Latest news with #Jessop
New Statesman
a day ago
- Sport
- New Statesman
English cricket's greatest record
In India's second Test match against England this July, Jamie Smith hit 100 runs in 80 balls. This rapid century equalled Harry Brook's effort against Pakistan in 2022, and was only three deliveries more than Jonny Bairstow's against New Zealand that same summer. Yet none of them matched the record for England's fastest ever century, set 123 years ago by a stocky Gloucestershireman called Gilbert Jessop. His innings in the Ashes series of 1902 came after 76 explosive balls. Jessop's 104 that August has the added frisson of being integral to an epic England win. On the last day of the fifth and final Test at the Oval in south London, Jessop single-handedly led England from toil to ecstasy with a score of 104 in an hour and a half, providing the platform for a redemptive English win by a single wicket. This extraordinary achievement, which Simon Wilde enthusiastically places within the stentorian energy of the Edwardian period – the end of the Boer War, Edward VII's coronation, the advent of telegraph technology and mass communication – is the subject of Chasing Jessop. The book is a history of that Test match, but also a detective mystery: was it off 76 deliveries that Jessop reached his 100, or possibly fewer? Jessop's achievement is all the more impressive given that shots crossing the boundary rope without bouncing were only worth four runs rather than today's six. The Oval was also the biggest pitch in the country and bats were shallower and less powerful than now. More importantly, though, pitches were not covered in the run-up to matches, or overnight during them, even when it rained. This meant that batting could be fiendishly difficult, especially when smart bowlers used natural ruts in the deteriorating ground to generate unpredictable bounces. Runs were simply harder to come by in 1902 than in the 2020s. The batting average in the 1902 Ashes series was 20.7. In 2023 it was as high as 32.1. Jessop was born in Cheltenham in 1874, the 11th of 12 surviving children. He was pulled out of education at 15 when his father, a doctor, suddenly died, forcing him to embark on a career as a trainee teacher. Yet he always had a ball in his hand, and would play cricket with his brothers in their tiny garden. His technique was almost entirely self-taught and, without a pedagogical overseer to knock out his idiosyncrasies, he unfailingly 'went all out for attack'. Jessop was, to use a pejorative term, a slogger. George Hirst, another star of that 1902 England team, described him as one of the few cricketers who could 'murder the correct theory of the game and get away with it'. Jessop, though modest in his description of his career, wrote that 'a few old-fashioned theorists still shake their heads sadly' but 'it cannot be denied that there is some satisfaction in feeling that you are giving pleasure to the vast throng'. He used an unusually long bat handle, which allowed him greater flexibility in shot selection, and his distinctive crouching stance when receiving, coupled with a diminutive frame, made him instantly recognisable on the pitch. He refined his technique through the years but the tics that defined his style remained until his retirement from the crease, aged 40. Would Jessop have played 493 first-class matches and hit 26,700 runs without those quirks? He is a monument to autodidacticism, and a reminder that a sprinkling of unorthodoxy is as likely to invigorate as diminish. Jessop was also one of the last amateur stars, one of four in the England team at the Oval. He played during the transitional period before full professionalisation, at the ebb of the Victorian reverence for dilettantism. Money worries never truly left him, not even after securing a day job on the London Stock Exchange in 1899 and his engagement in 1902 to a woman with a 'good income'. Indeed, Jessop referred to his status as a 'limited-income amateur'. He was frequently 'found' a position as a secretary or treasurer at his county club, Gloucestershire. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe The year 1902, Wilde assiduously reveals, 'had fewer dry days than any English summer in the 20th century except for 1912'. In the Ashes that year, two weather-affected draws, then two Australian victories, had already assured England's defeat in the series by the time of the Oval game. If, for the sake of a dignified defeat, the home team was required at least to win the final Test, they didn't start very well. England's response to Australia's 324 in the first innings was 183 all out. Through patches of rain, a more spirited bowling attack routed the second Aussie innings for 121 – the most important wicket, Victor Trumper's, was enabled by Jessop's pinpoint throw for a run out. This left England with a target of 263 to win. 'No team,' Wilde writes, 'had ever scored so many [runs] to win a Test match in England.' About two hours later it was 48-5 and all hope had evaporated. Pessimistic onlookers left before lunch, eager to avoid witnessing further humiliation. Then out stepped Gilbert Jessop, mercurial perhaps, but if anyone was capable of dragging England back into the match it was the one they knew as 'the Croucher'. An onlooker described him that day as 'stocking, bull-throated, ruddy, his fierce-looking face set grimly'. Despite a treacherous pitch in damp conditions, he came out blasting. Seven runs flew off his first three balls – exciting yes, but unsustainable. Members of the crowd thought it inevitable Jessop would get out quicker than he should, as he had in previous matches. A dropped catch off an unwise hoik before lunch seemed to confirm this, though a Reuters journalist wrote over the wire that Jessop was 'going great guns'. He had altered the tenor of the match. The medium-pace bowling of Jack Saunders became Jessop's chief source of runs. England's saviour hit five consecutive boundary fours off him. 