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A Delicious Slice Of Johnners
by Brian JohnstonFollowing Brian Johnston's death in 1994, Prime Minister John Major appeared to speak for the nation when he remarked that 'Summers will never be the same.' To an Englishman's ears, the sound of leather against willow will always be closely associated with the cheerful tones of Johnners.Brian Johnston was a man who admitted: 'I have this absurd hankering to make people laugh.' He also summed up his books as 'the meanderings of a remarkably happy and lucky person, to whom life, like cricket, is a funny game and still a lot of fun.' Lovingly edited by his eldest son, Barry, A Delicious Slice of Johnners is a wonderfully enjoyable compendium of three of Johnners' best loved books, the autobiographies It's Been a Lot of Fun and It's a Funny Game, and Rain Stops Play
Strongman: My Story
by Eddie 'The HallEddie ‘The Beast’ Hall is the first Brit in 24 years to win the World’s Strongest Man competition, beating The Mountain from Game of Thrones. Everything about Eddie is huge. Standing at 6’3 he weighs almost 30 stone, and to make it through his hellish four-hour gym sessions he needs to eat a minimum of 10,000 calories a day. He eats a raw steak during weight sessions. His right eyeball once burst out of its socket under the strain. He put it back in.In his remarkable autobiography, Eddie takes you inside the world of the professional strongman – the nutrition, the training and competitions themselves. This is a visceral story of sporting achievement, an athlete pushing himself to the limits, and the personal journey of a man on the path to becoming being the best of the best.Contains strong language.
The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods
by Hank HaneyIn March 2004, Hank Haney received a call from Tiger Woods in which the golf champion asked Haney to be his coach. It was a call that would change both men’s lives. Tiger – only 28 at the time – was by then already an icon, judged by the sporting press as not only one of the best golfers ever, but possibly the best athlete ever. But Tiger was always looking to improve, and he wanted Hank’s help. Over the next six years of working together, the supremely gifted Woods collected six major championships and rewrote golf history. Hank was one of the very few people allowed behind the curtain. Always haunting Tiger was his fear of ‘the big miss’ – the wildly inaccurate golf shot that can ruin an otherwise solid round – and it was because that type of blunder was sometimes part of Tiger’s game that Hank carefully redesigned his swing mechanics.Towards the end of their time together, the champion’s laser-like focus began to blur and he became less willing to put in punishing hours practicing. Hints that Tiger hungered to reinvent himself were present in his bizarre infatuation with elite military training, and – in a development Hank didn’t see coming – in the scandal that would make headlines in late 2009. It all added up to a big miss that Hank, try as he might, couldn’t save Tiger from.There’s never been a book about Tiger Woods that is as intimate and revealing – or one so wise about what it takes to coach a superstar athlete.
Fantastic Football Facts
by Nick CallowInprove your knowledge!Amaze your friends! Settly any pub argument!Fantastic Football Facts is packed full of facsinating feats, humorous anecdotes and entertaining trivia about the beautiful game.Featuring such topics as 'The Greatest Comebacks', 'Bizarre Injuries', 'Goal-scoring Feats', 'Classic Fantasy Xis' and many more. Fantastic Football facts is the essential book for any football fan.
Guy Martin: My Autobiography
by Guy MartinThe Phenomenal Sunday Times No1 Bestseller‘It was the start of the third lap of the 2010 Senior TT, the last race of the fortnight. The last chance to get a TT win for another year, and I was pushing hard. Ballagarey. The kind of corner that makes me continue road racing. A proper man’s corner. You go through the right-hander at something like 170mph, leant right over, eyes fixed as far down the road as I can see.But this time something happened. This time the front end tucked …’Guy Martin, international road-racing legend, maverick star of the Isle of Man TT, truck mechanic and TV presenter, lives on the edge, addicted to speed, thoroughly exhilarated by danger. In this book we’ll get inside his head as he stares death in the face, and risks his life in search of the next high.We’ll discover what it feels like to survive a 170mph fireball at the TT in 2010, and come back to do it all again. He’ll sweep us up in a gritty sort of glory as he slogs it out for a place on the podium, but we’ll also see him struggle with the flipside of fame. We’ll meet his friends and foes, his family, his teammates and bosses and we’ll discover what motivates him, and where his strengths and weaknesses lie. For the first time, here is the full story in Guy’s own words. From the boy who learned to prep bikes with his dad, to the spirited team mechanic, paying his way by collecting beer glasses in pubs, to the young racer at the start of his first race and the buzz he’s been chasing ever since.This thrilling autobiography is an intense and dramatic ride.
