The Twelfth Man 2019

‘John was still in great spirit and ever eager to hear the views of our members’ until just after 11 o’clock! Review - ing the night later George Beeley wrote: “ Mr. Arlott spoke to us of his early days of cricket watching; of the genius and modesty of Sir Jack Hobbs; of the revelation of Maurice Tate’s “seaming” the ball at Eastbourne; of the “pecking order” in the Hampshire team of the 1920’s and, more seriously, of the importance of retaining a sense of proportion about the game we love. After his retirement from the commentary box in the summer of 1980 the Society was keen to mark the oc- casion with a special tribute dinner to their senior Pa- tron. On 14 April 1981 John Arlott made the journey for the third, and sadly final time, to be in the company of over 250 Wombwell friends and members. That night, at Elsecar’s Milton Hall, Barry Jackson glowingly not- ed: ‘Here was a born communicator who did not need notes to be able to stand and talk with friends about the game which has been one of the great loves of his life – and talk he did, with humour, affection and wisdom.’ As well as that memorable dinner the 1981 Twelfth Man included a special tribute section to JA with contribu- tions and praise from such as Brian Clough, Christo- pher Martin-Jenkins, Peter Baxter, Ray Illingworth, Leslie Crowther and current Society Patron David Frith. ARLOTT’S ASSOCIATION WITH THE WOMBWELL Mick Pope looks back at the Society’s bond with the broadcaster, writer, poet and long-serving Wombwell Patron John Arlott W hilst reading the weighty and excellent Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Crick- et by Stephen Fay and David Kynaston (see book reviews elsewhere in this magazine) thoughts stirred about two of the Society’s most distinguished and long-serving former Patrons and their respective Wombwell associations. I will hopefully return to E W Swanton in a future edition of The Twelfth Man , but for this issue I’d like to focus on John Arlott and WCLS. September 26, 1955 and ‘in spite of a tiring journey’, re- corded the 1956 Twelfth Man magazine (little more than a pamphlet back then and in its third year of publica- tion), Arlott ‘was in top form’ during his first visit to the Society. His second visit to Wombwell would be a while in coming, but very quickly the persuasive secretary and magazine editor, Jack Sokell, was able to tempt the busy broadcaster and writer into submitting an annual fea- ture contribution to The Twelfth Man . Between 1958 and 1981 each and every edition would contain an Arlott ‘gem’ on a particular aspect of the game or an essay about a player, usually on one of the stalwart county cricketers that he so admired and cherished. In 1965 the Society inaugurated a new annual award – Cricket Writer of the Year – later to be dedicated in memory of J M Kilburn. Jim Swanton received it in 1968 and Arlott was the recipient the following year. His return visit to the Society on 24 May 1970, now as a Society Patron, was to receive his 1969 Cricket Writer award and the Society magazine that year headlined it as ‘An Evening of Splendour’. A 120 year-old engraved (by Arthur Johnson) vase was appreciatively received. Although the evening officially ended at around 9.30pm, Features