James Martin Hilary Graham-Brown (born 11 July 1951) is a former English professional

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and schoolteacher. He is now a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

who writes under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Dougie Blaxland.

Early life and education

Graham-Brown was born at

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road (England), A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, coverin ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, the son of Lewis Graham-Brown and his wife Elizabeth Blaxland. He attended

Sevenoaks School Sevenoaks School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school. It is co-educational, a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school, located in Sevenoaks, Kent, England. Established in 1432, it ...

in Kent, playing in the First XI for several years and as captain in 1970, when he scored 403 runs at an average of 40.30 and took 45 wickets at 8.60. He read English Literature at the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

, obtaining a

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

degree, and then went on to

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

to complete a master's degree in Philosophy.

Cricket career

Graham-Brown was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler who played for

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

and

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

between 1974 and 1991. After playing for Young England teams in 1969 and 1970, Graham-Brown made his debut for Kent's Second XI in 1971.James Graham-Brown
CricketArchive. Retrieved 14 October 2017. He was retained as a young professional by Kent, although encouraged by the club's secretary and manager

Les Ames Leslie Ethelbert George Ames (3 December 1905 – 27 February 1990) was a wicket-keeper and batsman for the England cricket team and Kent County Cricket Club. Born at Elham, Kent, Ames began his first-class cricket, first-class career with h ...

to attend university at the same time.Graham-Brown J (2016) 'When the eye has gone', in ''The Nightwatchman'' vol.15, pp.53–56. He made his senior debut for Kent in the 1974 John Player League before going on to make his

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

debut against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

in August 1974 and playing in the county's winning team in the 1974 Gillette Cup final. He spent six years with Kent, a time he has described as being "largely on the fringes"Graham-Brown J ''

Op. cit. ''Op. cit.'' is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ' or ''opere citato'', meaning "the work cited" or ''in the cited work'', respectively. Overview The abbreviation is used in an endnote or footnote to refer the reader to a cited work, standing ...

'' p.53. of the team, before moving to Derbyshire ahead of the 1977 season. After two seasons that he has described as "disappointing" with Derbyshire he retired from professional cricket, playing

Minor Counties cricket The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

for Cornwall until 1984 and for Dorset between 1989 and 1991. Graham-Brown's great-uncle, Lionel Blaxland, played first-class cricket for

, primarily between 1932 and 1935.

Later career

Graham-Brown became a schoolteacher. He was Headteacher of

Truro High School Truro High School for Girls is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day and boarding school for girls in Truro, Cornwall. The school consists of a girls-only prep school, senior school and sixth form. It is a member of the Girls' Sc ...

for eight years before taking up the position of Headmaster of the independent girls' school, the

Royal High School, Bath Royal High School Bath is a private day and boarding school for girls located in Bath, Somerset, England. Established in 1998 from the merger of two older schools, the Royal School (founded in 1864) and Bath High School (founded in 1875), it e ...

, on Lansdown in Bath. In December 2009, after 11 years in the position, he retired. Graham-Brown writes plays under the pen name of Dougie Blaxland. His one-man play ''When the Eye Has Gone'', about the life and death of the

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

cricketer

Colin Milburn Colin Milburn (23 October 1941 – 28 February 1990) was an English cricketer, who played in nine Test matches for England, before an accident led to the loss of much of his sight and prompted his retirement. Cricker writer Colin Bateman commen ...

, was performed around England in late 2016, including performances at all 18

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

cricket grounds. In 2019 ''The Long Walk Back'', his play about the former Test cricketer Chris Lewis, was first produced at HMP Portland, Dorset. Later in 2019 his play ''Getting the Third Degree'', about the international player Laurie Cunningham and racism in English football, toured extensively in England and Wales. ''Unknown'', based on the experiences of seven homeless people, and funded by the

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

, the

Big Lottery The National Lottery Community Fund, legally named the Big Lottery Fund, is a non-departmental public body responsible for distributing funds raised by the National Lottery for " good causes". It is the largest community funder in the UK and ...

and ''

The Big Issue ''The Big Issue'' is a United Kingdom–based street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer ho ...

'', was first performed as an audio play in October 2020. In 2021, under his own name, Graham-Brown co-wrote the book ''Not Out at Close of Play'' with the book's subject, the English Test cricketer

Dennis Amiss Dennis Leslie Amiss (born 7 April 1943) is a former English cricketer and cricket administrator. He played for both Warwickshire and England. Amiss is known for scoring the first ever century in ODI history, which was also his debut match. A ri ...

Plays

Dougie Blaxland's plays, with date of first performance: *''Leaving Samson'' (1997) *''Marital Moments'' (2002) *''Moving In and Taking Over'' (2004) *''Going Down'' (2005) *''Crisis'' (2006) *''A Degree of Compulsion'' (2006) *''Hatching Vain Empires'' (2006) *''Hitching Rides Home'' (2006) *''A Hostage Close to Home'' (2006) *''A Public Kind Of Privacy'' (2006) *''Redeeming Lizzie Reeve'' (2006) *''Speaking Ill Of the Dead'' (2006) *''Chauntecleer and Pertelotte'' (2007) *''Getting Scrap Value'' (2007) *''The Wild Woods'' (2008) *''That Moment'' (2008) *''You'll Never Guess What?'' (2008) *''If I Were a Carpenter'' (2010) *''Never Any Fruit'' (2010) *''Biggles Flies a Fokker Home'' (2011) *''Machamlear'' (2011) *''The Tamworth Two'' (2011) *''Bursary Boy'' (2012) *''A Christmas Carol: The Musical'' (2012) *''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'' (2013) *''The King of the Choughs'' (2014) *''Wuthering Heights'' (2014) *''Hands Up for Jonny Wilkinson's Right Boot'' (2015) *''When the Eye Has Gone'' (2016) *''The Long Walk Back'' (2019) *''Getting the Third Degree'' (2019) *''Unknown'' (2020) *''On the Ropes'' (2023; written with Vernon Vanriel) *''Our Little Hour'' (2024; musical, with composer Chris Anthony, about

Walter Tull Walter Daniel John Tull (28 April 1888 – 25 March 1918) was an English professional footballer and British Army officer of Afro-Caribbean descent. He played as an inside forward and half back for Clapton, Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton ...

)

Personal life

Graham-Brown lost the sight of one eye in 2013. His daughter, Annie Hemingway, is an actress.

References

External links

*
''Unknown''
performed by RoughHouse Theatre
Dougie Blaxland
at Doollee.com (includes list of plays) {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham-Brown, James 1951 births English cricketers Living people People from Thetford People educated at Sevenoaks School Alumni of the University of Kent Alumni of the University of Bristol Derbyshire cricketers Kent cricketers Dorset cricketers Cornwall cricketers Schoolteachers from Norfolk English male dramatists and playwrights Cricketers from Norfolk 20th-century English sportsmen