricket tournament to be held at the Villa Borghesi. The Italian organisers were beset by financial difficulty and in 1906 came a devastating blow when Vesuvius erupted. Widespread destruction and loss of life made it impossible for Rome to carry out their promise to stage the Games.
The man the IOC turned to was William Henry Grenfell, Lord Desborough. A future MCC President, he was also Chairman of the newly formed British Olympic Association (BOA). He was able to call upon Andrew Stoddart, an Ashes winning captain, to help. Stoddart was by now secretary of Queen’s Club in Kensington and it was here that the first event of the Games of the IV Olympiad was staged on 27th April.
The first gold medallist was Evan Baillie Noel, sports editor of The Times and an accomplished rackets player who also won the MCC Silver Racket in 1908. Incidentally, minutes from 2nd March confirm that the Club agreed “to alter the dates for the MCC Tennis competition to meet the convenience of the Olympic Games supporters.” Noel beat Henry Brougham in the semi-final and won the gold medal on a walkover because his intended opponent, one Henry Leaf, had injured his hand. Noel did not play first class cricket but in 1906 he took the field in the same eleven as W.G. for Gentlemen of the MCC against the Dutch at Lord’s. He took 8 for 89 and 9 for 77 to set up victory.
Later in those Games, J.W.H.T. Douglas – later christened “Johnny Won’t Hit Today” for his obdurate batting – won middleweight boxing gold. He beat Australian Snowy Baker in the final. It was not the last time he conquered the Australians. Within three years he had taken over the captaincy of the MCC side in mid-tour from Plum Warner. His leadership paid dividends and he remains the only Olympic champion to win the Ashes.
Douglas wasn’t the only MCC tourist
to enjoy success. Claude Buckenham toured with the 1909 MCC side to South Africa, nearly a decade after he had been a member of the Upton Park Football Club team that won the 1900 Olympic football tournament in Paris, such as it was. In common with most competitors, he was probably unaware that he’d become an Olympian. In 1912, Arthur Knight, who played first class cricket for Hampshire, was part of the successful British football team that won gold at the Stockholm Olympics. All the members of this team a century ago were English, a strange echo of the problems experienced today; the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland football associations fear for their independent status if their players
Above MCC and Middlesex cricketer Alastair McCorquodale of Great Britain (36) comes fourth in the 100 metres final during the 1948 London Olympics
participate in a Great British side.Even though cricket had not been
played at the Olympics since 1900, MCC continued to be represented on the Olympic Council, the effective cabinet of the BOA since its foundation in 1905. The BOA even sent the Club a commemorative Olympic medallion after the 1908 Games. Lord Rochdale had played first class cricket for Lancashire and became Chairman of the BOA in the 1920s and then a member of the IOC.
In the meantime another MCC Member was forging a great reputation. Clarence Napier Bruce played in Middlesex’s championship-winning team in 1920 and was a good enough batsman to share a memorable stand with the great
Patsy Hendren. He also won the MCC Silver Racket in 1922–3,1926–7, 1931 and 1935–6, and the gold racket in 1930, 1932–4 and 1937, by which time he had become Lord Aberdare and a member of the IOC.
When the Olympics returned to London in 1948, most cricket fans were flocking to watch Bradman’s invincibles carry all before them but Alastair McCorquodale, who played for MCC and Middlesex, had his sights set on the Olympic track. He was part of the 4x100m team that briefly thought they had won when the Americans were initially disqualified. He had to settle for silver when the appeal was overturned.
Britain’s most recent cricketing Olympian is David Acfield, an Essex
stalwart who competed in fencing at the 1968 Mexico and 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Competing at such a high level in two sports is all but impossible now, but from 2000, notable players have been chosen to carry the Olympic flame. Australia’s Dennis Lillee and Steve Waugh were both torchbearers en route to Sydney 2000. Ian Botham (2004) and Kevin Pietersen (2008) were also asked to transport the golden flame when it visited London. Lord’s will in fact be the first venue in London to see Olympic action in 2012. The archery ranking round takes place on the Nursery Ground on 27th July, appropriately enough since this is the ground where MCC Members team Cross Arrows CC play.
Five Rings Over MCCMembers have enjoyed Olympic success, from track and field to the Games’ administration, reveals Philip Barker
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Keeping it RealPatrick Kidd takes on former England cricketer Claire Taylor at real tennis – on the world-famous court at Lord’s – and speaks to players about the seventeenth-century sport’s lasting appeal
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Above spectators watch the MCC European Open Tennis Championship at Lord’s in 2007Left Patrick Kidd at the net with former Wisden Cricketer of the Year Claire Taylor
Who has dominated their sport most in the past twenty years? MCC members might suggest a Tendulkar or a Muralitharan. Others could make a case for Tiger Woods before his fall from grace or perhaps Sebastian Vettel, the new king of Formula One. Those who think laterally might offer Phil “The Power” Taylor from darts.
The athlete I would claim to be the greatest of our time has often played at Lord’s – no, not Alastair Cook – and comes from Tasmania – no, not Ricky Ponting. Instead, it is Rob Fahey, the Don Bradman of racket sports. Fahey has been world champion in real tennis since 1994, defending his title every two years, and has won 44 major titles (played in the same four countries as lawn tennis – Britain, France, Australia and the United States).
His most recent major victory came in November at Queen’s, where he beat the local professional Bryn Sayers in the British
Open final. It was a rematch of the 2011 European Open final, which was played at Lord’s and broadcast on the internet. Fahey has won that title four times on the MCC court and competed in six consecutive finals there.
