My first thanks must go to the film director Stevan Riley. Fire in Babylon was his movie, and this book was his idea. Not only did Stevan suggest I should be the author, he generously handed over many hours of interviews he had collected during filming. They are the cornerstone of this book. Apart from all of that, Stevan has always been available for an easy-going word of advice and encouragement. Without him this book could not have been written.
I must also thank Ronald Austin. I first met Ronald in Georgetown, Guyana when I was researching my biography of Clive Lloyd in 2007. Ronald was my guide then and he has been again during the writing of Fire in Babylon. He describes himself only as ‘a man who loves cricket’ but he is so much more. He has a profound, analytical and deeply refined understanding of the game in the Caribbean and what it means to people who live there. I have quoted Ronald in several passages in Fire in Babylon, but his voice, his wisdom and his influence resonate throughout this book.
Two other friends – Simon Kuper and Paul Coupar-Hennessy – have been invaluable counsellors. When they had much better things to do, they corrected, rearranged and polished large parts of this manuscript. I cannot thank them enough for their patience and expertise.
The perspicacity of Frances Jessop and the tenacity of Charlie Brotherstone must also be mentioned. Fran is my discerning, deadline-extending editor at Yellow Jersey and Charlie is my literary agent at Ed Victor Ltd who did so much to kick this whole thing off.
I would also like to thank Laura Barraclough, Peter Biles, Stephen Bourne, David Bull, Wally Caruana, Mike Dunk, Jane Durie, Rob Durie, Cornelius Gaskin, Jack Houldsworth, Carl Hoyte, Tony Jaggs, Euel Johnson, Michelle McDonald, the National Archive of Antigua and Joe Smith.
Martin Adrien, Ronald Austin, Colin Babb, Tony Becca, Hilary Beckles, Harold Blackman, Geoffrey Boycott, Robin Buckley, Don Cameron, Stephen Chalke, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Brian Close, Jeremy Coney, Tony Cozier, Colin Croft, Matthew Engel, Graeme Fowler, King Frank-I Francis, David Frith, Paul Gilroy, Fred Goodall, David Gower, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Michael Holding, Geoff Howarth, Kevin Hylton, Dilip Jajodia, Alvin Kallicharran, Sam King, Tapley Lewis, Andy Lloyd, Clive Lloyd, Ashley Mallett, Lewis Manthata, Charles Maskell-Knight, Scotty Mitchell, David Murray, Deryck Murray, Trevor Nelson, Paul Newman, Essop Pahad, Trevor Phillips, Derek Pringle, Sonny Ramadhin, Vivian Richards, Andy Roberts, Austin Robertson, Clem Seecharan, Mike Selvey, Steve Stephenson, Bob Turnbull and Bunny Wailer.
The interviews in this book come from two main sources. First, the long recordings made by Stevan Riley. Inevitably, only a small part of this original testimony appeared in his film. Second, the many fresh interviews conducted by the author, who in some cases spoke to the same players for a second time. Where relevant, the author’s work has been augmented by material he gathered while working on the authorised biography of Clive Lloyd. Three contributions – by Geoff Howarth, Don Cameron and Derek Pringle – first appeared in columns written by the author for the Wisden Cricketer magazine.