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Find out moreRead more about your favourite sports or sportsmen and women with a unique perspective on their careers from the comfort of your sofa with this range of recommended books. Whether you’re a football fan, rugby reveller or fishing follower, we have a great read for you!
An eye-opening wander (and sometimes adrenaline ride) down memory lane for a life-long hillwalker and mountaineer. John D. Burns has spent forty years trekking and climbing mountains, he grew up in industrial Merseyside and escaped to the wilds as often as he could. He opens by admitting a mistake that could have cost lives, his raw honesty hits home, this isn’t a playground. In his early years he learns through near catastrophes and calamitous events that he needs proper equipment and to never take the outdoors for granted. He basically learns through his mistakes - TAKE NOTE! As the author grows more experienced he later becomes a part of the rescue team and starts to really become aware of the beauty around him. The majority of this memoir runs in a straight line through time, occasionally though it deviates, and sometimes stories just stop, to carry on at a later point. This memoir is more about the thrills and escapades, than the beauty of where he is and yet that joy is also there. I would recommend reading The Last Hillwalker followed by his fictional Sky Dance, as once you have finished both, you get more of measure of this man. A fascinating read.
A captivating, amusing, yet provocative novel set in the Scottish Highlands. If you have read a book by John D. Burns before, it is likely to have been one or both of his memoirs, The Last Hillwalker and Bothy Tales. The author has spent much of his life walking and climbing in the mountains, here he turns his hand to fiction, and ponders the future of the landscape he so loves. We enter what could be called a battle, between environmental protesters and landowners, with the two main characters seasoned hillwalkers. From winter (much beloved by our author), turning through the seasons back to winter again, we spend time on a fictional island in the Scottish Highlands. Using his knowledge, his passion for our wild places John D. Burns has written an engaging and satisfying read. I actually recommend starting with his memoir The Last Hillwalker, as it really sets the scene, and you can appreciate the experience and love that has gone into Sky Dance.
In 1966 England won the World Cup at Wembley. Sir Bobby Charlton, England's greatest ever player, was there on the pitch. Now, fifty years on, Sir Bobby looks back on the most glorious moment of his life and England's greatest sporting achievement. In 1966 he takes us through the build-up to the tournament and to the final itself, describing what he saw, what he heard, and what he felt. He explains what it was like to be part of Sir Alf Ramsey's team, gives us his personal memories of his teammates, the matches, the atmosphere; the emotion of being carried on the wave of a nation's euphoria and how it felt to go toe-to-toe with some of the foremost footballers to ever play the game.
Winner of the Best Illustrated Title category of the British Sports Book Awards 2011. Stunning officially endorsed coffee table book commemorating the 50th anniversary of Tottenham Hotspur's famous League and Cup Double in 1961 - the first 'Double' achieved in the modern era of football. Beautifully presented within its' own real-cloth slipcase adorned in silver with the book's title and the iconic badge worn by the team during this historic season, this lavish collector's item showcases previously unseen behind-the-scenes photographs and memorabilia and tells the story of the season through original newspaper cuttings, tickets and match programmes. Put together by the editorial team who put together the Spurs Opus, with the full co-operation of the surviving players and Tottenham Hotspur FC (and with full access to the historical archives at White Hart Lane), this sensational publication will be the focal point of the club's 1960/61 celebrations which will begin at the start of the 2010 season.
Hardly a week goes by without Dickie Bird visiting a county or Test match arena where he can keep up to date with all that is happening in the cricket world, while at the same time taking the opportunity to reflect, in the company of old friends and acquaintances, on his own colorful contribution to the sport that lasted for over half a century. Dickie remains the most famous umpire of them all and is still highly respected throughout the world. A lovable eccentric with a joyful sense of fun, he has decided, as he approaches his eightieth birthday, to recall the highlights of his life in cricket, while also providing an illuminating insight into what he has been up to since his retirement.
Longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2010.In this gripping new book, Simon Barnes brings together his 50 sporting heroes of the last 50 years and looks at what it is that elevates them to a state of grace and greatness.
Longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2010. In this gripping new book, Simon Barnes brings together his 50 sporting heroes of the last 50 years and looks at what it is that elevates them to a state of grace and greatness.
More than just an account of Button’s winning year but an in depth look at the Brawn team as a whole, the new F1 team who came from nowhere to win the Constructors championship alongside their drivers victory. A must for any Formula One fan.
Gavin Mortimer entertains with his diverting views of a great game through key objects in its history. And by using these key objects he is able to recount a history of how this sport began and the strange and meandering progress it made to prominence today. June 2013 Sports Book of the Month.Like for Like ReadingAnd God Created Cricket, Simon Hughes
The remarkable stories of 100 football artefacts that have shaped the game as we know it. From the inaugural red card to the ubiquitous mock Tudor mansion, each of the objects selected gives us an intimate glimpse of an unexpected truth behind footie mythology - and together they relate the larger history of the world's biggest and most-loved sport. Sue Baker's view... Gavin Mortimer entertains with his diverting views of a great game through key objects in its history. And by using these key objects he is able to recount a history of how this sport began and the strange and meandering progress it made to prominence today. Like for Like ReadingMy Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes, Gary Imlach
Shortlisted in the Best Biography and Best Cricket Book categories of the British Sports Book Awards 2011. Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2010. Combining reportage, anecdote, biography, history and personal recollection, A Last English Summer is an honest and passionate reflection on cricket's past, present and future. A memorable and acutely observed portrait of one summer of cricket from an award-winning sports writer who has watched and loved cricket since he was a boy, it is essential reading for anyone who cares about the English game.
Winner of the Best Football Book at the British Sports Book Awards 2012. Why does an international footballer with the World at his feet decide to take his own life? On 10 November 2009 the German national goalkeeper, Robert Enke, stepped in front of a passing train. He was thirty two years old. Viewed from the outside, Enke had it all. Here was a professional goalkeeper who had played for a string of Europe's top clubs including Jose Mourinho's Benfica and Louis Van Gaal's Barcelona. Enke was destined to be his country's first choice for years to come. But beneath the bright veneer of success lay a darker story. In A Life Too Short , award-winning writer Ronald Reng pieces together the puzzle of his lost friend's life. Reng brings into sharp relief the specific demands and fears faced by those who play top-level sport.
Frank, candid and inspiring, this is the remarkable story of how a Norfolk girl - a 'sporty kid, swimming, playing hockey, running, but never excelling and always more interested in the social side of the sports scene' - became a world champion Ironman - and remained a throughly nice person (perhaps lesser athletes and sports people should take note). March 2013 Non-Fiction Book of the Month.
A look back on a lifetime's experience in football, above all a look at what is right and wrong with the game – an informal history of Football. Harry Redknapp highlights the best teams he’s known, the best players and the players from abroad who’ve helped transform the game. Like for Like Reading Football's Strangest Matches, Andrew Ward How Not to be a Professional Footballer, Paul Merson
They are role models, heroes, spokespeople for major brands, they get millions in sponsorship, their personal lives are plastered over the gossip columns, they are at the top of their professions and love them or hate them, they’re all over our newspapers, TVs, PCs and radios. This section has everything the armchair enthusiast could wish for. Myth-busting biographies (Beware of the Dog by Brian Moore), detailed histories (A History of Football in 100 Objects by Gavin Mortimer), personal accounts of huge moments (Black White & Gold by Kelly Holmes), and atmospheric tributes to beloved games (A Last English Summer by Duncan Hamilton. This is the inside track on the lives, loves, losses and victories of some of the world’s most physically talented people, and the games they love to play.
Get into your favourite armchair, plump up the cushions, have a nice cup of tea and dive in. Just make sure you don’t pull a muscle!