In Every Kid There Lurks A Tiger: Rudy Duran's 5 Step Program To Teach You And Your Child The Fundamentals Of Golf
by Rudy DuranMore and more parents are taking their children out onto the golf course, yet few of them are effective teachers or coaches. With this book, Tiger Woods' childhood golf instructor, Rudy Duran, instructs parents on how to nurture confidence and enthusiasm in young players. Golf can be a frustrating and complex game, and beginners, especially children and young adults, can easily become disheartened and overwhelmed. Children are naturally optimistic, which makes them terrific learners. Duran discusses how parents can preserve and foster their child's positive outlook, and keep out the negative qualities that end up plaguing so many golfers. Duran cultivates players' enthusiasm by making lessons fun, and basic. With anecdotes and step-by-step techniques, he offers a formula for parents who are struggling to find the balance between encouraging and instructing their children in the world of golf.
The Boys of ’66 - The Unseen Story Behind England’s World Cup Glory: The Unseen Story Behind England's World Cup Glory
by John RowlinsonWembley, 30 July 1966… Geoff Hurst completes his hat trick… England are the World Cup champions.Everyone knows how the story ends, but how did it begin? How did Alf Ramsey assemble an England team to win the trophy for the first, and so far only time? The choice of the final eleven was far from straightforward: in just over three years Ramsey selected no less than fifty players and, at the start of 1966, two of the winning team had still to make their debuts for England.This book charts the chequered path to eventual victory, assesses both the players who made the final squad and those who lost out and, with the help of previously unpublished photographs, provides a unique chronicle of professional football over fifty years ago.
The Push: A Climber's Journey of Endurance, Risk and Going Beyond Limits
by Tommy Caldwell'A real page-turner . . . captivating and deeply moving' Climb magazine In 2015 freeclimber Tommy Caldwell spent 19 days summiting Yosemite's vertical, 3000-foot Dawn Wall - the hardest climb in history. It was the culmination of seven years planning and a lifetime's determination. Here, he recounts how he got there, the falls and set backs (being held hostage, losing his index finger, the break-up of his marriage), the summits conquered and the fears overcome. It is a story about drive, focus and how to achieve the impossible - one toehold at a time. 'Caldwell's story is one of the best. You get more than just a climbing adventure, you get the inside view of how a person can endure crushing setbacks and persist to fulfill a spectacular vision' Jim Collins, author of Good to Great 'Heart-stopping, absorbing' Daily Mail 'Captivating and unfailingly honest' Jon Krakauer 'This isn't just a book about climbing, it's about laser sharp focus in all aspects of life' Scott Jurek, author of Eat & Run 'Absolutely captivating, thrills, enriches' Denver Post
Sea Survival (Air Ministry Survival Guide)
by A.M. Pamphlet 224THE ULTIMATE SURVIVAL GUIDE for anyone who thinks they'd survive the world's most hostile environments - or at least imagine they could do.-----------------------------First issued to airmen in the 1950s, the Air Ministry's Sea Survival guide includes original and authentic emergency advice to crew operating over the ocean. With original illustrations and text, these survival guides provide an insight to military survival techniques from a by-gone era. Packed with original line drawings and instruction in: - How to punch man-eating sharks. Which are 'cowards' - The pros and cons of drinking 'fish juice' - When to smoke Focussing on one of the most challenging environments on Earth, Sea Survival is one of four reprints of The Air Ministry's emergency survival pamphlets. Others include: Jungle Survival Desert Survival Arctic Survival
