Len Hutton - Personal Life

Personal Life

Hutton married Dorothy Mary Dennis, the sister of former Yorkshire cricketer Frank Dennis, on 16 September 1939 at Wykeham near Scarborough; they met at an end-of-season dance which Dorothy had attended with her brother. They had two sons: Richard, who later played cricket for Yorkshire and England, in 1942, and John in 1947.

During and after the war, Hutton worked for a paper manufacturer, but writing and journalism provided a more permanent career. Hutton worked with Thomas Moult, a journalist and writer, to produce a book of memoirs, Cricket is My Life in 1949, and he wrote for the News of the World while still playing. Following his cricketing retirement, Hutton worked in broadcasting until 1961, and after 1955, he wrote for the London Evening News until 1963. A second book, Just my story, followed in 1956 in collaboration with journalist, R. J. Hayter. In 1958–59, Hutton travelled to Australia to cover the MCC tour as correspondent for the Evening News, again assisted by a professional journalist, while between 1963 and 1986, he wrote for The Observer. He wrote a third book, Thirty Years in Cricket, in 1984. Hutton's increasing commitments in the south of England meant he moved to North London in 1959. In 1960, Hutton was invited to join the engineering firm of J. H. Fenner, mainly working in a public relations capacity. Later, he moved into marketing and overseas promotion of products, became a director of the firm in 1973, and retired in 1984.

Although he disliked committees, Hutton served as an England Test selector in 1975 and 1976, but business commitments limited his availability and for this reason he resigned in 1977. Hutton became involved with Surrey cricket in later years but maintained links with Yorkshire, and assumed the position of Yorkshire president in January 1990. In his final years, Hutton suffered from ill health and became increasingly frail. In September 1990, he suffered a ruptured aorta shortly after watching a cricket match at the Oval. After an unsuccessful operation, he died on 6 September.