EVENT CANCELLED DUE TO THE COVID-19 SITUATION

On Thursday 26 March (7.45pm) our guest speaker will be Colin Shindler.

Born in Manchester, Colin has lectured on films and American history at Cambridge University for over 20 years and is perhaps best known as the screenwriter of the movie Buster starring Phil Collins and Julie Walters, the producer of Lovejoy starring Ian McShane and the author of the childhood memoir Manchester United Ruined My Life.

The Professional Amateur, Colin’s biography of Bob Barber, the former England, Lancashire and Warwickshire opening batsman, was longlisted for the MCC Book of the Year in 2015. Colin has also been a contributor to Wisden, The Cricketer and Wisden Cricket Monthly.

Colin’s latest book, Barbed Wire and Cucumber Sandwiches, is the compelling story of a cricket tour framed in a landscape of turbulent social history. The game was shaken to its core by demonstrations, strikes, arrests and violence amid growing global disgust at apartheid, ahead of South Africa’s planned 1970 tour of England. The battle to stop and then to save the tour split the nation, drove a wedge between the generations and destroyed friendships. The book’s release coincides with the 50th anniversary of the tour’s cancellation and in it Colin has delved deep into the MCC archives for new information and gained exclusive interviews with key players of the time. Alongside the views of cricketers Mike Brearley and Ray Illingworth are the opinions of Labour politician Peter Hain, who was chairman of the Stop The Seventy Tour campaign. 

Hope you can join us for a fascinating evening as Colin Shindler reveals the full untold story of one of cricket’s biggest controversies.