User talk:Blue Square Thing

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I might not see your message here for a few days or possibly weeks. I will reply to you, but it might take a while.
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Hambledon — The Men and the Myths[edit]

Good afternoon, BST. Looking through my files over the last few days, I came across this book review, which you might find interesting.

While Ashley Mote would never have got my vote, he did write one very good history and he did publish an excellent replica of Nyren.

The points he makes are all spot on — gratuitous swipes; inaccuracies, gaffes, and glaring errors; lack of a big picture; incomplete index; confusion; "a monopoly of wisdom"; lack of vision; a passion for unadulterated detail, pedantry, and minutiae; obsession with Hambledon or Hampshire; failure to grasp significance; should stick to research. When Goulstone took his gratuitous swipes into the ACS journal, several (though not all) of his comments were later found to be inaccurate or to have the missed the point because he couldn't see the big picture. I was told by Douglas Miller and others that Goulstone hated Ashley Mote, especially after The Glory Days of Cricket won prizes, and really did consider himself to possess a monopoly of wisdom on early cricket.

I tried reading the Hambledon book many years ago and, like many other people I know, I completely agree with Ashley. I dismissed the book as the worst work on cricket I have ever seen. The prose is so turgid and contradictionary that you have to read many paragraphs two or three times to try and understand the point being made. As Ashley said, there is no big picture and no background — if you don't know the setting is Georgian England, you could easily think it is sometime in the last century. The stuff about nomenclature and the identity of Thomas White leave you shaking your head.

As a source for the Hambledon era, Goulstone's book is, shall we say, utterly unreliable. If you are interested in writing about Hambledon, ignore Goulstone completely. Haygarth is the best source while Ashley-Cooper and Ashley Mote are both good enough. Nyren should be used with caution — check what other writers say. You can also get some good background from the likes of Altham, Birley, Bowen, Buckley, Major (who also never got my vote), McCann, Underdown, Waghorn, and Webber. To name a few.

I'll say goodbye now. I have begun a new writing project that will take all of my spare time for the next year or so. Good luck. 92.30.242.247 (talk) 12:26, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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