a Hero is defined as a man of superhuman strength or courage But such men are not born they are made And made to an exacting recipe First we must need If all is well with the world such men will not English The more dire the circumstances the more desperate the situation Look better and finally the man himself The greatest heroes are the unlikely ones Everything has to be just right And that does not happen very often He was the Marlon Brando James Dean in the cricket world It was very wild both have arrived for the hearing with his solicitor. He was an anti-establishment hero a Manner that enraged the old guard of course returns to silence loved us on the sporting field, but in real life he did 1981 was a tough year England weren't any good or anything? He was written off Mr. Tells this remarkable story. He's out the one-off miracle Six a comic book boy's own story. That's it this time as unbelievable as Dunkirk Memorable week to boring women. We did change my life most of it for the better I first met and in 1973 When it became friends we got obviously contacts to play for Somerset County You got this wonderful spirit about him that energy and Wow He looked very thick and solid born He loved the steak or true at the time in lamb, Jobson Maybe it's taking kidney pie here and there when I saw in a physical stature of the individual With ABV, you know, and I think that'll stuck after this day. I Don't make it's a decision that around the age of 15 between soccer and cricket It wasn't that difficult of choice free - my father Sat me down and said look son. I'll be honestly I think you're a better creator and luckily I listened to 24th of June 1974 it was a venison Hedges semi-final on Ben's Leicestershire and My father was big friends of Brian and Dave close. And Brian close was then the captain of Somerset And invited us all down to the ground to watch the game, but it was rain effect. They came off a bad light So we went and joined them for drinks in the barn. That's when I first met him he wasn't a permanent fixture in Somerset first eleven he'd He'd had a great Quarterfinal and he'd hit the papers While he was playing for Somerset against Hampshire, Taunton Benson has just cut the match for one day much and The game was lost through he don't played a few games for something never done much really and he Turned it around basically with some brave batting but in the middle of this innings He got hit by auntie Roberts who was the most dangerous bowler in the world in? 1974 And he was basically just cheering batsmen apart in Internet cricket He mulish batsmen and sometimes he heard them badly, you know, some never actually came back Ian both came in to bat this young upstart as we we used to call him in those days go, you know He was full of confidence You know, I think they bought him a short ball and before he got into his trades he got struck in his mouth My surprise that he never he never went down and he continued button and you know Literally put the game away from us Nothing scared me now, it's bulletproof Didn't worry about it. Four teeth. Well got a dentist and get some more. It's spitting blood and our labs and Went back. He stood his ground and he had this burning desire to succeed at all costs, you know, and He had a talent that he was going to use as his asset that Was the sort of innings he would play in later years This will have a go here and it came off and they won the game and he was He was 18 and he was a hero overnight The success which he was having around him that it attracted a lot of folks to him Yes, you've decided the grandstand trophy should go to Ian Botham Every time you made somebody you always tried to make him a target You could hear guys betting no That's Ian Botham and what I can go and do and I can go and stand in his feet and you know I can spill a drink over him and all that stuff and they saw a potential superstar in town And I guess we confronted a lot of that The top signal and I have a drink And all of a sudden followed torture I Wasn't honestly anyone take advantage. So I would basically hang back and and do my stuff if it needs be you know I was a beefy Leave it to me. Beefy. Leave it signal I got I said to the Father very politely. We are having a quiet thing Let us enjoy watching don't spoil a night The next day you could see all these guys with bruises and black eyes and everyone is coming to apologize And all that stuff it was funny because I guess the tabloids. Um Went to work with with the actual events. It was a journey not without bumps. But at the end of the day They say what you're missing the roundabouts. Hopefully you you can gain on the stretcher They were both 18 when they met in the carpark of Leicester cricket ground he asked her out for a Chinese meal and that was pretty well that Yes, we kind of decided to get engaged very soon after we met just 20 very young Anybody who plays professional sport their ultimate goal is to represent the country And Ian was no different, but I mean it never entered my head back in 74 and I met him that that would actually come about Indian would Jeff boycott back after three years are equally determined to hold on to their one test