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[[Category:New Reviews|Sport]]__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Adam RuckHurst_Norfolk|title=The Bluffer's Guide to Golf (Bluffer's Guides)On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks|author=John Hurst|rating=4.5|genre=SportArt|summary=The fly leaf suggests that this Bluffer's Guide is the way It was pure serendipity: after a five-hour drive, we were, annoyingly, left with an hour to instantly acquire all fill in Blakeney before we could have the knowledge which you need keys to pass as our holiday cottage. There was an expert art exhibition in the ''arcane church hall, so we went in - and labyrinthine'' world found a display of golfthe most gorgeous pictures. There's quite a bit there that I'd agree cheerfully have bought every one and hung them on - the rules (and to an unfortunate extent the ''attitudes'') are arcane and they seem to take a lifetime to masterour walls, but there's thought that I would have to make do with a surprising amount couple of information tucked away inside this little book. What greetings cards when I might quibble with is whether or not you would 'saw 'pass as an expert'' (which suggests that you're something of a con man): there's enough detail here to give you a solid grounding without needing to bluff.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909365327</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=The Boys In The BoatOn My Way: An Epic Journey to the Heart of HitlerNorfolk Coastal Walks's Berlin|author=Daniel James Brown|rating=4.5|genre=Biography|summary=You see, Jesse Owens had it easy – all he had to do was run fast. Alright, he did have to face unknown hardship, heinous prejudice at home and abroad, and make sure he was fast enough to outdo the rest of his compatriots then the world's best to win gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but others who wished to do the same had to do more. People such as those rowers in the coxed eights squad – people such as young Joe Rantz. He certainly had to face hardship, the prejudice borne by those in the moneyed east coast yacht clubs against an upstart from the NW USA, and when he got to compete he had to use so many more muscles, and operate at varying tempi, with the temperament of the weather and water against him, all in perfect synchronicity with seven other beefcakes. Despite rowing being the second greatest ticket at those Games, JoeI couldn's story is a lot less well known, and probably a lot more entertainingt resist buying it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447210980</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Ignotofsky_Sport|title=Running Like A GirlWomen in Sport: Fifty Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win|author=Alexandra HeminsleyRachel Ignotofsky

|genre=SportChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=Running ''Women in Sport'' is awfulcoming to us just before the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February 2018. So starts HeminsleyIt celebrates a century and a half of the development of women's sport by looking at fifty of its highest achievers, covering sports as diverse as swimming, fencing, riding, skating, and much more. Think of a sport and a pioneering woman succeeding at it is probably in this book about runningsomewhere. And she's not wrongEach entry is a double-page spread with a brief biography and a striking portrait.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099558955</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Burrell_12|title=Who Invented Twelve Times To The Stepover? (And Other Crucial Football Conundrums)Max: One Man's Journey to, and Recollections of, Setting Twelve Verified World Records|author=Paul Simpson and Uli HesseStuart Burrell

|summary=In 1982The first of Stuart Burrell's world records, well, the first two, actually, as he's not a man to do things by halves, second division Charlton Athletic staged an unlikely transfer coup came about by signing former European Footballer of the Year Allan Simonsenaccident. If There had been a plan to raise some money for the thought of Children in Need Charity and quite late on the Danish superstar forsaking people who were to have been the glamour main attraction got a better offer and Burrell is not a man to let people down. What could be done to bring people in and raise some money? Most of us would have thought of Barcelona for south east London seemed unlikely then consider that Simonsen jumble sales and cake bakes, but Burrell had previously faked his own death during made a hobby of escapology and idea of a World Cup qualifiersponsored escape had life breathed into it. On 3 November 2002, he went for the Fastest Handcuff Escape world record and immediately afterwards Most Handcuffs Escaped in One Hour. Both were successful and more than £300 was raised for Children in Need.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781250065</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Harry RedknappLandreth_Swell|title=Harry: My AutobiographySwell |author=Jenny Landreth|rating=4.5

