Publication date: 2005-05-01
Dewey code: 306.483092
RRP: £17.99
Price: £4.49
Review Good Afternoon, Gentlemen, the Name's Bill Gardner / Blake Publishing:
Publication date: 2007-05-15
Dewey code: 796.522
RRP: £12.95
Price: £4.28
Review High Infatuation: A Climber's Guide to Love and Gravity / Mountaineers Books:
Creator: Ben Duffy
Publication date: 2006-09-28
RRP: £16.99
Price: £10.77
Review Ricky Hatton: The Real Hitman - The Official Fly-on-the-wall Diary of a Champion / Great Northern Books Ltd:
Publication date: 2004-03-25
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £17.99
Price: £2.45
Review Life and Limb / Portrait:
Authors
- Paul Hayward
- Sir Bobby Robson
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £14.99
Price: £4.56
Review Bobby Robson: Farewell But Not Goodbye - My Autobiography / Hodder & Stoughton Audio Books:Bobby Robson is a legend in British football, and his autobiography, Farewell but not Goodbye, is a lively and dramatic picture of a life lived in and for the Beautiful Game. While Robson has been granted almost godlike status in Newcastle and the North East, his career has touched on every aspect of the national sport. The book describes his days as a player for Fulham and West Brom in the 50s and 60s, the 20 England caps he collected over the years and (of course) his spectacularly successful career in management (all 40 years of it); there is no career quite like this in English football. We all know, of course, that sportsmen's autobiographies are customarily written with a little 'hidden assistance', and Paul Hayward's contribution here should not be overlooked. With the latter's subtle help, the opening chapters detailing Robson's childhood and early years in the North-East have a vividness and texture worthy of such writers as John Braine. But most readers will be keen to get to Robson's sporting career, and if they do a little judicious skipping of these early chapters, they can be forgiven. Soon, we're presented with some of the historic sporting achievements which have been part of Robson's stellar career. There is the `Hand of God' story, the ill-starred Paul Gascoigne's emotional breakdowns (which so endeared him to the nation) and the high tension of Robson's squiring the England team through two dramatic World Cups. Too many autobiographies have cheated the reader by drawing a discreet veil over the very things that we most wish to read about - but Robson will have no truck with such mealy-mouthed evasion; for the first time he describes the real story behind his sacking as Newcastle manager in 2004, and his five turbulent years at St James's Park is treated with similar frankness. -Barry Forshaw.
Publication date: 2005-09-08
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £12.99
Price: £6.86
Review Rafa Benitez: The Authorised Biography by Paco Lloret / Dewi Lewis Media Ltd:
Publication date: 2006-09-01
Dewey code: 796.334092
RRP: £7.99
Price: £2.64
Review Bobby Moore: By the Person Who Knew Him Best / HarperSport:He remains one of the most iconic figure is in football; and Tina Moore's Bobby Moore: By The Person Who Knew him Best is a book that will find a very ready audience. The jacket of the book uses just one sentence from the woman who was married to him for 24 years, in which she asks the reader to forget the Prime Minister, Prince Charles John Lennon and Paul McCartney: on the night of his greatest success, Bobby Moore was the most famous man in England. When he died in 1993 at the young age of 51, the shock felt throughout the country was palpable: his good looks and charisma, his winning personality and (most of all) his astonishing skill on the field ensured that Moore, the only English football captain ever to raise the World Cup, was a much-loved figure. And, unlike so many of his contemporaries, he had few of the character flaws that render many footballers so unlovable. Not that Moore was a saint: Tina Moore's book is as frank about the bad times as it is celebratory of the good. He was an extremely introspective and rather enigmatic man, and few people (outside of the woman he married in 1960) really got to know the man. And his success was not achieved without cost: serious illness in his 20s, bitter conflicts with the England manager Ron Greenwood, the kidnap threats against his children - all are handled here with sympathy and understanding by Tina. In a natural, unforced authorial voice, she is particularly good on the media circus that made their lives a living hell (intrusive media attention is by no means a recent phenomenon, as we learn). The on-the-field triumphs are all here, of course, but it goes without saying that the personal life of the couple is most important to the woman who was married to Moore for so many years; strong sections of the book deal with the grim time of Bogata, when Moore suffered accusations of theft, and his psychological difficulties when adjusting to the fact that he could no longer play as in his heyday. The break-up of the marriage is a particularly poignant section, and the final effect of the book is of a heartening tribute to a remarkable sportsman. [+]-Barry Forshaw.
Publication date: 2008-03-03
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £17.99
Price: £9.74
Review Brian O'Driscoll: In BOD We Trust: In B.OD We Trust / John Blake Publishing Ltd:
Publication date: 2004-10-08
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £14.99
Price: £10.49
Review Standing Tall: The Tawera Nikau Story / HarperCollins New Zealand:
Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 2006-07-03
RRP: £7.99
Price: £0.01
Review True Grit / Headline:
Authors
- David Gower
- Martin Johnson
Price: £14.99
Review Gower: The Autobiography / HarperCollinsWillow:
Publication date: 2007-04-05
RRP: £8.99
Price: £0.01
Review Robbo: My Autobiography / Hodder & Stoughton:
Publication date: 2007-04
Dewey code: 629
RRP: £19.99
Price: £11.51
Review Derek Minter: King of Brands / Breedon Books Publishing Co Ltd:
Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 2003-09-25
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £7.99
Price: £3.00
Review Don Revie: Portrait of a Footballing Enigma (Mainstream Sport) / Mainstream Publishing:
Edition: Airport / Export e.
