John Arlott: "One of the great English radical Liberals of the 20th century"

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On the BBC website you will find a radio programme entitled John Arlott: Cricket's radical voice. And it is a desperately good programme too.

As its blurb says:

It is not an exercise in nostalgia about a man universally considered to be the greatest cricket commentator and 'the voice of an English summer' it is an exploration of Arlott as a political figure both inside and outside the world of cricket. 

John Arlott's politics can best be summed up as those of a radical liberal, and he twice stood unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Party. But he would have found obedience to the party whip difficult, and he rarely adopted a party political stance during the many years that he appeared on the panel of the BBC Home Service's Any Questions. 

He appeared with such people as ... Michael Foot and a young Margaret Thatcher; and he attacked the political orthodoxies of both left and right. He always championed the 'common man' against the power or money or privilege.

Thanks to James Tarry for putting me on to it.