Sportsbiografier

Murray Hurst was influential in Rugby League for more than 30 yrs, with an illustrious record until he was sacked as coach of the North QLD Cowboys. The skills he brought to coaching are now taken into his next challenge: Parkinson's disease.

Sir Henry Ralph Stanley Birkin Bt., better known as 'Tim' after the children's comic book character, Tiger Tim, will be remembered as one of the most daring and sporting of pre-war racing drivers. A contemporary of Sir Henry Segrave and Sir Malcolm Campbell, he was revered for his "press on regardless" approach to racing. He twice won the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1929 and 1931. One of the glamorous "Bentley Boys", silk scarf flying in the wind, he was a fearless and ferociously fast competitor. On one occasion at Le Mans he took on the challenge of pushing the Mercedes SSK of Rudi Caracciola to breaking point. He succeeded; passing the German on the Mulsanne straight, two wheels on the grass, one tyre in shreds, at 126 m.p.h. He continued driving, pedal to the floor, the epitome of the British racing hero. Belying his glamorous daredevil image, Sir Henry was an unassuming, shy man who suffered from a stammer but was passionate in his belief that Great Britain should be a preeminent motor racing nation. Full Throttle captures at first hand Birkin's accounts of the excitement and thrills of racing that he so loved. It was first published in 1932, the year before he died at the age of 36 as a result of burns incurred from leaning on a hot exhaust pipe after finishing 3rd at the Tripoli Grand Prix. This illustrated Daredevil Books edition features a new foreword by Allan Winn, former CEO of Brooklands Museum and reflections on Birkin's life by Derek Bell, five times Le Mans winner.

Teetering confidence levels, feeling different and living as the "other" are stories we often do not hear from Black men. These remnants of inadequacy seep into their evolving identities and highlight differences as deficiencies. Standing at 7'2, NBA athlete Alexis Ajinça, shares intimate confessions and personal stories of growing up as an outcast and the impacts it has had on his mental and emotional wellness since childhood. From avoiding public appearances so people won't sneak a photo or make comments about his large stature to overcoming feelings of social anxiety and insecurity, in this book, he highlights the challenges that were birthed from living in a body that very few can relate to. Taking readers on a candid journey of self-acceptance and using self-mastery as a way to regulate his emotional responses, Ajinça details the practical tools and mindset shifts he has developed in order to build his confidence. Through his own hardships with being tall, he shares an engaging and powerful message for anyone who has ever felt broken, less than or different. He reminds readers that no matter how successful you may become, feeling good about yourself is a prerequisite to happiness and fulfillment that far outweighs any accolade or dollar amount.

The inspirational story of African American trailblazer Kenny Washington, the first player to reintegrate the NFL and the first Black football coach in America, considered by many to be the greatest football player of his time.

Fully updated to include the extraordinary scenes at London 2012, where Hoy won two more gold medals to bring his total to six and overtake Sir Steve Redgrave, this is the story of Britain's greatest ever Olympian.Chris Hoy has been instrumental in British track cycling's remarkable transformation from also-rans to world superpower. Now, having rewritten the record books as Olympic champion in four different cycling disciplines, and with six gold medals, Hoy has become a householdname and established himself in the pantheon of sporting greats.This is a fly-on-the-wall account of Hoy and his team as he prepared for the Beijing Olympics, where he became the first Briton in a century to win three gold medals in a single Games, and it has now been fully updated to include the extraordinary scenes at London 2012, where Hoy won two more gold medals, to bring his total to six and overtake Sir Steve Redgrave as Britain's greatest ever Olympian.The story begins with Hoy's introduction to cycling as a BMX racer and his progression to Olympic champion, and explains the origins and evolution of Britain's world-beating team. It includes a bizarre visit to the world's highest velodrome in Bolivia and a spellbinding journey from the razzmatazz of theEuropean six-day circuit to the craziness of the Japanese keirin races.Award-winning writer Richard Moore tracks Hoy throughout a season in the saddle, explores his motivations and mentors from a young age, and provides an unblemished insight into the mind of a champion and the largely unknown world of track cycling. It's a story that is fully updated with the remarkable events in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012, two successive Olympic Games that were dominated by Hoy and the British track cycling team.

A Reporter's Recollections of the Glory Years of Speedway, spanning his life in provincial and national journalism.

A hilarious and entertaining insight into the pitfalls that face cricketers all the time - and how to avoid them, as told by someone who usually didn't

Work Horse is Olstad's journey, the values of hard work and perseverance learned from his family guiding him through challenges, to reaching his goal.

On 31st January 2010, Trooper Corie Mapp of The Life Guards was driving his armoured vehicle on combat operations in Afghanistan when it ran over an IED. The explosion that followed caused him massive injuries. But this was not the end of his active life but rather the beginning.

A boy born to play baseball reaches the tournament level and wins a college scholarship, but died in a car accident before he could shine brighter. As told by his father.

Too big for the Primary School reps, and in his day the tallest man to have played on Lancaster Park, Nugget Pringle won Wellington caps in his first season of senior rugby with the Oriental Club, and went on to win an All Black cap the following year, 1923.

Two Brothers tells the story of a great sporting family, uncovering new details, exposing myths and placing Jack and Bobby Charlton in their historical context. It's a book about two English footballers but also about English football and England itself.In later life Jack and Bobby didn't get on and barely spoke but the lives of these very different brothers from the coalfield tell the story of late twentieth-century English football: the tensions between flair and industry, between individuality and the collective, between right and left, between middle- and working-classes, between exile and home.Jack was open, charismatic, selfish and pig-headed; Bobby was guarded, shy, polite and reserved to the point of reclusiveness. They were very different footballers: Jack a gangling central defender who developed a profound tactical intelligence; Bobby an athletic attacking midfielder who disdained systems. They played for clubs who embodied two very different approaches, the familial closeness and tactical cohesion of Leeds on the one hand and the individualistic flair and clashing egos of Manchester United on the other.Both enjoyed great success as players: Jack won a league, a Cup and two Fairs Cups with Leeds; Bobby won a league title, survived the terrible disaster of the plane crash in Munich, and then at enormous emotional cost, won a Cup and two more league titles before capping it off with the European Cup. Together, for England, they won the World Cup.Their managerial careers followed predictably diverging paths, Bobby failing at Preston while Jack enjoyed success at Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday before leading Ireland to previously un-imagined heights. Both were financially very successful, but Jack remained staunchly left-wing while Bobby tended to conservatism. In the end, Jack returned to Northumberland; Bobby remained in the North-West.Two Brothers tells a story of social history as well as two of the most famous football players of their generation.