Donald Mosey (4 October 1924 – 11 August 1999) was a

sports journalist Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a par ...

and

radio producer A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. The job title covers several different job descriptions: *Content producers or executive producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature. The content producer might organize music cho ...

, best remembered for his lengthy tenure as a

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 ...

commentator on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Test Match Special ''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. The programme is available on BB ...

(TMS), which he joined in 1974 and left in 1991.Cliff Morgan
'Obituary: Don Mosey'
''The Guardian'', 12 August 1999, retrieved 3 June 2022 He was nicknamed 'the Alderman' by fellow commentator

Brian Johnston Brian Alexander Johnston (24 June 1912 – 5 January 1994), nicknamed Johnners, was a British cricket commentator, author, and television presenter. He was most prominently associated with the BBC during a career which lasted from 1946 until h ...

, in recognition of his somewhat mayoral bearing in the box; Mosey entitled one autobiographical book ''The Alderman's Tale''. He was born in

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford, n ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, in 1924, completed wartime service in the RAF and joined the ''

Craven Herald The ''Craven Herald & Pioneer'' is a weekly newspaper covering the Craven area of North Yorkshire as well as part of the Pendle area of Lancashire. Until 29 October 2009 it remained one of only two weekly papers in the United Kingdom that co ...

'' as a journalist, going on to work for the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'' and ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

''. He often covered the great Yorkshire cricket team of the period. He left the ''Mail'' in 1964, becoming a radio sports producer in Manchester, and developed a reputation for extreme professionalism and attention to detail. He first commentated for TMS in 1974, a role he had long coveted, and remained a fixture on the much-loved programme through the 70s and 80s, sharing the microphone with such broadcasting luminaries as

John Arlott Leslie Thomas John Arlott, (25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991) was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's '' Test Match Special''. He was also a poet and wine connoisseur. With his poetic phraseology, he becam ...

and

Christopher Martin-Jenkins Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins, Order of the British Empire, MBE (20 January 1945 – 1 January 2013), also known as CMJ, was a British cricket journalist and a President of Marylebone Cricket Club, MCC. He was also the longest serv ...

. He covered four overseas England tours, most memorably the long tour of India and Sri Lanka during the winter of 1981–2, characterised by a somewhat worrying raucous cough that increased in volume as the tour progressed. His speciality lay in his unrehearsed, articulate and tactically astute close of play summaries during Test matches at home. He commentated principally on matches on grounds in the north of England, but was also at times used for matches at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

and

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

. He retired from commentary and Test Match Special in 1991 after writing a book where he was critical of some of the other commentators. He acted as a

ghost writer A ghostwriter is a person hired to write literature, literary or journalism, journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and pol ...

on several cricketers' autobiographies, including

Ray Illingworth Raymond Illingworth Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (8 June 1932 – 25 December 2021) was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. , he was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20, ...

's ''Yorkshire and Back'', as well as writing several volumes under his own name. His biography of

Geoff Boycott Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...

, in typically forthright Mosey style, pulled no punches in either praise or criticism. He co-authored ''

Fred Trueman Frederick Sewards Trueman, (6 February 1931 – 1 July 2006) was an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He had professional status and later became an author and broadcaster. Acknowled ...

's Yorkshire'' with the ex-Yorkshire and England

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...

. He died in

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, aged 74, on 11 August 1999 and is survived by his son Ian Mosey, who is a professional golfer.

References

External links

BBC Sport profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosey, Don 1924 births 1999 deaths English male journalists English radio personalities Cricket writers English cricket commentators People from Keighley