James Graham-Brown

James Martin Hilary Graham-Brown (born 11 July 1951) is a former English cricketer and schoolteacher. He is now a playwright who writes under the nom de plume Dougie Blaxland.

Early life and education

Graham-Brown was born at Thetford, Norfolk, the son of Lewis Graham-Brown and his wife Elizabeth Blaxland. He attended Sevenoaks School in Kent, playing in the First XI for several years and as captain in 1970, when he scored 403 runs at an average of 40.30 and took 45 wickets at 8.60. He went on to the University of Kent, where he obtained a First Class Honours degree in English Literature, and then to Bristol University, where he obtained a Master's degree in Philosophy.

Cricket career

Graham-Brown was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler who played for Kent, Derbyshire, Cornwall and Dorset between 1974 and 1991.

He started playing for Kent Second XI in 1972, and made his County Championship debut for the club in 1974. Bowling at a steady pace, he played in seven matches that season. He was also an effective bowler in one-day matches. On 1 September, playing against Lancashire in the John Player League, he took 3 for 4 off five overs and Kent won narrowly; six days later, also against Lancashire, in the final of the Gillette Cup, he took 2 for 15 off 12 overs, and Kent won again. However, he played only one first-class match and one List A match in 1975.

After five first-class and three List A games in the 1976 season, in which Kent finished in fourteenth place in the County Championship, Graham-Brown moved to Derbyshire for the 1977 season. His two years there were erratic, but after a healthy stint in the first team he gave up the first-class game in 1978. He took to Minor Counties Cricket in 1981, playing for Cornwall until 1984, and for Dorset from 1989 to 1991.

Graham-Brown's great-uncle, Lionel Blaxland, played first-class cricket for Derbyshire, primarily between 1932 and 1935.

Later career

He became a schoolteacher. He was Head of Truro High School for eight years before taking up the position of headmaster of the independent girls' school, the Royal High School, Bath, on Lansdown in Bath. In December 2009, after 11 years in the position, he retired.

He writes plays under the nom de plume of Dougie Blaxland. His one-man play When the Eye Has Gone, about the life and death of Colin Milburn, was performed around England in late 2016.

Plays

Dougie Blaxland's plays, with date of first performance:

Personal life

He lost the sight of one eye in 2013. His daughter, Annie Hemingway, is an actress.