When I was a child – adolescent too – in Worthing I used to attend the two annual Sussex CCC matches played on the Broadwater pitch, that is, before it was deemed unfit for purpose. I also used to travel to nearby Arundel to see that year’s vising tourists play the Duke of Norfolk’s XI in their opening fixtures. And there was Hove of course. At all these locations I would carry my notebook around in search of autographs. Over time I collected those of a good few international stars like Sussex stalwarts David Shepherd, Ted Dexter, Jim Parks and John Snow, and tourists including – what am I saying here, ‘culminating in’ – Gary Sobers.
While I no longer jostle in impromptu queues to get signatures I have continued collecting on and off, mainly signed photos and books. I was surprised the other day to find just how many signatures I’ve accumulated. So this blog revisits my youth (and I fully admit it is only the length of boys’ trousers that varies over time). As far as cricketers’ autographs go, I can now summon three pretty outstanding teams, and here they are:
1st XI
Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Bradman, May, Chappell, Sobers, Botham, Miller, Evans, Lindwall, Larwood
2nd XI
Hutton, Boycott, Dexter, Kanhai, Gower, Barrington, Parks, Bailey, Bedser, Trueman, Statham
3rd XI
Simpson, Hunte, Butcher, Graveney, Lamb, Thorpe, Taylor, Snow, Tyson, Willis, Valentine
Ok, so they’re all English, Australians and West Indians and there’s a shortage of spinners, but impressive teams. Just a bit of fun.
I now have a bookshelf overflowing with signed books collected over several decades. They extend well beyond cricket squares.
People from sport include:
Roger Bannister, Kelly Holmes, Seb Coe, Will Greenwood, Geoff Hurst, Wally Lewis, Bobby Charlton, Clive Woodward, Willie John McBride, Brian O’Driscoll, Dan Carter, Nobby Stiles, Jason Robinson, Colin Meads, Lennox Lewis, George Best, Stanley Matthews, Nat Lofthouse, Jimmy Greaves, David Campese, Martin Johnson, John Eales and Paul Gascoigne
There are political figures too, though noses might have to be held in more than one case:
Jimmy Carter, John Major, Gordon Brown, Ted Heath, Harold Wilson, Tony Benn, Margaret Thatcher and Roy Hattersley.
The largest ‘collection’, if that is what it is, comprises literary figures. Again I am being selective in listing the following:
Harold Pinter, Melvin Bragg, Pat Barker, Clive James, Iris Murdoch, Beryl Bainbridge, Jenni Diski, Anita Brookner, Sebastian Faulks, Doris Lessing, Ian McEwan, Penelope Lively, John Banville, Julian Barnes, Orhan Pamuk and Gao Xingian.
There are more, like my favourite crime writers, James Lee Burke, Sara Paretsky and Donna Leon, but enough is enough.
Interestingly, as I no longer collect autographs and the outlets in my neighbourhood or on my weekly London commutes that sell signed books have diminished, the pace of accumulation has dropped.