Fahey’s achievements at Lord’s have been honoured with an official portrait, painted by Rupert Alexander, which hangs in the dedans, the gallery for spectators at the service end of the court. “Along with my honorary life membership of MCC, having my portrait commissioned by Lord’s has been the highlight of a very long career,” Fahey says. “It’s a huge thrill to have my own portrait hanging in the place where such great Australian cricketers as Don Bradman and Shane Warne hang. The sittings, which are actually of me walking, were very long and bizarrely physically demanding because Rupert is a perfectionist and I was forced to hold
The Lord’s court is without doubt one of the most rewarding tennis courts in the world
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awkward positions for long periods.”Real tennis has a similar scoring
system (15, 30, 40, deuce, love and all that) to the much younger sport of lawn tennis, but in other respects is quite different. The wooden racket is asymmetrical, which means you cut the ball rather than top-spin it, and the balls are hand-stitched and much harder. You serve only from one end, first pitching the ball on to the long penthouse roof, and there are netted windows that give you a point if you hit the ball into them. On one side of the court there is a jutting out piece of wall –
the tambour – that makes the ball fly at a wicked angle.
The sport gets its name not from an attempt to assert authenticity but as a derivation of royal tennis. It evolved from the games played in monastic cloisters in the twelfth century. Henry VIII, of course, was a great enthusiast and the court at Hampton Court, built in the 1620s, sits on the site of Henry’s own court. A tennis match features in the oldest painting in the Lord’s collection, a sixteenth-century Flemish panel showing David and Bathsheba.
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The current tennis court at Lord’s, housed behind the Pavilion and known to many Members as the place where they can get a good glass of fizz on major match days, is the second built at the Ground. James Dark, who had purchased the lease on Lord’s from William Ward, built the first court in 1838 where the modern Mound Stand is for £4,000 in order to attract members of the nobility.
Apparently, it was a local rule that the court fees of a shilling for Members and one-and-six for strangers were always paid by the loser. Fees are more steep now – £36 for the court for an hour – but there is no extra membership fee.
The court moved to its current site in 1900, paid for by the election of 200 Life Members of MCC. “They moved part of the floor and the walls of the original court to make this new one,” Adam Phillips, the Head Professional at MCC, says. “If you look closely as you walk on to the court, you can see the marks for chase one and two [the lines on the floor that play a role in winning back the serve].”
In 1875, MCC’s Tennis and Rackets sub-committee drew up the first rules for lawn tennis, but the club’s influence over this new version waned when a croquet club in Wimbledon started to host its own tennis tournament two years later. Real tennis may now be a minority sport, but it is a growing one. There are about 50 courts worldwide but at least five have been opened in the past fifteen years, most recently at Radley College.
While the layout of the courts are broadly similar, they each have their own dimensions and quirks. The court at Lord’s is relatively large and offers good bounce. “The Lord’s court is without doubt one of the most rewarding tennis courts in the world,” Fahey says. “It does what every great tennis court should do, in that it rewards good shots and penalises bad shots. Being such a fast court, I enjoy the fact that it encourages aggressive attacking play. It also without doubt has some of the best tennis balls in the game today.”
“It is a very true court,” Phillips says. “It takes cut and is quite fast. From my
Right, from top Games with the Ball: Tennis – The Court at Lord’s, printed by R.S. Groom, Wilkinson & Co (19th century); MCC Member Guy Egerton-Smith playing on court at Lord’s
the best club in the country.”Four years ago, the Club started a tennis
scholarship to give future professionals a grounding in the game. Neil McKenzie is the latest scholar, whose accommodation in London is paid for by the Club and who gets to improve his game through matches with Members. He succeeded Claire Vigrass, who in May 2011 won the World Championship at the age of 19.
Having already won the British, French, Australian and US Opens, she could become as dominant in the women’s game as Fahey is in the men’s. “There is no doubt that being at MCC has played a huge part in my development as a player,” she said.
Above Unknown artist of the Flemish School, David and Bathsheba (sixteenth century), oil on panel
experience, good cricketers relate to this game well. They are used to a solid ball, a heavy bat and blocking something coming fast at them, which is the main groundstroke in real tennis.”
Several cricketers have played, including Bradman who when in his fifties asked Colin Cowdrey to teach him. “I was coaching not a man but a machine,” Cowdrey recalled. “He was racing from one corner of the court to the other to retrieve balls which men half his age would have ignored.”
It is a game that relies as much on court-craft and nous, though, as fitness. Recently, I was honoured to have a game against Claire Taylor, the former England batsman and first woman to be named one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year. She had played only a handful of times and never at Lord’s, but all but two of our games in two sets of tennis went to deuce and with more experience on the court she would be a formidable opponent.
“I found it slower than I had been warned,” says Taylor, who holds the record
for the highest score (156) made in a One Day International at Lord’s by man or woman. “It bounced more than I thought. It is similar to cricket in that you need good strong wrists at the point of contact, but with a big difference in the width you hit the ball away from your body and that the sweetspot of the racket is not where you think it should be. There are all sorts of tactics that I need to learn to become good at it.”
Phillips is one of three Professionals at MCC. He has been at Lord’s for nine years, while his assistants, Mark Ryan and Chris Swallow, have served almost 30 and 20 years respectively. “I can see why they have been here that long,” Phillips says. “For me, it is
It is similar to cricket in that you need good strong wrists at the point of contact
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Into the Light
Rather than paint the head and shoulders of Rob Fahey you produced a full-length portrait. Its setting on the real tennis court at Lord’s makes your piece particularly significant, as it is the only oil work in the MCC Collections that shows the court in its current location.
