University of Huddersfield Repository Smith, Joseph CRICKET WRITING CULTURE: How the Interwar Works of J.M. Kilburn for the Yorkshire Post Transcended the Boundary Between ‘Journalism’ and ‘Literature’ Original Citation Smith, Joseph (2015) CRICKET WRITING CULTURE: How the Interwar Works of J.M. Kilburn for the Yorkshire Post Transcended the Boundary Between ‘Journalism’ and ‘Literature’. Masters thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/27011/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. 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The University of Huddersfield September 2015 Copyright statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns any copyright in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Huddersfield the right to use such copyright for any administrative, promotional, educational and/or teaching purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts, may be made only in accordance with the regulations of the University Library. Details of these regulations may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of any patents, designs, trademarks and any and all other intellectual property rights except for the Copyright (the “Intellectual Property Rights”) and any reproductions of copyright works, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property Rights and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property Rights and/or Reproductions 2 Abstract In many ways one of the most innovative writers of his age, the interwar work of the cricket writer, J.M. Kilburn, for The Yorkshire Post was so unique that it transcended the boundary between ‘journalism’ and ‘literature’. His brand of writing pushed the definition of ‘journalism’ to a point where journalistic traits were lost; in its place he used literary styles and techniques, allowing for the application of literary analysis to an art form which Kilburn made his own between 1934 and 1939. This is a study of his work as Yorkshire (and England) cricket correspondent for The Yorkshire Post from across the six seasons before the outbreak of the Second World War, a time of great political, social and cultural upheaval, but also one of unmitigated success, on a sporting front, for the White Rose. It is argued in this thesis that Kilburn, in transcending the boundary between literature and journalism, actually created a hybrid genre – a form of writing created out of styles pulled from the literary and journalistic worlds, and mixed together to create something unique to Kilburn. His career began with the kind of flourish that would grace his writing over a forty-year tenure working for The Yorkshire Post, one of the largest publications in the country: cricket writing commendation from the great Sir Neville Cardus – the man seen as the most influential in the history of cricket writing – imbued onto Kilburn a status of high quality which he would always keep. A bookworm childhood complimented by many hours sat on the boundary edge of Yorkshire cricket grounds ensured the foundations of Kilburn’s unique trade were well ingrained; a year spent roaming Finland polished his descriptive skills, and the posting of his travel pieces during this time endeared him to The Yorkshire Post’s then-editor Arthur Mann, whose vision it was to have as his chief cricket writer a man who could couple sound judgment with an ability to carry his readers from their living room to the field of play using only the elegance of the written word as a means of transportation. For example, Kilburn uses what Roland Barthes describes as a ‘narrative luxury’ (in Furst, 1992, pp135-136) in his writing – a technique used by literary figures – as well as using characterisation by taking individual players and creating mythological, almost godlike figures out of them. His style echoes that of a generation of writers which Hynes (1976) labels as ‘the Auden generation’, a group whose prose goes beyond what has been seen before, to transform the written word out of a passive state and into an active role, tackling the era’s various cultural crisis. During the more-than four decades he spent writing for The Yorkshire Post, Kilburn was never tempted away to a larger, national title like many of his contemporaries. His name is not nearly as well known as the likes of Sir Neville Cardus, R.C. Robertson-Glasgow or E.W. Swanton, all of whom were active during the majority of his career, but Kilburn’s unique disregard for his profession’s conventions made him one of the most interesting cricket writers of all time. This is the story of his early, interwar career at The Yorkshire Post. 3 Table of Contents List of Figures 5 Introduction 9 Holes in the field: A literature review 14 The career profiles of J.M. Kilburn, Sir Neville Cardus and Alfred Pullin 20 Changing Innings Part One: ‘Abominably stereotyped’ 25 1. A Writer in a Journalist’s World 29 2. Journalism as Literature 40 Literature: A context and definition 41 A narrative luxury 42 A cricketing mythology 45 Changing Innings Part Two: ‘The cricketer’s England’ 48 The evolution of ‘Old Ebor’ 51 3. Herbert Sutcliffe 56 4. Conclusion: The Final Over 68 Appendices: List of articles 73 Bibliography 77 Word count: 25,474 4 List of Figures Figure 1. The Yorkshire Post, August 6, 1934. Lancashire v Yorkshire at Old Trafford, Manchester. 37 Figure 2. The Yorkshire Post, June 14, 1938. England v Australia 1st Ashes Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. 38 Figure 3. The Yorkshire Post, July 21, 1934. England v Australia Ashes Test at Headingley, Leeds. 39 Figure 4. The Yorkshire Post, June 30, 1899. England v Australia at Headingley Stadium, Leeds. 53 Figure 5. The Yorkshire Evening Post, August 14, 1926. England v Australia at The Oval, London. 54 Figure 6. The Yorkshire Evening Post, August 4, 1928. Lancashire v Yorkshire at Old Trafford, Manchester. 55 5 Thanks to MC, BL and AS for helping negotiate a sticky wicket, PG and DG for 121 years of cricket history, and many thanks to BR – for everything else. 6 In September 2014, the month when work began on this study, Yorkshire County Cricket Club won the County Championship title for the first time in 13 years. In September 2015, the month of this study’s completion, Yorkshire regained their title. It seems apt that the last time a Yorkshire team achieved such a feat was in 1967 and 1968, under the watchful eye of J.M. Kilburn. J.M. Kilburn, The Yorkshire Post 7 A taste of Kilburn The best way to appreciate this study is to have prior experience of J.M Kilburn’s writing style. Therefore, ahead of the thesis, I present here three selected extracts: [Herbert] Sutcliffe holds so many records that he who knows not this player’s reputation knows nothing of cricket. To watch one of Sutcliffe’s innings is to have complete understanding of his power. He always seems to me rather to hurry to the wicket, everlastingly anxious to be batting and eager to test the quality of a bat which looks brand-new every time he opens an innings. Nine times out of ten the first ball will be outside the off-stump, and just so often will Sutcliffe step across, bring his feet together with military precision, lift that beautiful bat high out of harm’s way and gaze past point as the ball thuds into the wicket-keeper’s gloves. This padding-up announces as clearly as spoken words: ‘My dear bowler, you are wasting your time: I am proposing to make a century to-day and I am certainly not going to jeopardize my chances by feeling for anything outside the off-stump.’ The bowler is invariably heedless, but when Sutcliffe performs precisely the same operation at half- past five in the afternoon scepticism begins to depart. J.M. Kilburn, In Search of Cricket, 1937, pp54-55 In recent years the cricket ground at Edgbaston has been of somewhat forlorn appearance. The glories of other years when Test match history was made here faded and linger only on photographs in the long room of the pavilion. An air of antimacassar and faded tapestry hung everywhere. Now transformation has taken place; the brightness that need never be absent from first-class cricket is plain for all to see.