Lives in Cricket No 25 - Tom Richardson

114 Bout-du-Monde when commenting on the loss of form in 1897/98, his father was in the habit of taking long walks, as evidenced by the myth, albeit exploded, that he walked regularly from Mitcham to The Oval. However, Aix-les- Bains is a good fifteen kilometres from the St Jean d’Arvey area. There is no direct road and to get there, even if he had initially taken the Aix- les-Bains – Chambéry road, he would at some stage have turned off into some attractive but inhospitable terrain. He would have found himself in the Leysse valley with mallards, pochards and kingfishers, between the Massifs of the Bauges to the north and the Chartreuse to the south, near a waterfall called Le Bout-du-Monde and a depression called Le Trou des Enfers, which, according to locals, are best avoided by ordinary pedestrians and left to experienced mountaineers. Perhaps, overweight, lost and disoriented, his mind and body could take no more. Furthermore, wearing a collar and tie, even for informal occasions was a convention generally observed in the early twentieth century and their absence as well as wearing slippers for a long country walk may well be ‘signes d’aliénation mentale’, but they do not add up to preparation for suicide. The Sporting Life , picked up the news a day after the Daily Mail , but along with The Times was seemingly more accurate in locating the place of Richardson’s death at the Cascade du Bout-du-Monde and mentioned in addition that he had been taken ill in a café. That he was taken ill in a café may well be correct, but savage irony as it might have been to end one’s life in a place called the Bout-du-Monde – also a hamlet as well as a waterfall – the place where his body was found was in open country at a place called “les Molliennes” (Molliène on current maps) in the Chemin des Vignes, now forested but then open country with vines and peach trees. Enquiries made in St Jean d’Arvey have revealed that not even the most elderly residents with the sharpest memories can recall being told by parents or grandparents of the events of 2 and 3 July 1912. 271 The location of the Nicolas-Bar may be of significance in piecing together the story of Tom Richardson’s last hours. It is very convenient for the thermal baths, but even more so for the casino, being directly opposite. His job as a publican would mean that he was a late-night rather than an early-morning person, so it perhaps makes sense to see the 5 am departure as an extension of the previous day. Had he perhaps had a decent win at the casino, had a few drinks, removed his collar and tie, put on his slippers and wandered off for some fresh air? The 400 francs found in his pocket is also something of a clue. It was a substantial sum of money. Statisticians and economists may well get their knickers in a twist over comparative purchasing power, but as a very rough guide, the local newspaper at the time cost 10 centimes, so 271 A little surprising perhaps: though the population of St Jean d’Arvey is just over 1,500, 1912 would be within the memory of many people’s grandparents, if not their parents. My own grandmother was able to recall events that took place in that year, like the sinking of the Titanic and Barnsley winning the FA Cup.