by Mayukh Ghosh
“Your cricket correspondent is either a pompous ass or a maiden aunt."
The postcard was sent to The Times editor Sir William Haley.
It was not the only one of its kind.
That cricket correspondent was mentally strong enough to remain unperturbed by all these and concentrate on his job. Thankfully, he stuck to cricket.
His end-of-term reports from Dragon School in Oxford said that as long as he treated Wisden as his only set text he wasn't going to make much progress in his studies.
The 14 year old was a natural ball player who was good at most games.
But then tragedy struck.
One fine day he found difficulty in walking and had to visit the doctor.
Septic arthritis in the hip and it had poisoned badly.
No antibiotics.
Four months of hanging from a frame to prevent it from spreading.
Six hip replacements later he still lives for the love of his life.
John Woodcock is ancient. His grandfather was born before the Battle of Waterloo was fought.
He was EW Swanton's cameraman and assistant during the 1950-51 Ashes.
Then, three years later, he was elevated to the post of the cricket correspondent of The Times.
He had sat on CB Fry's knees. He had played golf with Herbert Sutcliffe and Len Hutton.
He went duck shooting with Harold Larwood.
He took a stumping off Bill O'Reilly and batted with Wally Hammond.
He still remembers Colin Cowdrey's first Test century and thinks that he has not watched a better century in 83 years of cricket watching.
When Cowdrey was sent for in 1974-75, 20 years after his maiden hundred, to take on Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson at the WACA, Perth, Woodcock said he felt as shaky as if his own son were walking out to bat. He had to take himself off to the bar to calm his nerves.
In 1980, he was present in the Long Room at Lord's on the occasion of Brian Johnston's daughter's birthday.
At the reception he found himself chatting to a friend of the bride who was the managing editor of Queen Anne Press.
Woodcock was aware of Norman Preston's death ( he wrote in The Times: " We have lost Mr. Pickwick." ) and asked how they were getting on with the search for a replacement.
He also added that he wished someone would ask him to take up the job.
The managing editor passed on his interest to Alan Smith, the managing director of Queen Anne Press.
The following Monday morning Woodock got a call from Smith. Smith requested him to become the editor.
Woodcock said yes and followed in the footsteps of Sydney Pardon (Times cricket correspondent + Wisden editor ).
He anyway had the perfect initials for this job.
There were a lot of complaints against Basil D'Oliveira's night life in the West Indies in 1968. The editor of The Sunday Times rung Woodock to discuss about writing a rather spicy piece on that topic. Woodcock told him that he wasn't interested in that kind of journalism.
He has never written a book or an autobiography because, he says, "I know too much about what really went on."
Surely he would have found it difficult in this age of match reports with headlines like' Five things India must do to beat England'.
Cricket's friend. Cricketers' friend.
John Woodcock has been one of a kind.
He was born on August 7, 1926.