How to be a Cricket Fan, by Matthew Appleby
Review by Keith Richardson
The book How to be a Cricket Fan is about a great deal more than its simplistic handle suggests. The central theme is the one and only Edgar Lawson Appleby, formerly of this parish, Keswick, and now occupying the playing fields of Elysium.
The book is written, superbly, by his son Matthew, who is clearly well on the way to becoming as big a cricket nut as his old dad. And that would take some doing.
As well as being beautifully written How to be a Cricket Fan – A Life in 50 Artefacts from WG to Wisden (to give its full title) is not just about being a supporter of the greatest game on earth, it is about a life and lives and is told in a passionate, amusing, engaging, downright quirky and always fascinating way.
It is also a marvellous portrait, painted by the son of his father.
And to those who knew Edgar Appleby – a man who always referred to himself quite simply, and usually in a sharp, clipped tone of voice, as ‘Appleby’ as if he was a Dickensian character, not himself but some other being, looking on yet always involved – this book will have added resonance and significance.
For those who did not know ‘Appleby’ it will be no less enthralling.
It is a wonderful tribute to a life well lived by someone – and others like him – for whom cricket becomes a way of life, almost an obsession, peopled by those with a total fascination not only for the game but also for its artefacts and memorabilia, including books and literature. And not to mention WG Grace, Edgar’s favourite cricketer of all time; an Appleby grandson was christened William Gilbert.
For those of us, and there are many in Keswick and area, and further afield, who fondly remember Edgar Appleby to this day (almost eight years after his physical departure from the planet) we still think of the man and his wife Susan, who still lives in the town, as the Keswick Saturday morning market second hand bookstall holders. Their stall, with its myriad selection of books, and a special section devoted to cricket, naturally, was like a magnet for the local community. The conversation was never dull and occasionally risqué as Edgar held court in his trilby hat and tweed overcoat while Susan, always charming and efficient, remonstrated with the old lad about his excesses. And kept him in check.
This was, of course, in the days when locals ventured to their local market without fear of being entangled in a million dog leads or being eaten alive by a German shepherd.
And some remember Edgar as the treasurer and, latterly, the president of Keswick Cricket Club, an organisation he was always proud to be part of and of the Fitz Park ground he loved and where his ashes were scattered.
He was also a Rotarian, a fantastic public speaker on a vast range of subjects, usually historical (and, occasionally, hysterical). ‘Appleby’ was also a man who spoke directly, one for whom political correctness was alien. Being ‘woke’ had not emerged in Edgar’s day. If it had, he would have had an absolute field day with that one.
We recall Edgar’s baying otterhound, ‘Hotspur’ hauling its owner along the lake shore as Edgar, like an actor, learned his lines by speaking out loud, between big intakes of breath on those hectic lakeshore rambles. His talks, cricket apart, included the Sinking of The Bismarck, the Sinking of the Titanic, the Gretna Green Rail Disaster, the History of the Victoria Cross, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the Battle of Midway and, last but not least, the demise of the Habsburg Empire and other cheery little numbers.
Edgar Appleby was originally from Middlesbrough which he referred to as ‘The Vienna of the North’. He was not without a self-deprecatory sense of humour.
A Royal Navy man for 14 years, he would circumnavigate the cricket ground at Keswick on match days, old collection box in hand, and receive donations for the club from spectators. His knowledge of the game was second to none and he was fond of recalling special anniversaries. Spectators and anyone else he encountered never escaped without being quizzed about the significance of any day. And never a day went by without it being some anniversary, cricketing or otherwise.
It is immensely pleasing that his life as a cricket fan, with all its many idiosyncrasies, has been recorded so lovingly in this exceptional book. Matthew Appleby has done his dad proud and, at the same time, created a very special publication.
This spring and summer copies of the book will be available at Keswick CC. A stack of books for sale will sit on the bar in the tearoom next to Edgar’s original, battered old match day collection box and proceeds from sales will be put in the box, with the profit going to club funds as ‘Appleby’, quite remarkably out of Elysium, manages to make yet more match day collections in the name of the game for a club and a ground he loved.
How to be a Cricket Fan by Matthew Appleby (hardback 318 pages, £18.99) is now available from Bookends bookshop in Keswick.
The opening home match at Keswick CC this season is on Saturday, April 15, a 1st XI fixture pre-season friendly against Workington followed by a game against a touring team from the Northeast on the Sunday.
