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Gilbert: The Last Days of W.G. Grace
There are few more instantly recognizable figures from any era or walk of life than W. G. Grace. With his enormous height, beer-barrel girth, and immense beard he was--and remains--a caricaturist's dream. Arguably the finest and most influential cricketer who ever lived and one of the first true celebrities, Grace became a persona rather than a person, racking up unprecedented amounts of runs and wickets, while slowly vanishing behind an increasing swirl of myth and apocrypha.
In the year that marks the centenary of Grace's death, Charlie Connelly charts the final years of Grace's life--from his fiftieth birthday celebrations in 1898 to his death at the age of sixty-seven in 1915--through the eyes of Grace himself. In an unusual take on this most eminent Victorian and extraordinary pioneering sportsman, Connelly draws on contemporary documents and accounts to imagine Grace's progress through his final years.
Combining facts and imagination, Gilbert is an affectionate and beautifully written account of the Champion's later life that comes closer than ever before to giving a sense of the real W. G. Grace behind the mythology--the perennially childlike soul saddled with the weight of genius.
To the public, he was The Doctor, The Champion, and W. G., but to those who knew him best, he was simply Gilbert. This is a book about Gilbert.
In the year that marks the centenary of Grace's death, Charlie Connelly charts the final years of Grace's life--from his fiftieth birthday celebrations in 1898 to his death at the age of sixty-seven in 1915--through the eyes of Grace himself. In an unusual take on this most eminent Victorian and extraordinary pioneering sportsman, Connelly draws on contemporary documents and accounts to imagine Grace's progress through his final years.
Combining facts and imagination, Gilbert is an affectionate and beautifully written account of the Champion's later life that comes closer than ever before to giving a sense of the real W. G. Grace behind the mythology--the perennially childlike soul saddled with the weight of genius.
To the public, he was The Doctor, The Champion, and W. G., but to those who knew him best, he was simply Gilbert. This is a book about Gilbert.
- GenresNonfiction
ebook
First published October 8, 2015
12 people want to read
About the author
Charlie Connelly
30 books30 followersCharlie Connelly (born 22 August 1970, London, England) is an author of popular non-fiction books. In addition to being a writer, Connelly also appears as a presenter on radio and television shows.
Charlie Connelly is a bestselling author and award-winning broadcaster. His many books include Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round The Shipping Forecast, In Search of Elvis: A Journey To Find The Man Beneath The Jumpsuit and Our Man In Hibernia: Ireland, The Irish And Me. Three of his books have featured as Radio 4′s Book of the Week read by Martin Freeman, Stephen Mangan and Tom Goodman-Hill. Charlie was also a popular presenter on the BBC1 Holiday programme and co-presented the first three series of BBC Radio 4′s Traveller’s Tree with Fi Glover.
His book Gilbert: The Last Years of WG Grace was shortlisted for the 2016 MCC/Cricket Society Book of the Year. The book he wrote with his friend Bernard Sumner, Chapter And Verse: New Order, Joy Division And Me was shortlisted for Book of the Year at the NME Awards, while his most recent co-writing project, Winner: A Racing Life with the champion jockey AP McCoy is shortlisted for Sports Autobiography of the Year.
The audio version of Attention All Shipping came second in a public vote to find the greatest audiobook of all time organised by Waterstone’s and The Guardian. Romeo and Juliet was third, which Charlie takes as official confirmation that he’s better than Shakespeare.
Charlie Connelly is a bestselling author and award-winning broadcaster. His many books include Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round The Shipping Forecast, In Search of Elvis: A Journey To Find The Man Beneath The Jumpsuit and Our Man In Hibernia: Ireland, The Irish And Me. Three of his books have featured as Radio 4′s Book of the Week read by Martin Freeman, Stephen Mangan and Tom Goodman-Hill. Charlie was also a popular presenter on the BBC1 Holiday programme and co-presented the first three series of BBC Radio 4′s Traveller’s Tree with Fi Glover.
His book Gilbert: The Last Years of WG Grace was shortlisted for the 2016 MCC/Cricket Society Book of the Year. The book he wrote with his friend Bernard Sumner, Chapter And Verse: New Order, Joy Division And Me was shortlisted for Book of the Year at the NME Awards, while his most recent co-writing project, Winner: A Racing Life with the champion jockey AP McCoy is shortlisted for Sports Autobiography of the Year.
The audio version of Attention All Shipping came second in a public vote to find the greatest audiobook of all time organised by Waterstone’s and The Guardian. Romeo and Juliet was third, which Charlie takes as official confirmation that he’s better than Shakespeare.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 27, 2021
GILBERT
by Charlie Connelly
A giant of a man, William Gilbert Grace, the Gilbert about whom Charlie Connelly writes was a colossus not only in cricket but in life. Relative to the international and county game he loved equally and at which he excelled, he was arguably the very first cricketing superstar. As noted, it was common for a sign to appear at entry gates:
“Admission sixpence; if W G Grace bats, one shilling.”
