Carr's Dictionary of Extra-Ordinary Cricketers - Review
Aurum Press Limited RRP £7.99 ISBN:
1845130812
 Jim
Carr was born in Yorkshire in 1912, the most English
of Englishmen and a man who spent most of his working
life in the middle of Middle England, as headmaster
of a primary school. He is an enthusiastic follower
of cricket and a tireless campaigner for the conservation
of country churches. He publishes some of the smallest
of small books from his own bedroom in Kettering including
possibly the smallest bestseller ever published.
This
new release of Carr's Dictionary of Extra-Ordinary
Cricketers is a new edition of the classic pocket
book, updated and complete with illustration by Carr
himself. The first edition was published in 1977 with
only 126 entries and proved immensely popular.
Carr'd
dictionary is a delightful hardback and is only 79
pages long but manages to cram in 200 entries! The
forward is written by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack
editor Matthew Engel who is no stranger to Carr's
works having published his Wisden Book review in 1993
a year before Jim Carr died in 1994.
One
of the first entries is that of Captain Adamson who,
while playing in Dublin, jumped over a 4 foot spiked
iron fence and caught WG Grace left handed! Accompanying
this entry is a clever little illustration to help
the reader just in case they had any difficulty imagining
the scene at that precise moment!
Continuing
the light hearted feel of the book we have Bacelli
- the ravishingly lovely mistress of the Eton schoolboy
Duke of Dorset who, in 1754, was dismissed from his
favours after running him out ! Another interesting
entry finds us, still in the B's with Max Beerbohm.
He subscribed a shilling to the WG Grace testimonial
and his reason being 'not in support of cricket but
as an earnest protest against golf'.
These
examples are the norm in a delightful book, very easy
to read and put down as an when you feel the need
to be distracted for 5 minutes. WG Grace as would
be expected received most coverage in the dictionary
with references to England's champion throughout the
book including numerous illustrations and asides.
With
a RRP of £7.99, you can find a copy of the book
at all good bookstores. Great for a journey, a kit
bag to read in between innings or a cold winters night
in front of a log fire! Nice one Jim. Aurum
Press Ltd
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