# Rex Alston > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Rex_Alston > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Rex_Alston.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Alston > Source revision: 1352238305 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|British radio sports broadcaster (1901–1994)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Use British English|date=July 2012}} thumb|right|Rex Alston in the 1960s'''Arthur Rex Alston''' (2 July 1901 – 8 September 1994) was a leading sports commentator for [BBC radio](/source/BBC_radio) on [cricket](/source/cricket), [rugby union](/source/rugby_union), [athletics](/source/Sport_of_athletics) and [tennis](/source/tennis) from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. ==Early life and education== Alston's middle name at birth was "Reginald", but he subsequently changed it to "Rex".[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/204/204348/204348.html CricketArchive profile]. Retrieved 4 August 2014. His father was [Arthur Fawssett Alston](/source/Arthur_Fawssett_Alston), the third [Bishop of Middleton](/source/Bishop_of_Middleton). Alston was a pupil at [Trent College](/source/Trent_College), Derbyshire, before going on to study at [Clare College, Cambridge](/source/Clare_College%2C_Cambridge). A considerable sportsman in his own right, he obtained a [Cambridge Blue](/source/Cambridge_Blue) for athletics in 1923, captained [Bedfordshire County Cricket Club](/source/Bedfordshire_County_Cricket_Club) in 1932, and played on the wing for [Bedford](/source/Bedford_Blues) and [Rosslyn Park](/source/Rosslyn_Park_F.C.) rugby clubs. ==Career== Alston was a schoolmaster at [Bedford School](/source/Bedford_School) from 1924 to 1941, before joining the BBC. He was originally a billeting officer, but it was soon realised that his voice – a clear, light baritone – was too good for him to remain in an administrative role. He remained on the BBC staff until 1961, and continued broadcasting for a few years after that as a free-lance. He wrote on cricket and rugby for the ''[Daily Telegraph](/source/Daily_Telegraph)'' and ''[Sunday Telegraph](/source/Sunday_Telegraph)'', continuing to report on [county cricket](/source/county_cricket) for the former until 1987. He also had a column in ''[Playfair Cricket Monthly](/source/Playfair_Cricket_Monthly)''. His first international cricket commentary was on the Old Trafford ["Victory Test"](/source/Victory_Tests) in 1945, as a deputy for [Howard Marshall](/source/Howard_Marshall_(broadcaster)). He quickly became an ever-present in a [Test match](/source/Test_cricket) commentary team which included [John Arlott](/source/John_Arlott) and [E. W. Swanton](/source/E._W._Swanton), and also was the producer. He commented on about a hundred Tests in all, many of them after the launch of [Test Match Special](/source/Test_Match_Special) in 1957 expanded the coverage to include the full day's play rather than only portions of it. His last Test was in 1964. Alston continued to commentate on Cricket alongside [Godfrey Evans](/source/Godfrey_Evans) for ITV's coverage during the late 1960s/early 1970s. ==Later life== Alston had the unsettling experience of reading his own [obituary](/source/obituary) in ''[The Times](/source/The_Times)'' in 1985. A misunderstanding led to his obituary being published, instead of merely updated for the files. By an unfortunate coincidence, Alston had collapsed the previous evening at a dinner, and was a patient at the [Westminster Hospital](/source/Chelsea_and_Westminster_Hospital) at the time. Next year he remarried, and so became almost certainly the only man to have his death and marriage reported in ''The Times'' in that order. ==Writing== Alston wrote a number of books, including: *''Taking the Air'', [Stanley Paul](/source/Stanley_Paul_(publisher)), 1951. *''Over to Rex Alston. A commentary on the 1953 Australian tour'', Frederick Muller Ltd, 1953. *''Test Commentary: An Account of the Australian Tour of 1956'', Stanley Paul, 1956. *''Watching cricket: An aid to the appreciation of first-class cricket, and a guide to the laws (Sports books)'', Phoenix House, 1962. *''Rothmans Rugby Yearbook 1973-74'', The Queen Anne Press Ltd, 1974. *''One Hundred Years of Rugby Football; a History of Rosslyn Park Football Club 1879-1979'' (Editor), 1979. ==References== {{reflist}} *''Barclay's World of Cricket - 2nd Edition'', 1980, Collins Publishers, {{ISBN|0-00-216349-7}}, p652. *[https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/test_match_special/legends/2938996.stm Rex Alston by Peter Baxter, Producer of Test Match Special] *[http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/236517.html Wisden obituary] {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Alston, Rex}} Category:1901 births Category:1994 deaths Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Category:BBC sports presenters and reporters Category:Bedford Blues players Category:Bedfordshire cricketers Category:Cricket writers Category:English cricket commentators Category:English cricketers Category:English men athletes Category:English rugby union players Category:English sportswriters Category:People educated at Trent College Category:Schoolteachers from Bedfordshire Category:20th-century English sportsmen --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rex Alston](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Alston) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Alston?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.