His grandfather William Augustus Ford played for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from 1839 to 1849.
His uncle Neville Talbot played for Oxford University and his grandmother, the daughter of the 4th Lord Lyttelton, belonged to another family of cricketers.
Ford then went to Oriel College, Oxford having been awarded the Evelyn de Rothschild scholarship.
Meanwhile, he continued playing for Derbyshire at the end of season and also put in a game for minor county Devon in 1929.
After Oxford, Ford joined the British Metal Corporation, and played for a variety of sides including the MCC and Free Foresters and made an appearance for Middlesex in 1932.
[2] Ford had moved to work for the paper manufacturers Wiggins Teape and joined up in the Second World War.
When his grandson Edward "Bear" Grylls neared the summit as the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest, Ford gave him encouragement over the satellite telephone.
At the time of his death he was the longest surviving member of both MCC and the Free Foresters.