Another terrible loss for the Press Box.Christopher Martin-Jenkins was a massive inspiration to those of us who worked on the JM96*. Although we were the snotty-nosed speed snorting younger cousins of the TMS team, we still held the words of Messrs Blofeld, Johnston, Arlott & CMJ in the highest esteem. They were never the enemy, they were true believers - just like us!
They were schoolboy cricketers whose enthusiasm for the game challenged those on the pitch and even sometimes those in authority to take the game we love more seriously. The reason CMJ and his ilk were admired was that they were untarnished by on-field exploits and the monotonous belief that "cricket were much tougher in our day" (courtesy Mr FS Trueman, Sir Geoffrey etc).
CMJ was respected simply because he had not played the game at first class level, his words held weight because he had not played in the same team as Brian Close and his opinion was justified in most cases simply because he didn't have to justify his own statistics. Therefore despite his double-barrelled, St Bedes and Marlborough educated, slightly antiquated world view, his vision for the game was as valid as ours and therefore if he had ever ventured into the The Old Coffee House on Beak Street to one of our impromptu editorial meetings he could have held court as an equal and not an ex-pro with a Slazenger sponsored axe to grind.
And that is what makes his death such shame. The game of cricket, the press box and our lives will be all the more empty for his passing.
Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins, broadcaster and journalist, born 20 January 1945; died 1 January 2013
