relieved by Hele for the rest of the day. Later life In 1974, Hele and former South Australian cricketer Richard Whitington wrote Bodyline Umpire, a book reflecting on the Bodyline era. In the book, Hele criticised Douglas Jardine's tactics during the series, expressing that he had "never seen more vicious bowling". Hele died in Preston, a suburb of Melbourne, on 28 August 1982, having been widowed thirteen years previously. His obituary was published in the 1982 edition of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. He had married Matilda Jane Hann on 12 March 1918 at the Baptist Church on Flinders Street in the Adelaide city centre. Their son, Raymond George Hele (1920–1983), also served as an umpire, umpiring a total of 31 first-class games between 1949 and 1960. The Heles thus became the first family to have three generations umpire first-class cricket in Australia. Reputation Although known primarily for his role in the Bodyline series, Hele was recognised as the best umpire in South Australia at the time of his selection to umpire in Test matches, and was held in high regard by players and officials from both Australian teams and touring international teams. In an interview after Hele's first Test series as umpire, the English captain, Percy Chapman reported that, although the English missed the retired Bob Crockett, Hele had "proved a worthy successor to that great umpire, and [he] would hold his own anywhere". Despite Hele's opinion of Douglas Jardine's tactics during the bodyline, Jardine respected his umpiring ability, and in a 1932 letter to an Australian cricket official, placed him on the same level as England's Frank Chester: "as you know, we in England bracket Hele and Chester as the two best umpires in the world". Similarly, Sir Donald Bradman wrote in his 1950 book Farewell to Cricket that both he and the Englishmen agreed that Hele was "the best Australian umpire between the two wars". In 1959, writing his book Australian Cricket: A History, noted cricket journalist Johnny Moyes wrote "in the opinion of those qualified to judge, [Hele] was perhaps the finest umpire Australia has produced". As late as 1970, a journalist described Hele as a "gentle man, still tall and erect, and with a keen eye". Hele was on friendly terms with many of the notable players whom he umpired, and he maintained a collection of "souvenirs" which had been given to him by players and