The iconic Keith Miller: A tribute

In 1980, Mihir Bose's book on Keith Miller was published. There he starts with an incident from the evening on which Garry Sobers retired from First-class cricket. He had broadcast a tribute on him and on the way back, he shared the staff car with one of his colleagues. When they started discussing cricket, she nonchalantly said that she stopped watching cricket ever since Keith Miller retired. She added, " I used to rush to Lord's whenever he was playing."

Miller last played in England in 1956. She was a schoolgirl at that time. She was not the only girl in England who was fascinated by the charm and charisma of Miller. Miller had spent his war years in England and had a lot of friends there.

John Rutherford, the first Western Australian to be selected to play for Australia, remembers that day when the Australians arrived in England for the 1956 Ashes series. " I looked in a paper when we got to London and saw that there was a performance of Beethoven's Ninth at Festival Hall, so I suggested to Keith that we go. And, as Keith walked in, all these people were coming up and saying: "Hello Keith, it's great to have you back." There must have been 50 or so, but Keith replied to them all by name."

No one other than Bradman reached to such heights in terms of popularity among people in a foreign land.