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John Rowlinson

The Boys of ’66 - The Unseen Story Behind England’s World Cup Glory

  • The Boys of ’66 - The Unseen Story Behind England’s World Cup Glory

  • Wembley, 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victory, assesses both the players who made the final squad and those who lost out and, with the help of previously unpublished photographs, provides a unique chronicle of professional football over fifty years ago.

John Rowlinson trained as a journalist after a history degree at Cambridge where he played football for the university. He enjoyed a long career with BBC TV Sport where he was responsible, among many other events, for World Cup, Wimbledon and Olympic coverage. He then spent seven years as Director of Television at the All England Club, before joining the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games as Head of Broadcast for London 2012. Married with two daughters, he lives in Berkshire.

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