When I walked on court at Lord’s, I immediately knew it was the most fabulous space to set the portrait because it has this cathedral-like atmosphere – even in terms of the acoustics, the space is so sonorous, especially when the ball is being struck around or when players are talking. Then there is this wonderful vaulted ceiling and skylight. The whole place is dramatic and lends itself beautifully to painting.
I started researching real tennis and visiting various courts up and down the country, but none of them lent themselves to being painted as well as the Lord’s court. Although some are very antiquated with arabesque ceiling and arches, Lord’s has this wonderful mix of the old and new. The court has a marble finish, but the white beams across the ceiling give a touch of the warehouse about it – so you’ve got this very old worldly grey court and then this very contemporary looking structure. If I had found a court that worked better for the painting I would have been tempted to go there, but as it happened the court at Lord’s turned out to be the most suitable.
Prior to painting Rob Fahey, you drew head-and-shoulder portraits of John Woodcock, Roger Knight and Keith Bradshaw. How do the ideas you explore in drawing translate into paint?
These drawings are built up from layers of dense charcoal. They are very heavy chiaroscuro drawings with ominous backgrounds. In both painting and drawing I work by a method known as sight-size, which means that a subject is painted on the canvas at exactly the same scale as they appear to the artist. If they sit
closer to the artist they appear bigger and further away from the artist smaller.
You have spoken before about the numerous head studies you produce on a daily basis and it seems to me you are more interested in structure rather than personality. Did you attempt to convey any element of Rob Fahey’s personality in his portrait?
The main thing I wanted to capture was the sense of his dominance in the sport. He said that in the nineteenth century there was another player who did “rather well” , but I have a feeling that he was just being modest. He has dominated real tennis for the past twenty years in a way that no other sportsman has dominated their particular sport. I wanted to give a sense of the court being his arena, his theatre if you like. He completely owns that space: that is why I brought him into the immediate foreground and gave him this steep upward perspective. This position allowed him to be backlit by the skylight.
I went to see him play at the British Open, which of course he won – he wins absolutely everything. What impressed me was the way he strode around the court, not with any arrogance, but with a complete sense of belonging as though his opponent was there as a guest in his house. Capturing his champion status was probably more of a goal for me than revealing a more intimate side of his character. The portrait is as much about my personality as it is about Rob Fahey. My relationship is with the paint and Rob’s is with the setting.
The light in the picture seems to bounce around the marble court, creating a sense of drama and movement. It reminds me of works by Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio, who used shafts of natural light to divinise everyday people. Were you inspired by the Old Masters?
Absolutely. I first wanted to become
Charlotte Goodhew talks to the artist Rupert Alexander about how he captured in paint the real tennis champion Rob Fahey for the MCC Collections
Opposite Rupert Alexander, Rob Fahey (2011), oil on canvas
an artist when I was taken to Venice as a child and saw Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin [1516–18]. I could not believe that the hand of man had created this thing – obviously I was too young to appreciate it from an aesthetic point of view, but it was like seeing Star Wars and being blown away by it.
I was always taken aback by theatrical lighting as employed by artists such as Caravaggio. His structuring of painting around light and dark instead of around line – as previously seen in Renaissance art – fascinated me and has been hugely influential on my practice.
With light there are two main things: source and tonal structure. I got very lucky with the court at Lord’s because it has a skylight similar to the one I have in my studio. I only paint under natural light so it was brilliant to be able to combine the light on court with the light in my studio.
The shiny surface on court reflects the light, as do Rob’s whites. This was one of the difficulties of the painting. The whole painting is fairly monochrome – that is to say, it is based around tone rather than colour. The only chromatic elements are the face and legs. I had to harmonise the skin tone with the greens, blues and off-whites of the court, which was quite a challenge I can tell you! The whole painting has a green harmony, so if you isolated the skin in would actually look quite green. It was necessary to do this to avoid him looking like a light bulb!
Rupert Alexander’s portrait of Rob Fahey has been entered for the BP Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery. For more information on real tennis at Lord’s, please telephone 020 7616 8686 or email [email protected].
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Cricket in Summer,
As an expanded National Football Museum opens in Manchester, its Director Kevin Moore explores the historic links between Britain’s beautiful games and introduces ‘Our Sporting Life’, a project that celebrates sporting heritage across the country
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While the days of being able to play both professional cricket and football may have passed, most cricket fans could name a few players who have also played League football, such as Phil Neale (Lincoln City and Scunthorpe United), Chris Balderstone (Huddersfield Town, Carlisle United, Doncaster Rovers and Queen of the South) and Ian Botham (Scunthorpe United). The older generation will recall Denis Compton, who played for Arsenal from 1936 to 1950, winning the League in 1948 and the FA Cup in 1950. He represented England at football in wartime on several occasions, but not in an official international. Asked to name footballers with a talent for cricket and Everton’s Phil Neville is
FA Cup finals (excluding 1873) until 1892.As Secretary of the FA, Alcock was
the driving force behind the world’s first recognised international football match between England and Scotland in 1872. Injury ruled Alcock out of playing as England captain, so he took the role of an umpire. The match took place on 30th November 1872 at the West of Scotland Cricket Club’s ground, Partick, in front of 4,000 spectators, ending in a 0-0 draw. In 1875, Alcock captained England against Scotland, scoring a goal in a 2-2 draw. Alcock also refereed the 1875 and 1879 FA Cup finals, and was the journalist responsible for compiling the first Football Annual in 1868. He also edited the Cricket newspaper for over twenty years and edited James Lillywhite’s Cricketers’ Annual from 1872 to 1900. For more on Alcock’s key role in both sports, see Keith Booth’s excellent book The Father of Modern Sport: The Life and Times of Charles W. Alcock.
