Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus, CBE was an English writer and critic. From an impoverished home background, and mainly self-educated, he became The Manchester Guardian's cricket correspondent in 1919 and its chief music critic in 1927, holding the two posts simultaneously until 1940. His contributions to these two distinct fields in the years before the Second World War established his reputation as one of the foremost critics of his generation.
Cardus's approach to cricket writing was innovative, turning what had previously been largely a factual form into vivid description and criticism; he is considered by contemporaries to have influenced every subsequent cricket writer. Although he achieved his largest readership for his cricket reports and books, he considered music criticism as his principal vocation. Without any formal musical training, he was initially influenced by the older generation of critics, in particular Samuel Langford and Ernest Newman, but developed his own individual style of criticism—subjective, romantic and personal, in contrast to the objective analysis practised by Newman. Cardus's opinions and judgments were often forthright and unsparing, which sometimes caused friction with leading performers. Nevertheless, his personal charm and gregarious manner enabled him to form lasting friendships in the cricketing and musical worlds, with among others Newman, Sir Thomas Beecham and Sir Donald Bradman.
Cardus spent the Second World War years in Australia, where he wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald and gave regular radio talks. He also wrote books on music, and completed his autobiography. After his return to England he resumed his connection with The Manchester Guardian as its London music critic. He continued to write on cricket, and produced books on both his specialisms. Cardus's work was publicly recognised by his appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1964 and the award of a knighthood in 1967, while the music and cricket worlds acknowledged him with numerous honours. In his last years, he became a guru and inspirational figure to aspiring young writers.
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“It is the only one in existence that might conceivably have been composed by God.”
Of Mozart's "The Magic Flute"; Manchester Guardian (1961)
Preface to Ten Composers, August 1944.
Of Rachmaninoff's playing; Manchester Guardian (1939)
