Boycott claims Leicester wants Richard III to 'make money'

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Press Trust of India London
Last Updated : Aug 10 2014 | 9:10 PM IST
Yorkshireman and British cricket commentator Geoffrey Boycott has claimed that Leicestershire county only wants to reinter the body of King Richard III, over 500 years after his death, to make money.
Speaking during the India-England Test match at Old Trafford, Boycott said the county had "pinched our Yorkshire king".
The 73-year-old former England batsman went on to say he should be returned to Yorkshire.
But Jonathan Agnew, commentating with him, stuck up for Leicestershire, the county where he lives.
The pair were speaking during the Fourth Test between England and India at Old Trafford, shortly before the eighth wicket fell yesterday.
They had been discussing King Lear and Shakespeare when Boycott made the outburst, the BBC reported.
"Your lot pinched our king, our Yorkshire king. Your lot in Leicestershire where you live," he claimed.
But Agnew, a former Leicestershire cricketer, defended the decision saying: "I don't think so, he died there, poor chap."
To which Boycott responded: "Well then, send him back. He's king of Yorkshire not Leicestershire."
He went on to claim Leicester only wanted to keep the body to attract money to the city.
The discussion was only brought to an end when Indian paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar was run out.
King Richard III, who was Duke of Gloucester before he ascended the throne, was the last king to be killed in battle.
His death at the age of 32 in the battle of Bosworth, near Leicester, in 1485 effectively ended the Wars of the Roses.
His remains were discovered under a car park in Leicester in 2012 and later confirmed to be his after a DNA test.
Distant relatives of the king contested the decision to reinter his remains in Leicester Cathedral, claiming he would have wanted to be buried in Yorkshire, where he lived for several years as a child.
But he will be buried after a week-long ceremony in Leicester Cathedral on March 26 next year, opposite a Richard III visitor's centre.
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First Published: Aug 10 2014 | 9:10 PM IST