Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket

Tells the story of how two BBC broadcasters battled for the soul of English cricket during a time of great social change. For more than a quarter of a century after the Second World War, as the BBC tightened its grip on the national consciousness, two of the most famous English voices were commentators on games of cricket. John Arlott and E.W. ('Jim') Swanton transformed the broadcasting of the nation's summer game into a national institution. Swanton was born into a middle-class family and privately educated, Arlott was the son of a working-class council employee, educated at state schools until he left at the age of sixteen. Because of their strong personalities and distinctive voices Swanton's crisp and upper-class, Arlott's with its Hampshire burr each had a loyal following in the post-war years, when England's class system had a slot for almost everyone.