A biography celebrating the life of the legendary cricketer Bob Willis, with tributes from key figures in sports and media and a foreword by Sir Ian Botham.
Following his passing in 2019, tributes to Bob came flooding in in every major news outlet and from every major figure in the industry - and outside of it. His career spanned decades, from his days as a cricketer for England to his time as a pundit on Sky TV. This autobiography includes never-before-seen writing from Bob alongside contributions from key figures as well as a detailed account of the great England victory over Australia at Headingly in 1981.
The book, edited by Bob's brother David, combines a new biography, written by Daily Mail sportswriter Mike Dickson, with a celebration of a truly legendary man. Tributes from some of his many friends in the world of cricket and beyond are accompanied by reflections on highlights from an eventful life, drawing on autobiographical and personal material by Bob himself, contemporary press reports and the accounts of team-mates and opponents.
Its a tradition for the Queen to visit the test match at Lord's and to be introduced to the teams during the tea interval. When Bob Willis was England captain she looked round the stands and asked 'why aren't all these people at work?' to which he replied 'you wouldn't say that if you were at Ascot, Ma'am'. Genius, as was his legendary spell (8-43) against Australia at Headingley in 1981, an abiding sporting memory. This is a bit which is put together with material from a range of sources, but it puts together a picture of a truly lovely, witty, and loyal person and a beautiful soul. Dedicated to English cricket; wine connoisseur; Dylan fan extraordinaire; famously acerbic commentator; and an iconic cricketer with a unique action. Clearly missed by many friends, and I can rarely remember such an out pouring of warmth from so many people.
Personally, the memories of Bob Willis that endure take the contours of a trenchant, gangling and acerbic cricketing pundit who never shied away from calling a spade by any other name. However, my earliest introduction to one of England’s and the world’s most formidable pacemen was courtesy a grainy, frazzled and intermittent-in-between-unscheduled-load-shedding, footage emanating from a Sears Elcot Black & White television set. Needing the installation of an external antenna that looked to the untrained eye as if it was reaching out to Mars, the television accorded its owner not just a choice of channels as would be determined by the national broadcaster, which was not many, but also warned its possessor that the vagaries of weather was beyond its control. Thus, the prospects of a batsman negotiating an out swinger or a fielder positioned under a steepler would remain enslaved to a huge gust of wind that would cause the antenna to sway, thereby distorting the feed, or a sudden burst of rain resulting in a power shut down of infinite duration.
It was the semi-finals of the 1983 World Cup and our house in a quaint and sleepy village in South India was abuzz with excitement. The year also had heralded the arrival of the first Television sets in our colony and what better way to embrace this wonderful technology than celebrate the exploits of Kapil Dev’s Devils. Although by way of confession, a better part of what transpired in the game is lost to memory, the one unforgettable image was of this extraordinarily stretched English bowler with a singularly curious mop of hair running in to bowl from what seemed to be a ridiculously long way! Even though Sandeep Patil and Yashpal Sharma had Willis’ number on that day, the sight of this skyscraper tearing into bowl with a maniacal frenzy captured the imagination of a collective set of kids huddled around the television and yelling in tandem with the adults.
Of course, as time wore on, and the love for the game transformed into an unrestrained obsession, I learned that the human skyscraper was a man of many parts. I read that one of the most outspoken and confident cricketers to have graced the game, was also one of its most vulnerable. Reaching out to his idol-in-perpetuity, Bob Dylan for succor in times of desperation, I learned that this fragile genius was a connoisseur of wines, a Wagner worshipper, and most of all, an admirable loyalist to his friends. The more I read about Bob Willis, the more I appreciated his seemingly vitriolic comments on various programmes such as “The Verdict” and “The Debate.” The more I read and read about Bob Willis, the more I found and keep finding it hard to believe that he is no more. “Bob Willis, A cricketer and gentleman”, is a fitting tribute to the man himself. Edited by his brother, this is a quasi-biography that cobbles together Willis’ own writings, stirring testimonies of his achievements both on and off the field as recounted by teammates and opponents alike and a rewind of the six greatest test matches in Willis’ career. The man who added the name of his hero to his own name in a rebellious act could produce some incomparable sporting music of his own.
Interspersed with wit and punctuated by nostalgia, the book makes for some memorable and poignant reading. Playing for Surrey, mostly in the Second XI’s and also doubling up as a goal keeper in the lower rungs of semi-professional football for Guildford City Reserves, when not working at Harrods that is, Willis’ mundane routine gets a veritable shake up when he is given thirty six hours to get things sorted out before boarding a flight to Australia. It was the Ashes series of 1971 and injuries to Alan Ward and Ken Shuttleworth ensured that Willis got the call up since England were desperately looking for a tearaway fast bowler to give company to John Snow.
