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Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins,
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
(20 January 1945 – 1 January 2013),
[ also known as CMJ, was a ]British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
journalist and a President of MCC. He was also the longest serving commentator for ''Test Match Special
''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. It broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 LW ...
'' (TMS) on BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...
, from 1973 until diagnosed with terminal cancer in January 2012.
Early life
Christopher Martin-Jenkins was born at his grandmother's house in Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
, the second of three boys. His father, a lieutenant colonel in the army at the time, relocated the family to Glasgow where he was stationed. After demobilisation he returned to his job at the shipping firm Ellerman Lines
Ellerman Lines was a UK cargo and passenger shipping company that operated from the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. It was founded in the late 19th century, and continued to expand by acquiring smaller shipping lines un ...
where he subsequently became chairman. His mother was a radiologist and GP, working in the Gorbals during the war.
School
He went to St Bede's prep school in Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
and then to Marlborough
Marlborough may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
** Marlborough College, public school
* Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England
* The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England
Austral ...
. He first played for the school team in 1962 under the captaincy of future Sussex captain (1968–1972) and chairman of MCC (2012–2013), Mike Griffith. The following year, after becoming captain of the school cricket XI, Martin-Jenkins wrote to Brian Johnston asking him how to become a cricket commentator. Johnston invited him to Broadcasting House, took him out to lunch and told him to develop his ability and review his performance by practising his commentating skills by using a tape recorder. That year he also scored a valiant 99 in Marlborough's second innings in the annual fixture against Rugby School
Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...
at Lord's, but despite this they still lost by 22 runs.
University
He went to Fitzwilliam College
Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college traces its origins back to 1869 and the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...
, Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
, where he read Modern History and graduated with an upper second in 1967. During his time at Cambridge he won two half- blues for Rugby fives
Rugby Fives is a handball game, similar to squash, played in an enclosed court. It has similarities with Winchester Fives (a form of Wessex Fives) and Eton Fives. It is played mainly in the United Kingdom.
It is most commonly believed to be ...
but never played for the University cricket first XI, although he narrowly missed out on gaining his blue after he was named 12th man for the 1967 Varsity match
A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murrayf ...
at Lord's. Nevertheless, he skippered the Crusaders (the University 2nd XI) during 1966 and 1967 and was also a successful captain of his college XI.
He had a great talent for mimicry, which enabled him to progress to final auditions for the Cambridge University Footlights
Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University.
History
Footlights' inaugural ...
, where his performance was adjudicated by a panel that included Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century.
Specializing in English and women's literat ...
, Eric Idle and Clive James.
Cricketer
He played one Second XI Championship
The Second XI Championship is a season-long cricket competition in England that is competed for by the reserve teams of those county cricket clubs that have first-class status. The competition started in 1959 and has been contested annually ever ...
match for Surrey against Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...
at the Oval
The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
in 1971. Thereafter he appeared for the Sir Paul Getty XI in ten one-day games at Wormsley between 1992 and 2002, with a valedictory appearance, aged 61, against the Heartaches team run by Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ...
in 2006.
Media career
Following his graduation in 1967 Martin-Jenkins joined ''The Cricketer
''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county and club cricket.
The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cricket writer. Warner ...
'' magazine as deputy editor under E. W. Swanton. In March 1970 he left to join the BBC Radio Sports News department and subsequently commentated on his first match, a one-day international between England and Australia, in 1972. His last commentary, 40 years later, was for ''TMS'' on England's third Test against Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
in Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
in February 2012.
He joined the ''TMS'' team in 1973 and was appointed cricket correspondent in succession to Brian Johnston in 1973 and worked as cricket correspondent for the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
(1973–1980, 1985–1991), ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' (1990–1999) and ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' (1999–2008).
Mike Atherton replaced him as ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' Chief Cricket Correspondent on 1 May 2008 although CMJ continued contributing to the ''Times'' cricket pages, filing his last article on the death of
Tony Greig
Anthony William Greig (6 October 194629 December 2012) was a South African-born Test cricket captain turned commentator. Greig qualified to play for the England cricket team by virtue of his Scottish parentage. He was a tall () all-rounder w ...
on 31 December, the day prior to his own death. He was also a BBC TV commentator for their cricket coverage between 1981 and 1985, before returning to radio.
In ''The Daily Telegraph'', his obituarist wrote of his radio commentary that: "Nobody excelled him... in what he regarded as the first duty: that of giving a precise, clear, well-informed and accurate account of every ball that was bowled and every stroke that was played."
Scyld Berry
Anthony Scyld Ivens Berry, known as Scyld Berry (pronounced "Shild", born 28 April 1954) is an English journalist and cricket correspondent of the ''Daily Telegraph''. He was editor of ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' from 2008 until 2011.
He was ...
wrote: "What made him so good as a radio commentator, apart from his precise and unforced diction, was that he came closer than anyone to combining the knowledge of an expert with the enthusiasm of a student."