lead Morale couldn't be higher with Somerset's Ian both am raring to earn his first test cap They were taking a chance on him in some ways. He was young and raw, but he had talent and they England needed him Most people coming into an England test dressing-room as a rookie are very much in the background And they're seen and not heard Not with both and he was up to his pranks Already, you know putting the red-hot 2tsp that he just stirred his tea with on someone's bare thigh That sort of prank Ian thought was very amusing. He got very bored very quickly. I Haven't been to Trent Bridge many times to watch cricket and this was the first and perhaps the only time it's Rigged on is not a lovely ground and that's where he made his debut for England And I'd never seen before him we knew That he had a golden church because his first Test match wicket the great Greg Chappell dragged the ball into his stumps. It wasn't a great delivery Yeah was only against Australia Absolutely He started quite modestly about taking five wickets on his first day as an England brand There was a swashbuckling Glorious quality that footage can't quite convey the enthusiasm the appetite the aggression the laddish ness unquestionably They've been flamboyant cricketers obviously before but it was an English flamboyant picked of a contemporary kind of die That didn't give a toss about anything but there he was getting results he's good at just a Lot of England players were all that timid and playing selfishly that all change when both have arrived England have tried to be defensive for a little bit too long and a lot of things they've done just recently Not just in cricket Soccer in other games and I think at that time we attacked a little bit more and took the game to other people's Ian came to the crease and came into Bowl and you expected results and and you got them That's good Both it was clearly Someone who was a figure to be taken account of he had a style of manner Well, I all chose to think when you walk to the wicked he had a Union Jack on his backside The all-rounder really was the thing that all the public wanted to see You know when he came on to bowl something happened When he came in to bat something might happen This crews phenomenal First three years he had to put a foot wrong He won England innumerous matches and he did things that people haven't done before They might have a very good captain but if it were to impair his performance then this would be Something select dismiss way again Can they afford captain's they just sat his concentration on his personal play? Speculation has increased today that in both them. He'll be succeeding Mike brilli as England's captain later in the summer We just finished it 12 Australia in 1979-80 with a match in India on the way back Ian had played fantastically there was about to be a series against the West Indies in England in 1980 followed by a tour of the West Indies in 1980-81 and I Knew that. I was retiring from cricket in 82 and that I wasn't going to be available to tour anymore So I made that clear to people when really said he wasn't in a tour again and therefore they were looking for someone you The selectors said this is the man we should make captain because he hadn't done anything wrong to that point He's his record was well-nigh. Perfect The creepy captain's not like a captain in football or many other games it's a really important role Because he's on the field all the time when when you're taking the field and he's setting in field and he set him traps and he's keeping everybody awakened and and he's Inspiring and alerting and I mean, he's just the most important thing you can have Them breathe and a few other people said, you know We think you should take over at some stage and I hadn't really gone and thought about it The difficulty was that it meant ian was made captain at the age of about 23 without having captained against anyone else against the West Indies with the prospect of 9 or 10 Test matches Consecutively and they were easily the best team in the world at that time So he was really thrown in the deep end It seems to be the sort of knee-jerk reaction is great all-rounder, let's make them captain Next in both them averaging no more than 13 for the series I don't know how many times in both them at that point have been a captain of anything Relating that harder than anybody else Have their worst ever tour of the West Indies if the head is by the rest of the bodies gonna suffer The more of attack is if he made captain Lee the team is weak so if the performances of the captain Are not up to par your press But it won't so slower to the captain that's been growing pressure from some quarters for his removal as captain of England I think that means you must write that when they got one that's raining, you know There's nothing else to do or something of it the England party leaves for London tomorrow After all the problems of the tour they hoping to get home without any more frustrations at Heathrow Airport Anyone's cricket team have arrived back from their disappointing tour of the West Indies Facing more problems when they were delayed for an hour at Heathrow Airport by the civil