Even after distinguishing himself with the ball and with his fielding on the tour Down Under, Willis is forced to change counties from Surrey to Warwickshire, due to the surprising intransigence exhibited by his former county. An out and out quickie, the elaborate run up and the concomitant pounding on the knees ensured that brittleness was always an attendant feature of Willis’ game. A stinging remark by his captain Tony Greig about Willis’ fitness after generous swigs of the amber nectar, transformed Willis’ attitude and approach towards fitness. Embracing a dual strategy of hypnotherapy and long-distance running, Willis took his level of fitness to a different league altogether. However, the spindly legs were a constant victim to a surgeon’s scalpel as the torch bearer of the English attack underwent multiple surgeries throughout his playing career.
In addition to regaling the readers about the unforgettable Headingly Test of 1981, where Willis single handedly routed a much vaunted Aussie attack to scalp an unbelievable 8/43, the book also takes readers down memory lane to exemplary performances that Willis put in, in India, Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand. However, the primary lure of the book is in the snippets of humorous incidents that it contains within. After the curtains came down upon his glowing cricket career, Willis established the International Luncheon Club. The plan was to host business lunches with a sporting theme once a month. Authors seeking to publish their work, cricketers, visiting teams were all the targeted invitees.
“In 1995 Brian Clough was the star invitee, coming down by train from his home in the Midlands on the morning of the lunch. Unfortunately, en route he became rather too well acquainted with the buffet car and turned up the worse for wear. “Brian had clearly had a few drinks already,” recalls David. “For some reason he was trying to kiss all the waiters, and we were frantically telling them not to oblige his frequent requests to fill his glass up. By the time he got up to do his question-and-answer he was barely able to speak, and we had to sit him down after seven or eight minutes. It was not long after the famous Eric Cantona kung fu kick incident at Crystal Palace. When asked what he would do to discipline the offender, Brian responded that he would “cut his balls off”. The strange thing was that we had organised another event for Brian in Manchester the following day, so we went up there fearful. But he turned up on time and sober, and was brilliant with everyone.”’
A man who was preternatural with nicknames, as the book illustrates, the Willis habit of bestowing nicknames ranging from the sublime to the silly, not just to his teammates but to his own parents as well, was legendary. The Chapters piecing together selected writings from Willis’ days as captain of England provide some guffawing insights. “At dinner this evening the main topic of conversation was the voracity of those local mosquitoes. They seem to have taken a particular fancy to the ankles of A.C. and Nick Cook and the backside of Allan Lamb, of which I entirely fail to see the attraction.”
“In ducking rather rapidly, however, I succeeded in putting a twelve-inch split in the backside of my trousers. Dear old ‘Flash’ Cowans came to the rescue with a surprisingly nimble needle and thread during the tea interval.
“We all ate well, none better than Mike Gatting, who has become known as ‘Jabba’ after a character in Return of the Jedi which eats everything it comes across!”
A reproduction of a piece that originally appeared in the Times edition of 5th September 2012 alluding to the rationale behind Willis adding the name “Dylan” to his original name is unmissable.
Bob Willis was a cricketer of tremendous abilities. He was also a human being beset with a roiling cauldron of emotions. Plagued by insomnia, suffering from depression and prone to self-doubt, he was a susceptible personality at the most granular level. However, he did not allow fragilities and foibles to usurp a good life. Good friends, great food and glasses of carefully selected wine more than made up for life’s more gullible moments. Moreover, Dylan was always within arm’s length to lend the necessary support and encouragement.
Robert George Dylan Willis touched not only those with whom he was in proximity but also had an appreciable influence on people about whose very existence he could not even be aware of. One such non decrepit and ordinary person was a 7 year old boy who kept his eyes unblinkingly glued to an unreliable television, and kept gasping at the sight of a windmill running in to hurl itself at full tilt against a set of people, some of whom would go on to become the boy’s most loved cricketing idols.
Warm and gentle; the book and so it would seem the man. It's a style of biography that should perhaps become more popular, written at a time when the glow of all that is good about a man remains fresh and written by those that loved that man. I always loved Bob Willis, England's fast bowler of my formative years; who hasn't copied his action or been drawn to watching him slog. Other nations of the 70s and early 80s seemed to have 4 fast bowlers, we had 1but he was a good 1. I loved " the verdict" too. Often watching it even if I'd missed the days cricket. A pantomime critic who you could just tell was the ultimate in a man with great bark but without any nasty bite. A fine loving book seemingly worthy of a someone by many accounts was a fine amusing kind man......who could bowl very fast too.
