Stephen Chalke

Last updated

Stephen Chalke (born 5 June 1948) is an English author and publisher, particularly of books on cricket and cricketers.

Contents

Chalke was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire. He has two undergraduate degrees – one in Drama, English and Philosophy, the other in Mathematics – and a postgraduate degree in English Literature. [1] He has taught in adult, further and higher education, but since the late 1990s he has increasingly concentrated on writing and publishing. [2] For many years he worked for the Open University. In an article in the 2010 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack he is identified as "an author, publisher and captain of the Winsley Third XI". [3] He retired from playing cricket in 2013 at the age of 65. [4]

Chalke's cricket-writing career began after he received some coaching from the former Somerset player Ken Biddulph in the early 1990s. He wrote down some of Biddulph's reminiscences, then interviewed other players from the 1950s and collected their cricket memories into his first book, Runs in the Memory. None of the publishers he approached thought the book was commercially viable, so he formed his own publishing firm, Fairfield Books, and published it himself. [5] Its first review was in The Guardian where Frank Keating named it as his Sports Book of the Year. [6]

Through Fairfield Books, Chalke has written and published several biographical and historical cricket books. His collaboration with Geoffrey Howard, At the Heart of English Cricket, won the 2002 Cricket Society Book of the Year Award, and he has twice won the Wisden Book of the Year award: in 2004 with No Coward Soul (his biography of Bob Appleyard, co-written with Derek Hodgson) and in 2008 with Tom Cartwright – The Flame Still Burns. In 2009 he won the National Sporting Club's Cricket Book of the Year with The Way It Was – Glimpses of English Cricket's Past, a collection of more than 100 articles written for The Wisden Cricketer , Wisden Cricket Monthly and The Times . The Way It Was won the 'Best Cricket Book' category of the 2009 British Sports Book Awards. [7] Summer's Crown, his history of the county championship, was the Cricket Writers Club's Book of the Year in 2015. [8] In the 2010 edition of Wisden , he contributed a 10-page article on English cricket and the Second World War. [9]

Chalke retired from Fairfield Books at the end of 2019, having run it for more than 20 years. During that time Fairfield produced 42 books, of which Chalke wrote 19. [10] Other authors include David Foot, John Barclay, Fred Rumsey, Peter Walker, Mark Wagh, Anthony Gibson and Simon Lister. [11] In all, eight of the books he published as Fairfield Books won awards.

Chalke has received five national awards for services to cricket. In 2009 The Cricket Society awarded him the inaugural Ian Jackson Award for distinguished service to cricket. [12] In 2015 The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians gave him their annual award for his contributions to the field of cricket history. [13] In 2019 The Cricket Writers' Club awarded him the Peter Smith Award for services to the presentation of cricket. [14] In 2020 the Cricket Memorabilia Society gave him their Award of Excellence in recognition of his work in preserving cricket history. In 2022 he was the second winner (after Wisden) of the Stephen Fay Award for his services to cricket publishing. [15] In a profile in the 2020 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack , Richard Whitehead wrote that 'Chalke's story goes deeper than the acclaim of critics or the collecting of awards. In gathering the memories of a generation of unsung cricketers, he gave a voice to players who would otherwise have been forgotten.' [16]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Len Hutton</span> English cricketer

Sir Leonard Hutton was an English cricketer. He played as an opening batsman for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1934 to 1955 and for England in 79 Test matches between 1937 and 1955. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described him as "one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket". He set a record in 1938 for the highest individual innings in a Test match in only his sixth Test appearance, scoring 364 runs against Australia, a milestone that stood for nearly 20 years. Following the Second World War, he was the mainstay of England's batting. In 1952, he became the first professional cricketer of the 20th century to captain England in Tests; under his captaincy England won the Ashes the following year for the first time in 19 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Yardley</span> English cricketer

Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950, winning four Tests, losing seven and drawing three. Yardley was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1948, and in his obituary in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack he was described as Yorkshire's finest amateur since Stanley Jackson.

<i>Wisden</i> Leading Cricketer in the World Annual cricket award

The Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World is an annual cricket award selected by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. It was established in 2004, to select the best cricketer based upon their performances anywhere in the world in the previous calendar year. A notional list of previous winners, spanning from 1900 to 2002, was published in the 2007 edition of Wisden.

<i>Wisden Cricketers Almanack</i> British cricket almanac

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, or simply Wisden, colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a review for the London Mercury. In October 2013, an all-time Test World XI was announced to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

This is a bibliography of literary and historical works about cricket. The list is sorted by author's name. It is inevitably highly selective. The 1984 edition of E. W. Padwick's A Bibliography of Cricket had more than 10,000 entries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Appleyard</span> English cricketer

Robert Appleyard was a Yorkshire and England first-class cricketer. He was one of the best English bowlers of the 1950s, a decade which saw England develop its strongest bowling attack of the twentieth century. Able to bowl fast-medium swingers or seamers and off-spinners with almost exactly the same action, Appleyard's career was almost destroyed by injury and illness after his first full season in 1951. In his limited Test career, he took a wicket every fifty-one balls, and in first-class cricket his 708 wickets cost only 15.48 runs each.

