15 Facts About Dennis Silk

Dennis Raoul Whitehall Silk was an English first-class cricketer and a public school headmaster, as Warden of Radley College, from 1968 to 1991.

Dennis Silk was a close friend of the poet Siegfried Sassoon, of whom he spoke and wrote extensively.

Dennis Silk's father was a medical missionary on a Native American reservation in the Sierra Nevada desert.

Dennis Silk was educated at Christ's Hospital and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he gained an MA in history and represented Cambridge University at cricket and at rugby.

Dennis Silk went on to play first-class cricket for Somerset as an amateur during the school summer holidays, but gave priority to his teaching career.

Dennis Silk seldom bowled his leg-breaks, and his single first-class wicket came in his second-to-last match, when he bowled Gerry Alexander in the MCC match against the Governor-General's XI in Auckland.

Dennis Silk later wrote two instruction books on playing cricket.

Dennis Silk chaired the Test and County Cricket Board from 1994 to 1996 and served as President of the MCC.

Dennis Silk was an honorary life vice-president of the MCC from 2000 onwards.

Dennis Silk was made a CBE in the 1995 New Year's Honours List for services to cricket and education.

Until Sassoon's death in 1967, Dennis Silk was one of his closest friends, and made several unique recordings of the poet reading his own work at Sassoon's home in Heytesbury, Wiltshire.

In 2009, Dennis Silk became president for life of the Siegfried Sassoon Fellowship.

Dennis Silk sat for the sculptor and former Radley College pupil Alan Thornhill, for a portrait in clay.

Dennis Silk married Diana Milton in Pitminster Church in Somerset in 1963.

Dennis Silk's death was marked by a Service of Thanksgiving held in Southwark Cathedral; 1,200 people attended, with representatives from Radley, Marlborough and the MCC.