The National Football Museum opened in Preston in 2001 to media and public acclaim and attracted over 100,000 visitors each year. The museum highlighted that many Football League clubs grew out of cricket clubs, football initially being seen as a good way for cricketers to keep fit in winter! One of the most popular items on display was the woollen jersey worn by England player Arnold Kirke-Smith in that first international football match in 1872. The jersey has an embroidered England crest of the three lions with a crown on top; England cricketers still have a similar emblem, with the crown replaced by a coronet, while the footballers no longer have the crown. Acquired with the jersey Above Denis Compton takes up his stance position in the nets in 1939
likely to get a mention – did he show greater potential than Andrew Flintoff in Lancashire’s Under-19 side? Neville captained England Under-15s and still holds the record for the youngest player to score a century for Lancashire’s Second XI, when he was fifteen. Gary Lineker’s cricket ability is also likely to get a mention, and he recalls that he was “captain of the Leicestershire Schools cricket team from eleven to sixteen and thought at the time I would probably have more chance afterwards in cricket than football”. Less well known is that Sir Geoff Hurst showed early promise as a cricketer, playing in a first class cricket match for Essex in 1962, and appearing in the Essex Second XI between 1962 and 1964, before deciding to concentrate entirely on football.
The historic links between the two sports are much greater than this. There have been twelve double internationals, nineteen England cricket internationals who have played in the Football League, 69 first class cricketers that have been England football internationals and 50 who have done the double of first class cricket and League football. These links are not just confined to England. Scotland international goalkeeper Andy Goram also played cricket for Scotland. Sir Viv Richards played in qualifiers for Antigua for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, making him, it appears, the only man to play in both football and cricket world cups!
The deep connections between the two sports go back to the beginnings of Association Football. The man who exemplifies this more than any other is Charles Alcock, who played for Middlesex, Essex and MCC, and was
Football in Winter
secretary of Surrey from 1872 to 1907. Most significantly of all, he arranged the first Test Match to be played in England, against Australia at the Kennington Oval in 1880. But his contribution to Association Football was even greater. He joined the Football Association’s committee in 1866 and served as Secretary of the FA from 1870 to 1895, before being appointed Vice-President. It was Alcock’s idea to establish the FA Cup in 1871. Fifteen teams took part in the first competition in 1871–2, with Alcock captaining the winning Wanderers side. The final was played at The Oval, as Alcock had become Secretary of Surrey the previous month. Indeed, through the influence of Alcock, The Oval hosted all
Above Compton played on the wing for Arsenal and published a paperback on football in 1938
MCC MAGAZINEMCC MAGAZINE
30 31Cricket in Summer, Football in Winter
from Kirke-Smith’s descendents was a cap, subsequently identified by Adam Chadwick, Curator of the MCC Museum, as an MCC cap. It may have been worn by Kirke-Smith in the first international football match. An engraving of the game shows the Scotland players wearing pointed blue hats and the England players wearing a variety of hats and caps. All we know of Kirke-Smith’s cricket career is that he played on a number of occasions for Huntingdonshire between 1879 and 1894. In 2012 a new public face of the National Football Museum will open in the heart of Manchester’s city centre in an £8.5 million development. More than twice the size of the museum in Preston, the new museum anticipates over 400,000 visitors each year. Kirke-Smith’s jersey and cap will be star exhibits in the new museum, a unique material link to the birth of international football.
Two of the greatest names in cricket
goalkeeper was one of the greatest figures (literally) of the game in those years – William ‘Fatty’ Foulke, six feet four inches and perhaps 24 stones by the end of his career. As well winning an international cap for England at football, Foulke played four first class matches for Derbyshire in 1900.
Historically there are strong links not just been cricket and football, but between most of our major sports, as the legendary C.B. Fry personifies. In 2004, the major UK sports museums came together to establish the Sports Heritage Network, with a mission to “strengthen the network of institutions working within the field of sports heritage, and to inspire public involvement in sport and its history”. This is implicitly an internationally significant organisation, as so many of the major sports began in the UK. In addition, the UK was a major influence on the creation of the modern
Olympics and was the birthplace of the Paralympics. Museums in the Sports Heritage Network include the MCC Museum, the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, the National Horseracing Museum, Newmarket, the British Golf Museum, St Andrews, the World Rugby Museum, Twickenham, the River and Rowing Museum, Henley, and the National Football Museum. The Sports Heritage Network is a highly active group, promoting the unique role of sport in the UK, past and present.
For the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, the Sports Heritage Network has developed a project called Our Sporting Life to encourage and assist exhibitions of sports history in towns and cities across England. Participation has exceeded all expectations, with over 100 local sports history exhibitions taking place. Thanks to funding from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
and now the Arts Council, this will be the largest exhibition festival ever held across England on any subject, and will reach an audience of at least one million people. There is clearly huge, latent public interest in sports history. The Our Sporting Life project is chaired by Paul Mainds, Chief Executive of the River and Rowing Museum, who was the founding Chair of the Sports Heritage Network. Britain’s sports museums are going from strength to strength, working together through joint exhibitions and events to celebrate Britain’s unique role as the birthplace of modern sport.
The National Football Museum reopens in Manchester this summer; www.nationalfootballmuseum.com; [email protected]. For more details on ‘Our Sporting Life’ and the Sports Heritage Network, visit www.oursportinglife.co.uk.
