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Abstract
This article is, in essence, an extended review of Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket, an affectionate biography of two English cricket journalists by the distinguished writers Stephen Fay and David Kynaston, published in 2018. Promotional material issued for the book and the many favourable reviews it received all attested both to the very different temperaments of the two men and to things which, purportedly, they had in common – namely, an opposition to racism and to commercialism in cricket. However, a re-examination of the (much chronicled) lives of the two men and of the times they lived through shows these judgments to be over-simplified and misleading. In particular, assumptions about racism (and, thus, anti-racism) in the book fail to take into account the transition in Britain society from a paternalist, imperialist racism to a racism based on the supposed incompatibility of cultures. The leading exponent of the latter racism was the Conservative MP and theorist Enoch Powell.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 A second expanded edition was published by Two Heads in 1998 with the adjusted title of Anyone But England: Cricket, Race and Class. In 2005, a third edition, with a new afterword, and this time the arguably less contentious title of Anyone But England: An Outsider Looks at English Cricket was published by Aurum Press: Marqusee 2005.
2 From Arlott’s Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Arlott Access 26th May 2019
3 Swanton condemned as ‘pathetic, the violent young demonstrators of the left [and] the elderly skinheads of the right’. Even this did not satisfy the Duke of Norfolk, who rebuked Swanton for not supporting ‘the game’. See Fay and Kynaston p. 234.
4 The high tide of this kind of discourse was probably seen in Britain in the 1980s when progressive, Labour-held local councils – notably the Greater London Council - adopted anti-racist strategies. Mainstream media branded these councils and their policies ‘loony left’. See, for example Paul Gordon and David Rosenberg Daily Racism: The Press and Black People in Britain London: The Runnymede Trust 1989 pp. 39-51. For a full account see James Curran, Ivor Gaber and Julian Petley Culture Wars: The Media and the British Left Abingdon: Routledge 2018.
5 The first edition was Swanton (ed.) Citation1980.
6 As regards women and the lower orders Establishment attitudes at this time were probably never better encapsulated than by Mervyn Griffith-Jones QC (Eton and Cambridge) who, as prosecuting counsel in the obscenity trial of D.H. Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover in 1960, asked the jury whether it was the sort of book ‘you would wish your wife or servants to read’ – see Hilliard (Citation2013); subordination of women in the Conservative Party, another good index of Establishment opinion, was only now beginning to be challenged – see Campbell, 1987, 70-98; as to the prevailing Establishment view of ‘coloured people’, this was seen in the dominant response of Establishment figures to the Notting Hill ‘race’ disturbances of 1958, for their part in which several white youths were given prison sentences. The reflection of Lord Pakenham (Eton and Oxford) on this incident in the House of Lords contained a blend, common at the time, of respect and condescension toward black people: ‘I believe that our position in the matter was well expressed by Mr. Justice Salmon [Mill Hill and Cambridge] when passing sentence in one of these Notting Hill cases. I consider that his words were splendid words. He said: “Everyone, irrespective of the colour of their skin, is entitled to walk through our streets in peace, with their heads erect and free from fear. That is a right which these courts will always unfailingly uphold.” I doubt whether the matter could possibly be better put than it was put by Mr. Justice Salmon in those words; and they should form our guide, our principle, in these matters. Moreover, the boot is not all on one foot. Our economy is under a considerable debt to these immigrants. They have filled in where labour has been short. Especially they have filled in in transport and in hospitals. The Birmingham Corporation decided to employ coloured men on equal terms with white as far back as 1953, and I have been told repeatedly that the West Indian recruits have been notable for their courtesy and for their ability at their job.’ (House of Lords, 19 November 1958 Vol. 212 cc632-724
https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1958/nov/19/colour-prejudice-and-violence Access 28th May 2020).
7 The full text of Powell’s speech was published at its 50th anniversary by the Daily Telegraph. It can be read here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3643823/Enoch-Powells-Rivers-of-Blood-speech.html Access 11th May 2019.
8 Nairn 1981, 259. Nairn devotes a specific chapter to ‘English Nationalism: The Case of Enoch Powell’ pp. 256-90.
9 Glamorgan Archives, Glamorgan C.C.C. Minutes, General Committee, January 1967. Quoted in Hedges, Citation2019 p. 70.
10 https://englandcalling.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/is-it-in-the-blood-and-the-hypocrisy-of-the-media/ Posted 15th February 2011; access 14th May 2019.
11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Body Access 17th May 2019.
12 https://www.kickitout.org/ Access 28th May 2020.
13 ESPNcricinfo staff ‘The Kolpak rule explained’ http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/18411981/the-kolpak-rule-explained Posted 5th January 2017; access 14th May 2019.
14 From the song ‘It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’ on Bringing It All Back Home, Dylan’s CBS album of 1965.
15 The play can be seen here: https://acedusa.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/blade-on-the-feather/ Access 17th May 2019.