by Mayukh Ghosh
David Frith told me a wonderful story which John Arlott told him. It was about Harry Altham.
One morning Altham and Arlott were strolling across Broadhalfpenny Down, and just as Altham took a deep breath and said, “You can almost smell the history here, John”, Arlott- who had a big night on the wine and food- broke wind quite heavily. He could see Altham’s nostrils twitching.
Harry Altham is a forgotten man.
He taught at Winchester.
He wrote a history of the game which had multiple editions spanning four decades.
He played too, and led one of the strongest school teams ever assembled.
And in 1959 he was elected as the President of MCC.
It was not the best of times for cricket.
Months earlier, a strong on paper England were comprehensively beaten by Australia, apparently with the aid of bowlers with suspect actions.
The next Ashes was to be played in England in 1961 and there were problems to be solved before it could start.
Don Bradman needs no introduction and at that point, along with Gubby Allen, was the most influential figure in world cricket.
Altham and Bradman corresponded regularly during 1959/60.
The book, apart from a charming foreword written by Bob Barber and a lovely piece on Altham, is about the letters they wrote to each other.
There are 23 documents, 20 among them being written between February 1959 and September 1960.
It generates fascinating insights about the two men.
More so about Bradman, the man and the administrator.
The book has been edited by Robin Brodhurst who is Altham’s grandson.
He himself needs and deserves an introduction.
He was brought up in a cricket environment, with both father and grandfather getting Blues and playing county cricket.
He was privileged to be in elite cricketing company since childhood. Hubert Doggart and Edwin Bramall were his godfathers before both went on to become MCC Presidents.
He once had lunch sitting opposite Harold Macmillan, and between Don Bradman and Richie Benaud!
He spent the rest of the day talking to the likes of Gubby Allen and Walter Robbins.
Pity he was too young at that time.
A few years later he was among the people who helped dry The Oval outfield and see Derek Underwood bowl the Australians out at the last gasp.
His own cricket wasn’t spectacular, though.
When Altham died in 1965, he inherited his complete set of Wisdens!
And that, as often is the case, did have an impact.
The aforementioned letters came into Brodhurst’s possession sometime after Altham died.
In Brodhurst’s words: “His widow came to live with us in 1970 when my father retired as a housemaster and moved into a very large College house. At that time I took over all his books etc.
There was a roll-top filing cabinet, which I still have, and the letters were in that. I must have read them then, and thought they were interesting, but nothing more. There was another interesting collection of letters from George Lyttelton, but sadly only one side of the correspondence.
I must have typed up the A-B letters about 5 years ago and put a few footnotes in. I gave a talk to the Hambledon Cricket Club at a lunch about 10 years ago, and that formed the introductory portrait of HSA, much expanded. I then started to put them all into context, and that was in many ways the most interesting part.
I sent the whole lot to Stephen Chalke and he said, at once, that they were publishable, and recommended Christopher Saunders. Over a lunch the 3 of us hacked it all about and discussed who should write a foreword. The general consensus was Bob Barber, which was a very happy choice. As it turned out both Stephen and I had been at Bob's 70th birthday party at Hambledon, without knowing each other!”
There is a good chance that Bradman would not have been entirely happy with these letters coming out in the public and he would have had his reasons. But now, 20 years after his death, they are an important document about an interesting time in the history of the game.
Brodhurst was quite clear in his mind: “As to hesitation about bringing them out, no not at all. If Stephen had said 'No', I wouldn't have gone ahead.
Very few of the participants are still alive, and I don't think I have maligned anybody! In fact I have gone out of my way to say that Ian Meckiff was both charming and entirely innocent of any malice - as I am sure is true.
Bradman, of course, is no longer with us, and I suspect would not have agreed with all I have written, nor I suspect would Gubby Allen. But as they say 'You can't libel the dead', not that I have libelled anyone.”
This should interest all keen students of the game.
The book is still available from Christopher Saunders (info@cricket-books.com) and the standard edition at a modest £12.
There’s a special limited edition at £75.