Botham: the Legend of ’81 – get the video!

Cigar aficionado and destroyer of Aussie cricket?

If you missed seeing “Botham: The Legend of ’81”, a superb BBC documentary on the incredible story of how Ian Botham went from national zero to hero, not once but twice, download it by clicking on the link noted below. Even if you’re not that interested in cricket, this is worth watching.

See it on Youtube – for as long as it exists : )

Synopsis

The film deals with the most remarkable comeback story in English sporting history, and it all began 30 years ago. It is the story of a team so abject they had been written off completely, led by a man so distrusted and ridiculed that he was forced to resign his post for the sake of his family.

Days later, that same man, Ian Botham, produced a ‘boys own’ performance to inspire England to beat Australia against 500-1 odds. It was just the start of Botham’s Ashes. Having been reduced to zero once more we see how the anti-establishment Botham unwittingly became a national hero once again, this time through his tireless work to help children suffering with leukaemia.

Featuring contributions from Beefy, his family, colleagues and eyewitnesses such as Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Viv Richards, Sir John Major, Stephen Fry, Sir Elton John, Bob Willis and David Gower, this documentary charts one of English sport’s and cricket’s most colourful and controversial careers and tells its most enduring comeback story.

Beefy in Sri Lanka

Botham has also leant his considerable reputation to help the Foundation of Goodness, a Sri Lankan charity set up by Muttiah Muralitharan. On his regular trips to Sri Lanka he visited Seenigama post-Tsunami in 2004 and in 2011 he visited Mankulam post-war to support and publicise the plight of people affected by natural (Tsunami) and man-made (War) disasters.

Murali presenting a plaque to Beefy and Vaughn for their charity work in Sri Lanka.

Beefy, Michael Vaughan and Kumar Sangakkara at a press conference in Colombo on March 2011.

Botham promoting the Foundation of Goodness and his visit to Mankulam:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx_bOeHenqQ&feature=relmfu

How important is cricket?  The great Ritchie Benaud’s advice to aspiring commentators to avoid clichés like ‘disaster’ and ‘tragedy’ is worth repeating. “The Titanic was a tragedy, the Ethiopian drought a disaster, but neither bears any relation to a dropped catch.”