Fred Trueman Talking Cricket With Friends Past & Present By Fred Trueman & Don Mosey
Talking Cricket With Friends Past & Present (First Edition Hardcover Copy)
The Extraordinary, Anecdotal Chronicle of England’s Legendary Fast Bowler and His Private Encounters with Cricketing Royalty and Political Giants
The Extraordinary, Anecdotal Chronicle of England’s Legendary Fast Bowler and His Private Encounters with Cricketing Royalty and Political Giants
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: Talking Cricket With Friends Past & Present
- Authors: Fred Trueman and Don Mosey
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, London
- Publication Date: 1997
- ISBN-10: 0340696354
- ISBN-13: 9780340696353
- Edition Details: First UK Edition, First Printing. Standard hardcover release with original unclipped dust jacket.
- Binding: Original publisher's premium textured cloth boards with crisp silver or gold gilt-stamped typography running down the spine, complete with structurally sound endpapers.
- Physical Format: Octavo (8vo), 224 pages. Wonderfully enhanced with a dedicated central section featuring rare black-and-white archival photographic plates tracking his legendary wickets, private meetings, and post-retirement broadcasts.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Near Fine (NF) / Mint
- Exterior / Cloth Boards: The cloth casing remains in pristine, near-flawless condition. The structural lines sit perfectly square, the boards are completely flat, and the corners are razor-sharp. The original spine is exceptionally crisp, rigid, and completely undamaged, showing zero shelf wear or bumping along the board extremities.
- Interior: The text block is robustly bound, tight, and immaculate. The internal pages show a uniform, natural tanning of the paper stock, an entirely standard aging characteristic for late-1990s UK book publications. Internal sheets are entirely clean and free of user highlighting, ink annotations, dealer pencil marks, or dog-ears.
- Provenance: An exemplary archival-grade volume showing no signs of institutional library stamps, previous owner nameplates, or remainder marks.
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The Dust Jacket: Very Good Plus (VG+)
- Condition Details: The original, illustrated dust jacket retains excellent color contrast and high-gloss quality. It displays only very limited, microscopic signs of handling and light storage friction along the outer edges. Completely free of fading, structural tears, or open chips, it is beautifully preserved and protected in a clear, archival Cellophane cover.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 1997, Talking Cricket With Friends Past & Present is a delightful, picaresque journey into the inner sanctums of international sports and politics. Written by the legendary ex-England fast bowler Fred Trueman alongside veteran cricket broadcaster Don Mosey, the narrative operates as a brilliant anecdotal window into the golden eras of the sport. Trueman, famously the first bowler in history to claim 300 Test wickets, spent a lifetime meeting almost everyone of cultural significance across the globe.
Moving away from sterile match statistics, this book documents the witty dialogues, fiery dressing-room clashes, and intimate encounters between "Fiery Fred" and other legendary icons. The text features candid recollections of his interactions with the incomparable Sir Don Bradman, modern captains like Mike Atherton, and unexpected political cricket fanatics including Prime Ministers John Major and Harold Wilson. Delivered with Trueman’s signature, blunt Yorkshire wit, this volume stands as an indispensable primary record of 20th-century sporting camaraderie.
Author Profile: Fred Trueman & Don Mosey
- Fred Trueman (1931–2006), universally known as "Fiery Fred," was an English cricketing icon and one of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of the sport. Playing primarily for Yorkshire and the England national team, his fearsome pace and chameleonic delivery revolutionized post-war cricket. After retiring, he became a celebrated, unvarnished voice on the BBC’s Test Match Special.
- Don Mosey (1924–1999), nicknamed "The Bear," was a distinguished British sports journalist, author, and premier BBC radio producer for Test Match Special. A proud Yorkshireman, his collaborative works are widely praised by academics for their narrative speed, accurate preservation of sporting dialogue, and sharp, insightful commentary on the evolving traditions of the game.
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