servants industrial action on the tour They lost two tests drew two and one didn't take place Most people struggle against the West Indies both and struggled as captain because he wasn't a very good captain He wasn't made to be A leader. He wanted to be one of the boys and he never stopped being one of the boys I Didn't quite understand why he had to butter up someone and tell him that the best thing since sliced bread to go out and play for your country and That didn't make a lot of sense to me. So I was perhaps not the most tolerant Captain's headlines in the papers now a vastly different from those a year ago and both am has still to register a test victory As captain there are captain's who could have led him better. I think more mature captain certainly captains of Greater experience They've been a comprehensive school. He was a sort of rough and ready lad he He did not fit the traditional mold England had traditionally gone with Captain's who would not have been to Oxford Cambridge University or been to a public school? That was the normal thing As the 70s gave way to the to the 80s England looked rudderless and pretty ineffective And of course as soon as you start to go onto a little bit of a downward spiral with your own particular form and then the team not doing well and the media start to Take a lot more interest Test cricketer Ian Botham has appeared at Grimsby Crown Court accused of assaulting a Royal Navy apprentice mechanic outside a nightclub in Scunthorpe and that was very very difficult His mr. Denied that he was a troublemaker. Mr. Rory then put it to him that he had made up the whole Sensational story about both and to earn some money from the newspapers quite honestly without without a strong family behind you I think anybody would struggle to get through those kind of times For whom the gods of cricket just don't seem to have been smiling this Losing habit had become sort of terminal really because we'd lost at home in 1980. We'd lost abroad in 1981 the beginning of the year so the press were thinking that this was endemic now and when we Ringling gonna stop the rot and actually Win or even draw a Test match? 1981 was a tough year the 1970s had been very difficult economically and there was still a great deal to do to put things right so They were very tough and lots of people were hurting in 81 Eighty-one was horrendous tiny though the race riots going on in Toxteth the Birmingham Bristol st Paul's has gutted fire. It was a terrible place to be in at the time. Everything was going wrong You dragged the ground and you're seeing the smoke billowing out from the night before The Australians arrived in London this morning determined to win the ashes which they believed immoral if there's any way You know, what was to give the nation and lift Cricket of all games old fashioned silly ol cricket a five-day test United for short period the Nation, even those who didn't really like cricket. There's no greater accolade as a professional sportsman and to be captain of your country and I'm looking forward to it very very much and I Think the Australians gonna be a lot harder than the media seem to think Because it's the ashes you always have first of all that sense of anticipation And secondly that feeling wall here let's get this one, right It's the fiercest rivalry in cricket, I think between two of the oldest cricket playing countries Whatever has happened beforehand the moment you start an Ashes series the first test of an Ashes series you think right? This is the one we want to win Myself and Hugh Laurie and others women sharing a house and we were watching the disastrous Opening of this series where he and both them had been appointed captain It was not a happy sight Direction and length has all been lacking Really just about England lost and crucially England lost through their own fault where they drop catches they Bowl poorly For that man, so he was all falling apart really my family feel the pressure a little bit more than they did That whole environment for him was totally alien to him because most things in life that Ian believes you can be in control of well He couldn't control that situation at all. I think I'm improving all the time as a captain and Hopefully if I come to a bit more form, then that'll shut up critics out And that's close This Korean Lawson has dismissed the England captain and things could hardly be going worse free and both them at the moment and I'm afraid that's just not good enough Oh defects for you therefore the man captained It was a bit of a shambles. Really England struggling me as a drawer, but it's a messy drawer Lvw the main recollection most people will have of that was that he scored nought in both innings And received a very bad reception when he returns the pavilion after his second duck The ground was silent and I just thought you'd just horrendous Spectators should have their approval I said absolutely not clapping not even looking up when he left and we knew then that probably he had to care as Captain this picture was taken the second test at Lord's when he just made that duck in the second innings and You can see he's holding his bat to the ground. He's obviously