Hubert Preston (16 December 1868 – 6 August 1960) was a journalist and writer who was editor of ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' for eight years from the 1944 edition to the 1951 edition. He contributed to 51 editions of the Almanack, and was the oldest editor of the publication, being 74 when he started in the position. He became a partner in the

Cricket Reporting Agency The Cricket Reporting Agency (CRA) was founded by Charles Pardon and George Kelly King in 1880. Throughout its 85-year existence, the CRA provided the Press Association (PA) with cricket and football reports and scores for use by newspapers. In ...

in 1920.

Career

Preston was educated at the

City of London School , established = , closed = , type = Public school Boys' independent day school , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Alan Bird , chair_label = Chair of Governors , chair = Ian Seaton , founder = John Carpenter , speciali ...

and became a reporter on the

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

newspaper. After a period in Canada as a farmer, he returned to the UK in 1895 and joined the

run by

Sydney Pardon Sydney Herbert Pardon (23 September 1855 – 20 November 1925) was a sports journalist who was the editor of ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' for 35 editions, from 1891 until his death. His father was the journalist George Frederick Pardon. He t ...

, which was responsible for the production of ''Wisden'' as well as reports for the

Press Association PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and re ...

and newspapers. He remained with the agency for 56 years until he retired as editor of ''Wisden'' in 1951 and was succeeded by his son,

Norman Preston Norman Preston, MBE (18 March 1903 – 6 March 1980) was an English cricket journalist. He began his career with the old Pardon's Cricket Reporting Agency in 1933 and served on three overseas tours as Reuters' correspondent. He succeeded his ...

, who edited ''Wisden'' from 1952 to 1980. He also reported on soccer matches. In 1944 he restored the "Notes by the Editor" feature to ''Wisden'' which had been stopped under the previous editor. In 1947 he introduced a full page profiles of four England Players in the 1946/7 tour, which was new to ''Wisden''. His son Norman wrote these first reports, but subsequent full page profiles were produced by eight other writers that Preston chose. He never wrote a profile himself. In 1945 Preston wrote of the England Australia game ''"War meant the home side experienced difficulty in finding the best of the available players. Some of the chosen men, coming almost straight from battlefields, must have regarded the first encounter primarily as a reunion with old friends, so that a thoroughly serious view of the game, such as the Australians clearly held, was too much to expect"''. Preston was known by the nickname HP or Deafy. He was deaf for much of his life, using an ear trumpet before battery-operated hearing aids became available. He was a strong supporter of the County Championship becoming two divisions, according to his notes in ''Wisden'' 1949. Upon Preston's death in 1960,

Neville Cardus Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus, CBE (2 April 188828 February 1975) was an English writer and critic. From an impoverished home background, and mainly self-educated, he became ''The Manchester Guardian''s cricket correspondent in 1919 and it ...

wrote that he was "with ydneyPardon and Stewart Caine, the most courteous and best-mannered man ever to be seen in a Press Box on a cricket ground".

, "Hubert Preston", ''Wisden'', 1961, pp. 157–59. His funeral service was held at

St Bride's Church St Bride's Church is a church in the City of London, England. The building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 in Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire d ...

in Fleet Street,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, on 17 August 1960.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, Hubert 1868 births 1960 deaths People educated at the City of London School Cricket historians and writers Editors of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack English male journalists