Fred Titmus

English cricketer
the cricketer

Frederick John Titmus (24 November 1932 – 23 March 2011) was an English cricketer, whose first class career, mostly for Middlesex with a shortish stint for Surrey, spanned five decades. Although he was best known for his off spin (though at first he bowled medium pace as well), he was an accomplished lower order batsman who deserved to be called an all rounder, even opening the batting for England on six occasions. Outside cricket, Titmus was also a footballer; at one stage he was contracted to Watford as a professional, having earlier played for amateur club Leytonstone, and then for Chelsea as a junior.

Educated at William Ellis School, Highgate, London, Titmus was in his school's first XI by the age of 13, and when 16 he wrote to Lord's, the ground being close to his home, to ask for a trial. He was accepted onto the ground staff after bowling only a few balls, and in June 1949 he made his first class cricket debut for Middlesex against Somerset at Bath, at the age of 16 years and 213 days, Middlesex's youngest cricketer ever at that point. He re appeared sporadically for Middlesex in 1979, 1980 and 1982. His last appearance came by accident: attending the Middlesex v Surrey match in 1982 as a spectator (aged 49), he was prevailed upon to play by Middlesex captain Mike Brearley, and the gamble paid off: Titmus took 3–43 on a pitch taking spin, and Middlesex won by 58 runs. He thus became one of the very few men to have played first class cricket in five decades (1940s1980s) (W. G. Grace was another). He created a Middlesex appearance record of 642, and took 2,361 wickets, another county record, in addition to racking up in excess of 20,000 runs. In it he revealed that he was born in Somers Town and that his family moved to Kentish Town in 1939. In his second autobiography, My Life in Cricket published in 2005, he was rather more forthright in his views of former playing colleagues, and depicted five decades of his playing career with passion. He also served as an England test selector from 1994 to 1996. He was the subject of the 1985 song Fuckin' 'Ell It's Fred Titmus on the album Back in the DHSS by the British band Half Man Half Biscuit.

Fred Titmus died on 23 March 2011, aged 78, after a long illness. He was married twice, firstly to Jean, and he was survived by his second wife, Stephanie. He had three children and two grandchildren.