pretty unhappy of their life Nobody even put their hands together for the England captain On his way back That icy silence that he received was a symbolic of the contempt they felt for him as a man and that Distrust of him and it was a horrible moment. Absolutely horrible The members have really tried to avoid his his his gaze as this guy here. He's Filling his diary or his school card. Who knows? This one is making all three are making it absolutely clear. They're not looking at both of its that really rankled with you and I know for a fact that he you know, I don't he ever acknowledged the Lord's members after that in any shape or form there are tough bunch that lot Something had to be done clearly both from the captaincy was not suiting his free style of play and Either he was going to be dropped from the entire team but probably he was going to be dropped as captain and Well history tells this remarkable story These last few months. He's had a rough time. I mean his family's been Harris. Everything's been Harris So so we felt that it would be a good thing perhaps to to give him a rest for a few matches from captaincy that is and Then get back into the groove again. Who do you think will be the new captain then? I don't know Who would you choose? well in my view the bloke the captain that I feels best captain in this country and Has been divided played a lot of cricket and and that's why trailing they came to ask me and I think in some ways that was good for him because He and I got on well and I was in no way arrival to him, of course not in the slightest And I'd been his first captain for England. So I think it was easier for him to climb down and feel more or less Okay about it than it would have been if somebody else had been selected It was a good thing, but he gave up the captaincy Because the pressure on us as a couple it was it was it was driving as a part to be honest he came on and we we just sat all night and spoke and if we felt so relieved, you know, I I could see that there was um A difference in his ol attitude like there was this burden which was lifted off his shoulders He decided that if England would still have him he wants to play for them that he would prove everybody wrong It was the best thing probably that happened to me as it turned out and pretty good career move resigning I've said all along that this serious is gonna be very close and I think it's one that the public coming are going to enjoy very very much. Thanks very much. Um good that make it I Mean when you change a captain in mid series It usually means there's trouble of some sort about and I think it certainly diminished expectations So what happened was an even more wonderful surprise and it otherwise would have been Just watching every moment hoping things gonna cheer up because here we were one nil done and Things didn't zero the first two and a half days of that game first three days of that game went pretty badly always Australian made a very presentable score We went in first innings and we went very good. Yes Frankly I felt like going home Got behind we were out for a pretty miserly score well over 200 runs behind So it was a feeling of some despair, I think the most cricket lovers had on that Saturday In a really bad state we were at 474 and had to follow on and Graham Gooch was already out that night And then there was a Sunday off and You know the situation was dire well, once the teams following on it means Demonstrably that they're a couple of hundred runs behind on the first innings The probability is that they're going to lose a game It is very very very rare in cricket and even rarer in Test match cricket For a side that has had to follow on so many runs behind its opponents to actually save a game let alone win it By the time Saturday evening came with a rest day in that particular Test match We all probably thought that the game was up Well Ladbrokes clearly did with their odds of 500 to 1 on the old electronic Headingley Scoreboard and the 500 to 1 odds for England were sort of token Gesture almost by the bookies are I can just to say, you know, this is how ridiculous it is England didn't married But if you want to go that's what they are, but it doesn't matter. You know, they won't make it I mean one looked at it and one saw no reason to suspect that something truly remarkable was going to happen There was absolutely no reason to suspect Sunday was the day off. It's on the Saturday evening. We had our annual barbecue I love God, too We went to Ian's Bothans for passion and it's one of those parties where if you can remember it you weren't really taking part of it properly if you give us the wine and things It's fair to acknowledge that we weren't really expecting to get out of the hole that we were in In terms of that game of curriculum, so everybody was totally remote And by the time we got up on the Monday morning, everyone said well we might as well check out the hotel because we've got very little chance realistically of surviving the date straight through him Having a crowd failed to turn up I turned out probably with minimal equipment. It was really a home atmosphere And For most of that Monday we did struggle