First published by Harper Collins in 1994, E.W.Swanton (Cricketer),while reviewing the book, had remarked: "If any book is destined to be a cricket classic, this is it...Allen deals with every aspect of John's life, his sorrows and his social joys...Altogether lovers of cricket should be grateful for his candid, sympathetic portrayal of a personality who so eloquently enriched the modern game".

In his preface, the author says: "Essentially, though, he did not really wish to write an autobiography, and he would not have done so, had the financial inducements not been so tempting to refuse. By the time he came to put it together, physical frailty had taken him past the stage where he could deliver a book that matched his stature.

When I proposed this biography to John he was totally supportive. "There is no one else in the world I would rather have do it than you," he wrote to me in a letter. Having been a close friend for over twenty years, I knew well the contours of his life. Apart from countless social occasions, we had spent much time working together in broadcasting and recording studios, and involved with literary collaborations.

Bill Frindall, the distinguished cricket statistician, according to Allen, is one of several who perform Arlott impressions on the after-dinner speaking circuit. There is no one who is closer to the original; the inflections, nuances, and phrases are uncannily accurate. And the sound he reproduces is particularly true to John's later working period when he had almost become part of folklore, an icon to be cherished.

Ian Botham considered John Arlott "very kind, very honest and very straightforward.. There were no punches pulled. If John had something to say, he'd say it. We just hit off and I spent as much time as I could with him. I would have loved to have done a tour with him because I found the man so interesting. He was very warm and a very good friend. I just wish there were more people like John Arlott around in the game of cricket."

Arlott - The Authorised Biography had received The Cricket Society and MCC Book of the Year award.

This is an excellent book, handsomely produced and economically priced.