Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 2, 2013

Neville Cardus (1888–1975) was an English writer and critic. He became cricket correspondent of The Manchester Guardian in 1919, and its chief music critic in 1927, holding both posts until 1940. His contributions to these two distinct fields in the years before the Second World War established his reputation as one of the foremost critics of his generation. He considered music criticism as his principal vocation. Without any formal musical training, he was initially influenced by Samuel Langford and Ernest Newman, but developed his own individual style of criticism—subjective, romantic and personal, in contrast to the objective analysis practised by Newman. Cardus's opinions and judgments were often forthright and unsparing, which sometimes caused friction with leading performers. Nevertheless his personal charm and gregarious manner enabled him to form lasting friendships in the cricketing and musical worlds, with among others Newman, Thomas Beecham and Donald Bradman. Cardus spent the Second World War years in Australia, where he wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald and gave regular radio talks. In his last years he became an inspirational figure to aspiring young writers.

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