Jack Mercer A Bowler Of Magical Spells

Though he didn’t play regular first-class cricket until he was 31, Jack Mercer (1893-1987) took nearly 1,500 wickets in the county game, mostly bowling fast-medium for Glamorgan, where he gradually acquired all the variations of that craft. As a batsman he had two principal shots which he named ‘Cautious Caroline’ and ‘Saucy Sally’; the latter brought him a record-setting 31 runs off an eight-ball over in 1939. His involvement with county cricket extended from 1913 when his success with his village side, Southwick, attracted the attention of the Sussex club, through to 1983 when he kept the score book for Northamptonshire seconds. In between he led an astonishingly diverse life. He was in St Petersburg ‘smitten’ with a Russian ballerina when the First War broke out; his aptitude for her language took him to Bletchley Park in the Second. He was watching racing at Longchamps when told he was needed on an MCC tour to India; his white-gloved magician’s hands featured in early television advertisements. Andrew Hignell here relates the life of the one of the most genial and long-serving of county cricket’s practitioners, from the smithy to a Marylebone mews.

For a bowler, taking all ten wickets in an innings is the ultimate statistical feat. It is also a very rare one: in nearly 60,000 first-class matches it has been achieved only 81 times. Surprisingly, although books have been written about Hedley Verity’s world record ten for 10 in 1932 and Jim Laker’s all-ten in the 1956 Old Trafford Test, nobody has ever written a book describing every all-ten. Until now. All Ten chronicles each all-ten, from Edmund Hinkly’s at Lord’s in 1848 to Zulfiqar Babar’s at Multan over a century and a half later. All-tens have been taken at many different venues, from famous Test match grounds to outgrounds on which first-class cricket is no longer played. Some were taken by great bowlers such as Colin Blythe and Clarrie Grimmett, some by less well-known ones including Harry Pickett of Essex and Tom Graveney’s brother Ken. Some bowlers were at the beginning of their careers, some were nearing the end. You will read about them all here and their very special feat, and maybe wonder why the bowlers at the other end didn’t strike even once, why many of the greatest bowlers of all-time never took an all-ten, and why all-tens have become much rarer in the last half century.

Ewart Astill (1888-1948) was not only an outstanding all-rounder who amassed more than 2,000 wickets and very nearly 20,000 runs over a 30-year career with his native county, Leicestershire; he was also a person of thorough honesty, decency, kindness, cheerfulness, determination and loyalty. Only four players scored more career runs for Leicestershire and none took more wickets. One of only two county cricketers to have appeared in the Championship in every season between the Wars, Astill played a record 628 first-class matches for his county and achieved the ‘double’ of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a season on no fewer than nine occasions. To the Leicestershire faithful he was the youngster of enormous promise and then the evergreen post-war veteran, who even more than his colleague George Geary shouldered the burden of their county’s bowling, and often their batting too, with a smiling chivalry and unwearied dedication that embedded him deep in their affections. One of nine first-class cricketers to have achieved the 20,000 runs/2,000 wicket ‘double’, his meagre total of only nine caps for England – all abroad – was probably more a reflection of Leicestershire’s perceived status as an ‘unfashionable’ county, than Astill’s playing ability. Off the field, Astill was a hugely popular figure who was a champion billiards player, a fine musician and an accomplished vocalist. He was frequently invited by leading representative teams to tour overseas and was seemingly the ‘life and soul of the party’ during off-field activities. Fred Root called him ‘the most versatile cricketer’ he had ever known and David Frith’s opinion was that ‘Of the stalwarts who served their countries for almost a lifetime Ewart Astill of Leicestershire has an exalted place’; but for Leicestershire supporters he was simply the best-loved of all their heroes.

The third book in the Cricket Witness series is a celebration of Glamorgan winning the 1948 County Championship. Not only was it their first-ever title, it was achieved just four years after the heartbreak of losing their inspirational captain, Maurice Turnbull, who was killed shortly after the Normandy invasion whilst serving King and Country. Maurice had steered the county through a series of difficult seasons when defeats were more common than success, and the committee was regularly contemplating a return to Minor County status. Elevated into first-class cricket in 1921, Glamorgan CCC were the Cinderella of the county game, with opponents travelling to South Wales only booking two nights’ accommodation instead of the normal three, given the Welsh county’s dreadful form. As defeat followed defeat during their first two decades, Glamorgan’s selection committee often found it difficult to raise a strong team, as talented amateurs declined invitations to play, and, in 1922, they had to draft in a virtually unknown 15-year-old schoolboy for what proved to be his one and only county game. There were calls for the debt-ridden club to wind up but, to the delight of their loyal band of supporters, they continued, and in 1948 Wilf Wooller, the former Welsh rugby international, led the county to the Championship title. This rags-to-riches tale is recounted with the use of contemporary quotes and extracts from the memoirs of the players themselves. It is also lavishly illustrated with many previously unpublished images to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the club’s first Championship-winning season and a special moment in Welsh sporting history.

A beautifully-produced and fully-illustrated, large format celebration of the greatest players in the history of cricket.

Contents: Practice, Fitness, Coaching, Equipment, Fielding, Length and Direction, Bowling, Batting, Wicketkeeping, Captaincy, Rules and Regulations.

It's a rare comic character who can make audiences laugh for well over half a century--but then again, it's a pretty rare cartoon hero who can boast of forearms thicker than his waist, who can down a can of spinach in a single gulp, or who generally faces the world with one eye squinted completely shut. When E.C. Segar's gruff but lovable sailor man first tooted his pipe to the public on January 7, 1929, it was not in the animated cartoon format for which he is best known today (and which would become the longest running series in film history). Instead it was on the comics page of the New York Journal, as Segar's Thimble Theatre strip. Over the decades to come, Popeye was to appear on radio, television, stage, and even in a live-action feature film. This comprehensive and lavishly illustrated history is a thoroughly updated and revised edition of the highly acclaimed 1994 work. Animated series and films are examined, noting the different directions each studio took and the changing character designs of the Popeye family. Popeye in other media--comics, books, radio, and a stage play--is thoroughly covered, as are Robert Altman's 1980 live-action film, and Popeye memorabilia.

In this, her second novel, (awarded the 1967 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize) Angela Carter's brilliant imagination and starting intensity of style explore and extend the nature and boundaries of love.