A Lancashire Lad

Back in January Allan Massie reviewed Simon Gray's The Year of the Jouncer for The Scotsman.

In the course of his review he quoted a pleasing observation from Gray:

Here comes Flintoff, who always reminds me of the cheerful part of a Housman poem, hale and hearty, a peerless youth, before Housman snuffs him out at the end of a rope.