Product Description

A tribute to Harold Bird, the popular umpire, marking his retirement from Test Match cricket in June 1996. Known affectionately as "Dickie Bird", he was appointed first-class umpire in 1970 and promoted to the Test Panel 1973. Since then he has stood in 66 test matches. This is packed with tales which have been become part of cricket folklore and scores of anecdotes spanning his 40 years in cricket. Contributors include Geoff Boycott, John Major, Michael Parkinson, Michael Parkinson, Fred Trueman, Ray Illingworth, and Ted Dexter. It is enhanced by 16 pages of colour and black and white photographs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3101801 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 202 pages

From the Back Cover
Dickie Bird is revered through the cricketing world as the game's outstanding and best-loved umpire. The countless amusing stories about him are part of cricket's folklore.

To mark Dickie's retirement from Test match cricket, many of the game's leading personalities tell their favourite story about him in this volume of appreciation, including the Rt.Hon. John Major MP, Geoffrey Boycott, Ray Illingworth, Ted Dexter, Michael Parkinson, Dominic Cork, Fred Trueman and many others.

The son of a Barnsley miner, Harold Dennis Bird, universally known as Dickie, played cricket for Yorkshire and Leicestershire before becoming an umpire in 1970. Up to his retirement from Test cricket last year, he had stood in sixty-six Test matches, a world record. Dickie: A Tribute is an affectionate farewell to a sporting legend.

About the Author
Brian Scovell
Brian Scovell is one of Dickie Bird's oldest associates. He began his journalistic career with the Daily Sketch in 1960 and joined the Daily Mail in 1971. He has written fifteen sports books, most of them about cricket, and was chairman of the Cricket Writers' Club from 1985-9. He is married to Audrey, an artist, and lives in Bromley, Kent.