Famous Cricketers No 55 - Arthur Milton

England against Austria at Wembley in November 1951. He modestly claims he was lucky to be selected. Tom Finney was injured at the time and Stanley Matthews was out of favour but Milton’s achievement is undeniable and he remains, to this day, the last man to have played for England at both cricket and football. In all he played 75 League games for Arsenal, appearing on 23 occasions in their League Championship winning side in 1952/53. He played in nine FA Cup ties and scored, altogether, 21 goals for the Gunners. After leaving Arsenal he played part of the 1954/55 season for Bristol City before hanging up his football boots to concentrate on his cricket career. After retiring from cricket in 1974 at the age of 46 he retained some involvement watching for the England selectors for a few years. He admits, though, that he is not a good watcher of the game and that he was not sorry to give this up. In 1978 he began a new career as a postman attached to the local Westbury-on-Trym Sorting Office and he worked there until his retirement in 1988. Since then he has kept in touch with his old customers by delivering their daily papers, a task he performs to this day cheerfully getting up in the early mornings to carry out his duties and ride his old P.O. bike across the Bristol Downs he loves. Arthur married Joan Anita Gore on 22nd August 1953. They have three sons, Robert (aged 41), David (aged 39) and Richard (aged 35). They also have six grandchildren - four girls and two boys. He still plays golf with his sons and looks as fit now, if a little older, as he did in his playing days. I cannot do better than end this short biography with a few words that Arthur kindly sent me in response to some enquiries I made of him when I started this project. He says: “I have always felt privileged to have been born with the talent to take my place in the games that I loved. It has enabled me to fulfil myself in a way not given to many in this life and which has helped to sustain me in my advancing years. I would like to send my best wishes to all that I played with and against, hope they are all well and thank them for the companionship, the cameraderie and the competition of our salad days”. 6