Stephen Fry, the actor and comic, has been named as the subsequent President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) after his appointment was ratified on the membership’s annual basic assembly, right here on Wednesday.

Fry, a lifelong cricket supporter, is a patron of the MCC Foundation, and delivered a memorable MCC Cowdrey Lecture final yr. He was nominated for the function by the present President, Clare Connor, and can take over when her time period ends on October 1.

“I’m honoured and proud to be nominated as the subsequent President of MCC. It is a membership that’s recognized all through the world for what it represents within the recreation and to be gifted the chance to carry out this function is actually humbling,” Fry said in a statement.

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“I thank Clare for this incredible opportunity and I look forward to supporting her as President Designate over the summer before commencing my own innings in the autumn,” he added.

The 64-year previous Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, writer, playwright, journalist, poet, comic, tv presenter and movie director. He can also be an advocate for psychological well being and has been President of Mind, the psychological well being charity, for over a decade.

An MCC Member since 2011, he’s broadly recognized to be a lover of cricket and delivered the twentieth MCC Cowdrey Lecture in November 2021. As solely the second non-cricketing character to provide the Lecture, following Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 2008, his impassioned speech was each highly effective and memorable, and included the suggestion that Yorkshire had exuded a “mephitic stink” during their handling of the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.

“When he [Rafiq] said today that he didn’t want his son to go anywhere near cricket my heart fell to my boots. But actually that simple statement crystallises everything, it gives us a clear human image that says it all. It is a rallying cry,” Fry mentioned throughout his speech.

“Unless all our nation’s little children with the expertise and want to have a life in cricket are assured that cricket will wish to have a life with them, the spirit of cricket, its very flame, will flicker and exit. Let’s dedicate ourselves to making sure that that can by no means occur,” he added.

The current President Connor said Stephen will be a wonderful ambassador for MCC.

“I am thrilled to be able to announce Stephen as my successor. He has a deep love and care for cricket and will be a wonderful ambassador for MCC.The Cowdrey Lecture he delivered last year was inspiring and showed the extent to which he understands the challenges and opportunities that both MCC and cricket face. He will bring a wealth of experience to the role and I hope he thoroughly enjoys his year,” mentioned Connor.

Wednesday’s annual basic assembly at Lord’s was the primary to be held in a hybrid format, with members attending in particular person on the floor in addition to on-line. This follows the earlier two years the place conferences have been held solely on-line because of the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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