|summary=Everybody with an interest in football knows who I love Jenny's own description of her book as a waterbiography and I love her encouragement that we should each write our own. This is more than just (I say ''Harryjust'' is. The cover !) a recollection of his book wonthe author't tell you who he is, but if yous own encounters with water; it're not in the know its also a history of women's Harry Redknapp - football manager and fight for many of usthe right to swim. That sounds absurd until you start reading about it, something of a national treasurethen it becomes serious. He's Not too serious though – because Jenny Landreth is clearly a lover of the manager who's seen it allabsurd. Not a lover of book blurbs myself, having started at rock bottom - I do always seek to give a 70s Portakabin at Oxford City shout- and risen out to the heights of managing Tottenham Hotspur those who get it dead right: in the Premiership. At the same time he was the popular choice for the England Managerthis case, I'm definitely with Alexandra Heminsley's job when Capello threw in ''giggles-on-the towel. It-commute funny's fair to say that Harry has lived his football life to the full and anyone buying this book will get their money's worth.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091917875</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jim WhiteOakeshott_Derby|title=Premier LeagueA Guide to the Classics: A History in 10 MatchesOr How to Pick the Derby Winner|author=Guy Griffith and Michael Oakeshott|rating=4.5

|summary=I go back to It's not often that you get a glimpse into the days when personal, youthful interests of one of the pinnacle greatest Conservative philosophers of footballing achievement was to be in Division 1the twentieth century, but ''A Guide to the stadia and Classics'' co-authored by Michael Oakeshott is a light-hearted look at how to pick the stands were downmarketDerby winner. Standing - pushingOriginally written in 1936 it is, amazingly, shoving and fighting - as relevant today as it was then. In fact, the norm techniques and it wasn't analysis employed by the place for a family outing. You could get into a match for less than a fiver authors were way ahead of their time and top footballers earned less than four times the average wage. All that changed in 1993 with the birth of the Premier League. This was the brainchild of - amongst others - [[:Category:Greg Dyke|Greg Dyke]] who saw the potential for turning football at the highest level have only come into a business. Twenty one years on the top footballers earn more than thirty five times the average wagegeneral use relatively recently.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781854300</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Gibbons_Game|title=Twirlymen: The Unlikley History of Cricket's Greatest Spin BowlersBeautiful Game|author=Amol RajanAlan Gibbons|rating=3.54

|summary=Although they may lack the bang and bluster of the fast bowlers, the three leading wicket takers of all time in Test cricket are Football is all spinnersabout its colours. They may look calmer And even if I write in their run ups and action, but the effect they put on season when one team in blue knocks another team in blue from the ball can be incredible. Rather than blasting a batsman outthrone of English football, they bamboozle them. Thatit's why Amol Rajan thinks them deserving common knowledge that red is the more successful colour to wear. But is that flame red? Blood red? The red of the Sun cover banner when it falsely declared 96 Liverpool FC fans were fatally caught up in a book all tragedy – and that it had been one of their ownmaking? And while we're on about colour, and where were the people of colour in football in the olden days? There are so many darker sides to football's history it'Twirlymen'' is s enough to make a young lad question the result of that belief.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224083252</amazonuk>whole game…

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John D BarrowAskwith_Today|title=MathleticsToday We Die a Little: Emil Zatopek, Olympic Legend to Cold War Hero|author=Richard Askwith|rating=3.54

|summary=As a sports fan and a maths teacherrunner myself, I was thrilled to get the chance to read a book which claims to give us 'surprising and enlightening insights into the world often look for sources of sports'inspiration. This Training is rather rewarding, but every so often a frustrating read because day comes along when I question whether it seems to have got the balance wrong in many cases. There are some chapters which are so short as to be barely is all worth reading – one merely points out that while humans can’t run as fast as cheetahs it or perform gymnastics as amazing as not. Zatopek proves that of a monkeyis, indeed, we’re better all-rounders than any other animal. This is true, but hardly seems worth wasting a page on, it’s so obviousit. Then there are other chaptersHe put copious amounts of effort into his training, like and the interesting one detailing the points scoring system in number of races he won over his career as a professional athlete clearly shows the decathlon, which are good but could have been much better given more space. The decathlon one is a prime example results of this – it’s five pages, so one of the book’s longer sections, but could surely have been excellent if it had gone into more detail. I can’t help thinking that dropping half of the sections and doubling the other half in length might have been the way to go here.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099584239</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Gavin MortimerPavey_Mum|title=A History of Cricket in 100 ObjectsThis Mum Runs|author=Jo Pavey

