Some more fixtures

posted by John Winn

Last August I was one in a large crowd that gathered at Clifton Park, York to watch a match in the Kia Women's Super League. In action were Yorkshire Diamonds who entertained Taunton based Western Storm who went on to win the tournament. The feature of the afternoon was splendid hitting by Lauren Winfield and Sophie Devine for Diamonds and Rachel Priest for Storm. Priest hit an unbeaten 106 off 65 balls and supported by Heather Knight saw her team home to a ten wicket win.

The fixtures for this year's tournament are available on the ECB website starting with three matches on Sunday 22nd July, Champions Storm will take on Yorkshire Diamonds at Taunton that afternoon. Finals day is on the August Bank Holiday at Hove with the semi final played in the morning and wickets pitched for the final at 2:30, the 32nd match in the tournament which is spread over 17 grounds. Yorkshire Diamonds will play their five home matches at Headingley (2), York (2)  and Scarborough, beginning with a Roses clash on Friday July 27th at Headingley.

County Second XI fixtures published.

Posted by Tony Hutton

One of the last pieces in the jig saw in planning the coming cricket season's programme has arrived this week with the publication of the county cricket second XI fixtures which can be found on the ECB website. Yorkshire were the first in the field with their fixtures a few weeks ago, closely followed by Sussex and the full list now includes most of the venues, although Leicester and Northants, as ever, do not yet know where they will be playing.

The fixtures are particularly important these days with the county championship games crammed into the beginning and end of season, so it is good to have a steady flow of three day second eleven games to fall back on. In Mr Boycott's most recent pronouncement he feels that the county championship will not exist in twenty years time. If he is right, which I somehow doubt, I will not be here to see it happen but feel most grateful that I have already had seventy years of watching proper county cricket.

However back to the matter in hand. Gloucestershire second eleven appear to be breaking new ground with matches at Rockhampton, Bedminster and Bristol CC, as well as excursions into Somerset to play at Bath CC. Glamorgan are returning to Neath and Port Talbot where I think the first team played occasionally in the past. My own personal targets for new grounds will include Radlett (Middlesex), London School of Economics, New Malden (Surrey), Burnopfield (Durham) and Hem Heath (Derbyshire) although actually in Staffordshire.

Sadly one or two old favourites are not on the list. Most missed by many will be Todmorden which has staged home games for both Lancashire and Yorkshire for many years. Another Yorkshire favourite - Stamford Bridge, gets only a one day game. Add to this no Minor Counties game at
Sedbergh School in Cumbria and the demise of the St Peter's School York under 19s festival and some of the most popular grounds in the North of England no longer get a look in.

                                                               Centre Vale, Todmorden

Many old favourites of course do remain. It will be a pleasure to re-visit Scarborough, Liverpool, Repton School, Crosby, York, Southport, Belper Meadows, Harrogate, Worksop College, Glossop, Denby, Marske, Blackpool and Chesterfield if I can somehow fit them all in!

For those able to travel further afield I would heartily recommend Preston Nomads (Sussex), Newclose (Isle of Wight), Kibworth (Leicestershire), High Wycombe (MCC YCs), Southgate (Middlesex), Bishops Stortford (Essex),  and Horsham (Sussex).

                                                     Preston Nomads (Sussex)

Wherever you go enjoy your cricket and encourage the young home grown players of which there are so many. I have had the pleasure over the years of seeing young cricketers like Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Tim Bresnan, Adil Rashid and many others develop and grow up in Academy and Second team cricket. See if you can find some stars of the future too.

More Somerset memories

Posted by Tony Hutton

John Winn's recent story about Somerset set me off quite easily on my own memories of this  county's cricket history. I first saw the county play during a holiday spent with my family in a caravan at Watchet on the Somerset coast in 1952. To escape the rather claustrophobic family atmosphere, which included my young brother (eleven years younger than me) and a very energetic younger cousin, I took myself off for two days of cricket watching at Weston super Mare and Taunton.

