Geoffrey Boycott at 80 ‘Teach him to whack it!’
Its Geoffrey Boycott’s 80th birthday today.
He is a controversial character who many feel we have already heard quite enough from.
He has given an interview of Nick Hoult the Telegraph’s cricket correspondent which of course is behind a paywall. If you are keen there are ways to read it still, visiting your local supermarket for instance.
It will not be a surprise however that he simply underlines many of the positions he is well known for (aside from blocking cricket balls). These include:
A continuing denial that he did anything wrong in the French Court case
A belief that life is faster now than when he was a lad so it should be 4 day Tests and bowlers should bowl overs more quickly.
A view that the BBC should be privatised although he doesn’t think this will happen for a while
His repeated point that Test Match Special is focused on questions of gender and race (& by inference that tedious right-wing views are not wanted)
On more interesting notes;
He wants his ashes scattered in the North Sea off Scarborough. His family don’t seem to agree with this plan.
He can’t find it within himself to believe in God because of the suffering he has seen in others in local hospices and so on.
He also understands the attraction of T20 cricket particularly for players who can stand to make good money at a young age.
His advice to his new grandson Joshua is below:
he will not be teaching young Joshua the merits of a solid forward defensive stroke any time soon. “Teach him to whack it!” he cries. “If he does that he can be rich before he is 30.”
He is a pratt.