Thursday, 1 May 2025

Derby Book Festival - a worthwhile cricket event!

Cricket books and writers don't often make it to book festivals. Which is a shame, because there is an audience there and for the right person, people will turn up, just as they will for any writer on any subject.

So it is a pleasure to help to publicise the appearance of David Kynaston, a well-known social historian, at the Derby Book Festival later this month.

Richie Benaud's Blue Suede Shoes was The Cricket Writer's Club Derek Hodgson book of the year and was longlisted for the William Hill sports book of the year prize in 2024.

David Kynaston and Harry Ricketts relive the compelling story of a gripping Ashes-deciding Test match that heralded the dawn of a new era for English cricket.

The Ashes are on the line as England and Australia meet at Old Trafford in July 1961 for the fourth Test. For most of the match, England have their noses ahead – until a dramatic final day, of intensely fluctuating fortunes, as the tourists eventually storm to victory. In short, an Ashes classic, told here by David Kynaston and Harry Ricketts in vivid and immersive detail, recreating the sometimes agonising experience of millions of armchair viewers and listeners.

At the heart of Richie Benaud's Blue Suede Shoes are two strikingly contrasting personalities: England's captain, the Cambridge-educated, risk-averse, establishment-minded Peter May; and Australia's captain, the charismatic, risk-taking, open-minded Benaud – a contrast not only between two individuals, but between two cricketing and indeed national cultures. Whereas Benaud and Australia symbolised a new, meritocratic era, May and England seemed, in what was still an amateur-dominated game, to look back to an old imperial legacy out of sync with the dawning Sixties.

The sharply observed final chapters take the story up to the present day. They relate the 'after-lives' of the match's key participants, including Ted Dexter, Bill Lawry and Fred Trueman as well as May and Benaud; trace the continuing chequered relationship between English cricket and broader social change; and, after six more decades of fierce Ashes rivalry, wrestle with the perennial conundrum for all England supporters – why do the baggy green caps usually beat us?

The talk venue, timings and ticket details are below and while it coincides with the date of the first T20 match of the summer, at Leicester, it is in the afternoon, so you could manage both events, should you wish.

Or, if you prefer your 'cricket fix' to be more local, perhaps this is an opportunity for you.

Do consider going and supporting the festival and this, which should be an excellent event!