__________
This book was so enjoyable, I have no idea why it took me six years to get to read it! As a lover of cricket - proper cricket, that is, the four-day and five-day game - and as one who’s read widely about Grace and what he meant to the gentleman’s game, I found the book appealing. Also, as a lover of people, I found it presented an appraisal perhaps not so well understood of this both complicated and simple man
We all know one of the most famous stories from the world of cricket: Grace, the imposing batsman, was trapped plumb leg before wicket on one delivery, then caught behind on the very next ball but on each occasion glowered the umpire into ‘not out’ decisions, only to have two of his three stumps uprooted on the third delivery before trudging belatedly from the field. The bowler, sarcastic as well he might be, called out, ‘Surely you’re not leaving, doctor, there’s one stump still standing!’
There is, though, a great deal more to the book than that.
Connelly’s words are plain and uncomplicated, perhaps the best way of mastering such an evidently complex personality. The beauty of Gilbert is that it reveals the doctor’s human side (for general practitioner he was). The man behind the powerful public persona is shown as one hurt deeply by the loss, too young, of two of his four children. In fact, the last few pages draw a touching picture of his feelings he held for his beloved daughter Bessie. He exhibited great concern, too, for his son who was a Captain in the Royal Navy during World War 1.
Although based on the facts surrounding W G Grace’s last years, the work is fictional, using information and historical references wrapped in a story that generates a greater understanding of the man, the perfectionist, and member of an outstanding medical and sporting family.
I’m pleased I was sent this delightful little hardback. It’s now taken its place as a permanent and greatly enjoyed part of my library.
On a star basis, 4½.
by Charlie Connelly
A giant of a man, William Gilbert Grace, the Gilbert about whom Charlie Connelly writes was a colossus not only in cricket but in life. Relative to the international and county game he loved equally and at which he excelled, he was arguably the very first cricketing superstar. As noted, it was common for a sign to appear at entry gates:
“Admission sixpence; if W G Grace bats, one shilling.”
__________
This book was so enjoyable, I have no idea why it took me six years to get to read it! As a lover of cricket - proper cricket, that is, the four-day and five-day game - and as one who’s read widely about Grace and what he meant to the gentleman’s game, I found the book appealing. Also, as a lover of people, I found it presented an appraisal perhaps not so well understood of this both complicated and simple man
We all know one of the most famous stories from the world of cricket: Grace, the imposing batsman, was trapped plumb leg before wicket on one delivery, then caught behind on the very next ball but on each occasion glowered the umpire into ‘not out’ decisions, only to have two of his three stumps uprooted on the third delivery before trudging belatedly from the field. The bowler, sarcastic as well he might be, called out, ‘Surely you’re not leaving, doctor, there’s one stump still standing!’
There is, though, a great deal more to the book than that.
Connelly’s words are plain and uncomplicated, perhaps the best way of mastering such an evidently complex personality. The beauty of Gilbert is that it reveals the doctor’s human side (for general practitioner he was). The man behind the powerful public persona is shown as one hurt deeply by the loss, too young, of two of his four children. In fact, the last few pages draw a touching picture of his feelings he held for his beloved daughter Bessie. He exhibited great concern, too, for his son who was a Captain in the Royal Navy during World War 1.
Although based on the facts surrounding W G Grace’s last years, the work is fictional, using information and historical references wrapped in a story that generates a greater understanding of the man, the perfectionist, and member of an outstanding medical and sporting family.
I’m pleased I was sent this delightful little hardback. It’s now taken its place as a permanent and greatly enjoyed part of my library.
On a star basis, 4½.
August 20, 2021
For the uninitiated WG Grace was a colossus of the game of Cricket at the end of the 19th Century and into the early 20th. For many he simply "was" the game (note Cricket is a game not a sport - very important that). However this book doesn't actually require a knowledge of the game and is a very readable account of a famous person sinking into old age as his powers fade.
August 6, 2023
Charming book on the end of WG Grace’s cricket career and life. Fiction.
May 24, 2016
I enjoyed this book but I did have reservations about it.
Gilbert is a fictionalised account of the later years of W.G. Grace, beginning around his 50th birthday in 1898 and concluding with his death in 1915. It is episodic and written more as a novel than a biography, so we get vignettes from the significant events of his later life, plus a lot of Grace reminiscing internally about earlier triumphs and losses. What the book does well, I think, is to give a good portrait of the man, his character and his attitudes. It begins excellently, showing Grace in a County match allegedly intimidating the umpire into giving him not out twice (once caught, once lbw) before Charlie Kortright clean bowled him and made the famous remark "Surely you're not leaving us, Doctor? There's one stump still standing!" This made Grace furious and resentful, yet shortly afterward he showed great and sincere support and graciousness to Kortright as they played together for the Gentlemen because he thought that Kortright had played well and bravely. Grace was plainly a complex man who was hard to fathom, but I think Charlie Connelly paints a believable portrait of him.
I was less happy about some of the style. There is an awful lot of Grace strolling out into the evening, taking a breath of air into his lungs and thinking long, detailed thoughts – all of which, of course, Connelly has simply made up. This is true of a good deal of the dialogue, too, and even with good will toward the book, it began to get a bit much. This, coupled with some rather uninteresting events in places did make the book rather hard going in places. (And the account of Grace's death, with his dead daughter appearing to him and opening the gate for him to walk onto the Celestial Playing Area really did try my patience very badly.)
