JUDGE_OBITUARY_28OCT1995

I`m submitting four articles here, that may be suitable for CI. I`ll leave it to the articles people (Josh?) to decide where they go. all have been posted to rsc at some point, but I don`t think they made it to CI. The first here is a combination of memories from John Liverman and Mike holman, I have their permission to send this on..

Following my post last month of my father`s memories of Bradman, I recieived many responses, all favourable. One of these from Mike Holman I quote below (I hope Mike does not mind)

"Dave, Thanks again for getting your father to share his memories with us. It mentions Judge - the late Peter Judge, who was a friend of mine. No wonder he said that Bradman was quite the most depressing thing he ever had to run up at. (I don`t suppose your father has any more memories of Peter? He wasn`t a big star, after all) Cheers, Mike"

Here`s my father`s response.

John Liverman:- I can surprise you and Mike Holman by telling you that Peter Judge went to the same preparatory school as I did, and then on to St.Paul`s. He must have been about 5 years older than I so we were never on friendly terms though I expect that we must have exchanged greetings. At prep school Judge was at least a foot taller than any other pupil, and taller than any of the masters when he couldn`t have been more than 13 or 14. At St.Paul`s he was our outstanding cricketer and headed both batting (610 runs at 46.92) and bowling (84 wickets at 14.83) in his last year (1933). I saw his century (128*) against Old Paulines. In the same year he played, as a schoolboy, for Midlesex, taking 5 for 27 against Derbyshire in his first match at Lords, figures he never again equalled. Although an allrounder at school, where he opened the batting, correct in style and making good use of his reach, he never scored much in 1st class cricket, going in no.11 for Middlesex, and well down the order for Glamorgan as a professionalvery unusual in those days for a public schoolboyhe never went on to University. He remained a useful fast medium bowler who did a bit with the ball, but never reached Test standard. It was said that he left Middlesex because PF Warner who ran the county then, thought his fielding lacked keenness. Like many tall fast-medium bowlers, Judge wasn`t too quick to bend down, and didn`t think it was any part of a fast bowler`s job to chase after the ball unnecessarily. It might be said that he failed to fulfil his early promise with bat and ball. The 1934 Wisdens chapter on schools cricket in 1933 also reported the Young Amateurs v Young Professionals match in which "Compton, a lefthander of 15 with an easy action impressed very favourably and played a freely hit innings of 45 besides taking 3-32"!

Mike Holman writes... Peter was definitely an interesting character. I hadn`t heard the line about Warner`s view on his fielding, which may have been a contributory factor, but Peter maintained that it resulted from a conversation with Walter Robins, then the Middlesex captain. As a fast bowling amateur, Peter was a rare item in the 30s. Most other fast bowlers were professionals, and Peter used to go for a pint or seven with them after play, to discuss fast bowling and other things. Robins hauled him up and told him that gentlemen should not hob-nob with the players. Peter said that he replied with the words "Of course, you went to Highgate. I went to St Paul`s, where we were taught not to be snobs". He never played for Middlesex again.

He then went to Glamorgan as a professional. The war took out the years that would normally have been his peak. The 1939-40 tour was to have been to India, but was obviously cancelled for political reasons. Peter told me that he had been told to keep himself fit for that tour, in case they needed to send for a reserve, so he had just been on the verge of maybe possibly making it to Test level, but we will never know.

During the war he was in a bomber which crashed, which did further damage to his knees - he spent his last years in a wheelchair. He wasn`t the same bowler again, but continued playing for Glam after the war. This was when he set his world record, still unsurpassed, and unlikely ever to be. Playing for Glamorgan against the tourists, he came in at No 11, his normal position, and was out second ball. As he turned to make his way back to the pavilion, Wilf Wooller, the captain, turned to his opposite number and said "I suppose you want us to follow on". On receiving a positive reply, he called to Peter "Come back, Peter, we`re opening". Peter was out first ball, and returned to the pavilion having made a pair in under two minutes.

After he left Glamorgan, he was the professional at Scarborough for a few seasons until his legs finally gave out.

For many years after that he kept The Three Greyhounds in Soho, until he retired to live in St John`s Wood. He had become a member of MCC in the 50s, and in retirement hardly missed a day`s cricket at Lord`s. It was somehow fitting that he and Jack Young died within weeks of each other, since they had disliked each other for many years, mainly because Jack Young resented the fact that Peter had been put up for MCC on a social basis, and no-one would propose Jack, who had to wait until MCC offered him honorary membership because of his Test record. In the early 80s, one occasionally wondered whether these two lame old men were going to set about each other with their walking sticks and crutches after they had got through about half the formidable amounts of whisky (Peter) and gin (Jack) that both would imbibe during the course of a day.

When he could no longer even hobble, he took to an electric wheelchair, referred to as his chariot, with which he terrorised St John`s Wood, at least those parts of it on the triangular route between his ground-floor council flat Judge Towers, Lord`s, and Crocker`s pub. Of course, being wheelchair bound meant that he could no longer sit on the balcony of the Bowler`s bar, and instead sat at the edge of the pitch next to the front of the pavilion concourse, until MCC finally built a wheelchair hoist at the side of the concourse to allow him to get in.

At Crocker`s, he had a specific place next to the bar where he sat every day demanding drinks from his friends on the grounds that he was "old, infirm, and impoverished" (although he bought just as many drinks in return). A plaque on the wall of the pub commemorates Judge`s Corner, and relates the story of his record pair.

RIP

John Hall contributes:- His record for Middlesex is as below. It`s possible that he may have played a few additional firstclass matches for other sides.

P.F.Judge 1933-4

Inns NO Runs Av Runs Wkts Av 14 7 76 10.86 521 21 24.81

So a very respectable bowling average.