Above The 1892 FA Cup final at The Oval, in front of a crowd of 25,000. The match finished West Bromwich Albion 3 Aston Villa 0
history also had connections with football. W.G. Grace played football for the Wanderers on several occasions, but this was before their FA Cup glory years – they won the trophy five times between 1872 and 1878. Grace was the first President of the Gloucestershire Football Association founded in 1886 and was also an active football referee. As well as his outstanding cricket career, his achievements in athletics and his rugby performances (not to mention his party piece of jumping backwards onto a mantelpiece from a stationary position!), C.B. Fry also played football for the famous amateur club Corinthians, Southampton and Portsmouth. With Southampton he played in the FA Cup final in 1902. He achieved his ambition of playing for England at football in a match against Ireland in 1901, played in Southampton. In the 1902 FA Cup final Fry’s Southampton lost to Sheffield United after a replay. United’s
Above The England jersey worn by Arnold Kirke-Smith for the first international football match in 1872 features a crest similar to that sported by England cricketers Left an illustration of the match, which took play against Scotland in Glasgow. The England team wear a variety of hats and Kirke-Smith, a cricketer in summer, may have worn an MCC cap, now in the National Football Museum
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Historically there are strong links not just been cricket and football, but between most of our major sports
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MCC MAGAZINE
33Collection News
Collection NewsThe MCC Museum displays two of the game’s most famous trophies, crafted by Garrard, the company that has served successive British sovereigns. Jewellery and silver specialist Corinna A.W. Pike spotlights these and other sporting silverware
made of sterling silver with gilt badges of all the clubs encircling the base. The cup has a detachable lid supported by a fluted stem and half way up there is a pierced gilded section depicting willow foliage, willow being the traditional wood for making cricket bats. The very top of the trophy is surmounted by the figure of Old Father Time, based on the iconic weather vane at Lord’s that had been presented in 1926 by the architect Sir Herbert Baker. The Gillette Cup was contested annually until 1980.
Modern-day bespoke design work by Garrard includes the Dubai World Cup for horseracing in 1996 and the inaugural ICC Cricket World Cup introduced at the tournament of 1999. The latter is a majestic contemporary design standing 61cm high: a sterling silver and gilt trophy with a large globe in the shape of a cricket ball at the top, which is supported by three sets of cricket stumps with bails (signifying batting, bowling and fielding).
Trophy design comes in various styles; sometimes a fine piece of silverware with a general shape is chosen, or a trophy may incorporate motifs related to a specific sport. As working objects, it is what trophies come to symbolise that really matters. Sporting heritage is embodied in these works that survive the test of time, icons that are the silent custodians of great achievement.
The Prudential Cup and the Gillette Cup are both on view at the MCC Museum. To book a place on a tour of the Museum, telephone 020 7616 8595 or email [email protected].
of Anglesey. It is a large flamboyant silver ewer (decorative jug) made in 1848 for the first race challenge in 1851 around the Isle of Wight. This race has since become a global event and takes its name from the schooner America that won the first race.
The Prudential Cup is an antique sterling silver trophy made in 1890 and on the underside it is inscribed “R & S Garrard, Panton St, London”. It is a two-handled cup and cover on a spreading foot, and its traditional form is reminiscent of early Huguenot styles, with its vertical strapwork decoration around the belly and bold cast handles. Its early life is unclear, but it was later chosen for the inaugural Cricket World Cup tournament, held in 1975 between the then six Test playing teams of Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and the West Indies, as well as Sri Lanka and an East African team. The West Indies’ team, captained by Clive Lloyd, won the tournament and they went on to win again in 1979, and then India became the winners in 1983. England hosted all three tournaments with the final matches held at Lord’s. Sri Lanka became a Test-playing nation in 1981 and in the MCC Collection there is a commemorative medal that was produced for their first Test Match at Lord’s against England in August 1984.
The Gillette Cup was initially introduced in 1963 for the 60-over one-day competition between seventeen county cricket clubs. In the final at Lord’s that year Sussex were the first winners with Worcestershire the runners-up. This trophy is of particularly interesting form and was designed by Alex Styles for Garrard. It is
One of the fascinating aspects associated with sports and competitions are the trophies that represent the pinnacle of high achievement. All the aspiration, sheer determination and hard work are rewarded when the winner’s cup is lifted to public acclaim. Among the fine collection of silverware at the MCC Museum are two such trophies, objects that are icons in the field they represent and which in their time captured every cricket lover’s imagination: the Prudential Cup and the Gillette Cup. These two cricket trophies were both created by Garrard, the London jewellers who have enjoyed a history of more than 275 years since the firm’s founder George Wickes undertook his first royal commission in 1735.
Garrard has long been connected with the sporting fraternity, but in addition to trophy-making they are especially associated with producing regalia, ceremonial silver and jewels for royalty. Prestigious commissions are to be found in many important collections worldwide in palaces, museums and stately homes. The company still has its original handwritten royal ledgers that chart this unique heritage, with entries of work done for emperors, kings, queens and heads of state. In 1843 Garrard was appointed Crown Jewellers to Queen Victoria and has since served six successive British sovereigns, becoming renowned for making Crown Jewels for display in the Tower of London. These include the favourite small diamond crown made in 1870, instantly recognisable and often worn by Queen Victoria for official portraits. The firm was entrusted
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with the preparation and maintenance of the regalia, including in 1953 for the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Among the earliest surviving cups by the firm is the refined, neo-classical-style Cumberland Cup of 1776 for the Royal Thames Yacht Club. By the nineteenth century Garrard was producing grand-scheme silverware that was more sculptural, featuring huge figurative arrangements to celebrate horseracing and sailing events, such as the Ascot Gold Vase of 1860 and the Queen’s Cup for Ascot in 1861. The America’s Cup, the famous perpetual sailing trophy, was originally presented to the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes by the First Marquess
Opposite the Gillette Cup (1963), sterling silver and goldLeft, from far left the Gillette Cup held aloft by Warwickshire players after their victory over Sussex in the 1968 final; West Indies’ captain Clive lloyd receives the Prudential Cup in 1979Below the Prudential Cup (1890), sterling silver
MCC MAGAZINE
34 Collections News
Who would be an umpire? A glance at the longlist for this year’s Cricket Society and MCC Book of the Year Award might well produce a similar question about being a member of the judging panel. Not only was the list of books considered unusually long, 24 in all, but it was surely among the strongest since MCC became involved in the award in 2009.
