James Martin Hilary Graham-Brown (born 11 July 1951) is a former English professional

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 striki ...

er and schoolteacher. He is now a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

who writes under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Dougie Blaxland.

Early life and education

Graham-Brown was born at

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24,340 ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, the son of Lewis Graham-Brown and his wife Elizabeth Blaxland. He attended

Sevenoaks School Sevenoaks School is a highly selective coeducational independent school in Sevenoaks, Kent, England. It is the second oldest non-denominational school in the United Kingdom, dating back to 1432, only behind Oswestry (1407). Over 1,000 day pupils ...

in Kent, playing in the First XI for several years and as captain in 1970, when he scored 403 runs at an average of 40.30 and took 45 wickets at 8.60. He read English Literature at the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

, obtaining a

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

degree, and then went on to

Bristol University , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

to complete a master's degree in Philosophy.

Cricket career

Graham-Brown was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler who played for

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

and

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

between 1974 and 1991. After playing for Young England teams in 1969 and 1970, Graham-Brown made his debut for Kent's Second XI in 1971.James Graham-Brown
CricketArchive. Retrieved 14 October 2017. He was retained as a young professional by Kent, although encouraged by the club's secretary and manager

Les Ames Leslie Ethelbert George Ames (3 December 1905 – 27 February 1990) was a wicket-keeper and batsman for the England cricket team and Kent County Cricket Club. In his obituary, ''Wisden'' described him as the greatest wicket-keeper-batsman of a ...

to attend university at the same time.Graham-Brown J (2016) 'When the eye has gone', in ''The Nightwatchman'' vol.15, pp.53–56. He made his senior debut for Kent in the 1974 John Player League before going on to make his

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

debut against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

in August 1974 and playing in the county's winning team in the 1974 Gillette Cup final. He spent six years with Kent, a time he has described as being "largely on the fringes"Graham-Brown J ''

Op. cit. ''Op. cit.'' is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ' or ''opere citato'', meaning "the work cited" or ''in the cited work'', respectively. Overview The abbreviation is used in an endnote or footnote to refer the reader to a cited work, standing ...

'' p.53. of the team, before moving to Derbyshire ahead of the 1977 season. After two seasons that he has described as "disappointing" with Derbyshire he retired from professional cricket, playing

Minor Counties cricket The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

for Cornwall until 1984 and for Dorset between 1989 and 1991. Graham-Brown's great-uncle,

Lionel Blaxland Lionel Bruce Blaxland (25 March 1898 – 29 April 1976) was an English First World War flying ace, cricketer, schoolmaster and clergyman. He played first-class cricket intermittently for Derbyshire between 1925 and 1947. Blaxland was born in Li ...

, played first-class cricket for

, primarily between 1932 and 1935.

Later career

Graham-Brown became a schoolteacher. He was Headteacher of

Truro High School Truro High School for Girls is an independent day and boarding school for girls in Truro, Cornwall. The school consists of a girls-only prep school, senior school and sixth form. It is a member of the Girls' Schools Association. History The s ...

for eight years before taking up the position of Headmaster of the independent girls' school, the

Royal High School, Bath Royal High School Bath is an independent day and boarding school for girls and in the city of Bath, Somerset, England, catering for up to 650 pupils. The school is on Lansdown Road, just outside Bath city centre, and has boarding facilities fo ...

, on Lansdown in Bath. In December 2009, after 11 years in the position, he retired. He writes plays under the pen name of Dougie Blaxland. His one-man play ''When the Eye Has Gone'', about the life and death of the

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

cricketer

Colin Milburn Colin Milburn (nicknamed Ollie; 23 October 1941 – 28 February 1990) was an English cricketer, who played in nine Test cricket, Test matches for England cricket team, England, before an accident led to the loss of much of his sight and prompted ...

, was performed around England in late 2016, including performances at all 18

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

cricket grounds. In 2019 ''The Long Walk Back'', his play about the former Test cricketer Chris Lewis, was first produced at HMP Portland, Dorset. Later in 2019 his play ''Getting the Third Degree'', about the international player

Laurie Cunningham Laurence Paul Cunningham (8 March 1956 – 15 July 1989) was an English professional footballer. A left winger, he notably played in England, France and Spain, where he became the first ever British player to sign for Real Madrid. Cunningham ...

and racism in English football, toured extensively in England and Wales. ''Unknown'', based on the experiences of seven homeless people, and funded by the Arts Council, the

Big Lottery The National Lottery Community Fund, legally named the Big Lottery Fund, is a non-departmental public body responsible for distributing funds raised by the National Lottery for "good causes". Since 2004 it has awarded over £9 billion to ...

and ''

The Big Issue ''The Big Issue'' is a street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer homeless people, or indivi ...

'', was first performed as an audio play in October 2020. In 2021, under his own name, Graham-Brown co-wrote ''Not Out at Close of Play'' with the book's subject, the English Test cricketer

Dennis Amiss Dennis Leslie Amiss (born 7 April 1943) is a former English cricketer and cricket administrator. He played for both Warwickshire and England. A right-handed batsman, Amiss was a stroke maker particularly through extra cover and midwicket – his ...

Plays

Dougie Blaxland's plays, with date of first performance: *''Leaving Samson'' (1997) *''Marital Moments'' (2002) *''Moving In and Taking Over'' (2004) *''Going Down'' (2005) *''Crisis'' (2006) *''A Degree of Compulsion'' (2006) *''Hatching Vain Empires'' (2006) *''Hitching Rides Home'' (2006) *''A Hostage Close to Home'' (2006) *''A Public Kind Of Privacy'' (2006) *''Redeeming Lizzie Reeve'' (2006) *''Speaking Ill Of the Dead'' (2006) *''Chauntecleer and Pertelotte'' (2007) *''Getting Scrap Value'' (2007) *''The Wild Woods'' (2008) *''That Moment'' (2008) *''You'll Never Guess What?'' (2008) *''If I Were a Carpenter'' (2010) *''Never Any Fruit'' (2010) *''Biggles Flies a Fokker Home'' (2011) *''Machamlear'' (2011) *''The Tamworth Two'' (2011) *''Bursary Boy'' (2012) *''A Christmas Carol: The Musical'' (2012) *''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'' (2013) *''The King of the Choughs'' (2014) *''Wuthering Heights'' (2014) *''Hands Up for Jonny Wilkinson's Right Boot'' (2015) *''When the Eye Has Gone'' (2016) *''The Long Walk Back'' (2019) *''Getting the Third Degree'' (2019) *''Unknown'' (2020)

Personal life

Graham-Brown lost the sight of one eye in 2013. His daughter,

Annie Hemingway Annie Hemingway (born 14 December 1985) is a British actress and voice-over artist. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Career On graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2007 Hemingway played the role of Melis ...

, is an actress.

References

External links

*
''Unknown''
performed by RoughHouse Theatre
Dougie Blaxland
at Doollee.com (includes list of plays) {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham-Brown, James 1951 births English cricketers Living people People from Thetford People educated at Sevenoaks School Alumni of the University of Kent Alumni of the University of Bristol Derbyshire cricketers Kent cricketers Dorset cricketers Cornwall cricketers Schoolteachers from Norfolk English male dramatists and playwrights