|summary=[[A History I am something of Football in 100 Objects by Gavin Mortimer|A History a self-confessed running addict: I think nothing of hitting the roads for 50 miles a week, and spend much of Football in 100 Objects]] was my time searching for races to run all over the country. That is, until I wound up with a brave attemptpersistent sports injury, but was slightly let down by being hung up my running shoes for nearly a little too clinicalyear, and switched the road to the pool. Being a game imbued with passionAt the time I thought nothing could alleviate the misery of not being able to run; but now I wish I had had Jo Pavey's autobiography, ''This Mum Runs'', to keep me company because the book lacked this which took some elite athlete’s account of the edge off it. CricketOlympics, injury, family, whilst inspiring passion amongst devoteesand life, has a slightly more laid back following; one that may work better in this format. That saidgeneral, being a game that has been played for five centuries, narrowing it down to just 100 objects is no less an undertaking than for footballfalls nothing short of inspirational.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846689406</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stephen RocheLee_Lean|title=Born to Ride: The Autobiography of Stephen RocheLean Gains|author=Jonathan S Lee

|summary=With all the revelations about the systemised doping culture surrounding Lance ArmstrongI don't often begin a book by telling you what it ''isn't''s team but in the 1990s, this case I think it was interesting 's important. If you're a fairly sedentary person or a casual sportsman or woman looking to read shed a story few pounds then you won't get the best out of a time before cycling was embroiled in one drugs scandal after anotherthis book. Although perhaps not as memorable as ArmstrongYou's career, Stephen Rochell find some good advice about diet but I's will hold m afraid that much of it is going to go over your head. Of course you could always take up a place in cycling history for 1987, when he became only the second man to win sport seriously... On the Tour de Franceother hand, the Giro Dif you ''are''Italia and a serious sportsman then you could find that the World Championships advice in the same season. A quarter of a century after that remarkable feat, Roche has produced his autobiography, ''Born to RideLean Gains''could lift you up to the next level of performance.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224091905</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Gavin MortimerLong_Mock|title=A History of Football in 100 ObjectsThe Mock Olympian|author=Michael Long

|summary=Given how long itIt started with an idle conversation just before the 2012 London Olympics: Michael Long's been played and how many books have been written about it, any new history friend Sarah gave him a book as part of football needs his birthday present. It was Time Out's guide to have some kind the history of hook to make the Olympics and it stand outcovered each of the summer Olympics in chronological order from the inaugural games in Athens in 1896. Gavin Mortimer may have found Sarah's boyfriend James commented thatwith all the running Michael did, by presenting his history as he'd probably have run in most of the Olympic cities. Although Long had done a goodly number of runs, bike rides and triathlons he'A History d only competed in two of the twenty-three cities - London and Athens. Now most of Football in 100 Objectsus would have left it at that, but that's not the Michael Long you'. This prompts the question as re going to whether the whole of football could be reduced down come to a mere century of objectsknow and love. But then, if [[From 0 to Infinity in 26 Centuries by Chris Waring]] can make He saw it as a history of maths worth readingchallenge and what's more, I guess anything is possiblehe blogged about it and then wrote this book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781250618</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Martin KelnerRoberts_Home|title=Sit Down Home and Cheer: A History of Sport on TVAway|author=Dave Roberts

|summary=Like many English sports For most football fans, non-league clubs (that is, teams who play outside the majority top four divisions of English football) are like a distant relative fallen on hard times; you're vaguely aware of their existence but have no particular wish to visit them. Apart from a few weeks in early January, when the calories I burn are used up by shouting at odd non-league club reaches the third round of the TV FA cup and occasionally going to embarks on a spot of giant-killing, the shops for more beer and crispslower leagues receive almost no attention outside their small groups of devoted supporters. Sports books tend So what's it like to be about the sport itself or biographies support a non-league team? Enter Dave Roberts, a fan of those Bromley FC who expended great effort to reach are currently plying their trade in the Vanarama National League – the top fifth tier of their chosen sportEnglish football. But in Martin KelnerIn 's 'Sit Down Home and Cheer: A History of Sport on TVAway'', there is finally a book for Dave documents the highs and lows of travelling the country watching Bromley during the less energetic among us2015/2016 season.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140812923X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Clare BaldingMcgrath_Darley|title=My Animals and Other FamilyMr Darley's Arabian: High Life, Low Life, Sporting Life: A History of Racing in 25 Horses|author=Christopher McGrath