The game at Weston was Somerset v Lancashire which was badly affected by rain. However I managed to see a good day's play on the first day during which Lancashire bowled the home side out for 141 and had made 48-1 by the close. Looking back at the scorecard of the day's events the star performer was one of the many amateurs who at that time came into the Somerset side during the summer holidays to the consternation of the lowly paid professionals. They were sometimes described as a cast of strolling players and the Somerset side of the thirties and forties was full of men with striped blazers and hooped caps.

Clarence Park, Weston super Mare, which ceased to be a county ground after 1996.

I was aware of Micky Walford as a very good batsman who was a schoolmaster at Sherborne School, Dorset and only played first class cricket during the summer holidays. He was good enough to top the Somerset batting averages for several seasons. In this match he made top score of 61 and put on 50 for the first wicket with the county's star man of the time Harold Gimblett. However the rest of the side subsided rather quickly against the bowling of off spinner Roy Tattersall, who took 7-32 for Lancashire.

I am fairly sure this is the only time I saw him bat, as in the next match at Taunton Somerset were in the field all day against Hampshire whose runs were also compiled by two amateurs. Skipper Desmond Eager made 101 and the Reverend J.R. Bridger 97. So par for the course in those days, the amateurs scored all the runs and the poor old professionals did all the bowling.

 

                                     Micky Walford

However it was certainly Walford who took my eye and I was curious to read up on him recently to find out what an excellent all round sportsman he was. He was born at Norton, Stockton on Tees in 1915, went to Rugby School and then on to Oxford University, where he excelled not only at cricket but at both rugby union and hockey. He won 'Blues' in all three sports and had a trial for England's rugby side, playing at centre alongside the famous England winger Prince Obelensky. He did even better at hockey playing centre half in the Great Britain side which won a silver medal in the 1948 London Olympics.

Walford's highest score for Somerset was 264 against Hampshire at Weston super Mare in 1947. It was an innings which included forty fours and was only 28 short of L.C. Palairet's 1896 county all time record. In 1948 the Olympics restricted his appearances but on his return he put on 180 with Gimblett for the first wicket before his partner went on to score a triple century at Eastbourne. In that same season he was involved in a controversial run out of Len Hutton at Taunton.

Hutton left his crease to avoid impeding the wicket keeper as he attempted to take a throw in. The ball bounced out of the keeper's gloves and rebounded off Hutton's pads onto the stumps. Walford alone appealed and the umpire gave Hutton out. Apparently this incident remained on his conscience for many years. The following season, 1949, he made 763 runs in just nine games. 1950 saw yet another century at Weston, which must have been his favourite ground. In fact six of his nine centuries were scored there.

Just two more seasons before his time with Somerset ended but he carried on playing minor counties cricket for Dorset from 1954 to 1962. He had started his career in Minor Counties cricket with Durham back in 1937. He continued to coach the boys at Sherborne School in cricket, rugby and hockey and eventually became the school's second master. He died at Sherborne at the age of 86 in 2002.

An unsung hero

posted by John Winn

Five years ago I prepared a talk for the Pennine Cricket Conference which had to be cancelled because of snow in late March. My notes for that talk 'Every Picture tells A Story' remain on my computer and I came across them recently while looking for something else, which is often the way. The gist of my talk was the idea that the social structure of cricket teams at that time both on the county circuit and the village green mirrored the structure of society. I chose Somerset to illustrate the divisions between gentlemen and players and my notes make brief reference to one Ernest Robson, born in Chapel Allerton, and who served Somerset as a professional for 27 years. Although described as an all-rounder Robson's work was mainly that of a bowler, he stands fourth on the counties all time list of wicket takers,

In his history of Somerset cricket, 'From Sammy to Jimmy', the late Peter Roebuck devotes more than three pages to Robson, a man of 'somewhat melancholic appearance whose manner, in times good and bad, was of unequalled tranquillity'.' Impassive of countenance, respected for his unflagging determination and unfailing accuracy.' That fine writer RC Robertson-Glasgow spoke highly of Ernest's bowling and recounts that Jack Hobbs said that he (Robson) troubled him more than any other bowler of his type, in particular with his late outswing. Ernest's reaction to success was 'a slight, very slight, smile and with a smoothing of the moustache, a 'thank you, sir, I was lucky.'' There is a wonderful picture in David Frith's Pageant of Cricket (page 240) of WW Lowe of Worcestershire being given out caught behind off Robson at Taunton in 1910 and of the six players plus the umpire in the picture the bowler is the least animated, indeed he could almost be a soldier standing to attention.

