Roy Case | Writer

On the 17 August, 1964, in the final match of the Test series against Australia played at The Oval, Geoffrey Boycott OBE, scored 113, his first Test century. He made his Test debut against Australia at Trent Bridge, Nottingham in June 1964. 

In a controversial playing career, from 1962 to 1986, the former Yorkshire and England cricketer became established as one of England’s most successful opening batsmen. Since retiring as a player found success as a cricket commentator.

Boycott was born in October 1940, in the mining village of Fitzwilliam, near Wakefield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire.  When he was 8 years old, he was impaled through his chest by the handle of a mangle after falling off an iron railing. Boycott nearly died, and in the efforts to save his life, his spleen was removed.

Boycott attended Fitzwilliam Primary School, where he won a Len Hutton batting award for scoring 45 runs and capturing six wickets for 10 runs in a school match. At age 10, he joined Ackworth Cricket Club, demonstrating ‘outstanding ability’. At the age of 11 he failed the examinations that would have taken him to grammar school, and instead went to the local Kinsley Secondary Modern School. A year later, however, he passed his late-entry exams, and transferred to Hemsworth Grammar School. His cricket prowess was such that he captained the school’s cricket First XI at the age of 15. During winters he attended an indoor cricket school, where he was coached by former county professional Johnny Lawrence.

17 August, 2019

On the 16 August 1831, the English sportsman and father of the Football Association [FA], Ebenezer Cobb Morley was born.

Morley was born in Kingston upon Hull and lived in the city until he was 22.

He qualified as a lawyer in 1854, and in 1858 he moved to the London suburb of Barnes to practice as a solicitor in the capital.

He founded Barnes Football Club in 1862, and in 1863, when captain of the Mortlake-based club, he wrote to Bell’s Life newspaper, proposing a governing body for the sport.

This led to the first meeting of the FA, held at the Freemasons’ Tavern, in October 1863, when Morley was elected the first secretary of the association.

He created the first draft of the rules which were published in December 1863, and led to the elimination of the rugby-style carrying the ball, and ‘hacking’, the kicking of an opponent’s shins.

Morley continued to serve as FA secretary until 1866, but subsequently retired ans served as it’s President, from 1867 to 1874.

The house in which Morley created the first draft of the FA’s laws carried a ‘blue plaque’ commemorating Morley, but the house collapsed in 2015 during building work.

As a player, he played in the first ever match under FA rules, against Richmond in 1863.

Morley was also a keen oarsman, and founded the Barnes and Mortlake Regatta. 

Morley died in 1924 aged 93 in Richmond, and is buried in the now abandoned graveyard on Barnes Common.

16 August, 2019

On the 15 August, 1981, a legend was born when Ian Botham scored a century in 86 balls against Australia in the 5^thAshes Test at the Emirates, Old Trafford.

Botham had started the series as England captain, but a run of 13 Tests without a win, saw him replaced by Mike Brearley, but the triumphant Botham set the stage for England to regain the Ashes in front of a raucous Old Trafford crowd.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, England were all out for 231 on day one, with Botham out first ball for a duck, caught out by Bright, to the bowling of Dennis Lillee.

The hosts fought back, and dismissed Australia for 130, with Botham taking 3 for 28 off 6.2 overs.

In the second innings, in front of 20,000 spectators, England initially surrendered the initiative, collapsing to 104 for 5.  What followed was heroic the Botham knock, which swung the pendulum firmly in England’s favour. Botham delivered arguably one of the best innings of his career, scoring 118 off 102 balls in 123 minutes, including six 6s and thirteen 4s, and the legend was born.

England put on 404 all out in 151.4 overs, leaving Australia needing 506 for victory in the final Test. Although Australia battled hard, with centuries from Yallop [114] and Border [123], with a total of 402 all out, the Aussies came up short by 103 runs, and England celebrated a famous Ashes series victory.

15 August 2019

On the 14 August 1891, the Victorian cricketer Johnny Mullagh [13 August 1841] died aged 50. A skillful all-rounder, he was born Unaarrimin, but was given the name ‘Mullagh’ to identify him with his place of birth, on Mullagh Station, about 16 kilometres north of Harrow, Victoria. Mullagh led the famous Aboriginal cricket tour of England in 1868.

On the same day, the 5^th and final Test of the Ashes series of 1948 began at The Oval in London, Australia won the match by an innings and 149 runs, to complete a 4–0 series win. It was the last Test in the career of the Australian captain Don Bradman. Bradman only needed only four runs from his final innings to achieve a Test batting average of 100, but was bowled out second ball for a duck by leg spinner Eric Hollies.

English skipper Norman Yardley won the toss and elected to bat on a rain-affected pitch.