Nonetheless, this is generally a decent read and I've ended up with a much better understanding of a near-legendary figure, for which I'm grateful. It's not a great book by any means, but Gilbert is well worth a read for any lover of cricket.
Gilbert is a fictionalised account of the later years of W.G. Grace, beginning around his 50th birthday in 1898 and concluding with his death in 1915. It is episodic and written more as a novel than a biography, so we get vignettes from the significant events of his later life, plus a lot of Grace reminiscing internally about earlier triumphs and losses. What the book does well, I think, is to give a good portrait of the man, his character and his attitudes. It begins excellently, showing Grace in a County match allegedly intimidating the umpire into giving him not out twice (once caught, once lbw) before Charlie Kortright clean bowled him and made the famous remark "Surely you're not leaving us, Doctor? There's one stump still standing!" This made Grace furious and resentful, yet shortly afterward he showed great and sincere support and graciousness to Kortright as they played together for the Gentlemen because he thought that Kortright had played well and bravely. Grace was plainly a complex man who was hard to fathom, but I think Charlie Connelly paints a believable portrait of him.
I was less happy about some of the style. There is an awful lot of Grace strolling out into the evening, taking a breath of air into his lungs and thinking long, detailed thoughts – all of which, of course, Connelly has simply made up. This is true of a good deal of the dialogue, too, and even with good will toward the book, it began to get a bit much. This, coupled with some rather uninteresting events in places did make the book rather hard going in places. (And the account of Grace's death, with his dead daughter appearing to him and opening the gate for him to walk onto the Celestial Playing Area really did try my patience very badly.)
Nonetheless, this is generally a decent read and I've ended up with a much better understanding of a near-legendary figure, for which I'm grateful. It's not a great book by any means, but Gilbert is well worth a read for any lover of cricket.
November 29, 2015
Gilbert – An Interesting Fictionalised Account of his Final Years
To any cricket fan W.G. Grace is one of the most formidable characters of all time was the first sport’s real superstar. Even today 100 years since his death he casts a long shadow over cricket and there are also so many stories that still survive about him that make many smile.
This small book is a fictionalised account of Grace’s final years from the age 50 until his death during the Great War when he was killed in a bombing in London. This small book tries to look at who the man really was and how he may of thought and felt. It tries to make Grace seem like a human instead of the colossus to fans that he was.
This is an interesting account of the great Victorian sporting hero and I am not really sure if it works as a fictionalised account. While well written with plenty of imagination it seems to lack that something that would make it a great book. While it is a fun book, one not to be taken too seriously does not really do justice to itself.
While the historical facts are clearly correct, it is trying to see through the eyes of Grace and clearly that is no easy task, and I am not sure that it works to well.
To any cricket fan W.G. Grace is one of the most formidable characters of all time was the first sport’s real superstar. Even today 100 years since his death he casts a long shadow over cricket and there are also so many stories that still survive about him that make many smile.
This small book is a fictionalised account of Grace’s final years from the age 50 until his death during the Great War when he was killed in a bombing in London. This small book tries to look at who the man really was and how he may of thought and felt. It tries to make Grace seem like a human instead of the colossus to fans that he was.
This is an interesting account of the great Victorian sporting hero and I am not really sure if it works as a fictionalised account. While well written with plenty of imagination it seems to lack that something that would make it a great book. While it is a fun book, one not to be taken too seriously does not really do justice to itself.
While the historical facts are clearly correct, it is trying to see through the eyes of Grace and clearly that is no easy task, and I am not sure that it works to well.
January 27, 2016
This is a must read for anyone interested in cricket and especially the great W.G. Grace.
He had an eventful life, was a formidable sportsman in many disciplines and someone instantly recognisable.
He was active right up to his death in 1915.
This is a mainly fictional account, but it won't take anything away from the great man's life story.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Bloomsbury Publications via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.
He had an eventful life, was a formidable sportsman in many disciplines and someone instantly recognisable.
He was active right up to his death in 1915.
This is a mainly fictional account, but it won't take anything away from the great man's life story.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Bloomsbury Publications via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.
July 25, 2016
Thoroughly enjoyed this fictional account of the last years of WG. Felt that I'd got to know the man for the first time and got beyond the statistics and the grainy black and white photos. Beautiful and moving description from WG's perspective of his final moments. Also enjoyed the fictional conversations with other great cricketers of the time. Highly recommended for those with an interest in cricket in its golden era.
July 6, 2016
Loved the references to the moment between when the ball leaves the bowler's hand and when it hits the bat. That is what WG Grace loved for.
The section at the FA cup final where the scorer felt the same thing as the ball bounced off the crossbar was just as good.
The section at the FA cup final where the scorer felt the same thing as the ball bounced off the crossbar was just as good.
January 7, 2016
Very enjoyable novella imagining the last years of the Grand Old Man of cricket, WG Grace. One for die-hard cricket fans.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews