Croquet in the media

[<<] [>>] by Dave Kibble
31st May 2006 (Other News)

The John Prescott story has really got the media talking about croquet, the following contributions are all culled from The Nottingham list:

Patricia Duke-Cox was interviewed by Radio Lincolnshire about croquet and the Prescott publicity.

Liz Wilson (Fylde) had a little (unrehearsed!) interview with Radio Lancashire on Saturday. It's now on the Fylde Croquet Club web site www.fyldecroquet.co.uk

John Wastell noticed that there were lots of comments on the Talksport (UK's biggest national commercial radio station) breakfast program about croquet, following the 'exposure' of John Prescott in the Sunday Mail actually playing it on his back lawn.

The presenters were discussing whether it was an elitist sport or not, which was not helped by the first caller who said it (Golf croquet) was a ridiculously easy game, just hitting balls through hoops, and she gave it up because she was bored with it.

Some more positive comments followed and he emailed and texted his own (not yet used). The program can be found on 1053 and 1089 on medium wave. Hear it again at http://194.46.8.124/talksport-live.asx

Roger Wood points out that Monday's Independent newspaper contains a full page article headlined "The Fine Art of Croquet" which, in addition to the widely broadcast Prescott angle and the associated remarks about it being a game for toffs, has the bones of a good interview with Julian Tonks of the NE Federation and an excellent, accurate summary of the game complete with diagrams. The online version (tagged on the home page as "The Fine Art of Croquet, a sport that Britain excels at") can be found at http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article621250.ece The web version entirely omits the panel (accounting for about one third of the printed page in the paper).

Ian Wright and Evelyn Mackenzie of Edinburgh Croquet Club were interviewed at 0820 by BBC Radio Scotland at Lauriston Castle this morning. The feature on croquet can now be heard by clicking on "Good Morning Scotland" in the list at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/scotland_promo.shtml

It's about 2 hours 24.5 minutes into the programme and it lasts 5 minutes. Evelyn and Ian did a good job of presenting some of the attractions of croquet. Ian said the John Prescott furore was "a good laugh", which seems about right to me. CroquetWorld.com gets a mention at the end.

Sally Green felt quite depressed after reading in the Daily Mail this morning: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=388143&in_page_id=1770 "Serves me right for picking up the wrong newspaper!"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5029958.stm links to "CROQUET'S DARK SIDE", which extensively quotes the newest article on www.CroquetWorld.com, by co-editor James Hawkins, on how croquet's complex public image is employed in the service of politicians.

Fergus McInnes wrote: More on croquet is scheduled for Radio Scotland tomorrow morning: this week's "Mum on the Run" feature on "MacAulay and Co" will have Vicky Johnston learning croquet at Kelvingrove assisted by someone from the Glasgow Club. A brief mention at about 0940 is due to be followed by the main feature towards the end of the programme, around 1045 or 1050. See www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/radioscotland/view/show.shtml?macaulayandco for programme information and a "listen again" link.

Klim Seabright (CA Secretary adds: "The Croquet Gazette will be this week's 'Guest Publication' on Have I Got News For You. Can't think why!!!

Yesterday, while all the top players were toiling at the inter-counties, I did quite a few Radio interviews - Three Counties, Essex, Lancashire, Leeds, Cornwall, Coventry/Warwks, to name but a few.

I tried to keep it quite light hearted and took as many opportunities as possible to mention the Website, Telephone Numbers, the National Croquet Challenge and as many local clubs as possible in the time available!

The Bizarre Question Award probably goes to Three Counties who wanted to confirm that 'A Jacket must be worn' - I've just realised, I took it that they meant 'on the body' rather than 'tired and faded'! Ah the old 'construct trap' eh?

Bob Kroeger gives us a link to New York Times article on croquet/Prescott: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/31/world/europe/31britain.html?ex=1149739200&en=c13a614327bc9df1&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Chris Williams is going to be interviewed tomorrow morning by Patrick Hannan of Radio Wales for his Sunday morning (11am) show 'Something Else'.

The website for the programme states "Patrick Hannan and his guests read the runes and the Sunday papers, and discuss the week just gone, and the one to come." See http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/shows/somethingelse.shtml

Jim Clancy, the Dyffryn Chairman, was interviewed on Good Morning Wales on Tuesday morning.

To hear the interview select listen again and then in the subsequent pop up window select TUE below Good Morning Wales. The interview starts at about 53 minutes, so jump forward to 50 minutes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/shows/goodmorningwales.shtml

Finally, you can hear Richard Hilditch talking about the sport in a Radio 5 Live Interview in the [MP3 6MB] technical and articles section