In the talk that never was I ran through the various ways in which the gentleman player distinction was symbolised, different railway carriages and dressing rooms even different gates, and Vic, Robson's son, recalled a time in 1919 when his father, the only professional*, would sit in his own enclosure watching play and come on to the field through his own gate. Even after her husband's death, Vic's mother would mend gloves for the amateurs while Vic would telegraph their bets through to their London bookmakers.

Robson's death is recorded in Wisden in 1925, aged 52, and having played as recently as 1923, a season in which the 51 year old sent down 839 overs. For years he had suffered from rheumatism, in his later seasons he doubled up as groundsman, imagine Ben Stokes sweeping the pitch at tea, and although almost crippled to the point where he could barely run his guile got him 81 wickets in that last season. Although he finally hung up his boots he appeared on the umpires' list for 1924 but died before he could stand following an operation for cancer.

Somerset did not forget this loyal servant, he had been given a cheque for £178 in 1919 for recognition of his services, he had a benefit with a match against  Worcestershire in 1905 and on August 23, 25 and 26 1925, just three month's after Ernest's death, the proceeds from the match against the same county went to Mrs Olive Robson.

In Robson's obituary Wisden recalls some of his batting feats, he hit five first class centuries, including one against Worcestershire when aged 50, and recalls how in 1922 at Weston our Ernie finished the match with a six off the second ball of the last over to beat Middlesex by two wickets. For this he received a cheque for £50, Wisden says it was an 'anonymous gift' but Roebuck, and he should know, says it was from the celebrated Somerset cricketer, Malcolm 'Dar' Lyon. Robson was one of only two pros in the Somerset side, Middlesex had five.

Robson had talents beyond the cricket field, Roebuck says he played cricket for Derby County, although I can find no supporting evidence for this but Wikipedia list him as having been right back for Cheshire, Somerset County and Bristol South End, later to be Bristol City. A good snooker player and one who on occasions could be persuaded to entertain with his fine tenor voice Robson was popular wherever he played, as Roebuck says 'salt of the earth'.

'

Ere stroke of seven, with stroke of six

Our Robson won the game

Extract from a poem 'How Robson made the Winning Stroke'

Somerset in 1901, Robson standing second from the left

* Despite looking through the 12 championship matches Somerset played in 1919 I can find no occasion when they had fewer than two professionals

A bit of a puzzler

posted by John Winn

Amongst my cricket memorabilia is a small autograph book in which I collected almost exclusively cricketers' signatures at the Scarborough Festivals of 1955 and 56. In addition there are these two pages, one of Yorkshire players' signatures and the other Warwickshire. These were not collected by me but by a friend of my dad's and I had always thought that they were collected at a game between the two sides at Middlesbrough. Two clues suggest this must have been in 1958, one being the presence of Ronnie Burnet who captained the side in 58 and 59 along with that of Johnny Wardle who was dismissed by Yorkshire in the middle of the 58 season. The only trouble with that theory is that the two sides met at Harrogate, not Acklam Park, that year and Burnet did not play although I suppose as skipper he might have been present at the ground. The Yorkshire XI was Stott, Taylor, Lowson, Close, Wilson, Padgett, Trueman, Wardle, Binks, Appleyard and Pickles. Of these 8 can be clearly identified but I can not identify the signature to the left of Padgett's and I think the one under Illingworth is Sutcliffe.

