In the summer term of 1960, I was in the Sixth Form at
Burford School, studying for GCE 'A' Levels in Geography,
English Literature and History. My English Literature
teacher was the late Raymond Jones for whom I had the greatest respect as a person and as a teacher. Like me,
he loved cricket and he was aware that not only was I
Captain of the School's First XI at that sport but also,
on occasions, I played for the Town's First XI when
fixtures did not clash with those of the Schools' team.
As Mr Jones lived in Burford, he would not infrequently
walk to the Recreation Ground when the Town's First XI
had a home match and park himself on a wooden bench
just around from the entrance to the Ground. When this
happened, it acted as an incentive to me to try and do well,
either at batting or with my spin bowling. On one particular occasion, when Mr Jones was in place and I was batting
quite high up the order, I happened to score quite a few runs
and was naturally pleased with myself to have done so
in his presence. So it was with a degree of eager anticipation
that I attended Mr Jones's English Literature lesson the
next day when, unsurprisingly after the lesson, he took me
aside and said, "That was a good 'knock' yesterday, James.
But you know, as well as I do, that you should have been
at home revising!" He was right, of course, because I failed
by just 5%