|summary=Nothing divides opinion quite like football and no-All thoroughbred racehorses are descended from one expresses their joy and disappointment like football fans. For many fans, the most important matches of their entire season are the ones against their local rivalsjust three stallions which came to England about three hundred years ago; the derby matchesThe Byerley Turk, The Darley Arabian and The Godolphin Arabian. English football The last century or so has seen a number decline in the lines from the first and last of thesestallions, but only to the matches between Barcelona extent that some 95% of all thoroughbreds worldwide - not just in England - are descended from The Darley Arabian, which was originally bought in Aleppo from Bedouin tribesmen and Real Madrid shipped to Yorkshire in Spain have elevated themselves above mere derby status and earned their own name: ''El Clásico'' – the Classic1704, by Thomas Darley, who died, in difficult financial circumstances before he could follow his horse home.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408158795</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=The Secret FootballerMills_Top|title=I Am Top Of The Secret Footballer: Lifting The Lid On The Beautiful GameLeague|author=Andrea Mills|rating=43.5

|summary=In Football is known as the 2012 Olympic Games the UK delighted in the skills shown by our athletesbeautiful game and when I was younger I kind of believed this. We were - naturally - pleased by the medals, but what impressed was the training I would spend my free time playing Heads and Volleys with my mates and then go home to try and dedication of people who were frequently fitting what they did around the day job or studycomplete my Panini sticker album. For There was even the most part they weren't reaping much in halcyon days when Blackburn Rovers won the way of financial rewards from what they did - but they shonetitle. The exceptions were the footballersAs I have grown older, my cynicism has grown too. I forget (and that might well Leicester may be Freudian) ''exactly'' who beat uschampions, but the day I doubt feel that there are many people pleased by a group of multimillionaires beating a group of slightly richer multimillionaires is a win for the show they madeeveryman, will be a sad one. It's now Perhaps the beginning love of football still burns bright in the Premier League season and youth of today? ''I Am Top Of the Secret FootballerLeague'' has arrived at certainly hopes so as it is full of facts and figures all about the perfect momentball they call foot.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852653085</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alan Tyers and BeachBradbury_Walks|title=I Kick Therefore I am: The Little Book of Premier League WisdomUnforgettable Walks|author=Julia Bradbury

|summary=You remember Ronnie Matthews, donI't you? Heve long been a fan of Julia Bradbury's walking programmes on television - I credit her with sparking my own interest in walking - so the footballer who celebrated his one – news that there would shortly be another series of programmes and so far, only – international match by booing his way through the Faroe Islands' national anthem, then getting a red card for chatting up book to accompany the lineswoman. He still thinks he contributed well series was music to a vital friendly, howevermy ears. HeThis time she's looking at Britain's best walks with a view and she roams through Dorset, the Cotswolds, Anglesey, the Yorkshire Dales, the Lakes, Cumbria, the player whose career in piddling his way through continuously lesser South Downs and lesser clubs for far too long has only been matched in the recent game by Steve ClaridgePeak District. And still heUnless you's bucking the trend – here in Scotland there's the only author smart enough something reasonably close to realise that four-hundred pagejust about everyone, ghost-written biogs are unnecessary, for he's crammed with a good spread around all his life, career, philosophy and response to Twitter into an hour's readpoints of the compass.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408832763</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Leo McKinstryMartin_When|title=Jack Hobbs: England's Greatest Cricketer|rating=5|genre=Sport|summary=Back in the early 1920s, there were only three Test cricket playing nations; England, Australia and South Africa. In the summer of 2012, both nations have been on tour; Australia recently beaten comprehensively at one day cricket and South Africa about to start a test series to determine the best Test nation in the world. Given that history is repeating itself, it seems appropriate that a new biography of Jack Hobbs, England's greatest run scorer and a man who repeatedly blunted the bowling attacks of both nationsWhen You Dead, should become available now.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224083309</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewYou Dead|author=Beth Raymer|title=Lay the Favourite: A True Story about Playing to Win in the Gambling UnderworldGuy Martin

