The Hike

Meet Freddy, Phil and Don. They love walking. And arguing

Funny, warm and elegiac - Last of the Summer Wine meets A Year in Provence

A masterpiece ... had me crying with laughter

Don Shaw began writing full-time in 1968 and soon became one of Britain's top television writers, with credits including Z-Cars, Dangerfield and Van der Valk. His Wingate trilogy of plays and Bomber Harris both won BAFTAs. He has also written a number of film screenplays. 
 
Don has made many TV appearances, discussing a variety of topics ranging from the Carl Bridgewater murder, the IRA and the Falklands War to the 'Keep Brian Clough at Derby' campaign which he led in 1973. He is still a regular guest on BBC Radio Derby. 
 
As well as hiking, Don still finds time to run three miles a day, and his other great passion is flying his own Piper 22 aircraft. He is married with three children and lives in London and Derbyshire. 
 
You can see more about Don and contact him through his website at www.donshaw.uk.com

Freddy, Phil and Don are three grumpy old men, travelling at various speeds in the slow lane of retirement, at a loss to understand the mad modern world around them. 
 
Their chosen method of escape from all this is a shared weekly hike in the Peak District, come gale, hail, snow or torrential rain. They pass the time bumping into colourful and eccentric locals, but their real passion is bickering among themselves. Not only about the right path to take, but also about where they're all going at the fag end of life. Phil likes to dash up hills trying to beat his personal best, while Freddy plots how to sabotage him - teasing him at leisure and asking deep and difficult questions. Stuck in the middle, Don's only ambition is to stop the squabbling getting out of hand long enough to find a nice pub for lunch. 
 
As warm as the wind is cold, as dry as the lashing rain is wet, The Hike is a hilarious tale of bum-warmers, crayfish-fanciers, East German Trabant enthusiasts, bodger philosophers, sticky ginger cake, gorgeous countryside and the subtle art of 'onedownmanship'.

Don Shaw

Clough's War is the story of his epic ascent and decline at Derby County, a club he took in a few short years from nowhere to the top English football and teetering on greatness in Europe, before the whole dream came tumbling down in the national spotlight with his acrimonious resignation in 1973. It is the story of his rise to national fame, his almost messianic adoration at Derby and his jealous political tussle with the chairman Sam Longson and the ultimate fall of Clough's unchecked power. Award-winning script writer and lifelong Rams fan Don Shaw, was the man who, at Clough's behest, ran the campaign to keep Clough at Derby and who found himself almost in the spotlight as much as the great man himself. It is a tale dramatised with all the power of Greek tragedy and the Machiavellian intrigue of All The President's Men, while shedding new light on the Clough legend like no other book before it.

Don Shaw

Books by Don Shaw

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter