Cricket's Historians

154 Chapter 11 More County Histories and The Cricket Society grows After the Second World War came the arrival of a career policeman of relatively humble background, and he broke the standard pattern for the background of cricket journalist-cum-historian. He left school to join the police force and by 1945 had risen to Detective Sergeant. Five years later he had transformed himself into perhaps the dominant figure in cricket journalism and broadcasting, whilst at the same time making an astute study of cricket’s history. John Arlott moved from his safe job in the police force to join the B.B.C. as a literary programme producer directly after the Second World War Almost by accident, he began commentating on county cricket and quickly became the most easily recognisable voice of the game. His career for the B.B.C. continued until his retirement in 1980. At the same time he reported cricket for a succession of newspapers, the London Evening News , News Chronicle and The Guardian . After retirement he described his life up to the year 1958 in an autobiography entitled Basingstoke Boy. His political ambitions, his poetry, and his work as a wine connoisseur are outside the confines of this book. His importance on our narrow stage is his intense interest in cricket and especially its history. Arlott built up a comprehensive cricket library and his collection was not merely decorative; he actually read the books he purchased. In 1950 he was appointed as book reviewer for the Wisden Almanack – the first time the annual devoted a section to ‘Book Reviews’. He was to continue in this role until the 1978 edition and in some ways, from an historian’s viewpoint, this