Desert Survival (Air Ministry Survival Guide)
by A.M. Pamphlet 225THE ULTIMATE SURVIVAL GUIDE for anyone who thinks they'd survive the world's most hostile environments - or at least imagine they could do.-----------------------------First issued to airmen in the 1950s, the Air Ministry's Sea Survival guide includes original and authentic emergency advice to crew operating over the ocean. With original illustrations and text, these survival guides provide an insight to military survival techniques from a by-gone era.Packed with original line drawings and instruction in:- How to find water in a dry stream course- How to make a hat out of seat cushions- What to do in the event of meeting 'hostile parties'Focussing on one of the most unforgiving environments on Earth, Desert Survival is one of four reprints of The Air Ministry's emergency survival pamphlets. Others include:· Jungle Survival· Sea Survival· Arctic Survival
Tomaz Humar
by Bernadette McDonaldIn August, 2005, Tomaž Humar was trapped on a narrow ledge at 5900 metres on the formidable Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat. He had been attempting a new route, directly up the middle of the highest mountain face in the world - solo. After six days he was out of food, almost out of fuel and frequently buried by avalanches. Three helicopters were poised for a brief break in the weather to pluck him off the mountain. Because of the audacity of the climb, the fame of the climber, the high risk associated with the rescue, and the hourly reports posted on his base-camp website, the world was watching. Would this be the most spectacular rescue in climbing history? Or a tragic - and very public - death in the mountains?Years before, as communism was collapsing and the Balkans slid into chaos, Humar was unceremoniously conscripted into a dirty war that he despised, where he observed brutal and inhumane atrocities that disgusted him. Finally he did the unthinkable: he left and finally arrived home in what had become a new country - Slovenia. He returned to climbing, and within very few years, he was among the best in the world. Reinhold Messner, among others, called him the most remarkable mountain climber of his generation. His routes are seldom repeated; most consider them to be suicidal; yet he often climbs them solo. As this book was being written, he achieved the first-ever solo ascent of the east summit of Annapurna.Tomaž Humar has cooperated with Bernadette McDonald, the distinguished former director of the Banff Festival and author of several books on mountaineering, to tell his utterly remarkable story.
Psychovertical (Mountaineers Bks.)
by Andy KirkpatrickWINNER OF THE BOARDMAN TASKER PRIZE 2008Metro magazine recently wrote that Andy Kirkpatrick makes Ray Mears look like Paris Hilton. Words like boldness, adventure and risk were surely coined especially for him. As one of the world's most accomplished mountaineers and big-wall climbers, he goes vertically where other climbers (to say nothing of the general public) fear to tread.For the first time, this cult hero of vertical rock has written a book, in which his thirteen-day ascent of Reticent Wall on El Capitan in California - the hardest big-wall climb ever soloed by a Briton - frames a challenging autobiography. From childhood on a grim inner-city housing estate in Hull, the story moves through horrific encounters and unique athletic achievements at the extremes of the earth. As he writes, 'Climbs like this make no sense ... the chances of dying on the route are high.' Yet Andy, in his thirties with young children, has everything to live for. This is the paradox at the heart of the story.This book - by turns gut-wrenching, entertaining and challenging - appeals to the adventurer in all of us.
