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Post by tiptoes on Feb 16, 2021 13:23:44 GMT
Bit of a giveaway which cricketers have been privately educated and those that haven't since those that have are usually more effete and better qualified in terms of academic qualifications. They are often seen as Captaincy material. The obvious example is "Lord Snooty" who wouldn't be called that if he attended Radley Comp rather than the eponymous public school, also the alma mater of "Lord" Ted Dexter. Other recent long term England captains with public school backgrounds include Hussain, Atherton, Cook, not forgetting John Barclay well to do Old Etonian and Sx skipper. Most Oxbridge and Durham University cricketers were independently educated although Alistair Scott, who went to Seaford Head comp, was a Cantabrian and played once for Sussex.
But our best all rounders like Stokes, Flintoff and Moeen were all comprehensive educated whereas Botham (not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree) attended a sec mod, like the Yorkshire Ripper.
The exceptions to the public school stereotype are Panesar who was clueless on Celebrity Mastermind/UC and was issued with a fixed fine for urinating on bouncers in Brighton, Ed Giddins who had a run in with authorities and served a ban, also Tuffers with his Mockney accent and "regular bloke" persona. Others like Broad and Prior who were privately educated are classless and no different to comp educated James Anderson or Ian Bell. And then you have the Wells brothers of Tideway comp, Newhaven, against the Cowdrey boys of Tonbridge, like father Colin, the quintessential English gentleman.
I remember cricket correspondent CMJ, father of public school educated RMJ, rather indignant because he phoned up Willesden HS (comp) where Daffy and Chris Lewis were schooled to gather some info and was most annoyed the admin there weren't even aware of them. If that was a public school, he harumphed, they would be lauded on the school honours board. That was before CS's drug conviction.
It's rather difficult to find comp educated people in public life who you'd expect to have been privately educated although Carol Vorderman, Emily Maitlis and Seb Coe are quite refined. Personally even if I was a billionaire I wouldn't send my kids to private school where they would only get a very narrow social education. Academic outcomes are far more likely to be determined by genetics and home background than the type of school one attends.
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Post by tiptoes on Feb 17, 2021 14:24:47 GMT
www.thecricketer.com/Topics/schools/the_cricketer_schools_guide_2021_list_announced.htmlA list of the top 100 cricketing schools of which 90% must be private. The Sussex schools are Bedes, Eastbourne College, Brighton College, Lancing College, Hurstpierpoint, Worth and ....Brighton Aldridge Community Academy!!! I seem to recall that William Parker school in Hastings was pretty hot back in the 1990s when Michael Yardy was a pupil and Ian Gillespie was the PE Teacher. Why is my erstwhile public school not listed? When it produced such superstars like Roy Kerslake and er...that's about as good as it got.
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Post by tiptoes on Feb 20, 2021 18:44:16 GMT
Sedburgh, Whitgift, Oakham and Cheltenham College have all recently hosted 1st class cricket as did Wellingborough School until the 1990s, the only one that didn't make the cut into the top 100.
When you consider the municipal parks like Southchurch Park in Southend and Clarence Park in Weston Super Mare, I've been to both and was unaware that they were hosting cricket as outgrounds they were so generic, I'm sure many more public schools are equipped to stage county cricket given the chance.
Sussex 2nds have played at Eastbourne College, a ground Roger Knight extols as one of his favourites although he may be a bit biased given his links.
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Post by tiptoes on Feb 22, 2021 15:08:27 GMT
Christs Hospital, one of the most eminent schools in the country yet alone Sx, with their distinctive 16th century uniform is a perhaps surprising omission from the top 100 cricketing schools.
About 20 years ago the Bedes 1st XI cricket master I knew was spitting tacks because CH had only deemed the opposition worthy of their 3rd team and subsequently got slaughtered in a one sided game. These days Bedes 3rd XI would probably be a stern enough test for the CH 1st side.
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Post by tiptoes on Mar 21, 2021 19:45:42 GMT
It's obviously escaped your notice, as it had mine, that the state grammar and sec modern (academy) schools in Canterbury have made it to the top of elite cricket schools while the noted public school of that parish, Kings Canterbury, alma mater of David Gower, has not! So the next time some toff tells you about the superiority of independent schools in sport then point them in the direction of Kent's county town!
