One Hell of a Life
Martin Chandler |Published: 2024
Pages: 240
Author: Chalke, Stephen
Publisher: Fairfield Books
Rating: 5 stars
The helpful list on page 240 of One Hell of a Life tells me that this one is Stephen Chalke’s twenty sixth book. It isn’t the first time I’ve seen such a list, and every time I look at it gets a little longer but, slightly disappointingly, there is never anything on it that I haven’t already read.
There is something unique about Stephen’s writing. He is, of course, a decent wordsmith, but it is the way he goes about gathering his material that sets him apart. For years he has spent many hours in the company of cricketers, collecting stories about them, their teammates and their opponents.
Along the way there have been biographies of Geoffrey Howard, Keith Andrew, Bob Appleyard, Tom Cartwright, Mickey Stewart and Geoff Cope. Books with Ken Taylor, Brian ‘Bomber’ Wells and Alan Rayment have been of much the same ilk. None of the subjects are household names, but all fascinating characters who Stephen worked closely with in the preparation of the books.
And then there are his shorter pieces, some prepared specially for the books in which they appear, and others that initially appeared in other publications and have been gathered together later. Another six titles fall into that category, and then there are a variety of books touching on other genres, as well as the definitive history of the County Championship.
But not all of Stephen’s work comes within the covers of a book. There are a series of DVDs of conversations between him and the great and the good of Yorkshire cricket. The thoughts, memories and voices of the likes of Appleyard, Fred Truman, Ray Illingworth and Vic Wilson all captured for posterity. Brian Close was another subject in the series.
Close made his First Class bow for Yorkshire in 1949, the same year that as an 18 year old he first played for England. That was one of those records that I personally thought would stand in perpetuity, but which now belongs to Rehan Ahmed. Between then and 1976 Close played 21 more Test for England in dribs and drabs, enjoyed six wins out of seven as England captain and led Yorkshire with great distinction – he was controversially sacked from both positions.
Never very far from the headlines Close has been the subject of a number of books. He wrote two autobiographies the first, Close to Cricket, appeared in 1968 after his sacking from the England job and, frankly, is nothing special. His 1978 effort I Don’t Bruise Easily, written with the assistance of fellow Yorkshireman Don Mosey is better. And then there was a biography, Cricket’s Lionheart, written by the prolific Alan Hill in 2002. That one isn’t bad, but personally I much preferred David Warner’s Just a Few Lines. That one was published as recently as 2020. It isn’t a full biography as such, rather a look at a series of letters that Close wrote to a friend throughout the early years of his career and as such is a most illuminating book.
So has Stephen written a biography of Close? It does look rather like that, in the sense that it starts at Old Trafford in 1976, then goes back to 1949 before moving chronologically through Close’s career. It also has the sort of photographs you’d expect in a biography, and a succinct statistical appendix, but at the same time One Hell of a Life doesn’t purport to be a full account of Close’s life and times.
In which case what is it? One thing the book certainly is is an account of Close’s cricket career, both at Test and county level, and that is a story where Stephen acts as the narrator, but all of the flesh on the bones comes from the words of others and primarily the information gleaned over all these years from those in the best position to comment.
Hundreds of stories of Close, his comments and his antics both on and off the field have passed down the generations. Some are doubtless exaggerated and others, to put it kindly, almost certainly apocryphal, but even those when taken together with those tales that are undoubtedly the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth portray a highly intelligent man with a personality that was rather more sensitive and complex than is sometimes assumed.
And the quality of the book itself? Everyone who will be reading this review knows how good a writer Stephen is so rather than consult a thesaurus for new superlatives I will simply give it the five stars it undoubtedly merits, and then go away and try and work out whether, my knee jerk reaction, that One Hell of a Life really is his best book yet, which is as good an excuse as any for spending a few hours going back through his oeuvre.
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