Coming of Age: The Updated Story Of Britain's New Tennis Phenomenon
by Andy MurrayThe Wimbledon champion's early life in his own words'With Andy, the sky's the limit...' John McEnroeAt Wimbledon 2005, Andy Murray announced himself on the tennis world stage by thrashing star pros George Bastl and Radek Stepanek: a legend was born and Britain had a new sporting hero.From there, Andy's rise to the top has been unstoppable: from winning his first ATP title at San Jose in 2006 and deposing Tim Henman to become British Number 1, to beating a host of former and current World no. 1s - including Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal - Murray has gone from strength to strength. With his triumphant win at Queen's in June 2009, a storming performance at Wimbledon 2009 - which saw Andy reach the semi-finals for the first time - and his crowning as World Number 2, we have seen Murray reach even greater heights. But Murray is much more than a truly gifted tennis player: he has changed the face of the British game. His grit, passion and success on court, combined with his ranking as one of the world's best players, has reignited Britain's love of tennis and inspired a whole new generation of kids to become tennis fans. Here, in his updated story, Andy regales us with the highs and the lows, the triumphs and the near misses to show us just how far the boy from Dunblane has come.
Union Jock: Sleeping with the Auld Enemy
by Aidan SmithJuly 30, 1966. Bobby Moore is lifting the Jules Rimet trophy, Denis Law is playing golf, and a young boy in Edinburgh is being taught the most important lesson of his life: no matter who England are playing, you support the other lot. If the opposition have a dodgy human rights record, or are cruel to wasps, or can't even be located on a large-format map - too bad. You support the other lot.Forty years on, and Aidan Smith has done a pretty good job of supporting the other lot. But these days he should be old enough, and ugly enough, to be above petty, playground-formed sporting squabbles. Besides, the World Cup is coming, Scotland haven't made it, and he's about to marry an Englishwoman. Maybe it's a sign. But can a Scotsman ever cheer for 'Ingerland'?In Union Jock, Aidan Smith investigates the age-old England-Scotland emnity, both on and off the football field. The Scots may have suffered at the hands of the Auld Enemy for centuries - Braveheart, Culloden, Jimmy Hill calling David Narey's goal a "toe-poke" (against Brazil in the 1982 World Cup, top right-hand corner) - but now they're a nation on the rise, with a spanking new parliament to prove it. But what do the fans, players, politicians, and Sassenach invaders really think about their English neighbours? Would supporting England be a denial of their Scottishness?Join Aidan Smith on his quest to put an end to centuries of not-so-friendly rivalry. That's if the Scots don't get him first. Or the English.
Playing the Moldovans at Tennis
by Tony Hawks'All I knew about Moldova were the names of eleven men printed on the inside back pages of my newspaper. None of them sounded to me like they were any good at tennis ...'An eccentric wager finds Tony Hawks, a man who loves an unusual challenge, bound for the little-known Eastern European state of Moldova. His mission: to track down members of the country's football team and persuade them to play him at tennis. The bizarre quest ultimately has little to do with tennis or football, but instead turns into an extraordinary journey involving the Moldovan underworld, gypsies, chronic power shortages, near kidnap, and a surprisingly tender relationship with his host family. Follow the fortunes of Tony in this hilarious and often moving adventure as it takes him from Moldova, onwards to Northern Ireland, leading to an exciting denouement in Nazareth - and the naked truth of the bet's final outcome ...
Golf For Enlightenment: The Seven Lessons for the Game of Life
by Dr Deepak ChopraGolf for Enlightenment is the fable of Adam Seaver, an ordinary person, with a terrible game. Adam meets a mysterious young teaching pro named Wendy who, in seven crisp, short yet profound lessons, teaches him things that seem baffling at first:- You and the ball are one- Find the now, and you will find the shot- Let the game play youFrom the moment they begin to put these lessons into practice, what was previously a humiliation turns into a transforming experience, not just for Adam's score but for his whole life. Long a famous writer on spiritual subjects, hailed as the poet-philosopher of mind-body medicine, Deepak Chopra found himself fascinated by the game of golf. He could not escape its parallels to life: 'Golf is like lightning caught in a bottle. It can turn triumph into disaster in a split second.' Faced with the wild ups and downs of his own game, Chopra crystallised a teaching based on mindfulness, the ability to remain calm and focused, relaxed and powerful at the same time. Mindfulness can improve any golf game, from the beginner's to the tour professional's. And it can improve anybody's life, no matter what game they play - or none.
