AUTOGRAPHED!

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 389, 22 March 1937, Page 3

AUTOGRAPHED!

Girl’s Calf Adorned by Test Cricketer. The eternal question of autograph hunting is causing the English cricketers just as much concern and worry as it did on the previous tour. “Plum” Warner, the 1932-33 manager informed an Auckland “Star” reporter that he had handled over 10,000 books, for which he was, of course, personally liable to the owners. It would have been 50,000 if he had not been compelled to put the brake on. He pursued the reverse policy in Auckland, and would not take a book even from enthusiasts who had done a lot for him and his side when in New Zealand. There is a good story about a charming girl autograph-hunter on the Orohsay when W. M. Woodfnil’s team was returning with the Ashes in 1930. She had the distinction of having a cricketer’s autograph on her shapely calfl It wouldn’t be fair to tell who did it.

But the young lady was certainly as proud of that autograph as she was of the shapely calf it adorned. Coming home on the boat the cricketers were naturally pestered for autographs by their fellow passengers. and they obligingly- signed everything from menu cards to cheque books. Then one day a bright young lady on board asked for an autograph. She had no autograph book in her hand, no menu or card. The cricketers looked a trifle astonished till the young lady displayed a neat and shapely calf and informed the group that that was where she desired the autograph. A few r sheepish grins were exchanged before one member of the team jokingly picked up a fountain pen and, amid the chuckles of ■ his team mates, wrote his name on as trim a calf as there was to be found on the big mail steamer. And wasn’t

she proud of it! Even the growing fashion of long dresses didn’t induce her to hide that novel autograph. And rumour has it that she bathed for the rest of the trip with one leg out of the bath. Whose autograph was it? “Why bring that up.” But we’ll tell our readers this: It wasn't Bradman’s!