So this astonishing fact comes only a few years after Canterbury, which had never gone red in the (appalling) Blair years, unlike several chavvy areas of the county turned and remains Labour from the Corbyn era!
They say things happen in threes, so nobody will be that surprised when Canterbury Cathedral, the mother church, and residence of our leading Archbishop becomes A MOSQUE AND MUSLIMS FROM ALL ROUND THE WORLD WILL BE MAKING THEIR PILGRIMAGE TO CANTERBURY RATHER THAN MECCA!!!
You read it here first!
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Post by tiptoes on Apr 5, 2021 6:17:14 GMT
Back in the 1980s Kent schools were well represented by England players.
Paul Downton and Chris Tavare were alumni of Sevenoaks as was Tim Lawrence, husband of the Princess Royal who himself was a keen cricketer and captained his college at Durham University (Durham being the only university outside of Oxbridge that has its own colleges). I wonder whether they played in the 1st XI at the same time?
Chris Cowdrey and Richard Ellison were from Tonbridge.
Mark Benson attended Sutton Valence. He was in fact born in Sussex so not sure he could ever describe himself as a Kentish Man or Man or Kent although I've never known the criteria which qualifies a person to describe himself as either.
Phil Edmonds, Zambian born, was a boarder at Cranbrook School when John Kendall-Carpenter was Headmaster. A prickly character was a kinder description of someone I knew who was an acquaintance of his at Cranbrook. His ex wife must have been one of the few women who had an ego to match.
And Gower, who I mentioned in the above post, Kings Canterbury.
We weren't particularly good at cricket in the 80s.
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Post by tiptoes on Apr 5, 2021 12:53:31 GMT
I liked Paul Downton. I used to work with his first cousin who wasn't the sharpest tool and fortunately didn't share the same surname as it wouldn't enhance the family brand. He was no good at cricket and got caught embezzling the company with a crudity more apparent than Amy Schumer's jokes, which landed him in court.
When he left Kent to join Middlesex it was stated he found the dressing room a bit brash and smutty, but then they did have characters like Embers, Tuffnell and his mate Jamie Sykes as well as the Jackson 5. At least there were kindred souls like Brearley and Simon Hughes to compensate.
He was a good rugby player, fly half, and represented England Schools. When Chris Cowdrey played against him for Tonbridge he said he was so elusive he couldn't lay a hand on him.
On QoS, which I haven't watched for years as it clashes with Coronation Street which my misses still seems to find some merit, he was asked to name 2 of the 3 cricketers who featured in the clip, and answered. Coleman asked "do you know the third?" and he duly responded. Most guests, often intellectually challenged, would have to try and impress by gratuitously giving all 3 names straight up.
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Post by tiptoes on Apr 11, 2021 6:20:36 GMT
As Kevin the supersub pointed out in the off topic section, HRH Prince Andrew represented Gordonstoun 1st XI back in 1978 which probably came as a surprise to other readers. It was certainly a revelation to me, but you live and learn.
The problem with attending Gordonstoun is that it is so isolated on the NE Scottish coast that away trips to other schools for sporting competitions mean very long coach journeys and the reverse is true for schools who have to travel there.
No such problem at my public school (Kingswood) in Bath, where there were as many competitive schools as charity shops in Hastings, well maybe not that many, but a similar number to nearby Bristol which is of course a far bigger city. These other Bath institutions included King Edward's School (KES), Monkton Combe (boo, hiss), Prior Park and Beechen Cliff which is a state comprehensive. Downside is only just outside the urban boundaries. Not bad for a small city with a population under a 100,000 and punching above its weight I think you'll agree.
Other opposition on the sporting curriculum included the mighty Millfield, Bryanston, Colstons, Bristol Grammar School (which was independent), Dauntseys and Wycliffe. Plus a few more I've forgotten.
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Post by tiptoes on May 21, 2021 6:08:04 GMT
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Post by liquidskin on May 23, 2021 11:17:00 GMT
Meaker went to some fancy 40 a grand a year plumb sucking Paedo prison in Surrey or Sussex I think. Life's tough though.
