Mark Peel - cricket writer

 Posted by Tony Hutton

One of the few blessings of lockdown has been the ability to join in via Zoom chats not only with local cricket lovers on a weekly basis, but by an excellent series of evening meetings arranged by both the Northern Cricket Society and the Wombwell Cricket Lovers Society. The latest meeting arranged by Wombwell this week was with the prolific cricket writer Mark Peel, who entertained an audience approaching fifty people with a fascinating and wide ranging talk about the many books he has written.

                                               Mark Peel.

Since I was a teenager, long, long ago, I have been a collector of cricket books. Originally the works of people like Neville Cardus and A.A. Thompson aroused my interest. My first job in Birmingham gave me the opportunity to peruse the excellent Hudson's book shop in New Street, which had an unbelievable stock of cricket books and pamphlets, during my lunch hours. Some I would read on the premises, others I would use my hard earned cash (first wages about £4 per week!) to actually buy.

One of the first books I bought was 'Homes of Cricket' by J.M. Kilburn and N.W.D. Yardley which set me off on a lifetime of collecting cricket grounds, which will hopefully re-commence this summer. More recently, after a lapse in time when shelf space ran out, I have started buying cricket books again thanks to the likes of Stephen Chalke and Duncan Hamilton. However I must hold my hands up with an apology to Mr. Peel, as for whatever reason I have never read any of his books and knew very little about him until this week.

This omission has now been rectified in no uncertain manner and his talk was so compelling about how he came to write the books, that I must make efforts to read them all in due course. He started with a book on Ken Barrington, the former Surrey and England batsman and subsequently England assistant manager until his untimely early death while on tour in the West Indies. A man, who like Boycott, was once dropped by England for slow scoring became a legend of backs to the wall English determination.

This was followed by books on Colin Milburn, Colin Cowdrey, Mike Brearley, and 'Hollow Crown' a study of all the England cricket captains since 1945 and 'Ambassadors of Goodwill' relating tales of overseas tours by England since the war. There are others and another one in the pipeline is the life of Douglas Jardine the controversial England captain during the pre war bodyline tour. His talk was so detailed and held his audience's attention throughout. When it came to the question and answer section of the meeting he was even more in his element showing an encyclopedic knowledge of dates and cricketers over the entire post war period.

However, there was still more to be revealed when it came to he vote of thanks at the end of the evening by Richard Griffiths, another interesting character who despite being a Lancastrian is the Hampshire archivist and also has links to Worcestershire. He was able to point out that Mark Peel has also written books on people far removed from the world of cricket such as Donald Soper, the Methodist leader, Shirley Williams, the politician and Anthony Chevenix-Trench the controversial headmaster among others. So truly a man of wide ranging interests and knowledge.

Reading up on him further was also most interesting, apparently born in Australia (although he has no trace of any accent), went to Harrow School, has degrees from Australian Universities, and has written a book on the history of Australia. Also taught at Fettes School in Edinburgh and later at Leicester University. So an increasingly complex character.

Here is his next book which is to be published in August I gather. One I look forward to reading along with his vast existing output. A truly memorable evening for all concerned.