The Warwickshire page does not help for there are approaching 20 signatures, and it seems unlikely that they would not bring that many to an away match.Their team was Gardner, Horner, Leach, Spooner, Fletcher, Hitchcock, Ibadullah, Leadbeater, Carter, Altham and Thompson.  If we look to the return match it was played in late August when Wardle had gone and the Yorkshire XI included Bird, Sharpe, Bolus, Wilson and Ryan who did not play at Harrogate. Watson, and Trueman were on test match duty at The Oval v New Zealand.

In my detective work I had always assumed that they were collected at the same match but am beginning to think that this may not have been the case. Nevertheless the book is  treasured possession and if I say that Evans, Tyson, Appleyard, Dexter, Bailey, May, Bedser, Miller, Benaud, Davidson, Adcock and McGlew are among many others I collected in person then you will know why I have kept the book for over sixty years.

The summer of 27

posted by John Winn

I have just finished reading a book by Bill Bryson, 'One Summer: America 1927' and even though it runs to over 600 pages it never failed to hold my attention. The cover blurb says it 'fairly whirls along' and so it does, covering the main events in that summer in the USA but never afraid to change course and take the side roads. I came across only one reference to cricket and that in connection with Miller Huggins who in 1927 was manager of the New York Yankees managing them to be World Series winners that summer. The link to cricket is that Huggins' father was an Englishman who became a grocer in Cincinnati but who Bryson describes as an 'excellent cricketer', where and for whom he played is not known. Miller died aged 51 from a skin infection (erysipelas) which would now be cured with a course of antibiotics.

Much of Bryson's book is dominated by Charles Lindbergh who in the chosen year became the most famous man on earth after flying the Atlantic nonstop from Long Island to Paris. The fame that this brought him was accompanied by quite astonishing public adulation that was only soured when his Nazi sympathies were revealed in the late 30s. In baseball the focus was on two of the greatest batters in the history of the game, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig* who were locked in a struggle to see who could hit the most home runs, Gehrig rather fell away towards the end of the season but Ruth became the first man to hit 60, a record that would last until 1961. To put Ruth's efforts into context his sixty hits were more than the totals for all but three clubs.

Elsewhere that year Al Capone was at the peak of his power, Calvin Coolidge, a man as far removed in personality from the present incumbent of the White House as it is possible to imagine **, was President, sound came to the cinema and Gene Tunney beat Jack Dempsey in what at that time was probably the most hyped boxing match ever.

What of England at this time and in particular what was happening on the cricket field? George the Fifth was on the throne, Stanley Baldwin was in number 10, the BBC first broadcast live football on radio, Huddersfield Town were runners up to Newcastle United in the First Division, and Darlington were relegated from Division Two with Bradford City. Oldham beat Swinton in the Challenge Cup Final.

Wisden 1928 tells us that Lancashire were county champions with a % points obtained from 28 games of 68.75, Notts were runners up, 67.85, also from 28 games while Yorkshire who played only 27 games finished third, 62.54%. Bottom with a percentage of only 18.51, far behind anybody else, were Worcestershire, 'most disappointing', to quote Wisden (price 25p or 5/0s). Charles Hallows top scored for Lancs with just short of 1900 runs, and their leading wicket taker was Australian Ted Macdonald with 143 wickets. For Notts William 'Dodge' Whysall led the way with the bat and Larwood averaging over 25 with the bat took 91 wickets at 16.48. Yorkshire, captained by Major Lupton played championship cricket on seven different home grounds and could rely on Sut
cliffe, Holmes, Oldroyd and Leyland for runs. GG Macauley was leading wicket taker with 118.

New Zealand were the visitors and it is significant that the report of their tour does not appear until page 450. This was their first tour of England and in a wet summer they contested 26 first class matches winning seven and losing five. The tour began at Holyport at HH Martineau's ground on May 9th and ended at Scarborough on in September against Leveson-Gower's XI. This last fixture ended in a draw with Mills and Blunt making hundreds for the visitors. L-G's XI owed much to stubborn defence from JWHT Douglas and FW Gilligan which gained them a draw.

