This download is the only extract the BBC has of this edition of Desert Highland Discs.

The presenter was Roy Plumley.

Do you remember how well you were when you first took an interest in cricket?

Well, I've taken an interest in cricket ever since I can remember,

almost since a good walk. I don't have either a ball or a bat in my hand.

And it's just been a very important part of my life.

I played as a small boy in playing fields.

I played at school. In fact, I played at school in the morning and played in Bradford League.

That is professionally cricket on Saturday afternoon.

You were professional? Why do you work at school?

Oh, no, no. I was an amateur, of course, and I was at school.

But each of the teams had roughly about four or five professional players,

which of course gave me a very good ground in the game of cricket.

Did you become a professional as soon as you left school?

Oh, no, no. I left school about 17, 17 and a half and spent approximately two years in a bank.

What went wrong with that?

Well, the war, principally. The war came along in 1939,

and I joined the Army and went abroad.

Well, I went to Middle East and I spent approximately four and a half years out there.

Did you get any chance for cricket there, but do you know how to do it?

Well, the first couple of years we got very little cricket.

There was rather a lot to do apart from playing cricket.

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