John Finnemore, author of Teddy Lester Captain of Cricket (London: Chambers, 1916), you have given me a joyous lifelong memory. I discovered this book as a boy in my uncle's house. Its orange boards and thick flaky paper intoxicate me still. Now I have rebound Captain of Cricket, I have one other title in the series, and I search for more whenever I'm in a second-hand bookshop. Teddy, easily the best cricketer in Slapton School, takes the reputation of the house seriously and comes down hard on bullying. He is firm but fair and does what is right. Frank Sandys, brilliant new boy, bowls with a queer shuffling run. His stock ball is a googly (odd, since that is meant to be a surprise delivery), occasionally mixed up with a straight fast one. Ito the Bat is Japanese and bowls with a bizarre action, hence his soubriquet. Teddy and his chums play cricket, in a strange form of the game where bowlers 'find a spot' and become unplayable. They stroll around Slapton school and save the country. Their teachers barely exist.
Penny for your thoughts, Ito, old man.
Who were you, John Finnemore? Wikipedia says there is nothing left now but census returns, and reconstructs your (childless) life with Emma, teaching in Welsh schools, and eventually making real money from writing. I imagine you in your elementary classroom, speaking Welsh, dreaming up Boy's Own plotlines. Is there really nothing out there? No school archives In Aberystwyth, no letters, no manuscripts? Why did you buy a house with fifteen bedrooms?
John Finnemore, you died aged 52. Your books are rare finds today. You are not listed on goodreads, but you are a good read. When I pass by an empty cricket ground, sometimes, at dusk, I stand quite still. The whole of Slapton watches with hushed breath. Everything depends on this last wicket stand, and Frank Sandys is shuffling in to bowl.
5 comments:
I suggest you reread the books as you have totally mixed up Teddy's two friends. The Bat was not named Frank Sandys, was cross-eyed and bowled quickly. Ito was the slow bowler.
Best regards
Rob Miller
My dad was just reminiscing in the summer about Teddy Lester, and this book in particular. If you look on amazon it seems that Finnemore wrote a number of travel-related books too. There must be entries about him in very old almanacs of children's books, wouldn't you think? Anyway, I'm planning on splashing out on one of the very expensive copies of one of the Teddy Lester books as a Christmas present for my dad. Worth it?
Jimmy West, "The Bat" was a fast bowler and could deliver a whizzing yorker. Ito Nagao was the wicket keeper. Both are in the first book. At that time the hero of the school was Tom Sandys. By the last book, Tom had left, and his younger brother Frank arrived and was not only renowned for his googly, but could deliver the impossible double-spiiner that bounced one way, then the other, to invariably defeat the batsman. Stirring stuff from a diffeent time -- more than a century ago.
I was raised on these books - recognizing nevertheless that Teddy was perfection in every single thing he ever did - but the stories have imaginative and even atmospheric twists which make the readable, even today (I have the whole set). Ito Nagayo, the "little Jap" is an affectionate creation - a tiny boy whose skill at ju jitsu comes in handy when dealing with those who might try to bully him. Each term there arises a group of utter scoundrels who attempt to harm Teddy and his friends but, upon whom, their evil plan always backfires and they themselves become the victims! Usually the scoundrels are expelled from the school but there appears to be a plentiful supply of them. Question: in "His First Term" why were Birling and Nesbit merely flogged before the whole school by Dr Balshaw while Teddy, previously charged with their offense, was to have been expelled for it?
http://www.gutenberg.org has posted some John Finnemore books for download or to read online. Unfortunately, none of the Teddy Lester books. The only Teddy Lester book i've read is Three School Chums, which i discovered in my granddad's library, over 40 years ago! Unfortunately, it was MISSING THE LAST PAGE! I must have read that book a couple of dozen times. I never even knew it was part of a series until a couple of years ago. So reading the series and especially TSC's LAST PAGE is on my bucket list. HAHAHAH!
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