Simon Barnes Author and Journalist

Sports and Wild Blog

Simon Barnes
  • Home
  • Biog
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Pictures
  • Contact
  • Twitter

Elephant stories and David Gower

28 October 2015 by Simon Barnes 12 Comments

Last Friday I did a gig for the World Land Trust with David Gower. Gower — former England cricket captain, should anybody need to know — has been a patron of the organisation since 1996; I am a council member. We had an audience at The Cut in Halesworth, in Suffolk and we did our stuff: me playing straight man while David told some of his tales.

We devoted the first half to cricket and the second to wildlife, and David was, as ever, great value. He has a great passion for wildlife, though passion is not the most obvious aspect of his nature. He likes to keep such matters carefully wrapped up in layers of impenetrable irony.

He lived in Tanganyika – now Tanzania – until he was six, and in that last year, he and his parents made a farewell tour in a brave blue Ford Anglia, which they took to Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater and many more of the big wildlife destinations in that country.

And it got to him. What’s more it stayed with him — so much so that he wondered about becoming a game warden if cricket didn’t work out. So we talked about Africa, and he told tales of being charged by elephants, which is not an experience you lightly forget. Being straight man, I resisted all temptation to try and top his tales with one of two of my own. Africa gives people tales: that’s part of the point.

David called his second volume of autobiography An Endangered Species, a title that combines his taste for the wild with his own view of himself as a cricketer out of his time. He was never at home in an atmosphere in which personal enjoyment was seen as a betrayal.

David does plenty of good stuff for World Land Trust; in 2011 he went to Mumbai to conduct an auction of jewels that raised big money. It’s always good to spend time with him. Conservation needs non-specialists: needs people from other walks of life to stand up and speak out. That’s because conservation is for everybody and it affects everybody.

Thanks, David. Well batted.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Posted in Sportsblog/ Wildblog

Comments

  1. george louis says

    28 October 2015 at 8:40 pm

    Enjoyed that tale, It’s nice to see boyhood heroes make a difference in the natural world too, well done guys .

    Reply
    • Simon Barnes says

      2 November 2015 at 8:38 pm

      Thanks George. David is a thoroughly good egg.

      Reply
  2. Brian Goldfarb says

    28 October 2015 at 8:44 pm

    As to Gower’s sangfroid, I remember watching (on tv) a Test match in which, fielding at slip, he went straight up in the air from a crouching position, caught the ball, came back down, and merely returned the ball to the wicket-keeper.

    No emotion, no throwing the ball high in the air, or running around and getting smothered in 10 other bodies…just body language that suggested “that’s one, let’s get on with it and get the rest!”

    Nice to know that this attitude permeates the rest of his public life as well.

    Reply
    • Simon Barnes says

      2 November 2015 at 8:38 pm

      Nice memory. Never was a cricketer quite like him.

      Reply
  3. Tony Perry says

    29 October 2015 at 2:55 pm

    Seems David Gower may have a slightly different attitude towards conservation from that of Ian Botham!

    Reply
    • Simon Barnes says

      2 November 2015 at 8:35 pm

      Ahhh… yes, good point well made. Though he goes on safari with David and thinks it’s all wonderful. Obviously consistency is for wimps.

      Reply
  4. Karen plpe says

    29 October 2015 at 5:54 pm

    Lovely to read.

    Reply
    • Simon Barnes says

      2 November 2015 at 8:34 pm

      Thanks Karen.

      Reply
  5. Michael John Clark says

    30 October 2015 at 12:31 pm

    Oh to be a fly on the wall and hear two men with whom I empathise with, talk about two topics dear to my own heart.

    Reply
    • Simon Barnes says

      2 November 2015 at 8:30 pm

      Wish you could have come. David is great value and I do my best as his straight man. Next time we do it i’ll make sure I let you know in advanced.

      Reply
  6. Helle says

    30 October 2015 at 5:17 pm

    You do have the odd non-British follower who doesn’t know who David Gower is, even though I also grew up in Tanzania ;-)) – whatever, I’m very happy to see you’re back regularly, I do enjoy reading your posts very much. Especially anything about birding.

    Reply
    • Simon Barnes says

      2 November 2015 at 8:30 pm

      I still remember the song of the tree hyraxes in the forest around the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. Thanks for your kind words, I must blog about the peregrine I saw the other day.

      Reply

Please leave a comment Cancel reply

Receive Blog Updates By Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to my blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 5,417 other subscribers.

Recent Comments

  • Penny Woollams on Swift as a bow from an arrow…
  • Rob Howell on Swift as a bow from an arrow…
  • Jolyon Barton on Swift as a bow from an arrow…
  • Michael Clark on Cousin Caterpillar… one day he’ll wake with wings
  • Alan P on Swift as a bow from an arrow…

Categories

  • Myblog (7)
  • Sportsblog (7)
  • Wildblog (215)

Archives

  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014

© Simon Barnes · info@simonbarnesauthor.co.uk
Home page photograph © David Bebber · Bird drawings © foxillustration.com
Created by Purple Hippo

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.