John Shawcroft

Not being British all I knew about Bank Holidays was that it was an unimaginative name for a holiday, but I guess a day off is a day off no matter what you call it. Bank Holidays and cricket have long been intertwined so I looked to Golden Mondays" for an explanation of the two.

Shawcroft gives a short explanation and history of Bank Holidays (introducing me to the wonderful word "Whitsuntide") and then proceeds to give lots of score updates from Bank Holiday matches, none of which were particularly interesting. Occasionally, we get snatches of history, like the great British actor and cricketer C. Aubrey Smith appearing at a Bank Holiday match to be toasted as the oldest living county captain or the time Phil Tufnell was attacked by wasps while in the field. More about the characters of the game who enlivened Bank Holidays and less of the "Bosanquet-Smith and Montizambert had a useful partnership of 67 runs to set up Worcestershire's win" would have greatly benefited Golden Mondays.… (meer)