Saying goodbye to Dad
Test Match Special
BBC
4.4 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 August 2018
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Patrick Taylor joined Jonathan Agnew to reflect on the amazing reaction to his e-mail to TMS about the death of his father.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm just going to read a remarkable email that we've had actually from Patrick Taylor. |
| 0:05.4 | Thank you for writing to us Patrick, whose written email is saying, |
| 0:09.2 | my dad, John Taylor, had, unlike the current England batting line up, |
| 0:14.8 | dug in and battled doggedly to reach 83. He built gradually through to his 50s as a true gentleman, |
| 0:22.8 | a pharmacist, sportsman, father of two boys, until unexpected cloud cover descended, |
| 0:29.0 | just as he was looking to break free from the shackles and play with a freedom that retirement would bring. |
| 0:33.9 | On an ever increasingly sticky wickety faced up and defended against a beamer in the form of leukemia, |
| 0:40.3 | the Yorker of muscular dystrophy, the googly of Parkinson's, the reverse swing of diabetes and |
| 0:45.6 | laterally, was struck down by the vicious bouncer of dementia. But like fellow Yorkshire and Brian |
| 0:52.4 | Closon, never winced, complained or succumbed to the temptation of amateur dramatics, |
| 0:56.5 | just accepted the cards had been dealt and squeezed every last drop out of life that he could, |
| 1:02.3 | on a single by single basis with an amazing care team acting as runners. On 83, |
| 1:08.1 | dad finally faced the inevitable, unplayable delivery and left the field of play. |
| 1:14.0 | I use this cricket analogy, says Patrick, because TMS has been and will continue to be |
| 1:20.4 | an institution of great importance to generations of our family. |
| 1:24.2 | Our Ember is a boy, listening to the ashes in Australia under my bed covers with a torch on |
| 1:29.3 | at Cilioclock, until dad finally lost patience and reminded me that it was school in the morning. |
| 1:34.9 | My granddad was blind and TMS is my far his favourite form of entertainment. So it proved for dad, |
| 1:41.4 | particularly when he was virtually bed bound and it was always great to hear his infamous laugh |
| 1:46.6 | as a team dished out its plentiful helpings of wit and repartee. However, most importantly, |
| 1:53.2 | you managed to allow me to say goodbye to him properly just before his passing. |
| 1:58.5 | Dad was rushed to hospital on Thursday 9th August with another bad chest infection. On Friday, |
... |
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