PAGE 78 C M Y K Daily Mail Weekend

I’ll never forget having The prized possession you value above all others… My MBE and OBE from lunch with the Queen. the Queen. I got the OBE in 1986 and the MBE this year for services to At the end it was just and charity. I felt very humble me and her in the and proud to be British. The unqualified regret you wish you lounge chatting. could amend… I should never have stopped playing cricket for Yorkshire. I left in 1960 because I couldn’t get a The event that altered the course of regular place. I was 24 and went to your life and character… In September play for Leicestershire, but I wish I 1969 I had a drink with the former had stayed and fought for my place. Middlesex fast bowler John Warr and The way you would spend your fantasy he suggested I become an . 24 hours, with no travel restrictions... Within two years, I was a Test umpire I’d start the day with a long walk along and stayed for 25 years. Scarborough beach, then have coffee in The crime you would commit knowing a seafront cafe. The cricket ground at you could get away with it… I’m a Chris- Scarborough is magical and if I could tian, so I’d rather miss this question. No watch anyone it would be Garfield man is above the law. Sobers in full flight. I’d go to India to The song that means most to you… visit the Taj Mahal, which is wonderful I always get a lump in my throat when I in the moonlight, but would be back to hear Barbra Streisand’s The Way We Scarborough in time for dinner at the Were. With its beautiful sentiment of Tuscany Italian restaurant for ravioli looking back fondly on the past, it with a glass of red. I’d stop the night at makes me think of my parents. the Crown Spa Hotel, the best in town. The happiest moment you will cherish The temptation you wish you could forever… Having a private lunch with resist… Chocolate. I can get through a the Queen at Buckingham Palace in box of Black Magic in a night. 1990. It was just me, Prince Edward The book that holds an everlasting and two others, but they all left at the resonance… My bible. I won it for an end, so it was just me and the Queen in essay I wrote for Sunday school when the lounge chatting. I shall remember it I was 12. I’m 79 now and it’s quite as long as the Lord gives me breath. tatty, but if ever I get depressed, I read definite The saddest time that shook your a passage and it gives me strength. world… When my sister Sylvia died The priority activity if you were the from a brain haemorrhage in 1974 when Invisible Man for a day… I’d sit in on a she was 41. I took it badly but it was even meeting of world leaders at a critical worse for my mother, who was 70. moment for peace in the world. The unfulfilled ambition that continues The pet-hate that makes your hackles article to haunt you… To have opened for rise... Weeds! I have half an acre of We ask a celebrity a set of devilishly England with a century at Lord’s. garden near . Nothing gets The philosophy that underpins your me angrier than weeds taking over. probing questions – and only accept life… Live life with a smile. The film you can watch time and time The order of service at your funeral… again… I love Westerns and nobody THE definitive answer. This week I’m the president of the Barnsley Munic- can touch Clint Eastwood, especially in ipal Band, so I’d like them to play at a A Fistful Of Dollars. He’s magnificent. it’s cricket umpire Dickie Bird service at the church of St Mary in the The person who has influenced you town. And I want my ashes buried at the most… My father Harold. He was up at The piece of wisdom you would pass The unending quest that drives you on… foot of the statue of me, which is on the P 4am every day to work down the mines, on to a child… Whatever you do in life, To stay healthy. I’ve had a stroke and my spot where I was born in Barnsley. hoto

but still found the energy to bowl at me be sure you enjoy it. short-term memory is shocking. I get to The way you want to be remembered… g

From top: The ala raphs: Taj Mahal, Dickie after school. He told me I could make it The unlikely interest that engages your Asda and forget what I’m buying! For my children’s sport foundation playing for to the top if I had no drink, no women curiosity… I’ve collected ties since I The poem that touches your soul… and as someone who was honest and Leicestershire in and no going to nightclubs. I followed was a boy. I’ve got hundreds, all over Invictus by William Ernest Henley, the treated both sides fairly. m 1963, an OBE, his advice and never married. the house, of all colours and sizes. 19th-century poet. It’s so inspiring. The Plug… Please support The Dickie y, ro allstar, cricket stumps, A box of Black The figure from history for whom you’d The treasured item you lost and wish The misapprehension about yourself Bird Foundation which gives under- Magic, A Fistful Of most like to buy a pie and a pint… The you could have again… A pair of gold you wish you could erase… That I know privileged children the chance to Dollars and Barbra 18th century politician William Wilber- cuff links I got when Yorkshire won everything about cricket! People relay ­participate in sport. Visit www.the ge r kee Streisand in The force. He stopped the slave trade and the in 1959. They particular bits of a game from years dickiebirdfoundation.co.uk n

Way We Were ch was the greatest ever Yorkshireman. were stolen in a burglary in the 1970s. ago and expect me to remember it. As told to Rob McGibbon Next week PS... l Benedict Cumberbatch on See Pixar’s new movie Brave, in cinemas on Monday (right). his role in lavish new costume l Catch Tamsin Greig in Jumpy at London’s Duke of York’s drama Parade’s End Monty Don celebrates those belles of the wall, theatre from Thursday. And listen to Waterloo Sunset: The clematis l Fabulous recipes from The Great British Bake Off l PLUS Don’t Very Best Of The Kinks And Ray Davies, out on Monday. miss Britain’s best TV listings guide

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National 11 August