49     Julian Fitter

Left-Hand Bat
M      I        R     NO     HS    AVG      C(WK/out)
83   77   1060   7     84   15.14        1/22

Slow Bowler
W       R           O      M         AVG       Best
54   1521   301.4   20     28.17   4 for 21 vs. Fencibles 1992

Batting head-gear: Cap

Tours: 21

Debut: 10.09.1982  House: Reckitt  At LP: 1957-1962

The year after Joker Julian Fitter left Leighton Park at the age of 18 in 1962 he boarded a converted fishing vessel from Faversham, Kent and disappeared to the Tropical Pacific and then the South Atlantic and was scarcely seen in Britain for nearly 16 years. When he returned he was informed of the OLCC and applied for a game in East Anglia but failed to turn up much to the annoyance of the Good Doctor who stood down to make way for this intrepid traveller.

Julian finally made his debut at Compton House near Yeovil on 10 September 1982. On arrival he was not recognisable as none of us had seen him for 20 years and now sporting a beard and aged 38, but the give away was the bouncing walk up the lane and the familiar sound of laughter. In that first game he received an unusual welcome in that the captain, Dominic Beer, brought him on to bowl and in his first over for the club he took a wicket and was promptly taken off and not brought on again ! A funny club he thought , but in return he has been the funny one laughing his way through the past 27 years.

Julian's main characteristic is his laughter and so much so that he soon became a member of the 'Joker' club and his jovial and light hearted attitude to life was the main reason why the OLCC became known as 'The Home of Jovial Cricket'. This joviality has twice landed Joker Julian in hot water with his captain and senior professional, Andrew "Mickey" Moss. In Paris at the Standard Athletic Club, we were up against it and it was important that we batted sensibly; Joker was at the crease and swung at a delivery in an irresponsible fashion and holed out at mid wicket, to which Mickey asked him "What did you do that for?" To which the famous words came "Well, that's the way I play it !" Following this and other failings, Mickey told us that we had played like a load of merchant bankers ! The second occasion was in a home game when Mickey stopped the bowler in his tracks to reprimand Joker for talking and laughing too much in the field. But as Neil "Clangers" Clayton said referring to his school days: "Fitter always was a bloody nuisance".

A certain fondness for red wine has become Julian's other trait and when the club first visited the Loire Valley, Joker was one of the first to sign up ! The red wine or the effect of it twice came to the fore. One was the sight of Joker emerging from a vineyard with a sack trolley loaded with half a dozen cases of wine and the other was an experience not be repeated by two of our members who accepted a lift in Joker's car along the banks of the Loire and found themselves on the left hand side of the road for most of the journey (not a good idea in France) and they very nearly became even more acquainted with the River Loire than they had bargained for.

Joker Julian's cricketing skills are those of a swashbuckling left handed batsman and a slow loopy bowler, but his main attribute was once described as his striking resemblance to W.G. Grace. Whatever these qualities may be, you will go a long way before you find someone else who is so cheerful and looks on the bright side of life as Julian does.   GWVC

desert island discs
1) La Traviata - Verdi
2) Violin Concerto - Beethoven
3) Rocky Mountain High - John Denver
4) My Old Man's A Dustman - Lonnie Donnegan
5) The Magic Flute - Mozart
6) We Shall Not Be Moved - Joan Baez
7) Ramblin' Boy - Tom Paxton
8) Brandenburg Concertos - J.S.Bach

Book: Voyage of The Beagle - Charles Darwin

Luxury Item: Lap-Top with Solar Panel

Three films
1) The History Boys
2) Bobby
3) The Lord of The Rings (all 3)


Favourite Graham Carter nick-name: Arthur

Cheese or Chocolate: Combination
Beer or Wine: Wine
Tea or Coffee: Coffee
Boys or Girls: Either or Both
Greenland or Ibiza: Greenland
Wet Shave or Dry Shave: Beard


W.G. or Bradman: Bradman
Botham or Sobers: Sobers
Pietersen or Boycott: Pietersen
Marshall or McGrath: Trueman
Read or Jones: Evans
Warne or Murali: Wardle
Hair or Bowden: Bowden


For Room 101...
1) Mid-lane motorway drivers
2) The Premiership
3) The English Climate