Several books ended up missing out on the shortlist that, in another year, might have been in with a chance of claiming the award. Simon Wilde’s well-researched Ian Botham: The Power and the Glory was unfortunate in appearing in a year awash with high-quality biographies, as was David Tossell’s Tony Greig: A Reappraisal of English Cricket’s Most Controversial Captain. Amol Rajan’s Twirlymen: The Unlikely History of Cricket’s Greatest Spin Bowlers was another strong contender which, ultimately, could not turn the judges’ heads.
While Botham and Greig failed to make the grade, the biographies of two cricketers of earlier vintages have earned the judges’ approval. Chris Waters tackles the complex legend of Fred Trueman with sound judgement and compassion, while Robert Brooke provides an overdue insight into Frank Foster, one of English cricket’s briefest and brightest stars, and hero of the 1911–12 Ashes campaign.
It is tempting to imagine Foster bowling to Will Maitland, fictional hero of Anthony Quinn’s novel Half of the Human Race. Quinn combines the golden age of county cricket with suffragette activism and a touching romance, managing to create a fine sense of period along the way. A third book on the shortlist also has its roots in post-Edwardian England. In Before the Lights Went Out, Patrick Ferriday looks at the ill-fated 1912 Triangular Test tournament,
combining detailed cricket reportage with keen analysis of the tournament’s historical context.
The desire to re-capture a lost golden age of cricket was the inspiration behind the fifth book on the shortlist. Australia: Story of a Cricket Country, edited by Christian Ryan, brings together superb photography with original essays by some of the game’s finest writers. The canvas is huge, but it may be the only book on Australian cricket you will ever need. The winner of the 2012 award will be announced in the Long Room on Monday 16th April.
The five books on the shortlist (alphabetically by author):
• FR Foster: The Fields Were Sudden Bare by Robert Brooke (ACS Publications)• Before the Lights Went Out: The 1912 Triangular Tournament by Patrick Ferriday (Von Krumm Publishing)• Half of the Human Race by Anthony Quinn (Jonathan Cape)• Australia: Story of a Cricket Country by Christian Ryan (Hardie Grant Books) • Fred Trueman: The Authorised Biography by Chris Waters (Aurum)
The Royal Overseas League (ROSL), a private members club in St James’s, London, is offering MCC Magazine readers 50% off the joining fee. See advert on page 36Maurice Sedwell are pleased to offer 10% off a men’s or ladies’ suit. Bespoke tailoring at the highest level is a living tradition; suits are individually designed, hand-cut and hand-tailored to the highest standards. See advert on page 39
On to a Winner
Documentation ProjectThe project of cataloguing all MCC’s Collections, ongoing since 2008, has entered a new phase this year. As work begins on documenting the more than 30,000 items in the Club’s archive and work in the Library nears completion, a team of five people has been recruited to help accelerate this project towards its goal. The Curator’s Department is pleased to welcome Robert Curphey, Elizabeth Duncalf, Zoe English, Rowan Musser and Andrew Trigg and hopes their time at Lord’s will be happy and rewarding.
Golf Treasures On 30th May, the world’s most important private collection of golf art and memorabilia, The Jaime Ortiz-Patiño Collection, goes under the hammer at Christie’s in London ((8 King Street, St James’s, London, SW1Y 6QT; www.christies.com). The collection is on view to the public at the auction house from 20th to 29th May.
Neil Robinson runs the rule over the year’s best books
Towards the end of last year, the Club was happy to acquire one of the most significant 18th-century cricket paintings. Henry Walton’s Cricketers at Harrow School dates from about 1771 and is in the style of a conversation piece, a genre to which Walton was introduced by his tutor Johann Zoffany. Prior to its acquisition, it was one of the last significant cricketing pictures of this period to remain in private hands. The painting is currently undergoing minor restoration but will be on display at Lord’s during the 2012 season.
