Year
Month
Day
Speaker
Topic
2025
9th
James Graham-Brown
James started off telling us about the end of his career as a county professional when he just failed to clear Harry Pilling (5’0”) on the long off boundary in his final game for Derbyshire. He lamented that, like politicians, most sporting careers end in failure. He claimed that his started, continued and ended in failure, doing himself rather a dis-service. It had all started aged 11 when he watched Colin Cowdrey score two centuries for Kent against the touring Australian side, little believing that 13 years later he would be playing with the same man. James attended Sevenoaks School where the coach was a great believer in youth, bringing boys into the 1st XI at the age of 13 or 14, thus setting James on his cricketing journey. In 1970 he was selected to play for Young England against the West Indies and even opened the bowling. This would have appeared slightly incongruous a few years later when his bowling had declined as his batting improved. In fact in a team which also included Geoff Miller and John Emburey he was actually the leading wicket taker. At that time Kent were totally ignorant of his presence and it was only when Middlesex asked permission to invite him to play for their 2nd XI that Kent took an interest. Rejecting Middlesex’s approach, Kent invited him to play for their 2nd XI and at the end of the season offered him a contract for the following season. It had been James’ intention to go to Oxford University to get a Blue for cricket, but the dons saw through his scheme and didn’t offer him a place, so the Kent offer was accepted. His first season was in 1971 and Les Ames gave him some sage advice part way through the season. He said ”You’re never going to play for England, you should go to university. So Kent arranged for James to take his degree at Kent University, paid for by Kent and with a tutor who was a cricket enthusiast who would tutor him during a match when James wasn’t batting, so plenty of time for learning there then! After 4 matches where he was 12th man, including one occasion when a dog-bite to a fellow team-mate looked as if it would be an opportunity to play, James finally made it into the team. As James didn’t drive at that time his nearest neighbour was Colin Cowdrey, who drove him to matches in the Daimler, MCC 307. On one occasion when late for an away match Colin organised the coin toss over the phone. Needless to say Kent won the toss! James also related the time that he was playing for the 2nd XI on a rather sporty pitch at Dover. He was number six in the order but found himself in during the 3rd over with only 1 wicket down. The others had all retired hurt thanks to one Anderson Roberts of Hampshire who was steaming in to bowl far faster that anything the 2nd XI normally produced. In 1974 James got his breakthrough into the team when Bernard Julian was injured and he had a good run in the side, which managed to get to the Gilette Cup final against Leicestershire. He was originally picked for the team, but the whole of Saturday was washed out by rain, they then had to play a Sunday League game where he went for 68 off 12 overs, a massive amount at the time. Fortunately his rival Richard Elmes went for over 70 off his overs so James retained his place when the game was played on the Monday. It was probably the highlight of his career, as the weather was overcast, the wicket was green and James bowled 12 overs 5 maidens and took 2-15. The cricketing fates are fickle though and by the end of the following season he was out of favour and moved to Derbyshire, which culturally was a complete change. There he played under Eddie Barlow, who dragged Derbyshire up from the bottom of the County Championship. James tells how he once bowled to Geoffrey Boycott who defended an over of fairly rank bowling, mainly tapping it back to James. At the end of the over Geoff tapped him on the shoulder and said “That’s the last time you will bowl a maiden over to the greatest batsman in the world” - and it was! When James was offered the opportunity to captain the 2nd XI for the following season, he recognised that his time was up and started his second career as a teacher. He taught at Bournemouth School and later became a Headmaster in Truro and finally in Bath. While teaching he played Minor Counties cricket for Cornwall and Dorset, including playing with Julian Shackleton. In his latter years of teaching he turned his hand to playwrighting and has written over 30, including some memorable sporting ones, particularly about Colin Milburn -‘When The Eye Has Gone’ and Chris Lewis -“The Long Walk Back’. James himself lost the sight in one eye a while back. He talked about the mental health of cricketers, particularly of the older generations who found it difficult to cope when the attention and adulation had gone. His plays, both supporting the Professional Cricketers Association, were intended to appeal to a young audience, rather than the more traditional theatre audience. In fact his play about Chris Lewis was first staged at Portland Prison and Chris Lewis attended every performance to talk about his experience. James is still writing plays, he has two or three at different stages in their creation and also wrote the biography of Dennis Amiss. In a long Q&A session he was asked why he wrote under a different name, Dougie Blaxland. He explained that it gave him a freedom which he didn’t have as a Headmaster and teacher. More tales of cricketers such as Bob Taylor, Viv Richards and Colin Milburn followed to round off a wonderful afternoon’s entertainment. Many thanks James and to Derek for hosting the meeting.
16th
23rd
31st
6th
14th
20th
27th
4th
11th
18th
2025
8th
15th
22nd
29th
5th
12th
19th
26th
5th
12th
19th
26th