In his notes editor C Stewart Caine remarks that after a fine May and June the weather broke to produce a 'summer...that will probably be regarded as one of the worst in the history of cricket'. Yorkshire with nine blank days reported a steep loss in takings. I referred earlier to the method of deciding the championship using percentage points and that counties did not all play the same number of games. Middlesex played only 20 and Glamorgan 21, and the editor records that 'much dissatisfaction has been expressed at the method of reckoning'. Looking ahead to 1928 he suggests that it is likely that games will begin at 11:30 each day, stumps be drawn at 6:30 except on the third day when they may be drawn at 6:00, a scheme that many of us will recall as the norm in the past.

*a biopic of Gehrig, 'The Pride of The Yankees' starring Gary Cooper is shown on tv occasionally, worth a watch but keep the tissues handy. Films have also been made about Ruth including The Babe Ruth Story starring William Bendix as the slugger. and free to stream on YouTube

**when Coolidge's death was announced in 1933 acerbic wit Dorothy Parker is said to have asked 'How can they tell?'

WW Whysall,
Notts 1910 to 1930

News from The Vale

posted by John Winn

The Vale of York League has announced some 'comings and goings' before their 2018 season begins on April 28th. One of the league's longest serving clubs, Fulfordgate, has withdrawn, citing a shortage of players as the reason and Tadcaster Magnets have also left. Fulfordgate could claim almost sixty years continuous membership but have been on the slippery slope for a couple of years, relegated from Div 1 in 2015 and, not helped by conceding several fixtures, finishing bottom of Div 2 last season. Fulfordgate's ground is somewhat featureless and its upkeep is the responsibility of the Fulford Parish Council and when I visited in 2013 local artists had left their mark on the tackle shed. but it is always sad to see any club pack away the kit for the last time. Another club leaving the Vale is Malton and Old Malton II who are joining the Scarborough Beckett League but will continue to be represented in the league by what I presume is their third XI who will play in the second of three divisions.

These losses are offset by the news that Clifton Alliance and Sessay will join the league with their newly form fourth elevens playing in Div 3. It will be interesting to see where these two ambitious clubs, both members of Yorkshire Premier North, play their fourth XI matches. Draft fixtures will be circulated shortly. The full list of clubs and the structure of the three divisions are available on the league's website. Good to see Thixendale, who folded in 2014 but reformed to win successive promotions, back in the top division. Their lovely ground in a dry valley in the Yorkshire Wolds deserves to host good cricket. Looking at the list of clubs only South Cave and Brantingham CC remain on my to do list.

I have tried to move on from the disappointment of the recent tests in Australia and promised myself that I would leave comment to others and my word there is no shortage of those prepared to put their opinions forwards. The one suggestion I could not allow to pass unchallenged however is that offered by Michael Vaughan, namely that to afford better preparation for playing on hard wickets some championship matches should be played overseas. Strangely Vaughan is not the first to put this cockamamie idea forward for it was discussed by the ECB in 2013 and met with 'fierce opposition from the counties', let's hope that should it prove to have legs they will be sawn off before
you can say Jack Robertson.

An audience with the King of Spain

Posted by Tony Hutton

  

                                    Ashley Giles at Headingley last night.   

The Northern Cricket Society held it's first meeting of the New Year at Headingley last night.
Guest of honour was none other than Ashley Giles former Warwickshire and England left arm spin bowler and subsequently holder of several coaching roles with England, Lancashire and Warwickshire.

The meeting opened with a splendid account of the traditional Boxing Day match from the winning captain Andrew Stoddart, complete with the George Featherstone Trophy awarded to the winners.
Andy's enthusiasm for the game shone through, although one member of the audience commented rather unkindly that the winning margin would have been even larger if Andy could run faster between the wickets.

