He and John Arlott led the press campaign against the sordid deal to exclude Basil D’Oliveira from playing for England in South Africa
’s death are the radical views he expressed well before became a national treasure for his much-loved BBC celebrity interviews. His formative socialist years were in the Yorkshire town of Barnsley, the son of a miner. That, combined with his love of sport, especially cricket, and even more especially Yorkshire cricket, was perhaps why he volunteered for the 1965 launch of, writing a sports column for the monthly newspaper, official organ of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement.
Yet the England selectors did a sordid secret deal with the white South Africans to exclude D’Oliveira when the Marylebone Cricket Club came to select players to tour South Africa in 1968-69. Along with the commentatorsports column that the MCC “stand condemned as racialists of the worst kind and we are all tarnished by their shadow”. After the uproar, the MCC eventually did select D’Oliveira, and South Africa’s prime minister, John Vorster, promptly cancelled the tour.
To suggest that politics can be removed from sport is tantamount to saying politics can be removed from lifeThe fight to stop the 1970 tour led to cricket grounds becoming battlegrounds, recorded by Colin Shindler in, for which, by then retired from the BBC, Parkinson wrote a trenchant foreword, his criticism of the English cricket establishment undiminished.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
New 'simple' app to support Parkinson's disease sufferersA new walking app is set to make a difference for Parkinson&x27;s disease sufferers.
Read more »
Princess Anne spoke about harrowing kidnapping attempt in rare Parkinson interviewA newly unearthed interview from 1983 with Michael Parkinson shows the late British chat show host having a remarkably candid chat with Princess Anne.
Read more »
| Liverpool’s transfer business, and a man chasing his own hat in the windIn today’s Football Daily: Goodbye Hendo, hello Endo; and remembering Michael Parkinson’s love for the game
Read more »
Men who allege Michael Jackson sexually abused them as boys have lawsuits revived for jury trialA US court revises lawsuits from two men, including an Australian, who allege Michael Jackson sexually abused them as boys.
Read more »
Michael Jackson sexual abuse lawsuits revived by appeals courtA California appeals court revived lawsuits from two men who allege Michael Jackson sexually abused them when they were boys.
Read more »