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Monty Noble - Part 1 with Peter Lloyd

The Golden Age of Cricket Podcast | June 06, 2023

To mark his 150th birthday (28 January 2023), we launch the podcast with a double episode on the life and career of Montague Alfred Noble (1873–1940), middle-order batsman, early exponent of swerve bowling, and Australia’s twelfth Test captain. For this episode, biographer Peter Lloyd joins host Tom Ford to discusses the challenges he faced writing the first full-length account of Noble’s life, his early cricket career, the various controversies surrounding Noble’s bowling action, and how exactly we should address him (Monty? Alf? Mary-Ann? MAN?).In Part 2, Peter discusses Noble’s qualities as a captain, his relationship with cricket crowds, the SCG Grandstand named in his honour and his legacy today. Furthermore, we dissect Noble’s Test, First Class and Grade statistics in detail. Peter’s self-published Limited Edition book Monty Noble: Cricketing Nobility (2022) was much sought after. Good luck finding a copy!


About Peter LLoyd - After a long and wide-ranging career as an academic and consultant in public health, drew on his life-long passion for cricket literature and turned to writing.

In 2020 and 2021, in collaboration with Peter Schofield, he produced two self-published pictorial narratives on Victor Trumper and Don Bradman, with the former awarded runner-up in The Australian Cricket Society Book of the Year. Turning to the 'Golden Age’, in 2021 Peter self-published a biography of the NSW left-handed opening batsman Warren Bardsley, which was subsequently announced last August as the ACS Book of the Year.


CREDITS: Presenter & Producer: Tom Ford. All music used in podcast comes from the University of California Santa Barbara’s remarkable collection of wax cylinder’s from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which are free to download and use. You can donate to the upkeep of these recordings via their website.



About Me

The Golden Age of Cricket Podcast

London, United Kingdom
The 'Golden Age of Cricket’ is a podcast which explores one of the most fascinating eras in the history of the game. Loosely defined as the twenty-five years immediately preceding the outbreak of the First World War, the so called ‘Golden Age’ (1890—1914) saw some of the most legendary cricketers of all time: WG Grace, Victor Trumper, CB Fry, Monty Noble, Wilfred Rhodes, Warwick Armstrong, KS Ranjitsinhji, Hugh Trumble, Sydney Barnes, Archie MacLaren, Clem Hill, Gilbert Jessop and many, many more. Join me, Tom Ford, as each episode I invite a guest to discuss a player, series or event from the Golden Age, in an attempt to resurrect this often forgotten chapter of cricket history. This is the antithesis of most cricket podcasts which focus on the modern game and is for anyone interested in learning a little more about one of cricket’s most fascinating periods. Save or subscribe to the podcast now so you’ll never miss an episode