Arlott at his best

For all his lyrical commentaries, John Arlott's writing was sometimes hard going - clunky and complicated, with an annoying aversion to the word "I" that rendered his own autobiography almost unreadable. But he was at his best in this vivid account of Fred Trueman's life, cleverly capturing the man behind the blustering fast bowler who, legend has it, straightfacedly suggested that a better title might be "The Finest Bloody Fast Bowler Who Ever Drew Breath". The chapter called "In His Pomp", which begins "For six splendid years Fred Trueman strode the cricket world with a not unjust­ified swagger", is a great read in isolation. Actually it's Arlott in his pomp, in one of the best cricket biographies around, and certainly miles better than Fred's own splenetic books.

Fred: Portrait of a Fast Bowler
by John Arlott
Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1971