Sport’s first celebrity: W.G. Grace

Should you wish to have a good copy of the 1916 edition of Wisden, cricket’s annual bible, you should be prepared to part with at least £5,000 and, quite possibly, much more than that. This reflects its rarity — the Great War ensured that the almanac had a limited print run — but also the significance of its contents. For the 1916 edition carries the obituaries of Victor Trumper, the wondrous Australian nonpareil and of course, the greatest Champion of them all: W.G. Grace.

The summer game had never seen anything like Grace before and never will again. Other cricketers have scored more runs and taken more wickets than Grace but none did so in more pressing circumstances. The pitches Grace played on in his prime were wicked creatures upon which, most of the time, even the greatest batsmen could never feel in total control. It was a time when batsmen at Lord’s routinely found themselves picking stones out of the wicket.