Desmond Tutu to deliver Spirit of Cricket lecture

The 2008 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture will be delivered by Desmond Tutu.

A recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, Tutu will become the eighth Cowdrey Lecturer when he speaks at Lord's on Tuesday June 10, the second South African to be invited to speak at the event and the first lecturer to be drawn from outside the circle of international cricket.

The MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture was inaugurated in 2001 in memory of the late Lord Cowdrey of Tonbridge, a former president of MCC, who, together with another former president, Ted Dexter, was instrumental in the Spirit of Cricket being included as the Preamble to the 2000 Code of the Laws of Cricket.

Tutu rose to prominence in the 1980s with his vigorous anti-apartheid activism in South Africa. As the chairman of the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC), Tutu led a formidable crusade for justice and racial conciliation in South Africa. His tireless work was recognised in 1984, when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Then, following a short stint as the Bishop of Johannesburg, Tutu was elected the first black Archbishop of Cape Town in 1986, an office he held until his retirement in 1996 (he now serves as Archbishop Emeritus). In 1996, he was appointed by Nelson Mandela to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the body set up to probe gross human rights violations during apartheid. Following the presentation of the Commission's report in October 1998, Dr Tutu has served as a visiting professor at several overseas universities and has been awarded over 50 honorary degrees from academic institutions around the world. He has published several books and collections of sermons and is widely known as a cricketing enthusiast.

"Tutu is revered around the world as a moral voice and someone who speaks with gravitas on a range of issues," Keith Bradshaw, the MCC's secretary, said. "He's an inspirational man who has spent a lifetime speaking out for truth and justice and I am sure that his views on the game - and the Spirit of Cricket in particular - will be hugely interesting to cricket followers around the world."

Over 500 invited guests and Members of MCC, together with many eminent figures from the cricket world, will gather in the Nursery Pavilion at Lord's to hear the lecture.