Robin Jackman’s Jackers: A Life in Cricket is far more fun than just a life in cricket, summers wouldn't sound the same without Robin Jackman’s Cockney crackle coming from yonder TV set. If anything can be called the sound of cricket in South Africa, it’s the commentary delivered by the avuncular Englishman, who looks like he was born in a jacket and tie. Jackman was, in fact, born in the Punjab, and despite being short, he bowled fast and furiously for England, Surrey, Western Province and what was then called Rhodesia. He grew up on a farm in Surrey, was at the centre of a political controversy in the Caribbean, and was still playing the game he had loved all his life when he made his debut as a commentator in 1978. So, behind the microphone lurks a real live human being. That sets him apart from many of his colleagues who, to paraphrase the game’s celebrated Marxist chronicler, CLR James, "only cricket know". Jackman knows much more than that, not least how to squeeze the last drop of fun from life. If there is a catch to this engagingly told tale, it is that Jackman’s gifts are of the gab, which do not always translate onto the page. But Jackman has the ability to melt effortlessly into the lives of people he will never meet. Happily, he is more than comfortable enough with himself to invite the reader to know him, and the tale of his rich life is worth knowing. Mercifully, the book isn’t all about cricket. There is enough here to satisfy aficionados, and a lot else besides. The value of Jackman’s life is that it would have a book in it even if he wasn’t a public figure. His father, a British army colonel who lost a leg in a shooting accident and wrote sentimental verse, is straight out of Wodehouse. One of his poems was titled Fred’s Erection. No, sport-lovers, it’s not what you think. Patrick Cargill, star of British sitcom Father Dear Father and two Carry On films, was Jackman’s uncle. At 15, Jackman was invited to a lunch to celebrate the completion of the filming of A Countess from Hong Kong, Charlie Chaplin’s last project as a director. It featured Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando. The guests of honour were Chaplin and Loren, whose condition for attending was that she would do the cooking. "Patrick didn’t take Sophia’s terms seriously and organised caterers. He was totally taken aback when the doorbell rang at about 11 o’clock. A Rolls Royce was parked outside and Loren was on the doorstep with her pots and pans ready to cook up a storm like a real Italian mama." Source: BusinessDay
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Book Review: Jackers: A Life in Cricket
Robin Jackman’s Jackers: A Life in Cricket is far more fun than just a life in cricket, summers wouldn't sound the same without Robin Jackman’s Cockney crackle coming from yonder TV set. If anything can be called the sound of cricket in South Africa, it’s the commentary delivered by the avuncular Englishman, who looks like he was born in a jacket and tie. Jackman was, in fact, born in the Punjab, and despite being short, he bowled fast and furiously for England, Surrey, Western Province and what was then called Rhodesia. He grew up on a farm in Surrey, was at the centre of a political controversy in the Caribbean, and was still playing the game he had loved all his life when he made his debut as a commentator in 1978. So, behind the microphone lurks a real live human being. That sets him apart from many of his colleagues who, to paraphrase the game’s celebrated Marxist chronicler, CLR James, "only cricket know". Jackman knows much more than that, not least how to squeeze the last drop of fun from life. If there is a catch to this engagingly told tale, it is that Jackman’s gifts are of the gab, which do not always translate onto the page. But Jackman has the ability to melt effortlessly into the lives of people he will never meet. Happily, he is more than comfortable enough with himself to invite the reader to know him, and the tale of his rich life is worth knowing. Mercifully, the book isn’t all about cricket. There is enough here to satisfy aficionados, and a lot else besides. The value of Jackman’s life is that it would have a book in it even if he wasn’t a public figure. His father, a British army colonel who lost a leg in a shooting accident and wrote sentimental verse, is straight out of Wodehouse. One of his poems was titled Fred’s Erection. No, sport-lovers, it’s not what you think. Patrick Cargill, star of British sitcom Father Dear Father and two Carry On films, was Jackman’s uncle. At 15, Jackman was invited to a lunch to celebrate the completion of the filming of A Countess from Hong Kong, Charlie Chaplin’s last project as a director. It featured Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando. The guests of honour were Chaplin and Loren, whose condition for attending was that she would do the cooking. "Patrick didn’t take Sophia’s terms seriously and organised caterers. He was totally taken aback when the doorbell rang at about 11 o’clock. A Rolls Royce was parked outside and Loren was on the doorstep with her pots and pans ready to cook up a storm like a real Italian mama." Source: BusinessDay