Raymond John Robinson (8 July 1905 – 6 July 1982) was an Australian journalist and author, best known for his writings on

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 ...

Life and career

Born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Robinson attended

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

State School and joined the Melbourne ''

Herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen ...

'' as a

copy boy A copy boy is a typically young and junior worker on a newspaper. The job involves taking typed stories from one section of a newspaper to another. According to Bruce Guthrie, the former editor-in-chief of the ''Herald Sun'' who began work there ...

. Given a cadetship with the paper, he reported on

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

and cricket from 1925. In 1925, he wrote to

Plum Warner Sir Pelham Francis Warner, (2 October 1873 – 30 January 1963), affectionately and better known as Plum Warner or "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket, was a Test cricketer and cricket administrator. He was knighted for services to sport ...

, the editor of ''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county, club and schools cricket. Overview The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cric ...

'' magazine, complaining about its poor coverage of Australian cricket. Warner invited him to become the periodical's Australian correspondent, and Robinson continued contributing to it until the early 1980s. In 1930, Robinson was recruited to the editorial staff of a new daily paper, ''The Star''. Four years later, he accompanied the Australian team on its tour of England. Subsequently, he toured with the Australians in 1948, 1953, 1956 and 1961 (to England); and to South Africa in 1957–58 and the West Indies in 1954–55. He made a number of tours of India and Pakistan, writing for the ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' and ''Sportsweek'' in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. After ''The Star'' closed he worked briefly in radio. Invited to join the staff of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' by

Sir Frank Packer Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer (3 December 19061 May 1974), was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network. He was a patriarch of the Packer family. Early life Frank Packer was born in ...

, Robinson relocated to Sydney in 1939. He published his first cricket book, ''Between Wickets'', in 1946 after the manuscript was recommended to the William Collins publishing house by

Neville Cardus Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (2 April 188828 February 1975) was an English writer and critic. From an impoverished home background, and mainly self-educated, he became ''The Manchester Gua ...

. He retired as a full-time journalist in 1970 and published ''The Wildest Tests'' two years later. Awarded a

Commonwealth Literary Fund The Commonwealth Literary Fund (CLF) was an Australian Government initiative founded in 1908 to assist needy Australian writers and their families. It was Federal Australia's first systematic support for the arts. Its scope was later broadened to e ...

fellowship and a grant from the Literature Board of the

Council for the Arts A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nation ...

, Robinson began work on his ''magnum opus'', a series of essays about Australia's cricket captains. Released in 1975, ''On Top Down Under'' won the English Cricket Society's literary award for 1976. In his latter years, he suffered from poor health but he continued writing though he was legally blind. He was admitted to Sydney's

Royal North Shore Hospital The Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located in the suburb of St Leonards. It serves as a teaching hospital for Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney, University of Technol ...

after a fall at home. Complications followed and he died from an intestinal blockage on 6 July 1982, two days before his 77th birthday.

Bibliography

*''Between Wickets'': Collins (1946). *''From the Boundary'': Collins (1951). *''Green Sprigs'' (published in the UK as ''The Glad Season''): Collins (1955). *''The Wit of Sir

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

'': Leslie Frewin (1966). *''The Wildest Tests'': Pelham (1972) . *''On Top Down Under'': Cassell Australia (1975) .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Ray 1905 births 1982 deaths Journalists from Melbourne Cricket writers Australian sports journalists The Herald (Melbourne) people Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century Australian journalists People from Brighton, Victoria Australian male non-fiction writers Australian sportswriters