Taunton

Next season, for the first time in a few years, the Bears have a four-day game at Taunton. It will offer a chance to reflect on the true glory of cricket, particularly the truly glorious history of cricket. And Arnold Ridley.

How evocative it is to visit a famous old cricket ground and picture feats to have unfolded there. And people who have passed through - not just players but fascinating people with little or no aptitude for the sport but a deep love for it.

Arnold Ridley was such a man. And a man of fascinating parts.

Most famed, of course, for his brilliantly low-key portrayal of the doddery Private Godfrey in Dad's Army, Ridley actually fought in both world wars. He was in the thick of the Battle of the Somme. Three times he was invalided out and sent back into that vile slaughterfest. With typical under-statement, he later reflected that "the first war knocked me about a bit".

Ridley went on to become a fine writer and actor but the strongest thread running through his life was a love of cricket. In particular, Somerset cricket. Many hours across many decades he spent at the lovely county ground. How evocative it is to picture, say, a day in the 1920s and Ridley, fresh from the horrors of the Somme, entering the ground and settling down to watch play. Would he sit by himself and quietly enjoy the cricket? Or attend with friends? Did he pop in during breaks from writing and ponders his plots while a championship match unfolded?

And much, much later what did he make of Somerset's long-awaited success which arrived not long after his own belated rise into the public eye? In the 1970s, Ridley became a national treasure for his part in Dad's Army. And then late in that decade along came Botham, Richards, Garner, Dredge, Rose, Denning and co to supply the cider county with a golden era of cricket. Imagine ageing Arnold relishing those Lord's finals and wonderful semi-final wins inside packed Taunton.

Ah, the magic of cricket. The history. The brotherhood (and sisterhood) of cricket-lovers. The cast of millions. And all those grounds with so many tales to tell and so many secrets that will never again be told.

If you pop down to Taunton when the Bears visit in April, just picture dear old Arnold watching from a quiet corner in the 1960s or 1970s or long, long ago, dapper young Arnold, so much of his colourful life still in front of him.

The magic of cricket.