If drama were a sport, then the name Gavin Bantock would probably be known throughout Japan.
Transposed into the baseball universe, for example, Bantock might occupy a position similar to that of Fumiya Tsuta, who through the 1970s and 1980s led the students of Ikeda High School in Tokushima Prefecture to nationally televised glory in the annual Koshien high school baseball tournament.
Or perhaps Bantock would be more famous still. As the 72-year-old Briton explained during a recent interview, "If there were national competitions for full-scale student drama like ours, then our standard would be too high for anyone else to compete."