Head On--Ian Botham by Ian Botham

Author:Ian Botham
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781407028194
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

Chapter 7

ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER

I’D DONE WELL for England that summer, but I’d taken my eye off the ball as far as Somerset was concerned. Under my captaincy, we were having a miserable season. Viv and I were scoring plenty of runs. I had my best ever season for Somerset with the bat, scoring 1,200 championship runs including five centuries, and averaging over 100 for the season for the only time in my career. The spectators would have enjoyed it too, for I struck eighty sixes in all competitions that season. But I knew that I was not making a captain’s contribution in all areas of the game, on and off the field. Test calls and injuries meant that I was available for fewer than half of Somerset’s county games, and when I wasn’t away on England duty, I was spending far too much time listening to Tim Hudson’s grandiose plans rather than taking care of business for Somerset. Even without that, the demands of my England career made it ridiculous for me to be trying to captain my county as well, and in September I agreed to relinquish the role, with Peter Roebuck taking over the reins.

If that was another low point for me, that autumn also brought one of the most fulfilling events of my life. In 1977, when I saw those tragic children whose lives were being destroyed by leukaemia at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, I had just handed over £50 for a party. But as time went by, I started to think about how I could use my public profile to raise money for leukaemia research. I’d been making regular hospital visits to children suffering from the disease, but I felt there was so much more I could be doing. Above all, I wanted to do something dramatic that would bring in not just a few quid but a really substantial sum to help attack the causes of the disease. One Easter, on a walking holiday in the Lake District, Kath and I were agonising over the next move, when it hit me. ‘I know,’ I said. ‘Walking. That’s what I’ll do.’

She gave me the tolerant smile she reserved for my more crackpot schemes. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ll do a sponsored walk.’

‘Good idea,’ Kath said, probably thinking of a gentle afternoon stroll.

‘Yes, that’ll do it – a sponsored walk from John O’Groats to Land’s End.’

Whatever the obstacles, I would not be deterred; I only had to think of those dying children at Musgrove Park Hospital. Planning the walk in itself was a case of the blind leading the blind. I didn’t have the least idea of how to go about it, nor how many bureaucratic hurdles there were to clear, but I was determined to make it happen. I was greatly helped by Steve Andresier, who was just leaving Saab to set up on his own in marketing and promotions. I became his first client and he did a fantastic job for

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