Don Davies

Don Davies was a talented all-round sportsman who played 11 times as a batsman for Lancashire and as a footballer he appeared for England in an amateur international.

More than almost anyone, the war robbed Davies of his best sporting years. In 1913 he was spotted by Albert Ward, the old Lancashire and England cricketer, who vowed to take him to Old Trafford; a year later he was offered professional terms by Stoke City, who also agreed to pay his way through university. Both offers were overtaken by events.

On the outbreak of war in 1914 he joined the Royal Flying Corps but was shot down a fortnight after gaining his wings. He returned from a POW camp so emaciated - he weighed six stones - that army doctors gave him six months to live.

He recovered, completing an arts degree at night from Manchester University and worked as a teacher of apprentices at Mather and Platt's engineering works where he remained for 38 years.

He continued playing cricket for Bradshaw in the Bolton League and in 1924 he scored so many runs that he was summoned to Old Trafford. He played in 1924 and 1925 as an amateur, taking all his summer holidays in the second year, and although he was offered a permanent position he turned it down.

In 1930 he quit sport to take up journalism and in 1932 he started writing for The Guardian under the name "An Old International" (bylines in many papers were some way off). He was a popular and talented reporter and radio work for the fledgling BBC followed. In the 1950s he followed Manchester United for the media and it was on one such European trip that he was among those killed when the plane carrying the United side, plus the media, crashed at Munich on the way back from a European Cup tie.

Davies was a member of the Lancashire committee from 1930 to 1956 and in 1957 was made a vice-president of the club.
Martin Williamson