NOT JUST CRICKET…

Patrick has also covered other sports, primarily for The Sunday Times. Sometimes, he’s even had to choose between a day at Lord’s or the men’s Wimbledon final…

Have you photographed other sports?

■ When I worked for The Sunday Times in the summer they used to take great joy in saying, “How do you fancy going to the Wimbledon tennis final this Saturday?” They did it to wind me up because they knew I would rather go to the cricket! I did the Connors-Ashe final in 1975, but if there had been a Test match at Lord’s I probably wouldn’t have done it.

Any other sports?

■ My favourite was Olga Korbut, the gymnast, when she first came to London. That was fabulous. Two days at Wembley. I’ve also photographed rugby. In those days you had to get the film back quickly, and I remember doing the All Blacks versus Wales match in 1973. When I say that, I mean I did the first ten minutes! I had to get in the car, then drive like hell down the M4 to get the film to the paper. Did anything happen in the first ten minutes? Not a shot. Not even a penalty goal!