Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

105 Rebuilding his Wisden obituary a number of players were shocked to discover that the hotel was unlicensed! This clearly didn’t deter them, however, because at the end of the summer a group of them would often come down with families or girlfriends for a relaxing post-season holiday. Henry Tilly remembers a fabulous fortnight with, among others, Fred Titmus and Bob Hurst and some very enjoyable cricket on the lovely sands. 1953 was another one of those years. As well as the Coronation celebrations, Mount Everest was conquered, England regained the Ashes, with Denis Compton hitting the winning run, and two other English heroes achieved personal triumphs that had eluded them for so long, Gordon Richards finally riding a Derby winner, and Stanley Matthews at last getting an F.A. Cup winner’s medal. And perhaps best of all, sweet rationing ended. (Although, taking off my rose-tinted spectacles, it must be noted that the year did begin with devastating flooding on Britain’s east coast, and in November the Hungarian football team came to Wembley and beat England 6-3, a shock at least to the English. 145 ) For a while it seemed that Middlesex would also have reason to celebrate. In the middle of August they headed the Championship, at a stage when they had played 145 Syd was there on that famous grey November afternoon. Remarkably a British Pathé newsreel picked him out, sitting in one of the stands. (Well, if it wasn’t Syd, it was his exact double!) Middlesex players on a post-season holiday at Golden Sands wait for a train after a morning walk. Back (l to r): D.Montague (Middlesex masseur), Jack Robertson sen, wives and girl friends, Jack second from right. Front: John Murray, Ron Hooker, Ian Robertson.