After a delayed start due, the Australian pace attack, led by Ray Lindwall, dismissed England on the first day for 52 runs. Lindwall taking 6 wickets for 20 runs. Len Hutton was the only English batsman to resist, making 30 before being dismissed.

In Australia’s reply the opening pair, Arthur Morris and Sid Barnes, passed England’s score on the same afternoon, in an opening stand which was ended at 117 when Barnes fell for 61. Australia reached 153 for 2 at stumps on the first day. On the second day Morris had contributed 196, more than half his team’s total, before being run out, with the Aussies finally dismissed for 389.

By lunch on the third day England had reached 121 for 2, with Hutton and Denis Compton batting steadily, but suffered a late collapse to be 178 for the loss of 7 wickets when bad light and rain stopped the day’s play.

The next morning, Bill Johnston took the last 3 wickets for Australia and England were bowled out for 188, bringing the match to an end.

After the match the crowd sang ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’ in Bradman’s honour.

England Scorecard:

First Innings                                                Second Innings

L Hutton c Tallon b Lindwall 30              c Tallon b Miller 64

J.G. Dewes b Miller 1                                  b Lindwall 10

W.J. Edrcih c Hasslett b Johnston 3         b Lindwall 28

D.C.S. Caompton c Morris b Miller 4       c Lindwall b Johnston 39

J.F. Crapp c Tallon b Miller 0                     b Miller 9

N.W.D. Yardley [Capt.] b Lindwall 7        c Miller b Johnston 9

A.J. Watkins lbw b Johnston 0                  c Hassett b Ring 2

T.G. Evans [Wkt] b Lindwall 1                  b Lindwall 8

A.V. Bedser B Lindwall 0                            b Johnston 0

J.A. Young b Lindwall 0                             not out 3

E.W. Hollies not out 0                                 c Morris b Johnston 0

Extras 6                                                          16

Total [42.1 overs] 52                                    [105.3 overs] 188

14 August, 2019

On the 13 August, 1960, the professional darts player Phil [The Power] Taylor, was born in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. Taylor left school at the age of 16, and after holding a few jobs he spent most of his early working days making ceramic toilet roll handles. Although he liked to play darts and football as a child, he never took up the game seriously until he moved into a terraced house in Burslem, near to Eric Bristow’s pub ‘The Crafty Cockney’.

His wife Yvonne bought him a set of darts for his birthday and he started playing regularly, occasionally at Bristow’s pub. By 1986 he was selected for the county team and playing at Super League level.

Bristow sponsored Taylor by loaning him £10,000 to help him get started as a professional darts player, to take care of his family and on condition he give up his job in the ceramic industry.

Taylor won 214 professional tournaments, including a record 85 major titles and a record 16 World Championships, 8 consecutively from 1995 to 2002, and reached 14 consecutive finals from 1994 to 2007. He has won 70 PDC Pro Tour events, comprising 45 Players Championship events, 21 UK Open Qualifiers and 4 European Tour events. This was a record until Michael van Gerwen surpassed it in February 2019.

Taylor won the PDC Player of the Year award six times (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012) and has twice been nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, in 2006 and 2010, finishing as runner-up in the latter. He was also the first person to hit two nine-dart finishes in one match, in the 2010 Premier League Darts final against James Wade. He hit a record 11 televised nine-dart finishes, out of a total of 22 overall.

Taylor played in competitions organised by the British Darts Organisation [BDO] until 1993, when amidst growing disenchantment, he was among 16 top players who broke away to form their own organisation, the World Darts Council, now known as the Professional Darts Corporation.

Taylor confirmed his retirement from professional darts just before the final of the 2018 World Championship, but remains active on the exhibition circuit.

In 1993, Taylor became the landlord at the Cricketers Arms in Newcastle-under-Lyme.  

13 August, 2019

On the 12 August 1904, the English tennis player, William Charles Renshaw (1861-1904), died of epileptic convulsions in Swanage, Dorset, aged 43.

Born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, A right-hander, he was renowned for his power and technical ability. In 1881 Renshaw was ranked world No. 1, sharing the title with Karoly Mazak. Renshaw won 12 major titles during his career. Sharing the all-time male record of 7 Wimbledon singles titles with American Pete Sampras until 2017, when Roger Federer won his 8^th singles title. Renshaw’s 6 consecutive singles titles from 1881 to 1886, remains an all-time record. He was unable to defend his title in 1887 because of tennis elbow, and during his absence took up golf.

Renshaw also won the doubles title 5 times alongside his twin brother Ernest. The pair dominated the sport for many years in a time when the only other Grand Slam was the US Championships, and customarily at the time players did not travel that far. The rise in popularity of the game of tennis at that time became known as the ‘Renshaw Rush’.  

