John Woodcock (cricket writer)
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John Charles Woodcock OBE (7 August 192618 July 2021) was an 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 striki ...
writer and journalist. He was the cricket correspondent for ''
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'' (fou ...
'' from 1954 until 1987.


Early life

Woodcock was born in
Longparish Longparish is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is composed of the four hamlets of Middleton, East Aston, West Aston and Forton that over time have expanded and effectively joined up to become one village. Longparish is situate ...
,
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
on 7 August 1926, the second son of
the Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...
Parry Woodcock and his (much younger) wife Nora Dunsford (née Hutchinson). Since 1906 his father had been
rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of Longparish, where the Woodcock family held the right of
advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, ...
. Woodcock was born in the
rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...
when his father was 70. His grandfather had been born in 1813, two years before the
Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...
. His family relocated from Longparish after his father retired in 1933. Woodcock completed his primary education at the
Dragon School ("Reach for the Sun") , established = 1877 , closed = , type = Preparatory day and boarding school and Pre-Prep school , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Emma Goldsm ...
. As a child, he was a good
angler Angler may refer to: * A fisherman who uses the fishing technique of angling * ''Angler'' (video game) * The angler, ''Lophius piscatorius'', a monkfish * More generally, any anglerfish in the order Lophiiformes * '' Angler: The Cheney Vice Pres ...
before moving onto
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 ...
while attending
St Edward's School, Oxford St Edward's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Oxford, England. It is known informally as 'Teddies'. Approximately sixty pupils live in each of its thirteen houses. The school is a member of the Rugby G ...
. When he was fifteen, he almost died from
septic arthritis Acute septic arthritis, infectious arthritis, suppurative arthritis, osteomyelitis, or joint infection is the invasion of a joint by an infectious agent resulting in joint inflammation. Generally speaking, symptoms typically include redness, hea ...
. His hip was permanently injured as a result, and he was strapped to a frame for four months. Woodcock read Geography at
Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...
. Despite his aforementioned injury, he won
hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
in 1946 and 1947. He also reached the final trial of the university cricket team and played for the Authentics (Oxford's second XI). After graduating with fourth class honours (which he attributed to his being "very lazy"), he obtained a diploma in education, intending to become a teacher. However, E. W. Swanton managed to secure a job for him of scoring 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. ...
...
at the
Second Test The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...
at
Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
in 1948.


Career

Woodcock went on the England tour of Australia in 1950–51 as a
newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, informa ...
cameraman 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. ...
...
and assistant to Swanton. He also wrote for ''
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 ...
'' during the 1952 Tests against India, filling in for Denys Rowbotham. Upon Rowbotham's return, Woodcock became the paper's London sports editor. He became the cricket correspondent for ''
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'' (fou ...
'' in 1954. He began his first stint as ''The Times'' correspondent during the England tour of Australia in 1954–55. Woodcock was dubbed "the Sage of Longparish" by
Alan Gibson Norman Alan Stewart Gibson (28 May 1923 – 10 April 1997) was an English journalist, writer and radio broadcaster, best known for his work in connection with cricket, though he also sometimes covered football and rugby union. At various times ...
, his colleague at ''The Times''. He served as its cricket correspondent until 1987, attending more than 400
Tests 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), ...
in the process. He also edited the ''
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 six editions from 1981 until 1986, and was credited for improving its reputation and standard. He also wrote for ''
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 e ...
'' and '' Country Life'', as well as covering some golf for ''The Times''. He was a contributor to the ''Longparish Village Handbook''. He did not support the
sporting boycott of South Africa during the apartheid era South Africa under apartheid was subjected to a variety of international boycotts, including on sporting contacts. There was some debate about whether the aim of the boycott was to oppose segregation in sport or apartheid in general, with the la ...
, but later acknowledged that his position had been wrong. Woodcock was president of the
Cricket Writers' Club The Cricket Writers' Club is an association for cricket journalists working in print, television or radio. It was established in 1947, and contains around 90% of those eligible for membership. During the 1946–47 Ashes series, the Australian and B ...
from 1986 to 2004, having been chairman in 1966. He was awarded an OBE in 1996 for services to sports journalism. In retirement, he was an MCC committee member. Unlike other notable cricket journalists such as
John Arlott Leslie Thomas John Arlott, OBE (25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991) was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's ''Test Match Special''. He was also a poet and wine connoisseur. With his poetic phraseology, he bec ...
and E. W. Swanton, little of Woodcock's writing is available in book form. He did, however, write ''The Times One Hundred Greatest Cricketers'' (Macmillan, 1998, ). He was Associate Editor of the encyclopaedia ''Barclay's World of Cricket'', of which Swanton was the General Editor (1980 (2nd edition), Collins Publishers, ). He chose not to write an autobiography, partly through his modesty but also because he did not wish to risk harming anyone's reputation or the game itself. At the 2018 Sports Book Awards evening, Woodcock received a special award for Outstanding Contribution to Sports Writing.
Henry Blofeld Henry Calthorpe Blofeld, Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 23 September 1939) nicknamed Blowers by Brian Johnston, is an English retired sports journalist, Sports presenter, broadcaster and amateur ornithologist best known as a cricket com ...
said at the event, "John Woodcock is the most thorough watcher of a day’s cricket I've ever known." Woodcock contributed his final piece for ''The Times'' in July 2020 as a tribute to the veteran West Indian cricketer Sir Everton Weekes. After his death he received many tributes from his fellow cricket writers.
Mike Selvey Michael Walter William Selvey (born 25 April 1948), known as Mike Selvey, is an English former Test and county cricketer, and now a cricket writer and commentator. Selvey played in three Tests for England in 1976 and 1977. His county cricket co ...
wrote that he was "the finest of all cricket writers". According to
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 ...
, "John Woodcock was the kind of scribe we’d all like to be – elegant, informative and generous with a beautiful turn of phrase."
Simon Wilde Simon Wilde (born 1960) is an English cricket journalist and author. He has written for ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' since 1998, and is currently the latter's cricket correspondent.
said, "Some other cricket correspondents of his generation were more celebrated but he was the best.” According to
Matthew Engel Matthew Lewis Engel (born 11 June 1951) is a British writer, journalist and editor. Early life and education Engel was born in Northampton, son of solicitor Max David Engel (1912-2005) and Betty Ruth (née Lesser). His grandfather had escaped anti ...
, "throughout his long retirement, pilgrims would descend on the thatched Hampshire cottage where Woodcock had lived more for than 70 years to imbibe his wisdom, wine, anecdotes, fellowship, good nature and what became an unparalleled memory of cricket dating back to
Donald Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman, (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has bee ...
and beyond".


Personal life

Woodcock was a lifelong
bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...
and had no children. He returned to the village of his birth, Longparish, in 1947. In retirement there, he would have lunch at the village pub, presided over the cricket club and "was patron of the church, where a stained-glass window called 'The Four Seasons' celebrates his family's 250-year connection with the church and village". Woodcock died on the afternoon of 18 July 2021, at the Old Curacy of Longparish. He was 94 years old.


References


External links

*
"Woodcock at 90"
by Ivo Tennant at
ESPNcricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodcock, John 1926 births 2021 deaths British male journalists British sportswriters Cricket historians and writers Editors of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack The Times people The Guardian journalists Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at St Edward's School, Oxford People from Longparish Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford English male field hockey players