|summary=IIt'm s a huge fan of both football and reading, so little depressing when a book about football 34-year-old is always likely to appeal to me as the best way of combining the two. Recentlypublishing his second autobiography, I've read books set at the pinnacle of the game in [[Life with Sir Alex: A Fanbut that's Story of Ferguson's 25 Years at Manchester United by Will Tidey]] what this book is, and about one manMartin proves he's struggle to bring football to a foreign land in [[Bamboo Goalposts by Rowan Simons]]certainly not short on material. ''Up'' ''Pohnpei'The author, for those of you who don' t know, is firmly a mechanic who dabbles in TV presenting and motorcycle racing, though it's the latter categoryfor which he will be most well-known. As an F1 widow to a boy who likes all things fast, treading very similar ground to Simons' I thought he might like this bookand so, perhaps unusually, I chose it with someone else in mind but made myself read it first.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184668501X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Will TideyMccoy_Winner|title=Winner: My Racing Life with Sir Alex: |author=A Fan's Story of Ferguson's 25 Years at Manchester UnitedP McCoy

|summary=In his 25 years as manager any walk of Manchester United Football Clublife, there are people who are universally known by their first names alone. In flat racing, Sir Alex Ferguson has won everythingeveryone knows who 'Frankie' is and in National Hunt, most of them you need to say no more than once'A.P.' Legend is an over-used word but not when it comes to the achievements of Tony 'A.P.' McCoy. He's taken been champion jockey an unprecedented twenty times and his team to the top career record of English football with some lavish purchases4,348 wins may never be beaten. In fact, some expert man management and a ruthless dedication it's tempting to his club and his playerssay that it will ''never'' be beaten. Depending which side of He's won the fence you sit onGrand National, this has made him either the most popularIrish Grand National, or most hated, man in English footballtwo Cheltenham Gold Cups and won the Champion Hurdle three times. IUnusually for a jockey, he'm in s also been BBC Sports Personality of the latter groupYear. I'm a Liverpool fanHe achieved all this by the age of forty one when he retired from racing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408149516</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mark KreidlerKrien_Night|title=The Voodoo Wave - Inside a Season of Triumph and Tumult at Maverick's|rating=4|genre=Sport|summary=Maverick's is one of the biggest, nastiest, jaw droppingly huge waves in the Pacific Ocean and as such has become something of a Mecca for the world's top surfers. Situated off the coast of Northern California its freezing cold conditions make it a far cry from the sun drenched breaks in Hawaii, Mexico and South Africa with the number of surfers adequately qualified (and fearless enough) Night Games: A Journey to take on the cliff like drops probably numbering less than 100.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0393065359</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Ian Ridley|title=There's A Golden Sky: How 20 years Dark Side of the Premier League has changed football forever|rating=5|genre=Sport|summary=Twenty years ago the Premier League was founded, changing English football irreversibly. Also 20 years ago, journalist Ian Ridley wrote the classic ''Season In The Cold'', a snapshot of the game at the time. Since then, clubs have risen and fallen, players have become legends, and Ridley himself has become chairman of not one but two non-league clubs – first Weymouth, from 2003-2004 (and again briefly in 2009) and more recently St Albans City. In this stunning follow-up to Season In The Cold, Ridley explore the effect that the changes in the sport have had at all levels.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408130408</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=David Goldblatt and Johnny Acton|title=How to Watch the Olympics: Scores and laws, heroes and zeros – an instant initiation to every sportAnna Krien|rating=4|genre=Sport|summary=Are you planning an Olympic telefest for a few weeks in July 2012? Are you one of the lucky people who have tickets to their chosen events? Or are you one of those many people who are genuinely confused by the rules, or the scoring and who would like to know a little more so that they can understand what it's all about? If so, you should look no further. We have the book for you. Whether you're heading for London or going no further than the television we have the background to the sports.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684757</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Kevin Mitchell|title=Jacobs Beach: The Mob, the Garden, and the Golden Age of Boxing|rating=5