The Driver: True Life Adventures of an Underground Road Racer
by Alexander RoyOn his deathbed, Alex Roy's father dropped tantalizing hints about the notorious Cannonball Run of the 1970s, the utterly illegal high-speed non-stop races from New York to LA. Inspired by his father's dying words, and against the advice of his friends, Roy enters this mysterious world - trying both to find himself, and to locate 'The Driver' - the anonymous organizer of the world's ultimate car race. In this riveting memoir, Roy straps you into his highly modified BMW M5, takes you on a terrifying 120 mph lap of Manhattan, then tackles the Gumball 3000 and the Bullrun - the two most infamous road rallies in the world. His bogus Polizei Autobahn Interceptor sticks out among the Lamborghinis and Ferraris driven by millionaire playboys, software moguls, Arab princes, movie stars, leggy Czech supermodels, gearheads, and tech whizzes. Armed with myriad radar detectors, laser jammers and police scanners, and his trunk crammed with a variety of fake uniforms, the obsessively prepared Roy evades arrest at almost every turn, wreaking havoc on his fiercest rivals and gaining the admiration of police forces around the globe.Filled with insane driving and Roy's quixotic quest to win both for his late father and himself, The Driver is the tale of one man's insatiable drive beyond life in the fast lane.
A Race Too Far: The Tragic Story Of The 1968 Golden Globe Yacht Race
by Chris EakinThe true story of the tragic round-the-world yacht race - now the subject of The Mercy, starring Colin Firth and Rachel WeiszIn 1968, the Sunday Times organised the Golden Globe race–an incredible test of endurance never before attempted–a round the world yacht race that must be completed single-handed and non-stop.This remarkable challenge inspired those daring to enter–with or without sailing experience. A Race Too Far is the story of how the race unfolded, and how it became a tragedy for many involved.Of the nine sailors who started the race, four realised the madness of the undertaking and pulled out within weeks. The remaining five each have their own remarkable story. Chay Blyth, fresh from rowing the Atlantic with John Ridgway, had no sailing experience but managed to sail round the Cape of Good Hope before retiring. Nigel Tetley sank while in the lead with 1,100 nautical miles to go, surviving but dying in tragic circumstances two years later. Donald Crowhurst began showing signs of mental illness and tried to fake a round the world voyage. His boat was discovered adrift in an apparent suicide, but his body was never found. Bernard Moitessier abandoned the race and carried on to Tahiti, where he settled and fathered a child despite having a wife and family in Paris. Robin Knox-Johnston was the only one to complete the race.Chris Eakin recreates the drama of the epic race, talking to all those touched by the Golden Globe: the survivors, the widows and the children of those who died. It is a book that both evokes the primary wonder of the adventure itself and reflects on what it has come to mean to both those involved and the rest of us in the forty years since.
Confessions of a Rugby Mercenary: Confessions Of A Kiwi Mercenary
by John DaniellJohn Daniell is a rubgy mercenary. A brutal word for an often brutal game. In 1996, when Rugby Union turned professional, John emigrated to France where he played for a decade in top competitions. His team ricocheted between fear and ecstasy, as they battled to save the club from relegation and their careers from the scrap heap. Now he lifts the lid on the dark world of the journeyman player, where losing a home game is considered a crime, coaches and club owners will do anything to win, and agents ruthlessly manipulate players. His compelling confessions are both shocking and funny, taking you behind the scenes, onto the field and into the very heart of the scrum.