Then to the main event with Ashley Giles, although currently suffering with hip problems once again which originally brought about his retirement as a player, entertaining the large audience with an excellent talk. He started off on the theme of never forgetting where you came from and spoke with affection of his beginnings as a player with his local village side in Surrey when a young boy.

He also spoke with feeling of how your career can gain strength from adversity as he told of his time as a junior player with Surrey, originally as a quick bowler but soon finding out that his talents really blossomed as a spinner. Surrey were not happy with this and wanted him to continue as a quick bowler which led to the parting of the ways while still a teenager.

Thanks to the efforts of his father and elder brother he managed to secure a trial with Warwickshire and soon obtained a professional engagement. The rest is history and he spoke warmly of the influence of coach Bob Woolmer and skipper Dermot Reeve during his early days at Edgbaston.
He joined Warwickshire at a time of great success for the team, but even after he broke into the England side there were periods of doubt as to his permanence as an international player.

However it all came good in the end with the highlight of his career no doubt the 2005 Ashes series win when his performances with the bat as well as the ball were major contributions. His memories of that series were the highlight of the evening, especially the two days of celebrations in London after the Oval Test Match, which included a memorable visit to Downing Street.

In the question and answer session later in the evening he fielded all manner of queries with tact and diplomacy. He was particularly keen not to to be critical of England coach Trevor Bayliss, when asked if he should have done certain things differently and confirmed that Bayliss has an excellent track record as a coach.

He is obviously a deep thinker about the problems of coaching and man management and certainly seems to have enjoyed his time both with Lancashire and Warwickshire and feels very passionate about the counties' duty to produce Test Match players. He still feels the Ashes is the pinnacle of the game and we must do all we can to beat the Aussies as often as possible.

When tackled on the concerns of the audience regarding the future of county championship cricket he made a very interesting point in suggesting that the two division system may have run it's course and that most county coaches are obsessed with not being relegated from the top division. Something he knows all about as Warwickshire were relegated last season. He suggested this had led to short term policies, engaging overseas and Kolpak players too readily and not encouraging young English players to play regularly and develop properly.

Of course as my headline suggests he was asked the inevitable question about the famous benefit mugs which should have said 'Ashley Giles King of Spin' which were wrongly produced with the inscription of 'King of Spain'. He said this is something he can still not escape when shopping in supermarkets he is still greeted with calls of  'It's the King of Spain!'.

A thoroughly entertaining evening and as long as there are people like Ashley around we can feel confident that in some areas at least the game is in good hands.

Good news and bad news

Posted by Tony Hutton

Brockhampton cricket club


First the good news - the Minor Counties Cricket Association have today published the full fixture list for the 2018 season. These can be found on the MCCA play-cricket site. There are a few one day trophy games missing. This year the games in this competition will be played on a straight knock out basis with first round games on 29th April and 20th May instead of the previous group system. This is to make way for the new T20 competition.

So now that the endless media hype over the Ashes series in Australia is nearly over, time to look forward to some proper three day cricket throughout the summer period played on some of the most attractive grounds in this country. Just reading through the familiar venues which appeal most to me gives an added spring to the step. Think about Truro and Werrington in Cornwall, Sidmouth in Devon, North Perrott (Dorset), although actually in Somerset,  and all three Herefordshire grounds, Brockhampton, Eastnor and Colwall.

One or two new names appear in Marlborough (Wiltshire) and Wimborne (Dorset). There may well be others. In addition Carlisle makes a welcome return for the final match of the season in Cumberland. However, this is where the bad news occurs. We did hear rumours at the end of last season that a change of headmaster at Sedbergh School in Cumberland had taken place and that the long standing annual fixture there might not take place. This appears to have been what has happened.

I later discovered thanks to Mike Latham of Cumberland CCC that it had nothing to do with the Headmaster. It was purely down to the Minor Counties Cricket Association not being able to allocate a home fixture to the County during August (the only time the ground is available.)

However it is hoped that a return to Sedbergh may be possible in 2019. There are also obvious concerns about playing a game at Carlisle in September with a 10.30 start. The last time they played there in September the Minor Counties Final was delayed due to heavy dew on the ground during the morning. We will hope for better things this year.

