Born at Forest Hill, London in 1907, Ernest William Swanton was a middle order right-handed batsman. He attended Cranleigh School, before representing Middlesex between 1937 and 1938 in 3 first-class matches. He scored 67 runs (av. 13.40) with a top score of 26 and he held a single catch.
He toured once as a player with Sir Julien Cahn's XI to America in 1933. In the 1950's he organised several tours of his own to the West Indies and organised his own team the Arabs C.C.
Without any doubt one of the best-known cricket journalist and commentator of his generation , he wrote for both the London Evening Standard, the Daily Telegraph and has written numerous cricket books. He died in 2000.
