A popular figure when he turned out for the Village from the late-1960s and into the ‘70s, English went on to become a music mogul, charity fundraiser, children’s author and actor.

Former MHVCC chairman Ted Kelly described his ex-teammate as “a real character, loved for his off-field banter and always funny at the bar.”

English also played football for the club. Kelly describes one occasion when English, who played on the right wing, turned up for a football match but had forgotten his boots and ended up playing the whole match in cricket spikes, which he’d mistakenly brought along instead.

Kelly also recalls a time about 25 years ago when he saw English had parked his sports car near the garage on the backfield of the club and was with a young woman. Kelly feared the worst but rather than getting up to any mischief, English had brought the woman along to bowl at him against the garage wall.

Described as the “godfather of English cricket” by the Daily Telegraph, English was best man at Ian Botham’s wedding and for decades ran the annual Bunbury Festival that brought together the most talented young cricketers in the country.

It was at Mill Hill Village Cricket Club that English says he came up with the idea for the “Bunbury Tails”, a much-loved series of children’s books about cricket-playing rabbits. In a wide-ranging 2019 interview with sports journalist Neel Khagram posted on YouTube, the Nan Clark's Lane resident explained where he got the idea from: ”My club was Mill Hill Village. One day, me and [“Bunbury Tails” illustrator] Jan Brychta were at Mill Hill Village watching the cricket and a rabbit ran across the field and I said, ‘Hey, there’s Ian Buntham. … There’ll be Viv Radish from Bunnybados’ and as I was rabbiting on - pun intended - Jan was sketching … It led to 16 books, they became the ‘Bunbury Tails.’”

English is pictured above (on the left) receiving a cheque from former first-team club footballer Alan Coates on the occasion of the club's 125th anniversary in 1993. The £5,000 was donated by United Biscuits, where Coates was a director.

English, born in Isleworth in 1946, grew up in Hendon and went to the same northwest London school - Bell Lane Primary - as batting great Denis Compton. English went on to play cricket for Middlesex 2nd XI, MCC, Cross Arrows CC (who mainly consist of Lord’s ground staff, of which English was one for a time), MHVCC and Finchley CC and had a successful career in media and then show business, which saw him manage Eric Clapton and the Bee Gees, at the height of their success, in the 1970s. His label once had five Top 10 records in the US Billboard chart in the same week.

But cricket remained his first love. English’s Bunbury Festival saw the best under-15 cricketers in the land compete against each other. Many future greats including Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid came through the festival: the trio starred as England beat Pakistan in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup final at Melbourne Cricket Ground, a day after English’s passing - the team wore black armbands to pay tribute. T20 captain Jos Buttler tweeted: “So sad to hear the news of David English passing away. One of life’s great characters, so fun to spend time with and producer of some of the best English cricketers through his wonderful Bunbury Festivals. RIP.”

According to the England and Wales Cricket Board, by 2021, 1,044 Bunbury Festival players had gone on to play first-class cricket and 118 had earned international honours with England.

English also formed his own scratch XI, named of course the Bunburys, which pitted celebrities and players past and present together to raise cash for cricketing charities. It has raised more than £17 million for good causes since 1986. English received an MBE in 2003 and a CBE in 2010.

View a MHVCC photo tribute to David English here.

MHVCC wants to hear reflections and memories of the remarkable David English from friends of the club so that we can continue to pay tribute online. Share your tributes, including any photos you may have, by emailing info@millhillvillagecricketclub.com or posting as a comment on our Facebook page here.