David currently lives in Cheltenham but he tells us the story of how his Dad and wider family introduced him to the game of cricket and how his love of that led him into a lifelong relationship with Glamorgan County Cricket Club.
He was an avid collector and kept scrapbooks full of paper cuttings about his favourite players as well as the England team. It was one these scrapbooks that encouraged him to write his first book about cricket, 'In the Shadow of Packer'. Published by Pitch in 2016 the book tells the story of England's Winter Tour to Pakistan and New Zealand in 1977/78.
David talks to us about his upbringing and writing that first book. He has become a consistently interesting writer about the game, self publishing a number of further books, monographs and pamphlets. They have covered some of the perhaps less well known teams and individuals and have included works on the Pakistan Eaglets who were regular visitors to the UK in the 1950s and 1960s as well as pieces about Gilbert Jessop, William Woof and a forthcoming publication on ex Glamorgan and Western Province all rounder Peter Swart.
David's enthusiasm for the game remains and his commitment to writing about it has delivered some lovely gems about our cricketing past. If you want to keep up to speed with David's output you can follow him on Twitter (@BattersbyDave) or email him directly:
dave@talbot.force9.co.uk
We hope you enjoy spending 30 minutes or so in the company of an avid fan whose writing reflects a deep love of the game of cricket.