Publication date: 2008-08-16
Dewey code: 796
Price: £12.99
Review Football, My Life / Bantam Press:
Publication date: 2004-04-15
Dewey code: 796
Price: £6.99
Review Colin Jackson: The Autobiography / BBC Books:Colin Jackson's stature as one of the most celebrated of British athletes is assured; those who have watched his astonishing performances have marvelled at the sprint hurdler's effortless agility and breathtaking speed. With 25 major championship medals under his belt, there is little doubt that he is the most considerable athlete his particular sport has ever known. Colin Jackson: The Autobiography has arrived at a significant moment, just after the athlete announced his retirement after 20 years of top-level competition. As readers of sports autobiographies know to their cost, such books can be by-rote, self-congratulatory accounts of sporting successes, but this is something different. While Jackson discusses such career bests as his breaking of the World Outdoor 110 metres record in Stuttgart in the 1990s, he is also prepared to talk about the bleak moments, such as his less-than-impressive showing at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics after an injury KO'd his chances. And Jackson's life has much more to it than sport: there are affecting passages here on the unexpected death of his fellow athlete Ross Baillie and his acrimonious break-up with friend and business partner Linford Christie. But it is writing about his sport that Jackson (aided by top sports journalist David Conn) really excels at: he makes it clear the nothing less than total dedication is involved in being a winner, and he is unsparing about the consequences of drugs. There is an unvarnished account, too, of the corruption Jackson has encountered in the sports business over the years. This is one of the most impressive of sports autobiographies written. -Barry Forshaw.
Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 2002-02-05
RRP: £6.99
Price: £3.99
Review Dazzler: The Autobiography / Penguin Books Ltd:Darren Gough is one of England's most popular sportsmen. Yorkshire born-and-bred, he has been the spearhead of the England cricket team's bowling for the best part of a decade, and has accumulated over 200 test wickets. Dazzler is Gough's story. In telling it he strays none too far from the beaten track of the standard sporting autobiography, but there's plenty to tell as the narrative speeds through his various cricketing adventures with Yorkshire, and, in more detail, England. There aren't too many surprises on the way, but there's a lot of history there, and first-hand experience of the key men in English cricket since the mid-1990s. Gough offers an honest appraisal of England captains Atherton, Stewart and Hussain, and a frank view of England's performances under their leadership, which as seasoned England-watchers will know, have not always been too pretty. Gough's career has also pitched him against many of the world's best players, and here he gives his views on Shane Warne (who unsurprisingly shares Gough's taste for a cold beer), Glenn McGrath, and the Waugh twins amongst others. That the Australians are foremost in his mind is no accident-Gough makes no secret that he'd swap all his great moments to win back the Ashes from the world's best side. More than even that, though, it's Gough's exuberance and energy that shines through most. His enthusiasm for the game seems endless, and turning the pages one can almost feel the energy of his famous hat trick at Sydney in the winter of 1998/9. [+]And that, of course, is what has made Darren Gough so popular. -Trevor Crowe.
Publication date: 2008-04-07
RRP: £8.99
Price: £3.99
Review The Running Man / Metro Publishing Ltd:
Authors
- Natalie Coughlin
- Michael Silver
Dewey code: 797.32092
RRP: £12.70
Price: £7.53
Review Golden Girl: How Natalie Coughlin Fought Back, Challenged Conventional Wisdom, and Became America's Olympic Champion / Rodale Press:
Publication date: 2008-10-31
RRP: £17.99
Price: £11.87
Review Just One of Seven: The Story of Football's Real Hardman / Know the Score Books:
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Good Afternoon, Gentlemen, the Name's Bill Gardner, High Infatuation: A Climber's Guide to Love and Gravity, Ricky Hatton: The Real Hitman - The Official Fly-on-the-wall Diary of a Champion, Life and Limb, Bobby Robson: Farewell But Not Goodbye - My Autobiography, Rafa Benitez: The Authorised Biography by Paco Lloret, Bobby Moore: By the Person Who Knew Him Best, Brian O'Driscoll: In BOD We Trust: In B.OD We Trust, Standing Tall: The Tawera Nikau Story, True Grit, Gower: The Autobiography, Robbo: My Autobiography, Derek Minter: King of Brands, Don Revie: Portrait of a Footballing Enigma (Mainstream Sport), Football, My Life, Colin Jackson: The Autobiography, Dazzler: The Autobiography, The Running Man, Golden Girl: How Natalie Coughlin Fought Back, Challenged Conventional Wisdom, and Became America's Olympic Champion, Just One of Seven: The Story of Football's Real Hardman |
