The lunch break during BBC’s test match special today, at the first test between England and Sri Lanka In Manchester, was especially poignant today. Instead of a discussion of the morning’s play, cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew presented a tribute to the former England batsman Graham Thorpe, who recently took his own life. It was perfectly judged, as one has come to expect from Agnew, and deeply emotional. It was not just Thorpe, the brilliant cricketer, Agnew and his guests were discussing. It was also, more so, Thorpe the troubled human being, who had been through a traumatic divorce and had suffered from severe mental illness.
It was an interview with another former England batsman, Nasser Hussain, which did it for me. His voice was cracking as he spoke about his close friendship with Thorpe, but he remained clear and eloquent and made a point of stressing that what his friend was suffering from was mental illness. Those two words are vitally important. This is nothing to do with pulling yourself together. It’s an illness.
There was much discussion of how things were very different these days. In times gone by, said all the programme contributors, there was nothing by way of support for cricketers. Now, they said, things are different. And for a game like cricket, which has a staggeringly high suicide rate, it’s just as well.
If you think I am going to make the death of Graham Thorpe all about me, then you’d be wrong. I am mentally ill, but so far nothing like as ill as Thorpe was. In 2022, he attempted to kill himself and ended up in an Intensive Care Unit. His anxiety and depression ultimately consumed him until he came to believe that he was nothing more than a burden on his family and that the world would be a better place without him. In 2024, he made a further suicide attempt. This time, it was successful. I live a relatively normal life, if there is such a thing, and for me the drugs do work. I am the lucky one. Nothing worked for him. It’s all so sad.
Today’s tribute was worth the BBC licence fee on its own, it really was. It told a story of terrible tragedy, of a young life lost and a family devastated by unimaginable grief. All held together by Jonathan Agnew who in that moment was a journalist at the very peak of his powers. We like a laugh and a joke with Aggers, but this man can also to empathy in spades. By the conclusion of the tribute, Thorpe was not quite a friend but almost somebody that I used to know. Words can do that. And what words they were. If you use this link, go for the lunch break at about 1.00 pm. You won’t regret it but I guarantee you will be affected by it.