By temperament conciliatory, he was rarely involved in controversy. However, during a Test on England's 1989–90 tour of the West Indies he criticised the umpire
Lloyd Barker, claiming that he had allowed himself to be pressurised by the West Indies captain,
Viv Richards
Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is an Antiguan retired cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Batting generally at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...
, into wrongly giving
Rob Bailey out caught down the leg side. Barker threatened to sue, believing incorrectly that Martin-Jenkins had called him a cheat. The case was settled by the BBC without going to court.
He was renowned among his broadcasting colleagues for a certain vagueness regarding practical matters.
Jonathan Agnew
Jonathan Philip Agnew, (born 4 April 1960) is an English cricket broadcaster and a former professional cricketer. He was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, and educated at Uppingham School. He is nicknamed "Aggers", and, less commonly, "Spiro" ...
described how on one occasion he arrived at Lord's for a match which unfortunately was due to be played on the other side of London at
the Oval
The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
. He also struggled with modern technology, once mistaking the television remote control in his hotel room for his mobile phone.
When attempting to email a report to his newspaper, he would occasionally press the Delete button rather than the Send button, causing him much consternation.
Author
Martin-Jenkins was the author of ''The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers''. Altogether he wrote or edited 25 books including ''The Wisden Book of County Cricket'' (1981); ''Bedside Cricket'' (1981); ''Twenty Years On: Cricket's years of change'' (1984); ''Cricket: a way of life'' (1984); ''Grand Slam'' (1987); ''Cricket Characters'' (1987); ''Sketches of a Season'' (1987); and ''Ball by Ball: The Story of Cricket Broadcasting'' (1990) and finally concluding with his autobiography, ''CMJ – A Cricketing Life''.
He edited ''The Cricketer'' from 1980 and was President of
the Cricket Society The Cricket Society is a charitable organisation founded in 1945 as the Society of Cricket Statisticians at Great Scotland Yard, London. It has grown steadily to be the largest body of its kind in the cricket world. The Cricket Society now has mor ...
from 1998 to 2008.
Awards and honours
He was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.
He was President of MCC for 2010–11, a rare honour for a journalist. His time in office was a difficult one, as it coincided with the £400 million redevelopment plan for Lord's being dropped in favour of something better suited to the difficult economic situation. This led to an as yet unresolved split in the membership between those in favour of the new plan and those who still support the old one.
In 2007 he was invited to deliver the annual
MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, becoming the only career journalist and broadcaster to do so.
As MCC President, in 2011 he invited
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...
to deliver the same lecture, the only actively playing cricketer to have delivered a Cowdrey Lecture.
Personal life
He met Judy Hayman at Cambridge and they married in April 1971. They had two sons, James and Robin, and a daughter, Lucy.
Robin Martin-Jenkins played county cricket for
Sussex before retiring in 2010, while elder brother James played club cricket for Radley Rangers from 1993 to 2006.
Death
During 2009 and 2010 his health seemed to be declining when he had a bad bout of pneumonia, followed by acute hepatitis. He was subsequently diagnosed with terminal cancer in March 2012, shortly after returning from commentating duties in the
UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
, and was forced to step down from ''
Test Match Special
''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. It broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 LW ...
'' due to his illness. He died of
lymphoma
Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enla ...
, at his home in
Horsham, on the morning of 1 January 2013, at the age of 67.
[''Daily Telegraph'', 17 April 2013, "Six England captains bid farewell to CMJ" by ]Derek Pringle
Derek Raymond Pringle (born 18 September 1958) is an English former Test and One Day International cricketer for England, and is now a cricket journalist.
Life and career
Pringle was born in Nairobi, Kenya. His father Donald Pringle, who had ...
, pp S12-3.
A statement from his family said: "Christopher died peacefully at home this morning after his brave resistance to cancer. The family is extremely proud of all that he did to pass on his love of cricket worldwide with his gift of communicating through the spoken and written word. He was above all a much loved husband, brother, father and grandfather."
A memorial service was held in
St. Paul's Cathedral on 16 April 2013, attended by 2,000 people including at least six former England captains. The service included readings by his sons, James and Robin, and tributes by
Sir Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ' ...
and
Jonathan Agnew
Jonathan Philip Agnew, (born 4 April 1960) is an English cricket broadcaster and a former professional cricketer. He was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, and educated at Uppingham School. He is nicknamed "Aggers", and, less commonly, "Spiro" ...
. After the service there was a reception at
Lord's.
Footnotes
External links
*
BBC profile of CMJCMJ's 'Aggers & Johnners' moment See also
legover.
Debrett's People of Today
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin-Jenkins, Christopher
1945 births
2013 deaths
Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
BBC sports presenters and reporters
British male journalists
British sportswriters
English cricket commentators
Cricket historians and writers
The Daily Telegraph people
Deaths from lymphoma
Members of the Order of the British Empire
People educated at Marlborough College
People from Peterborough
Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club
The Times journalists
English autobiographers
People from Rudgwick
20th-century English businesspeople