Last night I attended the 21st birthday party of the Bunbury cricket club coupled with the name of their inestimable leader, Dr David English MBE. To say it was a lavish and spectacular occasion would be an understatement. More than a thousand people turned out to support a charity cricket team whose main purpose is to advance the prospects of young cricketers hoping to have a professional career while at the same time raising millions for charity. Among Bunbury's past success are Gooch, Gower, Botham, Hussain, Stewart, Gatting, Atherton, Thorpe, Trescothick, Vaughan, Flintoff, Bell, Collingwood, Cook and Ramprakash. And the latest man to hit the headlines, Adil Rashid. All the greats attended the dinner plus Martin Johnson, Matt Dawson, Will Greenwood, Eddie Jordan, Ian Wright, and the man who got some of the biggest applause of the evening, Eric Clapton, and when I say the biggest applause, I mean for doing nothing other than having his name announced.
The largest sustained ovation came for Stephen Fry's brilliant speech. It was a heart-rending, deeply felt, passionate statement on the state of cricket today, and although it was peppered with sharp and incisive wit, it was the sad and melancholic moments that made you realise that great comedians can make you cry as well as laugh. He rightly received a standing ovation for a speech I would class with the best of Iain MacLeod or Michael Foot. He is a truly remarkable man.
We were entertained in great style by Rory Bremner who resigned as Prime Minister and gave the alternative speech, and by the Bee Gees live on stage. I had the privilege of doing the auction which raised £257,500. The two most popular items were Eric Clapton's Stratocaster 'Blackie' guitar which went for £35,000 and a weekend with Eddie Jordan on his yacht in Monaco to watch the Monaco Grand Prix - this amazing item went for £30,000. Just in passing, every auctioneer dreads having an item you can't get rid of, for which no-one wants to give a penny, you're just stuck up there staring at the wall. This never happens when Mr Nigel Wray, owner of the Saracens is there - he always works out which is the worst item and happily bids £10,000 for it. He, along with Sir Donald Gosling, Paul Beck and George Tsavliris, can be relied upon to come to my rescue when I'm auctioning a one-way Aeroflot flight to Kosovo with no hotel. The evening ended with all the luminaries - 5 former cricket captains, 2 rugby captains and 32 other international sportsmen present, putting themselves in a team photo, and anybody who wanted to sit in the centre as the captain for the night had to pay £1,000 for the privilege; there were 21 guests who jumped at the chance, and the English School's Cricket Association ended up all the better off for it.
The largest sustained ovation came for Stephen Fry's brilliant speech. It was a heart-rending, deeply felt, passionate statement on the state of cricket today, and although it was peppered with sharp and incisive wit, it was the sad and melancholic moments that made you realise that great comedians can make you cry as well as laugh. He rightly received a standing ovation for a speech I would class with the best of Iain MacLeod or Michael Foot. He is a truly remarkable man.
We were entertained in great style by Rory Bremner who resigned as Prime Minister and gave the alternative speech, and by the Bee Gees live on stage. I had the privilege of doing the auction which raised £257,500. The two most popular items were Eric Clapton's Stratocaster 'Blackie' guitar which went for £35,000 and a weekend with Eddie Jordan on his yacht in Monaco to watch the Monaco Grand Prix - this amazing item went for £30,000. Just in passing, every auctioneer dreads having an item you can't get rid of, for which no-one wants to give a penny, you're just stuck up there staring at the wall. This never happens when Mr Nigel Wray, owner of the Saracens is there - he always works out which is the worst item and happily bids £10,000 for it. He, along with Sir Donald Gosling, Paul Beck and George Tsavliris, can be relied upon to come to my rescue when I'm auctioning a one-way Aeroflot flight to Kosovo with no hotel. The evening ended with all the luminaries - 5 former cricket captains, 2 rugby captains and 32 other international sportsmen present, putting themselves in a team photo, and anybody who wanted to sit in the centre as the captain for the night had to pay £1,000 for the privilege; there were 21 guests who jumped at the chance, and the English School's Cricket Association ended up all the better off for it.
6 Comments:
Is there anywhere we can get audio/transcript of Stephen Fry's speech?
What's Stephen Fry like as a person? He always gives the impression of "I'm clever and I know it", which is misleading, as there are many cleverer but less flamboyant people in our great universities. I'm too young to remember Macleod's speeches, but Foot's also had a dreadful arrogance about them, more "I'm right and you're wrong and you will never persuade me otherwise".
Clothilde Simon
simon - Sadly not.
anonymous - Stephen is charming, kind and VERY clever.
Wonderful to read. Keep being part of cricket, music and fine words with universality... words that mean something to most people.
Cazza in Perth Australia
Hi there
Firstly, just to say that I have just found this blogspot, after having been a fan of Jeffrey's for about 10 years. A friend of my mothers recommended 'The Fourth Estate', which I quickly wore out. Since then I have collected most of his offerings in one format and another.
Secondly, after reading the FF8282 series, it comes as little surprise that you, Jeffrey, are a big follower of the leather-upon-willow sport. The flavour from some of your short stories also points you to be a supporter of the local sporting causes as well, and it is nice to see the 'proof' of it carrying through to your real life.
cazza and chris smith - many thanks for your comments.
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