In 1888 William Renshaw became the first president of the British Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), and in 1983 was elected posthumously into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, together with his brother Ernest.

12 August, 2019

On the 11 August, 1953,Terry Gene Bollea, better known as the professional wrestler, Hulk Hogan, was born in Augusta, Georgia. The son of construction foreman Pietro ‘Peter’ Bollea and dance teacher Ruth Bollea, he is of French, Italian, Panamanian, and Scottish descent.

As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball, attracting scouts from the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, but an injury put an end to his career prospects.

Music began to get in the way of his time in college, and he dropped out of the University of South Florida before earning a degree. Hogan was also an actor, television personality, entrepreneur and musician, who spent a decade playing bass guitar in a number of Florida-based rock bands. Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called Ruckus in 1976, which became popular in the Tampa Bay region.

Hogan began watching professional wrestling while in high school at 16 years old, and regularly attended cards at the Tampa Sportatorium.

During his spare time, he worked out at Hector’s Gym in the Tampa Bay area, and in mid-1977, after training for more than a year Hogan was handed a pair of wrestling boots and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle in his first match professional wrestling debut against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida.  A short time later, Bollea donned a mask and assumed the persona of ‘The Super Destroyer’.

Hogan appeared on a local talk show, with Lou Ferrigno, the star of the television series The Incredible Hulk. The host commented on how Hogan, with 24-inch biceps, 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) tall, weighing 295 pounds, dwarfed ‘The Hulk’. As a result, Bollea began performing as Terry ‘The Hulk’ Boulder.

Hogan went on to headline multiple editions of the premier annual events of the WWF, and in his day was the most recognised and most popular wrestling star worldwide. He closed the most profitable WCW pay-per-view ever at the 1997 edition of Starrcade. 

Hogan is a thirteen-time world champion, his first WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign is the longest in history, and his first WWF Championship reign the third-longest ever. Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005, by Sylvester Stallone.

During and after wrestling, Hogan had an extensive acting career, beginning with his 1982 antagonist role in Rocky III.

11.August, 2019

On the 10 August, 1954, the English jockey, Sir Gordon Richards (1904-1986), retired with 4,870 wins to his credit. The only flat jockey to be knighted, Richards was the British flat racing Champion Jockey 26 times and is by many considered the world’s greatest ever jockey.

Born in Donnington Wood, Telford, in 1904, the son of a Shropshire coal miner who reared several pit ponies, which fostered young Gordon’s love of horses, who rode the ponies bareback from an early age, and from the age of seven, drove the family pony and trap passenger service. Gordon had two brothers, Colin and Clifford, who shared his love of horses and also became jockeys.

After leaving school aged 15 he became a stable boy at Fox Hollies Stable in Wiltshire, and it wasn’t long before his new employer gave him his first ride in a race at Lincoln. He won his first race at Leicester in 1921, and became Champion Jockey in 1925 when he notched up 118 wins.

In 1926 Gordon contracted tuberculosis and was out of racing for almost a year before getting back in the saddle and returned to winning ways. In the 1932 season, with 259 victories under his belt, he broke the record for the greatest number of wins in a year, a record he broke in 1947 riding 269 winners. Achievement followed achievement, and that year he won the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse aboard Tudor Minstrel by 8 lengths, the largest winning margin in the race since 1900.

In 1942 he won 4 of the 5 ‘Classics‘, but despite his huge success, one race eluded him, The Epsom Derby. In 1953 the Derby occurred on a week of great national, and personal celebration for Richards himself, for he became the first jockey to receive a knighthood.

This time Sir Gordon rode Pinza, a huge horse for a flat-thoroughbred at 16 hands high, and he rode a terrific race. Pinza was in second position through much of the one and half mile (2,414 m) course, competing against the Queen’s own horse Aureole. and sweeping past the Aga Khan III’s horse, Shikampur, into first place with just two furlongs (402 m) remaining. His long-awaited win was accompanied by thunderous cheers from the frenzied crowd. Winning The Derby was undoubtedly Sir Gordon’s crowning victory, and he was promptly summoned from the winners’ enclosure to be congratulated by the Queen.

Sir Gordon’s riding career ended in 1954 following a pelvis injury, but he continued to indulge his passion for racing, by becoming a horse trainer and advisor.

He died in 1986.

It was not until 2002 that his record number of victories in a season was exceeded, by jump jockey Tony McCoy, who was able to fly between tracks and compete in more races than Sir Gordon.

10 August, 2019

On the 9 August 1914, English footballer and manager, Joe Mercer OBE , was born in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, the son of a former Nottingham Forest and Tranmere Rovers footballer.