'Saunders began to overpitch as he wilted under the barrage,' Wilde exclaims, ramping up the tension. Jessop had been more cautious with the wilier Hugh Trumble, but he must have known the cricketing gods were on his side when he thumped Trumble into the pavilion twice in an over (both would have been sixes in today's money). Jessop reached his century with another galumphing boundary and took in the adulation for over two minutes. Though he got out a few balls later, on 104, by poking a catch to short leg, Jessop had transformed the match and made history. He left the crease to an ovation and pats on the back from his opposition, with England 187-7. The Yorkshireman George Hirst helped bring the match home, making 58 himself. The crowd was riddled with anxiety as the chase reached its denouement – 'Men were continually removing and wiping their pince-nez,' noted one Dover observer. Omnibuses and trams that passed the stadium paused by the pitch, while gentlemen in their West End clubs were gripped to the telegraph. The victory, when Wilfred Rhodes struck for a single or four (nobody knew exactly which), captured the mood in a way that all great national sporting events do. Jessop and Hirst were mobbed by the public in a pitch invasion. Wilde has a pleasing eye for the little details that drive such granular histories, from the travails of the official score-keepers to the slapstick, His Girl Friday-like press room. And he gilds this with archival rigour when leaving behind the narrative to investigate exactly how many balls it took Jessop to score his 100. Despite the period's absence of statistical detail, Wilde manages to unearth two ball-by-ball accounts of Jessop's innings in two different papers that appeared in the days after the Oval Test. Forensically cross-referencing them with more qualitative accounts of the time, and drawing judicious conclusions from minor discrepancies, he deduces that Jessop actually hit his century off between 72 and 74 balls – at least two fewer than the traditional figure of 76. If we compromise at 73, Jessop is lifted even further above Stokes et al, and up to 11th in the all-time international ranking of fastest ever centuries. This was Jessop's only 100 in 18 Tests for England. His batting average of 21.9 suggests his triumph at the Oval owed more to a fortuitous alignment of circumstance with skill than to a sustainable model of run accumulation. But chance and history decreed that it would occur during a difficult run chase, on a tricky pitch, against tough opposition. Wilde's book is a corrective to the myth that rambunctious hitting is an historical anomaly. Jessop proves that ye olde batting was not simply a succession of Geoffrey Boycotts plodding their way on a diet of forward defensive strokes and slowly taken tea. In the 21st century, with cricketing authorities obsessed with social media engagement and the supposed attenuation of attention spans, there's a marketeer's instinct to assert that the aggression favoured by today's short-format versions of the game is an innovation. The deck is increasingly stacked in favour of those party run-scorers. Perhaps batsmen should be allowed to demonstrate their craft in trickier conditions. Gilbert Jessop's 123-year-old record is a testament to that. Chasing Jessop: The Mystery of England Cricket's Oldest Record Simon Wilde Bloomsbury, 320pp, £22 Purchasing a book may earn the NS a commission from who support independent bookshops [See also: 150 years of the bizarre Hans Christian Andersen] Related
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Here We Go series 3 start date, plot and full cast list including Gavin & Stacey star
The third series of Here We Go is almost here, with the entire new season set to drop on BBC iPlayer. Here's everything you need to know... The beloved BBC comedy Here We Go is returning for a third series, following the resounding success of its first two seasons. Created by Tom Basden, the show has become a firm favourite among telly enthusiasts, who have been captivated by the tumultuous escapades of the Jessop family. Set in Bedford, Here We Go provides an unfiltered look at the family's highs and lows, with episodes often featuring nostalgic flashbacks and footage from teenager Sam's (played by Jude Morgan-Collie) handheld camera. Comprising seven episodes, Here We Go was commissioned by Jon Petrie, the BBC's Director of Comedy. As we eagerly await the arrival of the third series, here's everything you need to know about Here We Go, including the full cast and storyline... What is Here We Go about? Here We Go chronicles the daily life of the Jessop family. Labelled as a "chaotic comedy", there's never a moment of boredom in the Jessop household, reports the Express. In the upcoming series, the Jessops will be seen grappling with new jobs, love, loss, and family gatherings. There's even a family holiday to Malta on the cards, which unsurprisingly doesn't go as planned. Giving us a sneak peek into what's in store, the BBC shared: "Mum Rachel is embarking on her new career as a therapist. dad Paul, now a police constable, continues his mission to earn the respect of his colleagues - and his children. Uncle Robin and wife Cherry are preoccupied with their new addition, baby Atlas, while Amy is still navigating her way through her twenties. "Grandmother Sue has moved back into the family home and Sam is, of course, on hand, capturing all the calamity on camera from bungee jumps to riverside baptisms. Series three also sees a family holiday to Malta, where, of course, nothing goes according to plan." Full cast The third instalment of Here We Go features Tom Basden, the creator of the popular BBC series, alongside Jim Howick, Katherine Parkinson, and Jude Morgan-Collie. Alison Steadman, a fan favourite from Gavin & Stacey, will be making a return, joined by Freya Parks from Vera, Unforgotten's Tori Allen-Martin, Jon Furlong from The Last Kingdom, Ed Kear from The Batman, and Mica Ricketts, known for her role in Best Interests. The new series also showcases an impressive line-up of guest stars, including Jane Horrocks, Robert Glenister, Jamali Maddix, Susannah Fielding, Seb Cardinal, Ed Kear, Jon Furlong, Sunil Patel, Kevin Garry, Kathryn Drysdale, and Stevie Martin. How to watch Here We Go The third season of Here We Go is set to air on Friday evenings on BBC One at 9pm, starting from 25 July. iPlayer. The first two seasons of Here We Go can currently be viewed on iPlayer.