So for most of that Monday He looked as though it was a good decision and we would be slinking away with our tails between our legs That's close. Yes. I'm afraid he has to go again. I Spent in the morning rather predictably looking at England being badly because when person comes in to bat You do perk up whatever happened if he's out first pool middle stump looked out That had been a great photo because that's always what you expect him to try and for him It would be if he could still be Betty at six o'clock this evening No, he had a bit of a slight and he even do you thought well girl before you know, this is my big picture He what in Gertz bats the way he plays Boy doesn't take you long to come back saying let's watch this anyway I Actually sucked with the Australian white and Jame board. I said, oh what's getting a few runs? I said I'm gonna said that I said, I'm sorry girls. But thank goodness for that. You know, we had a laugh about it Warren's came about you know, hang on a minute He studied about more and more freely and it became an extraordinary sight It was a hitter's innings, I mean, sometimes it was pure village green No, I want 250 I thought we can get make them back just just don't lose by an innings No Imperius all the cliches. He looked in charge. He was having fun There was a few thick edges and she's thin edges, but they went in the right areas and I got away with it And I went and joined mum and dad and IANS mum and dad yeah atmosphere they're absolutely unbelievable Chasing it straight We study that well, he's not really humiliated at least. Mr. Stern is jolly we're gonna have to bat again That's something we were used to them winning by an innings Way, he scored the runs and the belligerent manner which she completely crucified the Australian attack Was one of the great things to behold I'll never forget it You know you hope the guy was going to come good in his gonna, you know do the turnaround again he obviously had The chutzpah to be able to do that Australia needed a song which was not gigantic, but at least there was a total posted because of this remarkable earnings from both He was written off quite a few of his colleagues had written him off as fire. I'll show them. I'll come back Honey, did it was a couple of Australians in the background. They're looking Probably a little less happy than they were in the first thing that warning He's gone from being Near zero to hero as they say Forty five not out. He came to the wicket when England were in dire straits of a hundred and five four five it has been a phenomenal and Now for today's good news, here's David Icke with tales of a hero returned Yes, indeed how fortunes can change in sport in both of the lead of the England cricket captaincy Even then the expectation was that the Australians would win by five or six wickets Australia needed 130 to win not many runs is it? If I remember rightly, they got over fifty or so there were fifty odd for one They needed sixty odd runs with nine wickets, they didn't factor him rgd Willis on a mission Difficult delivery, he's gone and there was Bob Willis who had a very extraordinary Demeanor eyes like castles in the snow stand there looking furious mop of curly had them But he could steam in but Willis was quite down Hadn't been selected initially for this match was not very fit Had lost his role as the strike bowl as the opening fast bowler. Bob Willis was very keen to Bowl really said he wants to get angry and He was already very angry because he'd been written off in quite a few of the papers. Yeah, there was a lot of tension there You know saving one's International career probably number one Proving the selectors wrong for originally leaving me out of the side and obviously giving two fingers to the Press and media. The Standard of journalism in this country has gone down the neck completely People have to rely on Small-minded quotes from players under pressure for their stories where they used to write about cricket They don't seem to be able to do that anymore See that in him and finally really threw him the ball And we said to him bow fast and straight Just bold as if he was in a trance And to this day you watch him bow and you can see his eyes are somewhere else no high five There's no running around slapping it on the back. He was gone That day he was possessed Boy one news bowl bowl bowl in the Anthony's underneath it and he goes One And it is one of the most fantastic victories ever known in Test cricket history Both of them in different ways. We're almost on their cricketer knees and then suddenly Out of nowhere come to performances the rank was the best that cricket has ever seen in all its long history was As unbelievable as Dunkirk It came in the perfect time not just for us as a team and myself as a player and Bob as a player But it came at the right time for the country. They needed something People don't spend their lives being fascinated to buying Clause 17 of the Social Security number to Bill But they are fascinated by great sporting events. And of course a great event light for that Lifted the whole nation. Yeah, I crypt the whole country not a shadow of doubt about that Well, let's take a