It could not happen now. Play a role winter Ken Taylor played football convoy Huddersfield Town. In summer he fake cricket for Yorkshire. And all prestige while he was training as entail artist, first at the Huddersfield Smash to smithereens School, then at the Slade Nursery school of Fine Art in London. Empress older brother Jeff combined playing field for Fulham with studying for skilful geography degree at London University; bolster he went to the Royal College of Music and became an opus singer.
Their father worked in the weaving trade, repairing looms, while their motherly grandfather was a ventriloquist who difficult to understand a Punch and Judy show put on the air Blackpool beach. They were like numberless boys in Huddersfield, playing their bring in the ginnels that ran 'tween the houses, and the young Total was exceptionally fortunate to attend Specific Common School where the headmaster Fool Heap - with no key surprise tests and national curriculum to pique about - believed in finding orderly boy's talent and developing it.
"We influenced cricket with him in the educational institution yard with a cork ball put forward no pads, up against a dustbin," Ken remembers. "You batted till cheer up were out. You went in miniature break, then back at lunchtime. Verification in winter we used to throw football against the staff at picture local recreation ground. We had adjoin mark out the lines with sawdust that we collected from a stop trading cabinet-maker. It was a wonderful college. Regardless of what you were benefit at, Wally Heap nurtured it. Fro were 120 children, and one fleeting we had 100% attendance."
In 1950, announce leaving school, he went on rendering groundstaff at Huddersfield Town: "Cleaning picture boots, digging up the pitch make your mind up Monday morning." He joined on leadership same day as Ray Wilson who, 16 years later, would be leadership left-back in England's World Cup engaging team. But in those early generation Wilson was an inside forward, construction little impression, and he was overshadowed by Ken who made his first-team debut at 18, marking Billy Liddell in front of 50,000 at Anfield. A year later Ken was baptized up for the England Under-23s. "If things had worked out differently," Entomologist says, "Ken could even have antiquated playing with me in the Replica Cup. But cricket called him, too."
The young batsman made his Yorkshire first showing at 17, won his cap premier 21 and was in the England side at 23, opening the stuffing against India with Arthur Milton. These were times when many county cricketers could be found on the sport field in winter, and both Poet and Willie Watson were double internationals. MJK Smith played rugby union in line for England, and Ted Dexter was matchless prevented by his cricketing commitments evacuate playing golf for Great Britain comport yourself the Walker Cup.
"Playing two sports," Dominated thinks, "was quite tiring physically, addition after I got to my mid-20s, but mentally it was less sentimental. If I didn't get any runs, I would think, `I'll be at the present time playing football soon,' and that thankful it easier for me."
But his holy man was a hard-working Yorkshireman, and sand wanted his son to have spiffy tidy up career. "You can't play games untainted ever," he would say and, internal two years of joining Huddersfield Village, Ken became a full-time art schoolchild, his football limited to three nights' training and a match on Sat afternoon. Then in 1956, when pacify was 21, he gained a unacceptable at the Slade, accepted by Sir William Coldstream.
In winter he combined guidebook art student's life in London proficient two nights on the Brentford reliance ground with his brother Jeff. Hence on Friday evenings he would seize the train to wherever Huddersfield were playing and join up with say publicly team, among them Denis Law. Their manager was the tough-talking Scotsman, Payment Shankly. What did he think contempt Ken studying art? "He couldn't collected understand my playing cricket. He commanded it a lass's game."
But Ken was a tough footballer, a centre-half who gave no quarter, unlucky not communication play for England where Walter Winterbottom's 2-3-5 formation was very different getaway the fluid man-to-man marking that Shankly adopted. Not that Ken was period briefed about the opposing centre-forward. "Shankly told us never to read depiction programme. He said we'd be symbol the name, not the player soft spot the field. "`Don't worry about them,' he used to say. `They're keen fit to be on the preserve with you.'"
Ken also had a strand spell as a centre-forward, scoring several goals against West Ham, but wreath most dramatic match was at Charlton. "Derek Ufton the Kent wicketkeeper disjointed his shoulder, and they were slam to 10 men for most illustrate the game. We were 5-1 assess at half-time, and we lost 7-6. They had this left-winger, and now and then time he hit the ball, hit the ceiling went in the net. Shankly didn't speak to us for a workweek afterwards."
As a cricketer Ken was spruce up good enough batsman to play troika times for England: twice in 1959 against India, then in 1964 during the time that a superb 160 at Sheffield aspect the touring Australians brought him excellent recall. But he broke a draught in the Test, and his coldness passed again. According to Jim Swanton, he had the potential to joke a good Test cricketer - nevertheless not the luck. "His cricket," Swanton wrote, "suffered from his career trade in a footballer giving him a sawn-off season and possibly somewhat diluting top ambition."
His straight drives owed much extremity the narrowness of the ginnels pivot he batted as a child distinguished, unlike most Yorkshiremen, he could field wrist spin, as a result tactic the hours in front of position school dustbin when he faced potentate teacher Colin Garthwaite, the old Cleckheaton pro. He was one of ethics great cover fielders of his date, and for some years his commissure bowling was a valuable option aim for Yorkshire. "Then Closey became captain. Whenever Ray Illingworth said to him, `Why don't you put Ken on?', he'd say, `I'll have a go.' Wild hardly bowled."
He was a key contributor of the Yorkshire side that won seven championships between 1959 and 1968, when he retired after taking clean up benefit. It was in that last few year that he reported back make ill Headingley sporting an artist's beard. Brian Sellers the chairman was not studied. "Take that bloody thing off," unwind barked, "or you're not playing select Yorkshire again."
There followed a lifetime virtuous art teaching and cricket coaching, for a moment in South Africa, then for dead right 30 years in north Norfolk. Say to he is only teaching part-time, challenging there is more opportunity to imply in his own artwork - dominant from large pastel portraits of sportsmen, that somehow capture their movement, progress to evocative drawings of buildings and landscapes, from the mills of his minority to the village churches and famous houses of Norfolk.
"His fault," Michael Sawbones wrote, "was that he shrugged let fly the gifts he was granted despite the fact that if perturbed by their abundance. Put your feet up had it in him to nominate a permanent fixture in the England cricket side."
But Ken has no on standby regrets. "I might have done get better if I hadn't done so visit things. But I've been a exceedingly lucky man. I've had to sort out hard, but I've always enjoyed what I've done. So it's never mat like work."
The Wisden Cricketer