Richard Knott

Richard Knott is a British historian, poet, and author whose books include cricket, aviation, war artists, and political history. He studied history at the University of London and worked as an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, a teacher, and a management consultant. His early publications included books about teaching English and a poetry anthology before his later concentration on modern history.

Knott’s cricket writing ranges from the illustrated quotation collection Cricket: Wickets, Wit and Wisdom to narratives about overseas tours. All-India and Down Under examines the game’s return after the Second World War, while Far from Lord’s follows England’s players and accompanying correspondents through tours between 1953 and 1969. These books connect competition with the political circumstances and personal demands surrounding it.

Knott’s historical interests often involve the relationship between public events and individual experience. His writing about wartime artists follows people whose work took them into danger, while the cricket histories consider travelers encountering cultures and conditions far from home. He has also written about MI5 surveillance of artists and writers. His poetry collections include Perfect Day and The Texan’s House, and his author biography identifies North Somerset as his home.

Cricket Books

Cricket: Wickets, Wit and Wisdom: Knott compiles illustrations and quotations about cricket from players, umpires, and spectators. Humor and reflection accompany observations on a game associated with both long traditions and prolonged periods of waiting. The collection presents different voices responding to competition, skill, and frustration, capturing the language that grows around cricket as well as the action taking place on the field. Published in 1996.

Far from Lord’s: England’s Cricketers and Correspondents on Tour: Knott follows England’s overseas tours between 1953 and 1969 through the experiences of players and the journalists traveling with them. Long absences, difficult conditions, and political tensions accompany matches led by captains including Len Hutton, Peter May, and Colin Cowdrey. The narrative builds toward unrest during the Pakistan tour of 1969, examining how international circumstances could overwhelm the sporting itinerary. Published in 2026.

Correspondents including Alan Ross, Ian Peebles, and Jim Swanton provide another perspective on the tours. Knott examines captaincy, selection, tactical caution, player behavior, and the management of months spent abroad. Illness and injury could affect an already demanding schedule, while debate about whether wives should accompany the team exposed competing expectations about professional commitment and personal life. The D’Oliveira affair places cricket’s administrative decisions within a particularly consequential international dispute.

All-India and Down Under: Peace, Partition and the Game of Cricket: Knott examines two tours undertaken as international cricket resumed after the Second World War. All-India visited England in 1946 while political upheaval approached at home; England then traveled to Australia for the first postwar Ashes. The account connects the matches with exhausted players, Walter Hammond’s difficult captaincy, and Britain’s changing relationship with an empire moving toward independence and partition. Published in 2023.

Other Books

The Sketchbook War: Saving the Nation's Artists in World War II: Knott follows eight British war artists whose work carried them from civilian studios into the Second World War. Their friendships, journeys, and encounters with fighting reveal the practical and emotional circumstances in which pictures were made. The account includes capture, shipwreck, and death, examining how military experience changed the artists and the visual record through which later generations understood the conflict. Published in 2013.