break from politics for a moment. Something happened at Headingley today that was suspended It seems a pity to leave it to the end of the program It was such a remarkable win for England that it even had the hard men of Newsnight Jumping up and down and the city markets were practically brought to a standstill Everyone hating me definitely got to the Aussies they twitched They thought that you know, this was a one-off Miracle a sort of comic book boy's own story that couldn't possibly happen again all him Bothan restored his confidence and his conviction and his disinhibition I Didn't go to edge wisdom because I had one of the peat dennings wife, honey And her two daughters came to stay with me and it was glorious day We were in a very bad state in that match and looked almost certain to lose it We had all the kiddies in the paddling pool in the garden and everything and honey was she was the one who had thick the cricket off They only did 151 to win on a better pitch than the Headingley pitch He's out She said boss just got another wicked. You know, what's up. Great And there it was in both and we took 5 wickets for one run When the match was almost lost yeah education. You're gonna have to watch this Went to Old Trafford and we steamroll with them. That was a pretty good Saturday afternoon to be honest ultra It was remarkable that was Bothans finest spinning to my eyes, I'll Trafford was simply Both of at his best as a batsman. There was a simply outstanding performance One of the truly great items He demolished the Australian psychologically, they just wilted underneath his assault Yeah It was Australia running scared They went from being the person everyone reviled by being the captain that resigned who got the double duck at Lourdes into the hero What a super legit and established it into the annals of folklore Both thumbs ashes as that whole series was corn. It was a moment of glory for him genuine glory Win the series three two one We're two draws. It was Ian Bothan who just about won three matches on his own at Marvis century at Headingley And then he went on to a Jewish tomb where he took fire from one in that spell that knocked over the Australians for that Ridiculously small total and then another century up at old trafford. I really haven't seen anything like it in all the time I've been watching a cricket They had one hand and four fingers on the ashes urn, and he wrenched it from from Australia Korean it was a massive spring war You know from having had his stock at pretty much zero After two games. Yeah, it had risen massively by the time that series had finished and that was that was the catapult for Ian I think to you know, take that innate self belief of his to new heights They did change my life he has resuscitated cricket As a national game by his performances throughout the year. He is now in India and is he and both of my Things changed considerably after that He's our greatest all-rounder well it made him iconic Oh He was the biggest sport sterling Initially, it's it's exciting and but then everybody wants a piece of him How can you play this game for five days and have a draw if you just started watching it tomorrow? by the end of the test match You'd be a little bit wiser The children were growing up, you know Starting school wants to them to have the feet on the ground and by them having the feet on the ground I certainly had to have my feet on the ground and sometimes I had to kind of pull in I Felt I had to pull him back down occasionally We obviously had a really really privileged upbringing and we met some fantastic people over the years Liam and I had Elton John babysit for his once And Galton bought me my first ever ever proper watch meeting Eric Clapton going around cleaning his Ferrari As a kid being allowed anything and dressing room You know, how many kids do that now? You know, I lived in England dressing and when Dad was there and because no one was at the boss to turn around Stace Aw, you know your son shouldn't be here It made him And it's sort of broken as well For Ian nothing is ever straightforward is it nothing is ever simple? He believed the myth of in both and more than anyone He thought all I have to do is you know Swing the bat have a have a go and it'll come off and it meant it was a justification for not practicing hard Whereas it could have been just a glittering career from then on in There were other things it seemed Came to the attention of those that watch what's gone wrong is a technique or temperament They see too fat too unruly doesn't he practice Doing the trick once again two years ago here both them almost Single-handedly won the ashes for England with a series of unbeatable performances with both bat and ball this winter He's been a shadow in one sense of his former self where the result that England had to struggle throughout There's no chance of him repeating what he'd done in 81, but people expected him to And he didn't do it and England lost the series and he was a grave disappointed All by ball over by over the Australians humiliated our best all-rounder I Guess he didn't take what more than three years or so before the You know the papers were looking at him