|summary=Despite not being Mere mortals relax by having a particular fan game of footy of a weekend and a couple of drinks, but what does a professional sportsman do to cut loose? What do they do when they go out en masse? Investigative journalist Anna Krien looks at a rape trial of an Australian Rules footballer, just into his twenties and follows the sport case as it goes to court, interviewing some of boxingthose directly or indirectly involved and digressing into related areas. In deference to the fact that the woman had automatic anonymity, Kevin Mitchellshe's compelling knowledge of chosen to give the personalities involved in man who was charged the fight game name of 'Justin Dyer' in an attempt to level the 20th centuryplaying field, coupled so to speak. You could Google the facts and come up with a staccato writing style which got my attention quickly and kept it to the very last pagecorrect name, meant but this isn't a book actually rose far above my expectationsof gossip about particular people. It's an investigation of a culture which has increasingly treated women as sexual commodities.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224075098</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Scott Murray and Simon FarnabyScott_Born|title=The Phantom of The Open: Maurice Flitcroft, the World's Worst GolferBorn to Rumble|author=Jeff Scott

|summary=Maurice Flitcroft was forty six when he played his first round of golf''Rumble''. Most golfers start on the local course and hack around until they develop some skill. Not Maurice. That wasnIt's an odd word, isn't his way. He borrowed some books on golf from the library and decided it, with that he was going to enter the Open. Yes – the Open. No starting at the bottom and working his way up – Maurice went straight for the big one. He ran up sense of a score noise like thunder (or even of 121 a motorcycle engine) ''and the R&A (that's Royal and Ancient if you're not of a golf fan) went ballisticstreet fight between rival gangs. It might be said that they lacked a sense of humour but golf Author Jeff Scott has picked the perfect title for his journey around various speedway venues looking at this level is a serious game and Maurice was banned for life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224083171</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Susan Casey|title=The Wave: In Pursuit those occasions when the combination of the Oceans' Greatest Furies|rating=4|genre=Sport|summary=They're powerful enough to capsize unsinkable shipsbrakeless bikes, wrench oil rigs from their moorings and can destroy vast swathes of coastal regionsadrenalin, flattening everything in their path ridiculous speeds and killing thousands not a lot of people in space explode into a confrontation on or off the processtrack. So what is it It's hardly surprising that makes some men, and it is mostly men, go in search of these oceanic monsters? That is what Susan Casey tries to find out happens - in this engaging, often awe inspiring and sometimes terrifying look at the world of big wave surfing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099531763</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Anthony Bateman and Jeff Hill (Editors)|title=The Cambridge Companion to Cricket|rating=4.5|genre=Sport|summary=Cricket has an international reach which can be rivaled by few other team sportsfact, and this book looks at the history of the game going from England around the world to the other major Test-playing nations. While it's packed full of initially rather dauntingly dense prose, none surprising that it doesn't happen more often given the competitive nature of the 17 chapters are particularly long – most weighing in at a little under 20 pages – sport and the writing styles diva-like qualities of all some of the various authors are very accessibletop riders.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0521167876</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Victoria Coren|title=For Richer, For Poorer: Confessions of a Player|rating=5|genre=Autobiography|summary=Some things are in the blood. For Victoria Coren it was cards. As a child she and brother Giles were taught to play Blackjack by their grandfather. He called it Pontoon but the most valuable lesson was that grandfather was ''always'' the dealer and ''always'' the winner. Giles played Poker but wasn't really a gambler. Victoria was one of life's risk-takers and she leant to the more adventurous side of her father's family. She was unhappy at school, preferring the company of her brother's straight-talking friends to the bitchy all-girl atmosphere at school. In the intervening twenty years she's won a million dollars, but for her it's never been about the money.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847672930</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Tom Fordyce and Ben Dirs|title=We Could be Heroes: One Van, Two Blokes and Twelve World Championships|rating=5|genre=Sport|summary=Meet Ben Dirs. Apart from having one of the most unfortunate names Move on record, he’s a fairly laid-back guy whose daily breakfast consists of two cigarettes. Compared to Dirs, his BBC colleague Tom Fordyce – a keen amateur triathlete – looks like Daley Thompson in his prime. But Tom’s ambition of winning a worldchampionship is still completely unachievable, surely? You don’t go from BBC blogger to 100m champion, football World Cup winner, or even the number 1 snooker player on Earth, after all. On the other hand, there are some more obscure Championships out there… could these two unlikely heroes make their dreams come true, and be recognised as the best shin kickers in the world? Not if Rory McGrath has anything to do with it! In addition to the Cotswold Olympicks and their shin-kicking, Dirs and Fordyce try snail racing, wife carrying, nettle eating, and many more weird and wonderful events. The only thing they have in common is the humour which the pair see in all of them.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230736157</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Teens Reviews]]