John Arlott - Writing and Journalism

Writing and Journalism

Arlott was a stylish writer, contributing regularly as a journalist and also writing the occasional hymn. As his interest in wine developed he wrote a couple of books on that subject, he also wrote poetry, considering his best poem to be the one dedicated to Sir Jack Hobbs on the latter's 70th birthday.

His career in journalism began with the Evening News in 1950. In 1955 he switched to the News Chronicle, where he stayed until the paper folded in 1960. He began reporting football matches for The Observer in 1958. He also wrote occasional articles for The Times. Arlott joined The Guardian in 1968 as chief cricket correspondent, where he would stay until 1980. He was also asked to comment on football matches. He was assigned at his own request to cover the Manchester United v Red Star Belgrade European Cup match in Yugoslavia. At the last minute their chief soccer correspondent Donny Davies pulled rank and decided to go instead. The aircraft bringing back the team, officials and press crashed in what became known as the Munich Air Disaster and Davies was one of the fatalities. Arlott finally stopped covering soccer matches in 1977 after a couple of violent post match incidents with hooligan fans.

He became an early member of the Cricket Writers Club, founded in 1947, whose dinners in those days were lavish affairs and often held in liveried halls. Basil Easterbrook, chairman in 1965, recalled an attempt to ban drinking until after the AGM which normally preceded the annual dinner. "There was much noise, calls for order and the singing of a ribald chorus of 'On Rosenwater's doorstep, down Leytonstone way' to the tune of Mother Kelly. Irving Rosenwater was a leading member at that time and some of the club's elder statesmen were angry enough to walk out. John Arlott was the chairman at that meeting and, as was his custom, had taken the odd sip of wine. John tried hard to bring some order to the proceedings by banging the table with a spoon, but he missed the table."

Well-versed in cricket history, Arlott was often viewed as a leading authority, especially on the literature of the game. He wrote annual reviews of the year's cricket books for Wisden for every year from 1950 until 1992, except for 1979 and 1980. He also wrote a well received appreciation of Neville Cardus for the 1965 edition. He wrote articles on cricket art and history for the encyclopaedia Barclays World of Cricket.

He had many books published, including: Of Period and Place, a book of poetry (1944); Indian Summer (1946); Concerning Cricket (1949); Maurice Tate (1951); Test Match Diary (1953); Vintage Summer (1967); Fred - Portrait of a Fast Bowler (1971); A Hundred Years of County Cricket (1973); John Arlott's book of cricketers (1979); Jack Hobbs: Profile of the Master (1981) and Basingstoke Boy: The Autobiography (1989). A Word From Arlott and Arlott In Conversation were published in 1983 and 1984 respectively as collections of his commentaries and writings. He was also the narrator and technical advisor for the documentary short film Cricket (1950).