A Complete History of Newcastle United Football Club

The Toon

Roger Hutchinson is an award-winning author and journalist. After spending his early career in London editing magazines, he moved in 1977 to work in Skye, where he still lives. His previous books include High Sixties: The Summers of Riot and Love, All the Sweets of Being: A Life of James Boswell and Empire Games: The British Invention of Twentieth-Century Sport.

This is the full story, unofficial and uncensored, of one of the greatest football clubs in the country. From its birth in the 1890s to its rebirth in the 1990s and up to season 2003-4, The Toon tells of a small soccer club, long in the shadow of an enormous rival, which grew to eclipse that rival - and every other club in Great Britain. Roger Hutchinson brings to life the sensational early successes of Newcastle United, recreating the great Anglo-Scottish team which dominated the Football League before the First World War. He vividly describes the helter-skelter attacking sides of the 1930s and the Cup giants of the 1950s, and gives us the European conquerors of the 1960s and the squads of the 1970s and '80s, before showing us how today's cosmopolitan side of title-chasing internationals was built.This lively, hard-hitting book portrays the brilliant management of such legends as Frank Watt and takes us down through the thrilling decades right up to the reign of Sir Bobby Robson. In its pages we see the educated play of Andy Aitken and Colin Veitch; we watch as the fast and furious centre-forward play of Jock Peddie paves the way for the era of the great Hughie Gallacher and the unique Jackie Milburn. It assesses the merits of all of their heirs, from Keegan to Beardsley, from Macdonald to Shearer, from Moncur to Dyer. Exploring and explaining the lean years as well as the successful decades, The Toon exposes the bad managers, incompetent directors and players who were unworthy of the black and white stripes. It takes an unflinching look at the lost opportunities and the Geordie footballers who went missing. But it also offers us the geniuses, the household names, the men who have lit up Tyneside and the world beyond in a hundred-year sequence of unforgettable League and Cup campaigns. Most of all, The Toon looks from the past towards a glorious future.

The Modern Gaelic Revival

A Waxing Moon

'The fine detail of the book clearly reveals how much nerve and hope (and judgement and error) it took to turn a disused barn into one of the most radical educational ventures in the country, with sometimes unlikely cart-pushers. This book is also available in Gaelic, thus becoming part of the revival it celebrates'.

'First and foremost as account of the formidable group of visionary Gaels who created the first Gaelic college of the modern age, this book attempts to analyse the contradictions which surround the current situation of the language'.

'A highly readable journey through the surge of interest in the language'.

'Hutchinson's determination to put it into historical context has produced a significant commentary on the fortunes of Gaelic. He reminds us of each hard-won milestone on the road to some kind of meaningful government commitment'.

'An interesting account of modern Gaelic history'.

'An absorbing read...reminding us that oppression is not always conducted abroad or by the sword and that, when a remedy is sought, it will often be found'.

'Hutchinson's determination to put it into a historical context has produced a significant commentary on the fortunes of Gaelic.He reminds us of each hard-won milestone on the road to some kind of meaningful government commitment'.

Roger Hutchinson is an award-winning author and journalist. His previous books include High Sixties: The Summers of Riot and Love, All the Sweets of Being: A Life of James Boswell, Empire Games: The British Invention of Twentieth-Century Sport and The Toon: A Complete History of Newcastle United Football Club. He lives in London.