Joe Mercer first played for Ellesmere Port Town as a left-half, before joining Everton at the age of 18 [1932-1946 – 186 appearances]. While playing for Everton he won five England caps [1938-1939]. 

Like many players of his generation, Mercer lost 7 seasons of football due to the World War II. During the war he became a sergeant-major and played 26 wartime internationals, many of them as captain, and in 1942 guested for Chester City, making his debut in a 4–1 win over Halifax Town in 1942.

Mercer moved to Arsenal in late 1946[ 1946-1955 – 247 appearances] for £9,000, and continued to commute from Liverpool. It is said the Everton manager brought Mercer’s boots to the transfer negotiations to prevent Mercer having a reason to go back out, or say goodbye to the other players at Everton. He made his Arsenal debut against Bolton Wanderers in 1946, and soon after became club captain. In 1950 Mercer led Arsenal to win the FA Cup, and was voted FWA Footballer of the Year the same year. He also led Arsenal to the Cup final in 1952, which they lost 1–0 to Newcastle United.

Mercer called time on his playing career 1955, and spent a little over a year working as a journalist and a grocer. His wife’s family had encouraged him to become involved in a grocery business during his time at Everton and, while still Arsenal’s captain, he ran his grocery business from Brighton Street in Wallasey.

In 1955 he returned to football and became the manager of Sheffield United [1955-1958],  two days before their first game of the season against Newcastle United. His career as a manager began inauspiciously and his first season ended in relegation. In 1958 he resigned and moved to Aston Villa [1958- 1964] , who at the time were bottom of the First Division. And although he led them to the FA Cup semi-finals, they were relegated to Division Two. He moulded a talented side at Villa which became known as the ‘Mercer Minors’, and in 1961 led them to victory in the inaugural League Cup. Three years later he suffered a stroke, and was sacked by the Villa board upon his recovery. 

His health improved and he went on to enjoy great success as a manager with Manchester City [1965-1971]. In his first season at Maine Road, the club won the 1966 Second Division title to regain top-flight status. Two seasons later Mercer led Manchester City to the 1967–68 First Division championship, and went on to win the 1969 FA Cup, the 1970 League Cup, and the 1970 European Cup Winners’ Cup.

In 1970–71, Mercer had a dispute with his assistant Malcolm Allison, after the two men became embroiled in a Manchester City takeover battle. Mercer supported the existing board, led by the respected Albert Alexander, while Allison supported the rival group led by Peter Swales after being promised that he would be manager in his own right. The takeover succeeded, and Mercer was shocked to discover his car parking space and office were removed. This led to Mercer’s departure to become manager of Coventry City [1972-1974]. He also served as the England caretaker manager in 1974 for a brief period in 1974 after Sir Alf Ramsey’s resignation.

After quitting as Coventry City boss, he served as a director of the club from 1975 to his retirement in 1981. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to football in 1976.

In 1970 he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews, when he was a subject of the television programme This Is Your Life.

Mercer was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame at the National Football Museum in Preston on 4 July 2009

In later life he suffered with Alzheimer’s disease and died in 1990, sitting in his favourite armchair, on his 76th birthday.

9 August, 2019

On the 8 August 1909, the English cricketer, Bill Voce was born in Annesley Woodhouse, near Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.

Bill was fast bowler who played for Nottinghamshire and England. He came from a working-class background, and in the late 1920s when living in the colliery town of Hucknall, it is said he walked several miles from his home to Trent Bridge in the hope of a trial with Nottinghamshire CCC.

His natural talent was quickly spotted, and Voce made his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire against Gloucestershire in 1927. At this stage, he was a left-arm spinner, so when he changed to a faster pace the following year there was a good deal of criticism. In 1929 Voce returned to his slower style with some success, in a number of games on sticky wickets, notably against Northamptonshire when he took 14 wickets for 43 runs.

In the 1932-1933 season Voce, alongside his club team-mate Harold Larwood, played an instrumental role in the England team’s ‘bodyline’ strategy on its infamous tour of Australia.

The tour was organised by the MCC, and included five Test matches for The Ashes, which England won by 4 games to 1. After the Australian tour was over, the MCC team moved on to play in New Zealand, where 2 further Test matches were played.

Voce made his Test debut against the West Indies in 1930, and played his last Test against Australia in 1947. In all he played 27 Test matches scoring 308 runs, and bowled 6,360 balls, taking 98 wickets at an average of 27.9, his best bowling figures being 7 for 70. He played 426 first-class matches, scored 7,590 runs and bowled 85,428 balls, taking 1,558 wickets at 23.1, claiming 10 wickets in a match on 20 occasions. His best figures were 8 for 30.

He died at Lenton, Nottingham in June 1984 aged 74.

8 August, 2019