First years , editor of
The Manchester Guardian from 1872 to 1929 In the winter of 1916–17 Cardus continued his private studies while working intermittently; among various jobs, he collected insurance premiums for a
burial society. Early in January 1917 he wrote to
C. P. Scott,
The Manchester Guardians editor, asking for any available post at the paper, as "the means whereby to continue my education". To bolster his chances he enclosed specimens of his writing. The result was, first, a temporary unpaid position as Scott's secretary, but in mid-March Scott offered a job on the paper's reporting staff. The writer
J. B. Priestley later asserted that Cardus, who did not know
shorthand, was engaged not as a reporter, but as a "writer". In Cardus's own account of these years he appears to have been fully engaged in reporters' duties, his lack of shorthand being dismissed by the chief reporter, Haslam Mills, who paraphrased
Shakespeare: "Some men are born to shorthand, others achieve shorthand, while others have shorthand thrust upon them". Mills advised Cardus to concentrate on style: "We can be decorative at times; we can even be amusing. Here, possibly, you will find scope." Within a year Cardus had been moved from the reporters' room to take charge of the paper's "Miscellany" column. He also resumed the duties of part-time secretary to Scott, who was at this time over 70, and had edited
The Manchester Guardian since 1872. Despite his years, he struck Cardus as "of inexhaustible energy and aliveness". Scott was a demanding employer, who gave his young writers free rein, but expected in return long hours and total dedication. Driven hard, sometimes to the point of exhaustion, Cardus nevertheless relished these years, and never complained to Scott of weariness. Early in 1919 his role changed again, when he was made junior drama critic under the direction of
C.E. Montague, the paper's principal theatre critic who had returned from war service with no great desire to continue in the role.
Cricket correspondent In the spring of 1919, while recovering from a serious
pulmonary condition, Cardus took up a suggestion from his news editor,
William Percival Crozier, that he should watch some cricket at Old Trafford and, if he felt able, write reports on a few matches. On 19 May 1919 Cardus went to the first day of Lancashire's match with Derbyshire. His first published cricket report, on the following day, showed little sign of his later characteristic style: "I simply had no intention of writing on cricket for any length of time; this was a spare-time affair ... and I fitted myself into the idioms and procedures of the sporting writers of 1919". Scott nonetheless saw a potential, and from the beginning of 1920 Cardus became the paper's regular cricket correspondent, under the by-line "Cricketer", a position he held for 20 years. Cardus's emergence as cricket correspondent was concurrent with another appointment, that of deputy and successor designate to Langford as music critic. In January 1920 Cardus reported on two recitals by the Russian tenor
Vladimir Rosing, and apparently impressed Scott with the quality of his notice, although the accuracy of Cardus's summary of events has been questioned. With the succession to Langford assured, and a significant increase in salary, Cardus was happy to devote his summers exclusively to cricket. He remained circumspect about his commitment to the sport: "Never have I regarded my cricket as more than a means to an end; that end being always music". Nevertheless, he developed a style of cricket reporting that quickly lifted him to the forefront of contemporary sports writers. The new sense of financial and professional security was probably instrumental in the decision of Cardus and Edith King to marry, on 17 June 1921. The marriage, which lasted until Edith's death 47 years later, was unconventional; the couple led individual lives and rarely lived together, while remaining devoted friends. Cardus described his wife as "a great spirit and character, born for sisterhood not marriage." From this time onward, Cardus used the forename "Neville" in place of "Fred", and adopted the initials "N.C." for his music reviews, to distinguish this persona from "Cricketer". The focus of much of Cardus's cricket writing was the Lancashire side of the inter-war years, and in particular their twice-yearly battles with rivals
Yorkshire. His eye was as much on the players and their personalities as on the game, on "the match within the match", with the actual scores treated as secondary. Cardus justified this: "Do I add up the notes of a
