Rowland Bowen: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|English cricket historian}}
{{short description|English cricket historian}}


{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2018}}


Major '''Rowland Francis Bowen''' (27 February 1916 – 4 September 1978) was a British Army officer and a [[cricket]] researcher, historian and writer.
Major '''Rowland Francis Bowen''' (27 February 1916 – 4 September 1978) was a British Army officer and a [[cricket]] researcher, historian and writer.
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He became involved in cricket research and history in 1958 and, in 1963, he founded the magazine ''The Cricket Quarterly'' which ran until 1970.<ref name="obit">''[[The Cricketer]]'' 1978 &ndash; obituary.</ref>  He is best known for his book ''Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development throughout the World'' (1970)<ref>Rowland Bowen, ''Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development'', [[Eyre & Spottiswoode]], 1970</ref> which has been described as "indispensable" but also as "spikily controversial and vigorously wide-ranging".<ref>[[Eric Midwinter]], ''[[W G Grace]]: His Life and Times'', [[George Allen and Unwin]], 1981.</ref> In [[John Arlott]]'s review of the book for ''[[Wisden Cricketer's Almanack|Wisden]]'', he commented that it was "unique in my experience as a major work on cricket written from a wide view, in disapproval of the game's establishment and in expectation of the demise of the first-class game".<ref>[[John Arlott]], "Cricket Books, 1970", ''[[Wisden Cricketer's Almanack]]'' 1971, p. 1069.</ref>
He became involved in cricket research and history in 1958 and, in 1963, he founded the magazine ''The Cricket Quarterly'' which ran until 1970.<ref name="obit">''[[The Cricketer]]'' 1978 &ndash; obituary.</ref>  He is best known for his book ''Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development throughout the World'' (1970)<ref>Rowland Bowen, ''Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development'', [[Eyre & Spottiswoode]], 1970</ref> which has been described as "indispensable" but also as "spikily controversial and vigorously wide-ranging".<ref>[[Eric Midwinter]], ''[[W G Grace]]: His Life and Times'', [[George Allen and Unwin]], 1981.</ref> In [[John Arlott]]'s review of the book for ''[[Wisden Cricketer's Almanack|Wisden]]'', he commented that it was "unique in my experience as a major work on cricket written from a wide view, in disapproval of the game's establishment and in expectation of the demise of the first-class game".<ref>[[John Arlott]], "Cricket Books, 1970", ''[[Wisden Cricketer's Almanack]]'' 1971, p. 1069.</ref>


An [[Eccentricity (behavior)|eccentric]] and difficult man &ndash; "Bowen never made an influential friend he couldn’t turn into an avowed adversary"<ref name=RJ/> &ndash; Bowen amputated his perfectly healthy right leg below the knee in September 1968.<ref name=RJ>{{cite news |last1=Jackson |first1=Russell |title=Cricket Historian, Writer, Surgeon, Spy: The Mad World of Major Rowland Bowen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jul/22/cricket-historian-writer-surgeon-spy-the-mad-world-of-major-rowland-bowen |access-date=26 October 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=22 July 2022}}</ref>  
An [[Eccentricity (behavior)|eccentric]] and difficult man &ndash; "Bowen never made an influential friend he couldn’t turn into an avowed adversary"<ref name=RJ/> &ndash; Bowen amputated his perfectly healthy right leg below the knee in September 1968.<ref name=RJ>{{cite news |last1=Jackson |first1=Russell |title=Cricket Historian, Writer, Surgeon, Spy: The Mad World of Major Rowland Bowen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jul/22/cricket-historian-writer-surgeon-spy-the-mad-world-of-major-rowland-bowen |access-date=26 October 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=22 July 2017}}</ref>  


In 1974 he married a widow, Anne Valerie Jodelko, who had two visually-impaired sons. He died four years later, at [[Buckfastleigh]], [[Devon]], aged 62.<ref name=RJ/>
In 1974 he married a widow, Anne Valerie Jodelko, who had two visually-impaired sons. He died four years later, at [[Buckfastleigh]], [[Devon]], aged 62.<ref name=RJ/>