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Remembered Today:

Wisden tribute to fallen cricketers of first world war


trajan

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Congratulations Andrew, it looks a terrific achievement

David

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Well done Andrew - sounds excellent.

Neil

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£40 on Amazon.

I'm interested: as I have a DD to buy the Little Wonder every year, I'm waiting to see if they send me some bumph offering it at subscriber's special price.

One can but hope ...

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£40 on Amazon.

I'm interested: as I have a DD to buy the Little Wonder every year, I'm waiting to see if they send me some bumph offering it at subscriber's special price.

One can but hope ...

Me too Steven. It was advertised on the paperwork which came with the DD stuff this year but I don't recall any startling reductions for pre-ordering

David

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Try ABE, £25.51.

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I have asked Wisden if they are doing an offer.

Bill Furmedge at WisdenWorld has it for £33.

But that Abe deal (above) is fantastic.

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Andrew, I quite like the idea of a signed copy as I have been looking forward to the publication since you first posted about it. Are you likely to be doing any book signings and if so will you be venturing anwhere near the frozen north?

Pete.

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You mean, will I venture north of Basingstoke?

I have been asked to take part in a discussion on Test Match Special during lunch at the Old Trafford Test in August, so I may get to Manchester (tbc).

But that's a long way off, both in time and distance. Keep in touch.

Meanwhile, there's a great article here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/counties/10816608/What-would-the-England-team-have-looked-like-had-there-been-no-Great-War.html

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Another great review here:

… with a rare five-star rating.
Will this persuade you, Pete?

Andrew, I've never needed persuading as the book combines two of my passions (three if you count the tenuous link to jazz through the late and much admired Benny Green). And I'm on first name terms with the author; what's not to like. I will order my copy and see if I can arrange to get it signed by your good self if you don your arctic gear and snowshoes and venture north. I've been meaning to order it for a week; however I'm only an amateur crastinator (I'll turn pro tomorrow).

Pete.

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Benny Green, in his Introduction to the Wisden Book of Obituaries, which covered the years from 1892 – when Wisden first ran a full obituary section – until 1985, explained why he omitted about one-fifth of the 8,614 notices that appeared in Wisden in that period.

He stated: “When the Great War brought its wholesale slaughter of junior officers, the duties of the editors became at once shocking and overwhelming. In the absence of any first-class cricket, Wisden for four years was little more than a catalogue of death. And, understandably convulsed with grief at the endless lists of the slain pouring in from Flanders, the editors appear to have resolved to bestow on as many young men as possible a sort of immortality which bore no relationship to what they had done on the field of play. It was as though some subaltern, blown to pieces within a year or two of leaving school, must at least be endowed with the limited life to be found in the pages of the Almanack.

“An analysis of those 8,614 deaths discloses the appalling statistic that ever since Wisden began recording the deaths of cricketers, one in every eight of the obsequies was brought about by events on the Western Front. However, if the non-first-class entrants are dropped from the list, the carnage, although obscene, seems not quite as extensive. Some young men were accorded the due solemnity of an interment in the pages of Wisden on the strength of once having scored 50 for their school or taken six wickets in an inter-regimental match. These brave men, cheated though they were of life, hardly belong in a record-book whose avowed aim is to record the feats and fates of first-class cricketers.”

My book commemorates all the men who gave their lives, whether first-class cricketers or boys who went almost straight from the playing fields to the battlefields.

So I am no follower of Benny Green in this regard, but it is fascinating how attitudes have changed, I think, since he wrote those words in the mid-80s.

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My cover is now blown with news report on p10 of Daily Telegraph, 'Wisden honours fallen cricketers'.

Andrew

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You see now why I want your autograph? It's the opposite of the bookshop joke in 'Notting Hill' which II have used far too many times at the expense of some very distinguished authors, some of whom are active on this forum. If I was a better or nicer person I'd be ashamed. Very interesting quote from Benny Green too.

Pete.

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I have some birthday money still to spend, I must admit to temptation as like Pete cricket and the Great War are two of my passions. I think I might wander over to AbeBooks.... :whistle:

Michelle

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Reviewed in The Independent:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/field-of-shadows-by-dan-waddell-wisden-on-the-great-war-edited-by-andrew-renshaw-9361409.html

I did half an hour yesterday at the Rose Bowl with Kevan James on Radio Solent.

Difficult to have a discussion between deliveries, but the Glamorgan writer / broadcaster Ed Bevan has now tweeted: "Spoke to the author at Southampton yesterday – took him four years … amazing book."

Hope you are tempted, Michelle.

And Pete, if the book gets any more good reviews, I will have to start practising my autograph.

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And Pete, if the book gets any more good reviews, I will have to start practising my autograph.

I think that is a wise move matey; I use a pen so infrequenty that I develop writers cramp after doing my signature once. And it is indistingishable from the scribble from getting the ink to flow into the ballpoint.

Pete.

Edit: that is another fine review. We will be able to say we knew you before you were famous..........

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Even better on Ebay.

I'm not a fan of cricket but this looks like a must have.

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Andrew I ordered it, should be with me by the weekend.

Michelle

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Michelle

I hope you enjoy reading it.

Over on the wisdenclub forum, someone has just posted:

I'm dipping in and out of the book and am astonished at the detail which you've been able to unearth for some of what might be considered obscure players. An excellent production which is well worth adding to anyone's bookshelves.

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I'm not a fan of cricket

Sounds like a Bateman cartoon ..."The Man who admitted he didn't like cricket"

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It would not be funny if someone was The man who has not yet bought Wisden on the Great War...

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Sounds like a Bateman cartoon ..."The Man who admitted he didn't like cricket"

If I had said I don't like cricket, you may well have thought I had forgotten the rest of the lyrics and got the wrong impression completely.

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Apologies. Here: enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGLsAkeRd84

And what should I find in my inbox this morning but an advert from those little scamps at Amazon for ... you guessed it ...

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