Festival Event: Oliver Randall - Writers in Whites
Brendon Books CIC, Taunton, TA1 4ER
Thursday 24th September 2026
PG Wodehouse used his cricket-playing to launch his writing career. JM Barrie modelled the pirates in Peter Pan after his cricket teammates. Arthur Conan Doyle named Sherlock Holmes after a cricketer he’d played against. They all belonged to a network of cricket-playing writers, who collectively left a permanent legacy on English culture. Based on a wealth of new research, Writers in Whites tells the story of this group, from Jerome K Jerome via Evelyn Waugh to Michael Morpurgo. In doing so, it reveals cricket’s influential – and sometimes controversial – role in London’s literary world, from the 1880s to the 1960s.
Ollie Randall is a writer, historian and cartoonist. He completed his doctoral thesis, ‘Cricket, Literary Culture and Englishness, 1887-1968’, in January 2026. Ollie has written articles for a variety of publications, most frequently for the Times Literary Supplement. He has worked as the historical researcher for a former leader of the House of Lords, and as a tour manager on cultural tours. His second book, Lord’s and Maharajas – about the political intrigue and imperial crisis that shaped the origins of Indian international cricket – is due out in autumn 2026.
Ollie Randall is a writer, historian and cartoonist. He completed his doctoral thesis, ‘Cricket, Literary Culture and Englishness, 1887-1968’, in January 2026. Ollie has written articles for a variety of publications, most frequently for the Times Literary Supplement. He has worked as the historical researcher for a former leader of the House of Lords, and as a tour manager on cultural tours. His second book, Lord’s and Maharajas – about the political intrigue and imperial crisis that shaped the origins of Indian international cricket – is due out in autumn 2026.