Mozart "Vivace" to evaluate the music?" To meet Cardus's requirements, the players were sometimes "enlarged", notably
Emmott Robinson, the veteran Yorkshire
all-rounder of the 1920s who through Cardus's pen became "the apotheosis of Yorkshire cricket and Yorkshire character". In the 1930s, Cardus's style became less effusive, as his older heroes were replaced by players with, in his view, less romantic appeal. Bradman was an exception; after his exploits in the
England versus Australia Test series of 1930 Cardus described the Australian as "an incredible exponent who in himself sums up all the skill and experience that have gone before him ... he has kindled grand bonfires of batsmanship for us". Selections from Cardus's
Manchester Guardian cricket writings were published in a series of books between 1922 and 1937. Because of financial constraints the paper did not send "Cricketer" to Australia to cover the
"Bodyline" tour of 1932–33. Cardus was generally approving of
Jardine's controversial
bodyline tactics, writing on 5 March 1933: "[H]ad [Jardine] been a weak man, all the energy of
Larwood [England's premier bowler] might have proved as vain a thing as it did in 1930". In 1936–37, Cardus accompanied the
MCC team to Australia; otherwise he continued to write on English domestic cricket until the 1939 season was summarily truncated. On 1 September, the day that Germany invaded Poland, Cardus observed the removal of the bust of
W. G. Grace from the
Lord's pavilion; he was informed by a bystander: "That means war". It has been argued that this should be regarded as a good story rather than literal truth: there was no match at Lord's that day, and Cardus was on holiday in Derbyshire.
Music critic Following Langford's death in May 1927, Cardus became
The Manchester Guardians chief music critic. Cardus's fellow-critic
Hugo Cole has described his approach as personal rather than academic, based on his own reactions to the music he was hearing, and with a complete independence of judgement. Cardus was, Cole says, "the last distinguished music critic never to have received formal musical training ... he was a writer first, and a music critic second". Cardus's lack of deference sometimes led to friction, as with
Hamilton Harty, chief conductor of the Hallé Orchestra from 1920. In his reviews of the Hallé concerts until Harty's departure in 1933, Cardus frequently criticised the conductor's choices and interpretations. On one occasion he observed that Harty's rendering of the
adagio in
Beethoven's Ninth had broken the world record for slowness, and quoted minutes and seconds. Responding to Harty's outraged protests, Cardus threatened to bring an alarm clock to the next performance, "less for critical purposes than for those of personal convenience". When Harty left, he was not replaced as chief conductor; the Hallé employed distinguished visiting conductors such as Beecham,
Malcolm Sargent,
Pierre Monteux,
Adrian Boult and
Ernest Ansermet. Cardus considered that a lack of central direction was adversely affecting the orchestra, and his biting criticisms of some performances led to temporarily strained relations. Cardus often expressed views contrary to popular and critical opinion. He dismissed
Stravinsky's
The Rite of Spring as "a sophisticated exploitation of primitive rum-ti-tum". although he also wrote that without
Gilbert, nothing of Sullivan's music would have survived. Cardus championed
Delius against the consensus of his fellow-critics: "His music looks back on days intensely lived through; it knows the pathos of mortal things doomed to fade and vanish". At the 1929
Delius Festival in London, Cardus briefly met the composer, who thought he looked too young to be
The Manchester Guardians music critic, and counselled him: "Don't read yourself daft. Trust to y'r emotions". In 1931 Cardus visited the
Salzburg Festival, where he met Beecham and began a friendship which lasted until Sir Thomas's death in 1961—despite numerous disagreements. One of Cardus's notices in 1937 so incensed Beecham that he announced he would not conduct any concert at which Cardus was present. Despite financial incentives from London newspapers, Cardus remained loyal to
The Manchester Guardian. On the outbreak of war in September 1939 the Free Trade Hall closed, requisitioned for military purposes. The Hallé Society left Manchester to tour with Sargent around the north-west of England. With no music in Manchester and all first-class cricket suspended, Cardus was unemployed, "imprisoned in Manchester, useless to anybody". Thus, when he received an offer from
Sir Keith Murdoch to join
The Herald of Melbourne in Australia, he accepted immediately. ==Australia==