Hamilton Spectator
23-07-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
Ontario girl Christine Jessop was murdered in 1984. A new Crave documentary coming soon will tell her story
Christine Jessop, an Ontario girl who went missing on Oct. 3, 1984, will have her story told in a three part, one-hour true-crime series that is set to air on streaming platform Crave on Aug. 8. The series 'explores the devastating, decades-long case of nine-year-old Christine Jessop, who was tragically murdered in a small, rural Ontario town in 1984,' according to a Bell Media news release . Jessop, who was nine years old at the time, went missing in Queensville, Ont., before her body was found three months later. It wasn't until 35 years later, however, that the mystery was finally solved. 'The Christine Jessop Story' will be the first time Christine's family speaks out and shares the devastating story, which includes 'a desperate search for answers, a falsely accused suspect, corrupt policing, revolutionary forensics, and a family forced to go through the unthinkable,' the series description reads. The confirmed killer was not found until 2020, when Toronto Police identified Calvin Hoover , a friend and neighbour of the Jessop family who was 28 years old at the time. He died by suicide in 2015 prior to being identified. The true-crime series is produced by Alibi Entertainment, in association with Bell Media's Crave, and is produced with the participation of the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, The Government of Ontario, The Ontario Film & Television Tax Credit, and with the financial assistance of the Bell Fund. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Hamilton Spectator
03-07-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
One person dead after North York encampment fire: Toronto fire chief
One person is dead after a fire at an encampment site in the city's north end early Thursday morning, officials said. Toronto fire chief Jim Jessop said emergency crews responded to a report of a fire near Credit Union Drive in North York just after 4 a.m. Jessop said when firefighters arrived, they encountered a 'significant fire' with flames reported to be 30 to 40 feet tall. Crews had to go down into a steep embankment in the Don Valley, he said. 'Additional crews were immediately called, given the size of the fire, as well as given the number of propane tanks and other compressed gas cylinders that were exploding,' Jessop said at a press conference, noting the fire was quickly put out. Jessop said one person was found dead inside an outdoor structure at the encampment site. He did not provide additional details on the victim, but said the coroner's office will investigate the death. Other parts of the encampment were not affected by the fire, he said. Like numerous other North American cities, first responders have been dealing with these types of situations for years, he said. 'We do our best to prepare them. They're well aware of the risks of encampment fires,' he said. Jessop said he's been in touch with Toronto's shelter and support services to help those living in the valley. He added Toronto Fire Services has its own outreach team that connects to all encampments officials are aware of and encourages individuals to access indoor shelter and supports. Jessop said firefighters, the provincial fire marshal and city police will investigate the cause and circumstances behind the blaze. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2025. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Global News
03-07-2025
- Global News
1 dead after Toronto encampment fire near Don Valley
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook Toronto Fire Services say one person has died inside of an encampment that caught on fire in the Don Valley area. Fire chief Jim Jessop said firefighters were called to Credit Union Drive, near the Don Valley Parkway and Eglinton Avenue, for reports of a fire. When crews arrived they found a significant fire with flames of up to 30 to 40 feet in the air reported around an encampment structure down in the valley, Jessop said. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy There were also a number of propane tanks and other compressed gas cylinders that were exploding. 'These fires are a risk to first responders,' Jessop said. 'They are well aware of risks from encampment fires.' Additional crews were called but the fire was quickly put out. Story continues below advertisement During the primary search, Jessop said they found one deceased person inside of the structure. The origin, cause and circumstances of the encampment fire is being investigated, Jessop said. No other structures were impacted. Jessop said shelter services has been contacted due to the number of people and structures in the valley.