Sedbergh School pavilion.

This is such an attractive ground and a regular place of pilgrimage not just for me, but for many cricket enthusiasts throughout the North of England for probably around the last twenty years. No doubt school matches will continue to be played there and hopefully the annual fixtures with MCC and the Yorkshire and Durham Academies will continue.

Another great loss to the cricketing calendar for 2018 is that due to the reorganisation of Yorkshire Schools cricket the Under 19 Yorkshire Senior Schools festival at St Peter's School, York has been discontinued. This again is a long running annual week's cricket which has always been well supported and produced good class cricket again in excellent surroundings.

St Peter's School, York

Add all this to the abysmal treatment of County Championship cricket by the ECB and people of my generation must feel that their familiar way of life, and ebb and flow of the summer months, is being eroded more and more. Let us make the best of it while we can!

A talented Scottish family

posted by John Winn

Researching for a posting I made in November on the Bateman Champain family I chanced across the Wisden obituary for John Harold Bruce-Lockhart who died in London on June 4th 1956 aged 67. An old boy of Sedbergh School, Bruce-Lockhart went on to be Headmaster of his school from 1937 to 1964. At Cambridge his leg spinners were good enough to take 12 wickets in the 1909 Freshers' Match when his victims included Prince H Naryan stumped Holme b Lockhart in both innings. In their account of Cambridge's 'poor season' Bruce-Lockhart is singled out for his performance to the extent that he is described as carrying the whole team on his shoulders. Gaining his blue at Lord's he took nine wickets in a rain interrupted match.

Bruce-Lockhart played 24 first class matches in all, including two for Scotland. The first of these was against Ireland in 1910 when he took 11 wickets in the match  and the second against an All Indian team at Galashiels the following year when he took six wickets in the tourists' two innings. The rest of his first class games were for his university for whom he took over 100 wickets. Bruce-Lockhart was also an outstanding rugby union player, gaining a blue and two caps at fly half for Scotland. His marriage to Mona Brougham produced four sons, two of whom were talented sportsmen. Logie was capped at rugby by Scotland and Rab played both sports for his country. If that were not enough their uncle, John's brother Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart, was a noted rugby player, spy, diplomat and journalist .His son Robin wrote the book, Reilly Ace of Spies.

It would perhaps be inappropriate to divert too far into the Bruce-Lockhart families educational pedigree, suffice to say Logie was appointed head of Gresham's School aged only 34, a post he held for almost thirty years and Rab was head at Loretto School in Edinburgh.

If all this is not enough to justify the title of the posting then here a few more snippets about this remarkable family

John Bruce-Lockhart was a talented artist and a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur

Logie Bruce- Lockhart was a keen fly fisherman and wrote books on his hobby.

Dugald Bruce-Lockhart born Fiji in 1988 is an actor and great grandson of JH Bruce-Lockhart. He trained at RADA then worked at The RSC.

Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, grandson of John Bruce-Lockhart was a Conservative politician and leader of Kent County Council.

Kim Bruce-Lockhart, nephew of Logie, was an outstanding squash player who after Sedbergh School went up to Cambridge where he gained a blue for squash, played a decent standard of cricket, 'a shrewd captain, an erratic spin bowler, and a superb batsman with an impeccable defence and an enthralling array of wristy attacking strokes'* qualities that earned him selection for Surrey II and should, some thought, have gained him a blue.  He captained the first XV at Sedbergh, a team that included Alastair Biggar and John Spencer, and of course the cricket team for which Wisden shows he was outstanding with both bat and ball.  He was no 1 for Scotland at squash for almost ten years until aged 33 he dropped dead from a heart attack while playing a Cumberland Cup game in January 1980,  leaving a wife and young family.

* the quotation is from an address by G.V. Surtees MA Headmaster of John Lyon School, Harrow at a memorial service for Kim held on January 22nd 1980.