835
John Nyren tells us about one of cricket’s truly great batsmen, John Small.
John Small the Elder (1737-1826) was a truly historic figure of cricket, a supreme batsman credited with the first recorded century in a serious match, 136* for Hampshire vs Surrey on July 13th, 1775. He was also a gifted violinist and cellist, and on one occasion it quite possibly saved his life.
Picture: © Lewis Clarke, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted October 4 2018
836
The simple folk of Brittany know what it means when a nobleman calls himself godfather to an unknown infant.
Rafael Sabatini’s ‘Scaramouche’ is the tale of Andre-Louis Moreau, a young lawyer of no great convictions who becomes caught up in the French Revolution of 1789 through loyalty to a friend. The novel opens by placing Moreau against his family background — a difficult matter, though Breton gossip thinks it has got it all worked out.
Picture: © Pymouss, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted October 3 2018
837
The Roman Emperor offered to unite the world’s squabbling churches – but it was the kind of offer you can’t refuse.
English bishops met at Hatfield in 680, on the eve of a major Church Council at Constantinople. In the Imperial capital, the talk was all of uniting the world’s churches, but Pope Agatho wanted Britain’s support for something more radical: he meant to declare the gospel, even if he went the way of his predecessor, Martin.
Picture: Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted September 30 2018
838
King John had already lost most of the Crown’s lands in France, but when Aquitaine was threatened Edward III knew he must act fast.
‘The Hundred Years’ War’ is a nineteenth-century term for the Anglo-French wars of 1337-1453, a tussle for control of various provinces in France inherited by the English kings, chiefly the highly lucrative Aquitaine. But some famous victories in battle could not hide that for England the war was a long and costly defeat.
Picture: From the British Library, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted September 27 2018
839
Leigh Hunt reflects on the civilising effect of the game of cricket.
Essayist Leigh Hunt was a cricket-lover, and panegyrics on the game and its health-giving properties pepper his writing. He was also of the opinion that those whose got out to play the game gained an appreciation for the countryside and a perspective on the world denied to many others.
Picture: © Peter S, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted September 24 2018
840
A sportsman and an officer lays a wager that he can make a trigger-happy Irishman go barefoot in public.
It is a familiar scene: the legendary gunslinger in the saloon, the young upstart ragging on him, and a table of fellow-gamblers urging the reckless boy to think better of it. In this case however, it all took place in a coffee-house in Georgian London, and the upstart was a middle-order batsman for the MCC.
Picture: By Edward Henry Corbould (1815-1905), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted September 23 2018