Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket

by David Kynaston (Author), David Kynaston (Author), Stephen Fay (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2019

  $4.49

  `Like the game of cricket itself, this fascinating book works on many levels, some playful, some analytical and some cultural' Sebastian Faulks, Sunday Times For more than a quarter of a century after the Second World War, as the BBC tightened its grip on the national consciousness, two of the most famous English voices were commentators on games of cricket. John Arlott and E.W. ('Jim') Swanton transformed the broadcasting of the nation's summer game into a national institution. Swanton was born into a middle-class family and privately educated; Arlott was the son of a working-class council employee and educated at state school. Because of their strong personalities and distinctive voices - Swanton's crisp and upper-class, Arlott's with its Hampshire burr - each had a loyal following in the post-war years, when England's class system had a slot for almost everyone. Both typified the contrasting aspects of post-war Britain and the way both it and the game they loved was to change. Wise, lively and filled with rich social and sporting history, Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket shows how these two very different men battled to save the soul of the game as it entered a new era.

• New

  Paperback
  2019

  $11.74

  `Like the game of cricket itself, this fascinating book works on many levels, some playful, some analytical and some cultural' Sebastian Faulks, Sunday Times For more than a quarter of a century after the Second World War, as the BBC tightened its grip on the national consciousness, two of the most famous English voices were commentators on games of cricket. John Arlott and E.W. ('Jim') Swanton transformed the broadcasting of the nation's summer game into a national institution. Swanton was born into a middle-class family and privately educated; Arlott was the son of a working-class council employee and educated at state school. Because of their strong personalities and distinctive voices - Swanton's crisp and upper-class, Arlott's with its Hampshire burr - each had a loyal following in the post-war years, when England's class system had a slot for almost everyone. Both typified the contrasting aspects of post-war Britain and the way both it and the game they loved was to change. Wise, lively and filled with rich social and sporting history, Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket shows how these two very different men battled to save the soul of the game as it entered a new era.