Classic Football Debates Settled Once and For All, Vol.1: Settled Once And For All
by Danny Baker Danny KellyAt last! The award-winning Baker & Kelly bring you the most entertaining, radical and unreliable football book ever published. The Two Dannys argue the toss, spill the beans and chew that fat about everything and anything from the biggest questions down to stuff they have frankly invented themselves. Which club has the handsomest fans? Who is the greatest player of all time? Pele? Maradona? Puskas? Rougvie? Have foreign players helped or hindered the English game? Well, Marco Boogers, well? And who was the greatest football dad, Fred Baker or Andy Kelly? Now with even more footballing facts, myths and legends, the paperback asks (and answers) hard-hitting questions, such as, what was the greatest ever World Cup? Just how much pathetic World Cup tat can one own, Danny Kelly? And where do all those beautiful women in the crowd come from?A cornucopia of footballing fun and well-crafted wisdom that is certain to sell like beer-flavoured crisps. Baker & Kelly: Sometimes right sometimes wrong - but always certain.
Head On - Ian Botham: The Autobiography
by Sir Ian BothamVoted the greatest English cricketer of the 20th century by the fans, Sir Ian Botham is the English game's one true living legend and his story both on and off the pitch reads like a Boy's Own rollercoaster ride.Born with a natural genius for cricket, Botham began breaking records with bat and ball from a young age and soon became the man English cricket expected most from. After a troubled period as England's captain, Botham rose once again to become a national hero with his display in the Miracle Ashes of 1981. But, with his confrontational nature and wild streak, he began regularly making the wrong kind of headlines. With accusations of drink and drugs, affairs and ball-tampering, he became hounded by the tabloid pack, never sure whether they wanted him to triumph or implode. Now a Knight and just as famous for his tireless charity work, Beefy gives us the definitive story of his never-dull life and times in his own no-nonsense words.
Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling
by Bret Hart'Amazingly detailed and meticulously crafted ... Hitman will stand the test of time as one of the definitive wrestling biographies' Publishers Weekly'Bret Hart still makes me believe that wrestling is good' Hulk Hogan'Packed with drugs, sex, vicious family in-fighting and tales of life on the road ... Hart names names and lays it all bare in his own words' Globe and MailA story of death, sex, betrayal and revenge; sweat, steroids and duplicity - wrestler Bret Hart lifts the lid on the wacky, mythic, secretive word of pro wrestling in this epic tell-all.
Funny Shaped Balls: The Biggest Book of Sporting Jokes Ever
by Jonathan SwanOver 2,000 sporting funnies from every sport: football, rugby, cricket, golf, boxing,snooker and beyond...Two men fishing on a river bank in a canal in London on a Saturday afternoon miles away from a radio or TV. Suddenly one man turns to the other and says, 'Spurs have lost again.' The other man is astonished and says, 'How on earth do you know that?' The other man replies, 'It's quarter to five.'After the success of the George Foreman grill, Audley Harrison is launching his own toaster. The problem is it can only do four rounds.What does Steve Harmison put in his hands to make sure the next ball almost always takes a wicket? A bat
Boy Racer: My Journey To Tour De France Record-breaker
by Mark CavendishBoy Racer steps behind the scenes of the Tour de France. It unmasks the exotic, contradictory, hysterical and brutal world of professional cycling from the compellingly candid viewpoint of someone right in the thick of it.Written off as 'fat' and 'useless' in his youth, Mark Cavendish is now one of cycling's brightest stars and one of Britain's greatest ever cyclists. Some have called him cocky, but to anyone who doesn't like his style, Mark will simply shrug his shoulders and reply, 'I know I'm good. There's no point lying about it.'Peers say that they have never seen anyone with Cavendish's hunger for success and while this fearlessness - both in the saddle and on the record - has at times led to controversy, it has also earned him the respect of ever more fans.In Boy Racer we follow him through the mayhem of the Tour de France in a page-turning journey of pure exhilaration.
A Rough Ride: An Insight into Pro Cycling
by Paul KimmageIn A Rough Ride, Paul Kimmage gives a devastatingly frank account of what life is really like in the world of professional cycling. In tracing his mixed fortunes, Kimmage describes not only the grueling pressures of the sport but also the seamier side: the widespread use of drugs to enhance performance. A Rough Ride breaks the law of silence to expose a world where the supposed glamour has worn very thin.