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Post by tiptoes on May 23, 2021 11:53:05 GMT
Meaker went to some fancy 40 a grand a year plumb sucking Paedo prison in Surrey or Sussex I think. Life's tough though. Cranleigh on the Sussex/Surrey border. My nephew on my wife's side boarded threre the same time as Meaker. Sister-in-law is a right snob, living in Bucks near Wycombe where they still do 11+ exam. WRGS is one of the most illustrious state schools in the country with exam results to match Cranleigh, yet instead of putting him in for 11 + exam wanted to send him private and pay extortionate money when he might have had a Rolls Royce education free at the point of demand. |
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Post by tiptoes on Aug 1, 2021 12:54:34 GMT
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9847871/Left-wing-football-pundit-Gary-Neville-groomed-political-career-Sir-Keir-Starmer.htmlSo this former Lancashire Schoolboy cricketer who plied his trade with Frederick Flintoff may be set on a career in Labour politics despite his immense wealth. There's nothing wrong with being rich and supporting Labour if you don't mind paying your fair share of taxes to support state services. But what doesn't sit well with me is that this bloke sends his daughters to private schools. I've made clear I think independent education is a pig in the poke when it comes to value for money, but when you're stinking rich the fees don't seem too onerous. But the point about socialism is that by buying your way to private education to give yourself a supposed leg up in life at the expense of those that can't afford it flys in the face of that philosophy on both equality of opportunity and egalitarianism. So Neville, while sending his kids to posh schools far away from the working class kids he's meant to represent, if reports are true, is also cocking a snook at them socially by ensuring his offspring don't mix. And this is so in keeping with most rich sport stars and anarchic musicians who ensure their kids avoid the hoi polloi. There are however wealthy exceptions like Sir Paul McCartney, the late Earl of Bath, Jeff Fairbairn and Gove and his (now separated) wife, Sarah Vine. I don't think any of these people using the state comprehensive system are doing this out of socialism but just upright morality. I'm sorry for the rant but this has really got my goat.
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Post by flashblade on Aug 1, 2021 18:39:10 GMT
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9847871/Left-wing-football-pundit-Gary-Neville-groomed-political-career-Sir-Keir-Starmer.htmlSo this former Lancashire Schoolboy cricketer who plied his trade with Frederick Flintoff may be set on a career in Labour politics despite his immense wealth. There's nothing wrong with being rich and supporting Labour if you don't mind paying your fair share of taxes to support state services. But what doesn't sit well with me is that this bloke sends his daughters to private schools. I've made clear I think independent education is a pig in the poke when it comes to value for money, but when you're stinking rich the fees don't seem too onerous. But the point about socialism is that by buying your way to private education to give yourself a supposed leg up in life at the expense of those that can't afford it flys in the face of that philosophy on both equality of opportunity and egalitarianism. So Neville, while sending his kids to posh schools far away from the working class kids he's meant to represent, if reports are true, is also cocking a snook at them socially by ensuring his offspring don't mix. And this is so in keeping with most rich sport stars and anarchic musicians who ensure their kids avoid the hoi polloi. There are however wealthy exceptions like Sir Paul McCartney, the late Earl of Bath, Jeff Fairbairn and Gove and his (now separated) wife, Sarah Vine. I don't think any of these people using the state comprehensive system are doing this out of socialism but just upright morality. I'm sorry for the rant but this has really got my goat. Is there anything in left wing philosophy that says you can't spend your money where you want? |
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Post by tiptoes on Aug 1, 2021 19:02:43 GMT
Are you for real?
Left wing philosophy is not a supporter of capitalism of which private schools are an integral feature and the antithesis of state education.
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Post by flashblade on Aug 1, 2021 19:08:45 GMT
Are you for real? Left wing philosophy is not a supporter of capitalism of which private schools are an integral feature and the antithesis of state education. I'm very much for real, and you haven't answered my question. In the capitalist society we live in, why shouldn't the left winger spend his money where he wants - boats, big cars, private schools, etc etc. What's the point in asking what he should do in a left wing society when he doesn't live in one, and is highly unlikely to in this country. You have to live in the world as it is, not as you would like it to be. You may not agree with him, but who are you to dictate his spending habits? |
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