I remember, about 10 years ago, walking down Victoria Street in London and almost bumping into the Duke of Kent who was headed in the other direction - he's the very stiff, bald one who always presents the trophy to the winner of the Men's Singles at Wimbledon (yes, him).
However, visiting Asda this morning on my first day off work for Easter, Jamie and I had our first shared experience of bumping into Royalty. And I'm not talking just any Royality, hell no. I'm talking Yorkshire Royalty - in the form of Mr Raymond Illingworth CBE.
For those who don't know him - shame on you - he the ex-captain of the Yorkshire and England cricket teams, a former Chairman of the England Selectors, one-time England coach and ex-BBC commentator.
A proper Yorkshire hardman of the old school, he is rightly regarded as a hero in these parts. He is also a Pudsey man and still lives over the road in Farsley where he continues to serve as President of the famous local cricket club and also, so I'm led to believe, as their groundsman.
Because he resides nearby, it shouldn't exactly have been a shock to see him in our Asda - not that I've seen him there before. But I was still thrown back on my heels when the penny dropped.
Although almost 77 years old now, he still has those kindly but piercing blue eyes. And, when they met mine and my eyes gave away the fact that I knew he was, he gave me a polite little smile. I responded by nodding, and then just stood there looking gormless as he passed by with his trolley. But I felt ten feet tall. It's not often you bump into a proper sporting legend in your local supermarket and it made my day.
After our short encounter, I looked down to see if Jamie had also seen him. Unfortunately, he was totally transfixed by the sight of an enormously fat woman trying to push some skinny bloke down the aisle in a wheelchair - to be fair, it's hard to compete with that.
But I told him all about Ray Illingworth as I pushed him home and he didn't fall asleep once. I regard that as a definite sign of approval from my boy and look forward to introducing the two of them on a future shopping trip; if I manage to pluck up the courage to introduce myself to Ray first. So, in truth, it'll probably never happen.
Interesting to see your comments on Ray Illingoworth, Barry. I used to be a choirboy at Farsley Parish Church, where he got married, and sang in the choir at his wedding. It was a wonderful occasion for cricket fans, most of the then Yorkshire team were there!
ReplyDeleteThat's brilliant! There were some big names in the Yorkshire team in those days - and all local lads
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