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MCC full page.indd 1 06/03/2012 17:34
MCC MAGAZINE
36 Restaurant Listings
L’AventureOpened 30 years ago by Catherine Parisot, L’Aventure continues to be a much-loved neighbourhood restaurant that exudes charm and intimacy and has a loyal following. Using fresh seasonal produce and fish brought daily from Cornwall, chef Sebastien Colleux creates superb classic French cuisine. There is a set lunch and dinner menu and an extensive list of fine wines to choose from. Open weekdays 12–11pm; Sat 7–11pm. 3 Blenheim Terrace, NW8,020 7624 6232. tHe FOX CLuBThe Fox Club restaurant is located on a quiet side street in Mayfair and is ideal for business and pleasure. The Fox Club is exclusively offering all MCC Members a lunchtime special. Any two people dining having two courses will receive a complimentary glass of wine and if having three will receive a complimentary bottle of wine. The modern European menu changes on a weekly basis to incorporate seasonal produce. Please call 020 7495 3656 to make a reservation and quote ‘MCC’ in order to be entitled to this fabulous offer. 46 Clarges Street, W1, 020 7495 3656. foxclublondon.comFrAnCO’SFranco’s evolves and provides a menu for all occasions. Open all day, the restaurant has been serving the residents of and visitors to St James’s for over 60 years. The day starts with a full English and continental breakfast on offer. The a la carte lunch and dinner menus offer both classic and modern dishes from across Italy. The afternoon menu offers a full afternoon
This is an advertisement feature. To advertise call Janet Durbin on 01625 583 180
Eating Out
tea as well as salads and more hearty dishes for those that like a late lunch, while the pre-and post-theatre menu offers exceptional value. Above all, our relaxed and friendly service ensures there is always somebody to greet you with a smile. 61 Jermyn Street, SW1, 020 7499 2211. francoslondon.comGALvIn BIStrO De LuXe Now in its sixth year, Galvin Bistrot de Luxe is the original restaurant opened by the acclaimed Galvin brothers. It has won several prestigious awards including AA Best London Restaurant and Best French Restaurant for two years running. With their Michelin-starred backgrounds, flair for sourcing the best seasonal ingredients and over 40 years of culinary experience between them, Chris and Jeff Galvin continue to serve top quality French cuisine at affordable prices. 66 Baker Street, W1, 020 7935 4007. galvinrestaurants.comGettIGetti has quickly become a destination venue for the fashionable Marylebone set. It serves the best of simple, honest Italian cooking, teamed with a carefully chosen wine list. The lower floor now features monthly entertainment, showcasing the very best of live jazz, and is a perfect space for groups and parties. Our new all-weather- proof terraces seat up to 40 al fresco diners. Open Mon–Sat 12–11pm; Sun 12–10pm. 42 Marylebone High Street, W1, 020 7486 7084. getti.comKAnDOOKandoo is London’s most traditional Persian restaurant, using fresh, natural ingredients
accompanied by irresistible freshly baked flat bread, served in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. It is an ideal venue for lunch or dinner and has a lovely secluded garden. You can bring your own alcoholic drinks and there is no corkage charge. The traditional atmosphere is enhanced by live music and a terrific belly dancer! Kandoo also offers dining in style in a private room.458 Edgware Road, W2, 020 7724 2428. kandoorestaurant.co.ukOrrerYOrrery restaurant seats 80 guests in an elegant dining room on the first floor of a converted stable block overlooking Marylebone Church Gardens. After years of neglect, the original Burtons Stable Building was converted in 1997 with banquette seats flanking one wall and a lovely view through large, arched windows opposite. Head Chef Igor Tymchyshyn shows his Michelin-starred pedigree with his French-inspired menu.55 Marylebone High Street, W1, 020 7616 8000. danddlondon.comtHe rOtISSerIe St JOHn’S WOOD Situated five minutes from Lord’s, The Rotisserie has a philosophy of excellence that is reflected in its food preparation, menu and service. From Aberdeen Angus beef to fresh seafood and rotisserie grilled chicken to crispy Barbary duck, all served in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. It is considered an institution among locals, with a reputation for outstanding quality. Open for lunch during all Test Matches and for private hire on any day. Open
Mon–Thurs 5.30–10.30pm; Fri–Sat 12–10.30pm; Sun 12–9.30pm. 87 Allitsen Road, NW8, 020 7722 7444. therotisserie.co.uktOreSAnOIsidro Cenizo has brought authentic regional cuisine to London from the Spanish village of Toro in Castilla Leon. This popular restaurant on Boundary Road serves a wide range of delicious tapas, as well as main courses and traditional and modern desserts. Each course may be accompanied with a fine Rioja wine or one can choose from the distinctive selection of wines from the acclaimed region of Toro itself. Open Mon–Fri 6–11pm; Sat 12–3pm & 6–11pm; Sun 12–3pm & 6–10pm.130 Boundary Road, NW1, 020 7624 3217. toresano.co.ukvILLAnDrYVillandry on Great Portland Street is a celebrated culinary institution. The elegant French restaurant offers a great place to enjoy an exceptional meal inspired by classic French dishes and fine wines. Villandry’s less formal, bustling Charcuterie Bar servesfresh sandwiches, salads, French favourites such as Croque Monsieur and the finest artisanal meats and cheeses. We serve a brunch menu in all areas on Saturday and Sunday 11am–5pm, and a full breakfast every morning until 11am.Bar: Mon-Fri 8am-11pm; Sat 9am-11pm; Sun 9am-6pm.Restaurant: Mon–Fri 12–3pm & 6–10.30pm; Sat 6-11pm. Charcuterie: Mon–Fri 8am– 4pm; Sat & Sun 9am–4pm.170 Great Portland Street, W1, 020 7631 3131. villandry.com
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MCC MAGAZINE
Since Wiltons was established in 1742, it has consistently enjoyed a reputation as the epitome of fine English dining in London. The atmosphere is perfectly matched with the immaculately prepared wild fish, shellfish, and game in season and meat dishes sourced from the finest farms. These are further complimented with an exclusive wine list to choose from. Wiltons combines a modern philosophy on service with all that is traditionally English to create the perfect dining experience.Our award winning chef, Andrew Turner has prepared some of the most delicious set menus; naturally our famous classical a la carte menu is available:
The £45 3-course choice set lunch menu Comes with 2 glasses of wine, mineral water, tea/coffee and sweetmeats. The Pre-Theatre £45 choice set menu Includes a complimentary glass of champagne, available from 5.30–6.30pm (1.5 hrs return time) * The £55 3-course choice set dinner menu Includes a complimentary glass of champagne, available from 6–7pm (1.5 hrs return time) * The Dinner Tasting Menu 5, 6 or 7-course menu that can be accompanied with fine wines to marry each dish, including a complimentary glass of champagne * * Offer only available when citing MCC Magazine champagne offer, return times may apply.