John Robert Troutbeck Barclay DL was an English- Hong Kong cricketer, who played internationally once for Hong Kong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micky Stewart</span> English cricketer (born 1932)

Michael James Stewart is an English former cricketer, coach and administrator. A right-handed batsman, Stewart's international career was hampered by illness that curtailed his first overseas tour – serving as vice-captain in India in 1963–64 – and he made only eight Test appearances in all, scoring two half-centuries. His domestic career for Surrey spanned eighteen years, in which he scored over 26,000 first-class runs with forty-nine centuries. He made a century on debut for his county, against Pakistan, and went on to break the then-world record number of catches in a match in 1957 with his strong fielding. He captained Surrey between 1963 and 1972, winning the County Championship in 1971. After retiring, he became a manager at the club and later for England until 1992. He then worked for the ECB until 1997. He was the coach of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 1987 Cricket World Cup.

1951 was the 52nd season of County Championship cricket in England. It produced a surprise title for Warwickshire, their first for forty years and only the second in their history.

Edward Ibson Lester was an English first-class cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club. He was born and died at Scarborough, Yorkshire, England.

David Graham Clark was an English cricketer, cricket administrator and British Army officer.

Harold William Stephenson was an English first-class cricketer who played for Somerset. He captained Somerset from 1960 until his retirement in 1964.

Simon Lister is an English author.

Derek Brooke Pearson is an English former first-class cricketer who played from the mid-1950s until the early 1960s, taking over 200 wickets. He played all but two of his games for Worcestershire, who capped him in 1959; the others were for Combined Services.

Kenneth David Biddulph played first-class cricket for Somerset between 1955 and 1961, and later appeared in List A cricket matches while playing Minor Counties cricket for Durham between 1962 and 1972. He was born in Chingford, Essex and died at his home in Amberley, Gloucestershire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year</span> Annual cricket award in the United Kingdom

The Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year is a cricketer selected for the honour by the annual publication Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. The decision is based upon "his or her performances in school's cricket, as reported in Wisden". Wisden has included details of schools cricket as far back as its second edition in 1865, when it carried an account of the match between Eton College and Harrow School. In 1918 and 1919, as no first-class cricket was being played due to the First World War, the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year were chosen from public schools. The first Young Wisden Cricketer of the Year was named in 2008, in the 144th edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, in an effort to "help raise the profile of schools cricket, especially at state schools." The first winner was Jonny Bairstow of St Peter's School, York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Griffiths (cricketer)</span> English cricketer

Colin Griffiths was an English cricketer. He played for Essex between 1951 and 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Avery</span> English cricketer

Alfred Victor "Sonny" Avery was an English cricketer. He played for Essex between 1935 and 1954.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Pretlove</span> English sportsman (1932–2018)

John Frederick Pretlove was an English amateur sportsman whose first-class cricket career extended from 1954 to 1968 and who was considered one of the best Rugby fives players in England. He played cricket for Cambridge University and Kent County Cricket Club between 1955 and 1959 and for MCC sides until 1968.

David Foot was a British journalist and historian who wrote extensively on English cricket and the West Country.

References

  1. ↑ Stephen Chalke, Through the Remembered Gate, Fairfield Books, Bath, 2019.
  2. ↑ Stephen Chalke, Through the Remembered Gate, Fairfield Books, Bath, 2019.
  3. ↑ "How English cricket survived the Second World War". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2010 ed.). Wisden. p. 61.
  4. ↑ Stephen Chalke, Through the Remembered Gate, Fairfield Books, Bath, 2019, p.231.
  5. ↑ Stephen Chalke, A Long Half Hour: Six Cricketers Remembered, Fairfield Books, Bath, 2010, pp. 9–29.
  6. ↑ Stephen Chalke, Through the Remembered Gate, Fairfield Books, Bath, 2019, pp.51-2.
  7. ↑ "Previous winners". British Sports Book Awards . Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  8. ↑ "Anniversary opus celebrates counties' 125 years". Sports Journalists Association. 17 July 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  9. ↑ "How English cricket survived the Second World War". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2010 ed.). Wisden. pp. 52–61.
  10. ↑ Stephen Chalke, Through the Remembered Gate, Fairfield Books, Bath, 2019, pp.284-5.
  11. ↑ "Authors". Fairfield Books. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  12. ↑ "Ian Jackson Award Winners". The Cricket Society. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  13. ↑ "Statistician of the Year 2015 – Stephen Chalke". ACS. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  14. ↑ "Farewell to a chronicler of cricket's lessser-known tales". espn cricinfo. 18 January 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  15. ↑ "Who Only Cricket Know". Twitter. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  16. ↑ "The accidental publisher". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2020 ed.). Wisden. p. 124.
  17. ↑ Sengupta, Arunabha (6 June 2017). "Interview: Stephen Chalke — A long half-hour with the prolific and award-winning cricket writer". Cricket Country. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  18. ↑ Searby, Martin (28 November 2003). "Appleyard: An untold story of private grief". The Telegraph. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  19. ↑ "Gentlemen, Gypsies and Jesters order form" (PDF). Buccaneers Cricket Club. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  20. ↑ "John Barclay: Publications". Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  21. ↑ Hopps, David (26 August 2017). "The offie who coped". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 28 August 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.