Charles Burgess Fry (born 25 April 1872 in Croydon, died 7 September 1956 in Hampstead) was an English sportsman.

Fry is most noted for his cricket achievements, including six consecutive centuries in first-class matches and a first-class career in which he averaged over 50. His achievements also extended to Ireland and in an FA Cup final; Rugby Union where he played for the University of Oxford, Blackheath and the Barbarians; and athletics, where he equalled the then world record of 23 feet 6 1/2 inches (7.18 metres) in 1892 (tied with the American Charles Reber). This is often incorrectly claimed to have stood as a world record for 21 years, but this length of time actually only refers to how long he held the varsity record _ his shared world record only stood until September 1894.

Away from sports, he was a deputy for the Indian delegation at the League of Nations and stood (unsuccessfully) as a Liberal candidate for parliament in Sussex. It is often stated that he was offered the throne of Albania when he was a delegate to the League of Nations.

During his time at Sussex County Cricket Club, he is well rembered for his batting partnership with Indian Prince Ranjitsinjhi for both county and England. This partnership created a friendship which would last into the 1920s. When Ranjitsinjhi became one of India's three representatives at the League of Nations, he took Fry with him as a speech writer.

In the 1920s, Fry's mental health, started to deteriorate. In India in the late 1920s, he had a major breakdown and became thoroughly paranoid. For the rest of his life, he dressed in bizarrely unconventional clothes and had frighteningly eccentric interludes. He developed a horror of Indians, including his friend Ranjitsinjhi.

In the 1934, he met Hitler and became mesmerised by him. He failed to persuade von Ribbentrop that Nazi Germany should take up cricket to Test level, but some Hitler Youth boys were made welcome at the Mercury training ship and Fry was still expressing enthusiasm for them in 1938. He died in 1956, a "grand old man of sport".

He is related to Stephen Fry.

References

• "Life Worth Living", Autobiography, 1939, Reprinted by Pavilion Books Ltd., in 1986
• "C.B. The Life of Charles Burgess Fry" by Clive Ellis, J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., (1984). ISBN 0460046543
• "CB Fry: An English Hero" by lain Wilton, Richard Cohen Books, 1999. ISBN 0186066170 (download as an Ebook (http://www.authorsonline.co.uk/New/Synopsis.asp?eBookID=37))
• "The Captain's Lady" (a biography on his wife Beatrice [ne, Sumner]), by Ronald Morris (TS Mercury old-boy), Chatto & Windus, 1985. ISBN 0701129468
• "Hamble, A Village History" (chapter on Beatrice Fry's Training Ship Mercury), by Nicolas Robinson, Kingfisher Railway Publications, 1987.

External links

• Cricinfo Player Profile : Charles Burgess Fry (http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/PLAYERS/ENG/F/FRY_CB_01000187/)
• New light shed on CB Fry: A brilliant cricketer, a memorable character (http://www.cricket.net/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/1999/SEP/004527_DAWN_20SEP1999.html)

• Memories of Training Ship (TS) Mercury, 1941 (http://www.trainingships.royalnavy.co.uk/mercurylife.htm) Mercury Old Boy's Association (http://members.aol.com/scrambag/ContactsandLinks.htm)