Open Monday to Friday 12–2.30pm for lunch; 5.30–10.30pm for dinner.Closed weekends and bank holidays, however the restaurant is still available for private hire on closed days.
Reservations: 020 7629 9955 Email: [email protected] are open Monday to Friday at 9.30am (excluding bank holidays)
55 Jermyn Street, London SW1Y 6LX www.wiltons.co.uk
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NEW TO ST. JOHN’S
WOOD “The best new addition to St. John’s Wood in a
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One Blenheim Terrace, St. John’s Wood, NW8
www.oneblenheimterrace.co.uk L’ AventureOpen Lunch & Dinner
3 Blenheim Terrace, London NW8 0EH Tel: 020 7624 6232
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MCC MAGAZINE
38
The Outcasts are almost certainly England’s most disorderly cricket club. They make the Barmy Army look like the Brigade of Guards. An itinerant social side, they play cricket in Arcadian rural settings to pass the time between beer, curry, illicit sex and general chaos, which often reaches the level of a serious arrestable offence.
It is therefore surprising that their creator kept order in the House of Commons for thirteen years. The Right Honourable Sir Alan Haselhurst, Conservative MP for Saffron Walden and an MCC Member since 1971, was an urbane Deputy Speaker and Chairman of its Ways and Means Committee from 1997 to 2010, but somehow managed to produce five adverbially titled novels about the Outcasts.
The most recent is Unusually Cricket and begins, portentously, “France was a mistake . . . .” Memories of a calamitous French excursion haunt the Outcasts as they wrestle with an unusual problem. They have accepted invitations to play two neighbouring villages on the same day and have scraped together only seventeen players. Rather than disappoint either village they decide to play both matches. Will they succeed?
Ranjitsinhji once played for three different Oxford sides on the same day and scored an effortless century for each. It is not so easy for the Outcasts and they will have to resort to multiple evasions, lies, impostures and even kidnappings.
Could any Outcast behaviour have been inspired by Parliament? Haselhurst is quick to deny this, but Parliamentary life had an influence on the creation of the Outcasts. He
had to chair the House regularly when it still had regular all-night sittings. “I would have two hours in the Chair and then two hours off. I can’t catnap, so when my shift was done I would arm myself with black coffee and write.”
The Outcast novels show traces of two early influences: P.G. Wodehouse (devoured at school) and, in their intricate plotting, Agatha Christie. They have also been described, accurately, as a blend of Tom Sharpe and Hugh de Selincourt. All five have been written in time snatched from Parliamentary and constituency work, especially time spent in Recess or on the railways. But sometimes an idea for an Outcast outrage takes hold at an unexpected moment and has to be set down.
Underlying their ornate comedy, all the Outcast novels are propelled by passion for cricket. It began in Yorkshire, where Haselhurst was born, watching Len Hutton and listening to memories of Hedley Verity. “People used to revel in the traditional dour Yorkshire image: no fours before June.” A self-proclaimed duffer as a player, he became the scorer at Cheltenham College. “At that time they played Haileybury at Lord’s, and for two years I scored at the top of the old Grandstand at Lord’s and went into the Pavilion with the players for my lunch. For someone not very good at holding the bat this was an enormous thrill.”
He has since contributed a lifetime to cricket as an administrator, an advocate and of course, as an author. Following twelve years’ service on their committee, he is an Honorary Vice-President of Essex CCC, his adoptive county, and a Lord’s Taverner, as
Richard Heller speaks to the politician and novelist about his comic creation, the Outcasts Cricket Club
My Lord’s: Sir Alan Haselhurst MP
well as an Ambassador for Chance to Shine, which campaigns for cricket in state schools. Meaning what? “It means I talk about them a lot.” He also speaks warmly of Scyld Berry’s Wisden Street Cricket initiative and of daring and imaginative work in Jamaica that has helped troubled young people, some with criminal records, to turn their lives around. “I love all sports, but I don’t think any sport does more than cricket to make people forget their differences. When a bowler relies on a fielder to catch a huge skyer, it’s a reminder of how we all depend on the efforts of others.”
He is now Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Cricket Group, which he co-founded in 1993. Confusingly for outsiders, Parliament has a separate cricket team, the Lords and Commons. The non-playing Group serves as a serious forum for Parliamentarians to talk about major issues in cricket to all those involved in the game.
Does the Group lobby for cricket in the corridors of power? “We try to avoid direct lobbying of government. We have ministers as members and they are entitled to their off-duty moments.” Ken Clarke used to drop into meetings when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, as did Ed Balls when in Government as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. If not a direct lobbyist, the Group certainly knows how to win friends and influence people for cricket.
Amid all his activities, another Outcast novel is moving forward (at the pace, he says, of an underarm lob). The new adverbial title will be Fatally Cricket, and the opening words are traditional: “A shot rang out . . . .” Agatha Christie would approve.
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dedication to achieving perfection.
One- to- one personal care, allied to dedicated craftsmanship, is the rock upon
which the Maurice Sedwell reputation was built and is still the hallmark of the
company today.
To make an appointment and to be guided to the pinnacle of sartorial elegance in
either men’s or women’s tailoring, telephone Maurice Sedwell on:
(+44) (0) 20 7734 0824.
The Perfect CutAs Mark Ramprakash would testify Savile Row tailor Maurice Sedwell combines the finest cloths, years of exper tise and an almost indefinable element of style to create the very best hand-made suits
MAUR ICE SEDWELL 19 SAV I LE ROW LONDON W1S 3PP 020 7734 0824
mau r i c e s edwe l l@b t c l i c k . com www. s av i l e rowt a i l o r. com
SPECIAL OffER tO MCC MEMbERS: A free consultation and 10% off a bespoke suit
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