John Jackson (1833-1901) was noticed at an early age by William Clarke after moving from his native Suffolk to Wellow in Nottinghamshire. He soon became an integral part of the Nottinghamshire and All-England Elevens. Bowling fast round-arm – his pace was described as ‘fearful’ – he took wickets by the dozen all over the country as well as on tours of North America in 1859 and Australia and New Zealand in 1863/64. Injury brought his career to a gradual close during the late 1860s. Having no qualifications of any kind, Jackson had nothing to fall back on after his playing days had finished. The once great fast bowler ended his days in a Liverpool workhouse in 1901. Gerald Hudd charts the life of this great bowler who in a later era would undoubtedly have had a highly successful career in Test cricket and who might have had a more dignified old age.

For hundreds of years, the public house in its many guises, from urban gin palace to wayside coaching inn, has been a charming and quintessential feature of British life, and hence the names and signs associated with pubs are a constant reminder of our history, cultural heritage, folklore and local identity.The Wordsworth Dictionary of Pub Names is a fascinating compilation containing nearly five thousand absorbing entries and can be dipped into for fun or consulted on a serious level for intriguing and amusing information not readily available elsewhere. The local pub is an institution unique to the British Isles, but since English literature abounds with references to hostelries past and present, real and imagined, and no tourist's itinerary is complete without a visit to one or several on their route, its virtues are celebrated worldwide and readers everywhere will enjoy an affectionate and, perhaps, nostalgic browse through the pages of this entertaining dictionary.

For over a decade Luke Fletcher has been a firm fan favourite at Trent Bridge. This 6'6" gentle giant never gives less than 100 per cent for Nottinghamshire, but a laugh and a joke are never far from his lips. In Tales from the Front Line, 'Fletch' serves up laughs aplenty as he takes us on an anecdotal journey through our summer game.