Thirty years ago, the Gaelic language and culture which had been eminent in Scotland for 1,300 years seemed to be in the final stages of a 200-year terminal decline. The number of Gaelic speakers in Scotland had fallen tenfold over the previous century. The language itself was commonplace only in the scattered communities of the north-west Highlands and Hebrides.By the early years of the 21st century, however, a sea-change had taken place. Gaelic - for so long a subject of mockery and hostility - had become what some termed 'fashionable'. Gaelic-speaking jobs were available; Gaelic-medium education was established in many areas; and politicians and business-people saw benefits in acting as friends of the culture. While the numbers of Gaelic-speakers continued to fall as older people passed away, the decline was slowed and for the first time in 100 years the percentage of young people using the language began to rise proportionately. What had happened was a kind of renaissance: a Gaelic revival that manifested itself in popular music, literature, art, poetry, publishing, drama, radio and television. It was a phenomenon as obvious as it was unexpected. And at the heart of that movement lay education. A Gaelic Modern History will tell the story of one institution, Sabhal Mor Ostaig, the Gaelic College in Skye that has stood at the centre of this revival. But, chiefly, the book will examine how a venerable culture was given hope for the future at the point when all seemed lost. It recounts the scores of personalities, from Sorley Maclean and Runrig to Michael Forsyth and Gordon Brown, who have become involved in that process.

The Inside Story of England's 1966 World Cup Triumph

'Book of the Month . . . If you only read one book about the 1966 World Cup, make sure it's this one' - FourFourTwo

Pick of the crop, the definitive history of England's 1966 World Cup triumph

Roger Hutchinson is an award-winning writer and journalist. He has written numerous books for Mainstream, including the hugely successful The Toon: A Complete History of Newcastle United Football Club and Into the Light: A Complete History of Sunderland Football Club.

'. . . it is now!' With these legendary three words the 1966 World Cup final came to an end. England had won, and at 5.15 p.m. on 30 July 1966, Bobby Moore wiped his hands on his shorts, shook hands with the Queen, and took delivery of the Jules Rimet trophy before a worldwide television audience of 600 million. 
 
It was, and remains, the single greatest British sporting achievement. Alf Ramsey had taken a national team whose fortunes and confidence were at their lowest ebb, and made them World Champions. In doing so he was accused of changing the face of soccer, of turning a 'noble game' into a sport which was dominated by fitness, defences and the training park. Ramsey's 'wingless wonders', it was said, 'put football back 100 years.' 
 
 How far did he and his squad set out to win sport's greatest trophy by any means possible, and how much did accident and circumstance dictate their victory? How good were Ramsey's England? 
 
 Award-winning sportswriter and historian Roger Hutchinson tells a story which sparkles with wit and with sporting brilliance. 
 
 '66 is the story of the greatest sporting tournament ever to take place in Britain, one that marked the birth of the modern game. It is the story of a sporting adventure which, far from putting football back 100 years, catapulted it unwillingly into the future. It is a tragedy told with a smile on its face. It is a tale that no sports fan will want to miss.

A Complete History of Sunderland Football Club

Into the Light

Roger Hutchinson is an award-winning journalist and author. His previous books on football include '66, about England's 1966 World Cup win.

Into the Light reveals the full thrilling story of Sunderland Football Club - charting the club's progress from being the first great team to dominate the Football League, to the squad which returned to the top of English soccer at the dawn of the new millennium. Hutchinson traces a journey from Newcastle Road to the Stadium of Light by way of Roker Park. 
 
The early days of the Team Of All The Talents - the side in red-and-white stripes which took the English League by storm, breaking records and their opponents' hearts year after brilliant year - are brought vividly to life for the first time. 
 
Great goalscorers like Johnny Campbell and Jimmy Gillespie and sensational goalkeepers such as the legendary Ned Doig stride out of the pages of Into The Light; and the figures whose brilliance made Roker roar - from Len Shackleton and Brian Clough to the modern greats - are vividly portrayed. 
 
League successes came easily and early to Sunderland. Into The Light explores the club's devotion to winning trophies with style. The long - and finally triumphant - quest for FA cup victories is followed game by game. The heartbreaks and disappointments are also here in this see-saw ride through 120 years of English football, which ends as it began - right at the very top. This is the history of a football club and more - it is the tale of British soccer.

Ur Bheothachadh na Gaidhlig

Gealach an Fhais

S e neach-naidheachd agus ghdar, a tha air duaisean a chosnadh, a tha ann an Roger Hutchison. Am measg nan leabhraichean a bu trithe aige tha Empire Games: The British Invention of Twentieth-Century Sport, Polly: The True Story Behind Whisky Galore, The Soap Man: Lewis, Harris and Lord Leverhulme.

