Publication date: 2002-09-05
Price: £17.99
Review The Greatest Game Ever Played: Vardon, Ouimet and the Birth of Modern Golf / Little, Brown:
Publication date: 2006-07-31
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £7.99
Price: £1.25
Review Chelsea FC: The Official Biography - The Definitive Story of the First 100 Years / Headline:
Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 1999-04-01
Price: £6.99
Review Greg Norman: The Biography / Corgi Books:
Edition: New edition
Publication date: 2001-04-26
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £8.99
Price: £6.56
Review Night Train: A Biography of Sonny Liston / Penguin Books Ltd:
Publication date: 2000-04-06
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £7.99
Price: £3.07
Review Armed for the Match: The Troubles and Trials of the Chelsea Headhunters / Headline:
Authors
- Jonathan Powell
- Frankie Dettori
Dewey code: 798
RRP: £18.99
Price: £3.00
Review Frankie: The Autobiography of Frankie Dettori / HarperCollinsWillow:High-profile sports stars choose to walk a fine line between nurturing the bloom of their celebrity, and exercising the talent that made them famous in the first place. Horseracing's most recognisable face, Frankie Dettori - TV quiz show star, pizza endorser, restaurateur and pal of Vinnie Jones - publicly remarked recently that he realised he had crossed that line when someone seriously asked him how long ago he retired from being a jockey. In some ways then, Frankie, is a timely reminder that not only is Dettori a hugely talented horseman who is most definitely still riding, he's arguably at his peak. At the time of writing the Italian has all-but landed his first jockeys' championship in ten years - after a frantic summer compared to his almost part-time campaigns of recent years - and is once again the best known AND the best. Thankfully while this `autobiography', written with journalist Jonathan Powell, is not shy of trumpeting Dettori's unique achievements, it embraces the darker side of the affable imp persona too. Forget the married-with-kids, polished performer who appears on TV now - young Frankie, by his own admission, was a tearaway, a night-club wolf, a drugs-dabbler who was perilously close to seeing his career go permanently off the rails. Even when he had established himself as champion jockey he recalls among other failings, behaving like 'a real bastard' to challenger, and one-time pal, Jason Weaver, when he feared his crown was under threat. It's far from the only time when we see behind the cheeky chappie mask. Whether by accident or design, Dettori is refreshingly candid when it comes to revealing faults. His somewhat traditional views on women, in particular, will rankle with some. [+]As will the underlying tone - Frankie's very much the star of the show, on the racecourse and off, and it's not an altogether likeable trait. But that's exactly what makes this book so entertaining - did you really think winners were nice guys? -Alex Hankin.
Publication date: 1992-11-05
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.99
Review Queen of the Track: Liz McColgan Story / Hf & G Witherby Ltd Pub:
Publication date: 2003-09-04
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £17.99
Price: £20.99
Review The Autobiography of Colin Jackson / 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: 1st
Publication date: 2007-07-27
RRP: £35.00
Price: £35.00
Review Richard Walker: Biography of an Angling Legend / Medlar Press:Richard Walker was one of the most, if not the most, influential anglers in the history of the sport. His biography is long overdue and it has taken the research and writing skills of Barrie Rickards to bring it to fruition. The book gives a remarkable overview of Dicks angling achievements and an in-depth analysis of the person and angler that he was. It also includes a substantial personal perspective from Dicks widow Pat, giving an insight into him as a family man, and tributes from some of Britains best-known anglers. Fully illustrated throughout with monochrome photographs and line drawings.
Publication date: 2004-08-23
Dewey code: 796.334092
RRP: £18.99
Price: £4.00
Review Michael Owen: Off the Record / HarperCollinsWillow:Boy wonders come and boy wonders go, but Michael Owen has made the giant leap from sensational teenage star into one of the most consistent and respected strikers in world football - and he's still only 24 at the time of writing his new autobiography, Off The Record. A child goal-machine in North Wales who went on to acheive at all levels of the game - defying expectations at the ease with which he took each step upwards - Owen has seemingly been the star turn since he was in diapers. The decision to move from Liverpool to Real Madrid this season, and the fleeting shadow this has cast over his sun, is for now, the last chapter in the Owen legend. Owen first scaled the peak of public and professional esteem at the 1998 World Cup. His breathtaking solo strike against Argentina was an exposition of youthful audacity, skill and self-belief beamed repeatedly around the world - but as Off The Record reveals, the TV pictures only tell half the story. Did you know that at the crucial moment, after Owen had waltzed through the Argentine defence into the area, an inrushing Paul Scholes optimistically demanded the ball with a shout of "Scholesy's!"? Or that, afterwards, with England knocked out on penalties and his team-mates crushed by the loss, Owen confesses to greeting his family with a broad smile of self-satisfaction, having succeeded in his own performance? The fundamental selfishness of the top striker is a recurring theme for Owen, and makes for fascinating reading - but will win him few friends. Warts and all autobiography is the modern standard of course, and while chapters in Off The Record are primarily concerned with simply correcting public stories about England abroad, Owen's gambling, his problems with one-time Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier, and the suicide of Owen's interior designer Mike Flynn, it is the frankness of acknowledging the underlying 'me first, team second' reality which makes the usual procession of achievements and frustrations really come alive. Not for nothing, one suspects, does the book end with an exhaustive statistical account of Owen's career. Every England appearance is there. But only the Liverpool games he actually scored in. [+]-Alex Hankin For a collection of 10 postcards, this publication is very good value. Each one is a colour shot of the young striker in a different pose, covering his leisure, training and playing activities. Detachable so you can send them to all your friends who also love the Liverpool and England international, the "stubbs" have colour pictures and, as an added bonus, a multitude of facts and information on the back. So, once you've posted them out to everyone you know, you still have a lasting memento of the young Michael Owen's career. -Amazon. co. uk.
