Earlier this evening I listened to this superb documentary on BBC Radio 4.
John Arlott is remembered as a cricket commentator - except that it is more than 30 years since he retired as a commentator and 20 years since his death, so I fear that many followers of the game today have hardly heard of him. Suffice to say, he was the greatest cricket commentator there has ever been.
But there was far more to him than that. He was twice a Liberal candidate and, in the days when the party was at its lowest ebb, he was probably the best known Liberal in the country, thanks to his appearances on Any Questions? He was also one of the foremost British campaigners against Apartheid in South Africa
You can hear John Arlott: Cricket's Radical Voice on BBC iPlayer for the next week. By the time it has finished, the programme has gone a long way to substantiate its claim that he was "one of the great radical liberals of the 20th century".
6 comments:
Lovely man.
Apparently, on a visit to apartheid era South Africa, when required to state his race on an immigration form he wrote 'human'
BBC4 showed the Brearley and Arlott in conversation a few weeks back which made excellent watching. Not least because there was no continual cutaways to graphics etc - just two men talking.
Brearley's role as an opponent of apartheid is also worth remembering - particularly as he took a stance in the early days of his career when it could have been to his detriment.
Back in the days when the YLs were Stopping The Seventies Tour and opposing apartheid in general -- and being generally reviled for doing so, including by some people in the Party -- it was most heartening for us to know that John Arlott declined to broadcast a commentary on the Springboks games.
Here's John Arlott in a 1955 Liberal Party PPB (wrongly labelled "Liberal Democrat"):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOjhdW_6df8
Arlott once described the famous 'egg & tomato' coloured MCC tie as 'blood & pus'...
Thanks for the tip. Great listen. Hasn't "Any Questions" gone downhill since it became ridden with todays mediocre politicians. The FT had a leader recently that applauded Ken Clarke and Vince Cable as having the courage to speak out as they were not career driven. That is what we need.
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