from a different angle and on a different page But it was very wild for a while Kind of lost a bit of discipline. I remembered trying to put him to bed one night and You've got to play tomorrow go to bed and we both like to drink Superstar smoke my wife says he's issued a libel written against the baddest players there's tabloid Wars going on the bull the bull that was flying around and Some of the stuff I just sat down and thought how the health over play cricket Ian Botham says allegations that he smoked cannabis are totally untrue. It was ridiculous. It was ridiculous and Going up to my children. What's your daddy? What's she dead drink and stuff like this I'll get a life go away off the field to both in short fuse has got him into trouble He was arrogant. He made a lot of mistakes with the press and probably did some stuff. He shouldn't have done It just seems everything I do people are going out of their way to try and knock down Ian both him and his wife Kathy were arrested at their home on New Year's Eve on suspicion of a latest drug offenses Do you believe it? I don't believe it Hey, then the guy he was a boy from Taunton come in and he'd suddenly he was you know A world-famous person if you're involved in something and you read you think well, I know that's not true But if your family's ten thousand miles away, it can be a little bit awkward How much of it is around for to you thing? Oh no more than 70% The lowest point I've seen him would have been when I guess all the stuff in the car being here would have hit the fan The weight would have affected his family Ian Botham has been talking about the sex and drugs allegations made against him by Lindy Field a former Miss Barbados She claimed they've had an affair during the test series and had taken cocaine together it was difficult and there were certain times when I think having a go at me personally or and questioning our relationship our marriage So you didn't go I Would like to think I have far better taste on that. It was just unbelievable. I think We were front-page news From page news and front page news not just of the tabloids but of the some of the broadsheets as well It's unbelievable It had where she's moving outside the house and when you've sort of looked into it It was some it was a photographer disguised as a bush trying to get photos And yeah There's times where you knew that people were being set up and women would jump out and there'd be a snap photo you think what what was that and then it's gone and then It's in a newspaper, but we were very much shielded from that She's the rocker family without a shadow of a doubt. She's a very very strong woman And what she's been through not many people would have done and I've got the utmost respect You know, I love my dad to bits as a as a father and as a brother But he'd be a nightmare to live with and you know, you've got to give my mother a big medal for that I think she's branded herself and it's There's no secret to people that know it apparently as it's coming out so it's now a case of us putting it all together and painting the true picture of Miss Lindy film England begins their fourth Test against the West Indies in Trinidad tomorrow Morale amongst the English players is said to be low and now there's been new allegations about Ian Botham and drugs we have that tour selection meeting and it's Safe to say that not everyone was convinced that Ian both mustard play the next Test match And that sounds extraordinary doesn't it you think about in both them who he was the player he was It wasn't the first time I'd had to defend him wasn't the first time I had to say well look You know Ian both the museum both them. He does things that other people don't and when he does them Well, he does them far better Than other people and that's what you have to remember By 1986 pretty much the end of the West Indies tour that a controversial and fairly disastrous West Indies tour 1986 He finally had to admit that he had in the past taken drugs Today's papers are speculating that this will be the end of both thumbs astonishing career as a Test cricketer Why didn't use drugs I smoked marijuana once Once or twice my late teens early twenties This was something you denied pretty violently for two years Fairly quickly the cricket establishment said in your outlines and he was banned for two months But he what he did actually do funnily enough was early cement him as an anti-establishment Figure which he'd always been really and after that he was an anti-establishment here If all is well with the world such men will not emerge The more dire the circumstances the more desperate the situation We're gonna make a few mistakes along the way If you continue to do and you don't learn from those mistakes, well you have every right to to go through what you go through When you're quite willing to to make the changes and to do the necessary things to move on. It's a great achievement She did sell very close to the wind on many Occasions you have to do something if the public opinion is kind of turning against you or journalists are turning against you His first charity walk took place when his reputation was going through a rocky