Cardus revisited

 Posted by Tony Hutton

I have probably written about Neville Cardus in these columns before and no doubt may do so again in the future, but last night under the many restrictions we are all currently faced with, I had my first experience of an online 'Zoom' meeting when the great man was the subject of discussion. This was the first meeting of the Northern Cricket Society for their 2020-2021 season and available to both their own members, and those of the Wombwell cricket lovers society, who had the necessary technical know-how to log in.

Neville Cardus, extreme right, attended the Northern Cricket Society Dinner in 1952 with numerous other celebrities.

The speaker, from his home in Nottingham, was Chris O'Brien who has written one of the most recent books on the subject of this somewhat mysterious character entitled 'Cardus Uncovered'. Obviously a very diligent researcher he was able to talk fluently about the numerous flaws in the Cardus story, which started for me as a young man when I bought a paperback copy of his Autobiography. In recent times many people have suggested that some of his tales regarding his early life are not entirely true and Mr O'Brien's researches obviously proved the point.

While acknowledging that Cardus overcame his difficult early life and lack of education to become not only the cricket correspondent but also the classical music critic of the then Manchester Guardian, he seemed to have gone to great lengths to list every mistake, or even in some cases deliberate falsifications, in his writings. While it is true that many of his stories were embellished perhaps even to the extent of suggesting how he would have liked things to have happened rather than what actually did, this was indeed part of his charm, even to the extent of putting words into the mouths of certain Lancashire and Yorkshire players.

However, Mr O'Brien's book will no doubt be an excellent read with so much detailed research and questions asked about Cardus's period of residence in Australia during the Second World War, which did not go well with his Lancastrian readership. An interesting question and answer session followed with members of the watching audience from their own homes being 'unmuted'. I was pleased to hear Michael Pulford, the Society's booklet editor, echo my own views to the effect that he always enjoyed Cardus's writing. 

Indeed I have always felt that the book 'The Roses Matches 1919-1939', of his match reports for the Guardian, makes fascinating reading, particular for those of a Lancastrian or Yorkshire persuasion. More recently I would heartily recommend Duncan Hamilton's book 'The Great Romantic' and 'A Field of Tents and Waving Colours' with an introduction by Gideon Haigh.

Full marks to all concerned in putting the wheels in motion for this novel meeting which will continue certainly next month and for as long as the current restrictions remain in force.