Lives in Cricket No 26 - HV Hesketh-Prichard

118 War and its Aftermath He published Sport in Wildest Britain, though this was essentially a collection of pieces written over the years, and he still wrote occasional articles. Wildest Britain was well received and indeed reprinted in 1936. He had some involvement at this time with his brother-in-law’s businesses. The fourth Earl was a decidedly entrepreneurial type, and was involved with motor-tyre manufacturing and electrical engineering. Hex himself was appointed a director of Corn Foods Ltd, incorporated in 1919 for the manufacture and sale of corn flour, cattle-feeding stuffs, oilcake, oil from maize and similar corn-based products. It does not appear to have done much, though, and went into receivership in 1921. There was also a company called Grimston, Prichard and Plutte Ltd, set up as export merchants, and something called the Grimston Prichard Syndicate, possibly in insurance, but it seems likely that Hex’s health would not have enabled him to play much of a role in these businesses. On 24 March 1921 Don Q finally reached the stage at the Apollo Theatre, in the West End. Hex had seen one rehearsal and, against doctor’s orders, attended the first night. There were calls for the author at the end, but the audience was shocked to see him looking ill and distracted. The play folded. Parker said it was doing all right until a railway strike, an argument only undermined by the fact that in April 1921 the railway unions had actually decided not to come out on strike in support of the miners. Hex’s illness was never properly diagnosed. What they said was ‘an obscure form of blood poisoning’, which seems to count as a ‘don’t know’. He underwent a string of operations, each of which was supposed to sort The war’s effect on Hex; there for all to see.