period It all started 77 after playing at Leeds, I broke the bone in my foot and went to the hospital and Surgeon took me through to the physio department. I said to Davis. What are these boys doing? Here? I said they look All right Fine what they just mates visiting Lee said now they've got a thing called leukemia and I didn't even know I never heard of this Disease in laymen terms. It's cancer of the blood and I said well they look fine He said well sadly there won't be here very shortly There's not much more we can do for him in terms of other people's needs. He's always Been alive to the needs of other people particularly people less fortunate Than himself and that a memorable visit to the leukemia ward in that hospital Certainly, click something in his brain. I was going to a hospital every day and I saw these kids disappear I thought this is this is crazy. And what can I do and we used to go walking all the time? Up in the Lake District over Easter might have you with that all the dogs. So I said right. I'm going to a sponsored walk the first walk from John O'Groats to Land's em was you know a triumph or you Ian Botham was batting filmsters like these Leukemia patients in London's Great Ormond Street Hospital haven't got any message any advice It seems some daud-you nothing could be able to make it I'm sure you I think it's The biggest thing for me was to see the people when Dad first started and a couple of them who were Seriously ill and with leukemia then to be able to come on to walk and enjoy join it with dad, you know There's sort of my age now In hospital Comes at the end of my treatment about four five months the end of it and it was all over the papers at beef He was starting off in in John O'Groats and making his way down down the country He was the guy that was was smashing the balls around he was the one that sort of said what he thought about things And then I turn around said to my mum dad I'd like to go and meet him and We went along for the day got introduced as he was walking along and said the come on you're walking with me now Grace was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic Leukemia, she was just three Those days chance of survival for the most common form of childhood leukemias 20% So it's basically a desperate He just had no chance and it was awful The amount of Research that's been able to happen just because of the money that he's raised has been absolutely phenomenal The amount that he's put into it and the dedication he's put into it means that children like grace Go on to lead a normal happy healthy life My sister was born in the first-ever walk back in 1985 So it's been a part of it friends and family are all the crew I think that's number 14 or 15 walk coming up cricket was my target initially and I was Pretty selfish really about that in many ways because the dressing-room saw more of me than the family but now we can actually do it as a family this the second phase and so we've gone from the creating family now to the Leukemia Lymphoma I organized it. I walk as much as I as I can but yeah, we'll just keep on going She's almost 1 year post-treatment she leads a wonderful life The survival run up into the 90s for the most common form of childhood leukemia It doesn't surprise me at all that a man who was born with so many gifts should use those gifts to help other people 26 years now. We'll just keep doing every two years To think that he's done this from walking into a hospital it's just unbelievable Absolutely, unbelievable at what an achievement has it not been for Syrian. It would be a completely different story for us today So I think we'll be forever grateful for everything. He's done No, praise is too high for those efforts and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Research Fund really appreciate them To think that these children that go long on these walks now sort of have to ask the dad who he is. It's just unbelievable Effectively either legend I Went up his home and he took me in the back room and we just have to hurry It's and he pushed me in my chest. He said could you imagine this? Two scumbags in those days, you know Given the privilege of being called surgeon and we just laughed The man with the self-belief The man with the ability to say I'm going to win this now Is the man who comes out on top and for so much of IANS career? He had that ability and timing to do that And now he really is going to go east Maybe you'll see over and he's hit that one straight down the ground the Magnificent betting performance By one of the greatest all-rounders of all time Picture whore is dating phobic if I was out there in the middle enjoying myself Then hopefully the guys who've paid the money to come and sit in the stands to watch it are enjoying it as well, and it really wasn't any no complicating that I Don't think I can name three people. I've known as much more who have given me more sheer pleasure than Sir Ian Terence birth Mike brainy tells the story of the 1980 ones his series against Australia archive on radio for this Saturday a date
The talented fat bastard broke a lot of hearts that series. He killed us.
Good work mate. Hard to find gems like these.