John Woodcock

John Charles Woodcock OBE (7 August 192618 July 2021) was an English cricket writer and journalist. He was the cricket correspondent for The Times from 1954 until 1987. Early life Woodcock was born in Longparish, Hampshire on 7 August 1926, the second son of the Reverend Parry Woodcock and his (much younger) wife Nora Dunsford (née Hutchinson). Since 1906 his father had been rector of Longparish, where the Woodcock family held the right of advowson. Woodcock was born in the rectory when his father was 70. His grandfather had been born in 1813, two years before the Battle of Waterloo. His family relocated from Longparish after his father retired in 1933. Woodcock completed his primary education at the Dragon School. As a child, he was a good angler before moving onto cricket while attending St Edward's School, Oxford. When he was fifteen, he almost died from septic arthritis. His hip was permanently injured as a result, and he was strapped to a frame for four months. Woodcock read Geography at Trinity College, Oxford. Despite his aforementioned injury, he won hockey blues in 1946 and 1947. He also reached the final trial of the university cricket team and played for the Authentics (Oxford's second XI). After graduating with fourth class honours (which he attributed to his being "very lazy"), he obtained a diploma in education, intending to become a teacher. However, E. W. Swanton managed to secure a job for him of scoring for the BBC at the Second Test at Lord's in 1948.