Authors
- Edward Griffths
- Edward Griffiths
- Ian Woosnam
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £18.99
Price: £20.00
Review Woosie: My Autobiography / HarperCollinsWillow:The shortest man ever to win a Major? Certainly, as Ian Woosnam recounts in his entertaining autobiography Woosie, his lack of inches (he's claiming 5ft 4) has been as much a feature of his golf career as anything else-but it only adds to the achievement of a dairy farmer's son from the Welsh borders battling his way to be the best in the world. And Woosnam, who wrote the book in company with veteran sports "ghost" Edward Griffiths, certainly had to battle. This is no tale of hot-housing precocious sporting talent a la Tiger Woods. From hours spent practising in the cow shed, ducking and diving among the junior leagues committee men, to living in a caravan as an assistant greenkeeper, hustling the members to supplement a subsistence wage, Woosie had to scrap for a life in golf. And when he finally joined the European Tour, any thoughts of having made it were dispelled by five long years following the big boys in his shared rickety old camper van, living off beer and versions of beans on toast, failing to qualify or missing cut after cut. But when success did come it came in abundance. From playing key roles in Europe's Ryder Cup resurgence in the 1980s and 90s, the Masters victory in 1991, and capturing the coveted World No. 1 spot, to the Indian summer of the last few years, when as a veteran in golf terms, Woosie has challenged again for top honours. It's a fairytale, given a plain-speaking recount that can leave some of the on-course highlights feeling a little flat, but balances that with some forthright recollections of the reality behind the scorecards-good and bad times with his longstanding friend and caddie Wobbly; the problems of drifting in and out of form; how a New Year's Eve party trick helped him reinvent his swing; the gallery of greats from Ballesteros to Woods with whom he has competed; and, of course, that problem with an extra club that arguably robbed him of a sensational Open victory in 2001. Satisfying stuff. [+]-Alex Hankin.
Edition: New title
Publication date: 2003-01-01
Dewey code: 796.332
RRP: £14.99
Price: £6.31
Review The Essential Vince Lombardi: Words and Wisdom to Motivate, Inspire and Win / McGraw-Hill Professional:
Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 2003-06-02
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £7.99
Price: £3.50
Review In Black and White: The Untold Story of Joe Louis and Jesse Owens / Scribner:
Authors
- Dale Concannon
- Gavin Newsham
Publication date: 2005-08-04
Dewey code: 796.35264092
RRP: £9.99
Price: £1.88
Review Nick Faldo: Driven - The Definitive Biography / Virgin Books:
Edition: Reprint
Publication date: 2005-02-24
Dewey code: 920
RRP: £16.99
Price: £149.37
Review The 16th Round: From Number 1 Contender to Number 45472 / Penguin Putnam:
Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 2005-06-06
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £7.99
Price: £1.99
Review Mick Channon: The Authorised Biography / Highdown:
Publication date: 2006-07-27
RRP: £17.99
Price: £4.88
Review Wayne Rooney: My Story So Far / HarperSport:
Publication date: 2003-08-01
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £14.99
Price: £1.98
Review An Evening with Blowers / Hodder & Stoughton Ltd:
Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 2000-04-06
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £17.99
Price: £49.18
Review The Don: The Definitive Biography Of Sir Donald Bradman / Virgin Books:Anyone who knows anything about Don Bradman will repeat by rote the most famous statistic in cricket: that his batting average stood at 99. 94 when he chose to end his Test career. But that is all they are likely to know. "The most gentlemanly, polite, ruthless and efficient sporting dominator who ever lived" (in the words of one opponent), is also one of the most enigmatic characters. Viciously protective of his privacy, few have been granted an audience with The Don. Accounts of his life have perforce read like little more than statistical overload. But at last there is credence in an author's claims to have produced the "Definitive Biography" of The Don. Authoritative and comprehensive, yes. But insightful too. From the Bowral boy whose ambition was to represent New South Wales, to Test match record breaker, to nonagenarian recluse, Bradman is painted above all as a human being. [+]Most important of all, the tone is of the writer, not the statistician. With exclusive and rare access to the Don in researching this book, Perry answers the most interesting question of all: What made someone who was a good, but not outstanding, teenage cricketer have a Test average almost 40 runs better than his nearest rival? The answer is not in a single sentence, but in the portrait of a shy but confident boy, unorthodox and self-taught who burned with ambition and danced to his own tune. -Thrasy Petropoulos.
Authors
- Alison Coleman
- Tom Billington
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £7.61
Price: £19.95
Review Pure Dynamite: The Price You Pay for Wrestling Stardom / Winding Stair Press:
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The Greatest Game Ever Played: Vardon, Ouimet and the Birth of Modern Golf, Chelsea FC: The Official Biography - The Definitive Story of the First 100 Years, Greg Norman: The Biography, Night Train: A Biography of Sonny Liston, Armed for the Match: The Troubles and Trials of the Chelsea Headhunters, Frankie: The Autobiography of Frankie Dettori, Queen of the Track: Liz McColgan Story, The Autobiography of Colin Jackson, Richard Walker: Biography of an Angling Legend, Michael Owen: Off the Record, Woosie: My Autobiography, The Essential Vince Lombardi: Words and Wisdom to Motivate, Inspire and Win, In Black and White: The Untold Story of Joe Louis and Jesse Owens, Nick Faldo: Driven - The Definitive Biography, The 16th Round: From Number 1 Contender to Number 45472, Mick Channon: The Authorised Biography, Wayne Rooney: My Story So Far, An Evening with Blowers, The Don: The Definitive Biography Of Sir Donald Bradman, Pure Dynamite: The Price You Pay for Wrestling Stardom |
