Tribute to Fred Titmus

Seaxe Man pays a fitting tribute to Middlesex and England legend Fred Titmus.

Tribute to Frederick John Titmus - Middlesex and England Legend.


I am honoured to pen a tribute to Fred for MTWD.

I will spilt this into two parts Test and County, and as much has been covered already in the obituaries columns in the national and sporting press, I will try to keep this tribute reasonably brief.

Frederick John Titmus was born at St Pancras, London on 24th November 1932. Though I have also seen his birthplace listed as Kentish Town, which by coincidence, was also the parish of my good mother.

Fred's Test career.

Fred, played in 53 Tests between 1955 and 1974/75. This remains the 5th highest number of Tests  for a Middlesex player.

He took 153 wickets and scored 1449 runs, so has the allrounder's double. His 153 wicket total is the second highest for a Middlesex player behind Gus Fraser.

One of his England highlights was his Test best of 7 for 79 in the 3rd Test at the SCG in the 62/63 Ashes series. In that analysis Fred took 4 wickets for 5 runs in 58 balls. Unfortunately not in a winning cause.

He took 21 wickets in that series. This remains the highest wicket total by an England off spinner in Australia.

I was pleased to see that Scyld Berry acknowledged this in his obituary piece in the Telegraph. Especially as I had to email Scyld  on the subject, after he omitted this information in his pre Ashes summary.

Scyld is rather Lanky/Surrey/Yorks concentric and therefore prone to overlook the The Mighty Middle and its players, and their England exploits.

Middlesex are at least the equals of his favoured three.

Fred had a nasty accident in the West Indies tour of 67/68, when a boating accident cost him four toes. Fortunately, as his Canadian surgeon remarked at the time, his big toe was spared which provides the balance. So he was able to carry on his career at both county and eventually England level.

He also had the honour of opening the batting with Geoff Boycott on Boycott's Test debut, 1st Test at Trent Bridge, of the 1964 Ashes Series.

His final Test was in the 5th Test of the 1974/75 series at Adelaide when Lillee and Thomson were at their serious best.They unsurprisingly blew England away 4-0 in that series.

His off spinning rivals in those days were J.C Laker of Surrey, Allen and Mortimore of Gloucs and Wardle of Yorks. So, his Test longevity was to his credit.


Fred's County career.

Debut in 1949 aged 16. Final match 1982 aged 49. He joined at that time a very strong Middlesex team of the Edrich/Compton era. However, that team who shared the Championship that year with Yorkshire, was in slow decline.

Our next Championship came 27 years later in 1976, and again as a tribute to Fred's longevity, he was a part of that side who along with Phil Edmonds and Norman Featherstone, formed a fine spinning trio who went through the oppo in August of that year which was a very long hot summer.

Lord's that season was more conducive to spin than any other that I can remember.

Feathers in fact took 30 wickets (pretty much in that month) and finished top of the national averages.

Fred's career spanned 5 decades from 1949 to 1982. Suffice to say, not likely to be repeated.

I was priveleged to see a fair part of that from the Sixties onwards.

He also played a cameo role in th 1982 Championship win, chipping in with a few crucial wickets in the win over Surrey at Lord's.


Personal memories.

I can remember a match at Bath where he took Somerset to task on a turning wicket. It was said that he did'nt spin the ball a lot, but his accuracy and flight were a byword.

I think that day he recorded his best figures of 9/52.

1973: Gillette semi v Sussex at Lord's. A stonking hot day. Chasing a low score, we were something like 120 odd for about 7 when Fred came to the rescue with the bat making 41.

However this effort was wasted by Dennis Marriot, late of Surrey, who with 5 runs required and 6 balls to get them in. Flailed at the first ball and had his stumps re-arranged with the competent John Price at the other end, waiting for strike. Marriot never played again for The Middle.

I would have to say Fred. When Greenidge rolled over about 8 times at mid wicket taking the catch. An umpires review would have been on the cards these days.

Pacing the kitchen in 1975 listening to the B and H semi v Warwickshire at Edgbaston. By the time Fred had finished his 11 overs, the Warwickshire West Indian middle order was in tatters ( I think we won by about 6 runs) and we reached the B and H final for the first time.


1976: the Championship win at The Oval. With The Middles's fans celebrating on the pitch and the team appearing (slightly shyly) on the balcony.


His 2361 wickets for Middlesex will remain unchallenged and his stats say 'our greatest ever bowler'.


Happy Days Fred. Rest in Peace. MTWD.

Seaxe Man