The joy of teaching

In the Observer, Robert McCrum writes of Jonathan Smith, teacher and author, and father of former cricketer Ed Smith, and his book The Following Game, a deeply personal memoir centred on family and cricket.

As well as following his son's game, and teaching Vikram Seth, Smith can claim credit for the theatrical career of Dan Stevens, who recently starred as Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey. One of the most arresting passages in The Following Game describes how the 14-year-old Stevens auditioned for a school production of Macbeth, expecting to be allocated the part of Macduff's son, or Fleance, and found himself playing the lead.