Brian Boobbyer

Brian Boobbyer (25 February 1928 at Ealing, Middlesex – 17 January 2011 at Hereford) played in nine Test matches for England at rugby union between 1950 and 1952.

He also played cricket at first-class level, and was awarded Blues for both sports by the University of Oxford for appearing against Cambridge.

But in 1952, at the age of twenty-four, he gave up playing both games, in order to devote his life to working for the Moral Re-Armament (MRA) movement.

[1] Boobbyer was son of Keble College, Oxford-educated[2] doctor Philip Watson Boobbyer, of 6, Woodville Road, Ealing, West London,[3][4] and Vera Elizabeth (1898-1966), daughter of Edward Shaw, Bishop of Buckingham from 1914 to 1921; his uncles were Edward Shaw, who played first-class cricket and was killed in World War I, and Royal Navy Captain Robert Shaw, MBE, also a first-class cricketer.

After school, he did his National Service, during which time he first played rugby at senior club level, for Rosslyn Park.

In 1948 he went up to the University of Oxford to read History at Brasenose College, already with a reputation as a good cricketer and rugby player.

[7] He first played for Oxford in his second year, going on to appear in three matches against Cambridge, thus achieving the distinction of becoming a "double Blue".