Every cricket fan should have a copy of this book. Robert George Dylan Willis was one of England's finest cricketers who died on 4th December 2019 from prostate cancer, aged just 70. His untimely death brought an outpouring of grief - from colleagues, former team-mates and opponents alike. This wonderful book is full of anecdotes and obituaries from many such celebrities.
Bob was one of the world's quickest bowlers. Many batsmen were terrified of him. His finest moment without a doubt (and I remember it well) was his participation in the third Ashes test in 1981 at Headingley. England were slipping towards defeat and the Ashes as good as lost. On day four Ian Botham transformed a wake into a carnival with an almost miraculous 145 not out - the highest score of even his remarkable test career. On day five Bob Willis peeled away the years and gave a display of pace bowling culled from his youth. His performance surpassed anything that he had previously produced in test cricket. His spell of bowling saw too much pace for eight Australians. No Englishman has ever returned a more impressive set of figures at Headingley - eight for 43. England won the test by 18 runs.
Bob Willis is one of my great heroes who has provided me with years of entertainment in his rôle as pundit and commentator on Sky Sports cricket. He was appointed England captain in 1982 and was in charge for 18 Tests prior to his retirement in 1984. In 2018 he was named in England's all-time greatest XI by the ECB.
A remarkable man, a great cricketer and a gentleman. RIP Bob Willis - you are sadly missed.
Bob Willis was one of my cricketing heroes back in the late 70s and early 80s, and I was very sad to hear of his early death. This book is not a standard biography, it is more a tribute to the man and his achievements, including accounts from friends and opponents of the great cricketing moments in which Willis played a part.
I really enjoyed revisiting some of the important cricket matches of the past and the highlights of Willis’ appearances as a broadcaster. It was also interesting to find out more about the man behind the public persona, a loyal friend, wine connoisseur and Bob Dylan fan.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book, as a Warwickshire Lad I saw Bob Willis in his early days playing at Courtalds in Coventry, Summer of 72 & 73. Even then charging in you wondered how he controlled the ball so accurately. From reading this book I assume it was how he controlled his whole life. Some great anecdotes told by some cricketing great of one of my school it heroes. Loved "The Verdict" at the end of test match days for his forthright views and his honesty. Him and Charles Colville were a great pairing. If you grew up during the RGD Willis era then this book is well worth a read.
A wonderful read, and not just for cricket fans. packed full with anecdotes from Bob himself and the people who knew him best. A very apt title, Bob was truly a gentleman, except to the poor batsman who was waiting to face a bowler steaming in at him from nearly 1/2 a mile away, all legs and arms then the ball whistles past his nose (no helmets then) at nearly 90mph. The book covers his transformation from cricketer to crickets most outspoken commentators. It also covers Bobs' diagnosis of prostate cancer and his typical brave battle which ended a life far too soon. An absolute must read.
So many sportsmen come across as very shallow so it was a pleasure if very sad to read about a true multi dimensional human being lost to us too soon..unfair that someone who clearly enjoyed the pleasures of life should not have more time to enjoy them .He could be very severe on camera but the book brings out too many examples of his warm nature for that not to be his real being .A number of people have contributed writings to the book but some of the best are from Bob Willis himself , especially his memories of Headingly 1981 ,as much his test as Botham’s .A guy I would like to have known
A lovingly compiled tribute to one of England's greatest and most misunderstood fast bowlers who was taken from us all too soon. It's a little repetitive in places with a certain amount of padding but it serves its purpose in providing a vivid portrait of a true sportsman, original thinker, loyal friend and loving family man, who left an indelible imprint on those fortunate enough to know him well. All proceeds go to the battle against prostate cancer, hence the fifth star. Top man.
I really enjoyed this trip down memory lane. I was 18 when Bob's finest hour arrived in Headingley. I've never forgotten that spell of bowling and I was so sad when he passed. He was someone who I admired, not only for his bowling but also his dry and sometimes acerbic punditry on Sky Cricket.
What a lovely tribute this is to RGD Willis.A mixture of biography, memoir,diary and tributes, lovingly put together and edited.Really does justice to one of our finest fast bowlers and great characters of the game. Made me sad and made me laugh in equal measure.RIP Bob.
A lovely tribute to the late Bob Willis - fast bowler extraordinaire, forthright TV broadcaster, oenophile and Bob Dylan obsessive. The range of memories is broad from fellow players and broadcasters. A book for cricket nuts looking for some warmth in the midst of winter.
Piecemeal tribute which goes a long way to capturing Willis’s essence via biography, match reports and tributes. Tempted to lop a star off for the inclusion of a few words from the ever self-serving irrelevant mediocrity Piers Morgan.
I’m a huge cricket fan and was sad when I heard about Bob Willis dying. He was before my time so I was very happy when the book was released so that I could know more about him. What made it even better was that the money raised from the sales of the book went to prostate cancer charities