Bho chionn deich bliadhna fichead, bha cnan agus cultar na Gidhlig, a bha air a bhith iomraiteach ann an Alba airson 1,300 bliadhna, a rir coltais ann an ceumannan deireannach cronadh bsmhor a mhair 200 bliadhna. Bha an ireamh de dhaoine a bhruidhinneadh Gidhlig ann an Alba air tuiteam deich uiread thairis air an linn a chaidh roimhe. Cha robh an cnan fhin cumanta ach a-mhin ann an coimhearsnachdan sgapte ceann an iar-thuath na Gaidhealtachd agus Innse Gall.Ro bhliadhnaichean trtha na ciad linne thar fhichead, ge-t, bha atharrachadh mara air tighinn. Theireadh cuid gun robh a' Ghidhlig - a bha na cuspair magaidh is nimhdeis airson ineachan - a-nise 'fasanta'. Bha obraichean Gidhlig rim faotainn; chaidh foghlam tro mheadhan na Gidhlig a stidheachadh ann an iomadh ite; agus chunnaic luchd-poileataigs agus luchd-gnomhachais gun robh buannachdan an lib a bhith cirdeil ris a' chultar. Ged a bha ireamh luchd-labhairt na Gidhlig a' sor thuiteam agus seann daoine a' caochladh, dh'fhs an cronadh na bu mhaille, agus airson a' chiad uair ann an 100 bliadhna, thisich rdachadh co-roinneil a' tighinn air an ireamh de dhaoine ga s a' cheud a bha a' cleachdadh a' chnain. B' e sersa de dh'ath-bhethachadh a bha anns na thachair: ath-bhethachadh Gidhlig a dh'fhoillsich e fhin ann an cel pop, litreachas, ealain, brdachd, foillseachadh, drma, ridio agus telebhisean. B' e morbhail annasach a bh' ann ris nach robh dil. Agus aig cridhe a' ghluasaid sin, bha foghlam. Gealach an Fhis ag innse sgeulachd aon ionaid, Sabhal Mr Ostaig, a' cholaiste Ghidhlig san Eilean Sgitheanach a tha air a bhith aig teis-meadhain an dsgaidh seo. Ach, thar gach rud, tha an leabhar a' mion-sgrdadh mar a thugadh dchas airson an ama ri teachd do chultar urramach aig m nuair a shaoilear gun robh gach n caillte.

Roger Hutchinson

An astonishing book . . . Crowley was one of the most infamous figures of the first half of the twentieth century

Hutchinson means what he says about demystifying his subject - by the biography's end there's not a stone left unturned

A level-headed reappraisal of a man whose fantasies were fuelled as much by self-publicity as by any real demonic contact

Well informed and cool-headed . . . one can see that Crowley's own words would be of little use in conveying the facts of his life, which Hutchinson does admirably

The Beast Demystified

Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) - mystic, writer, poet, astrologer, sexual revolutionary, painter, mountain climber and social critic - has a terrifying reputation. The contemporary press labelled him the 'wickedest man in the world', while he called himself the 'great beast'. Crowley dabbled in the occult, supported Germany in the First World War, was addicted to opiates, and many who associated with him died tragically in mysterious circumstances. 
 
Working from the starting point that behind the demonic reputation there stood a human being, and that beyond the self-proclaimed black magician there was a man hungry for publicity and fame, Roger Hutchinson lifts the smokescreen of mythology to reveal a truly astonishing figure. 
 
Why did this curious product of the Plymouth Brethren found the first 'hippy commune' in Sicily? What led this Cambridge graduate to be celebrated 20 years after his death on the cover of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album? Why did Mussolini expel him from Italy? Why did a British magazine label him 'the man we'd like to hang'? 
 
Roger Hutchinson reveals the real Crowley: warts, wickedness, talent, courage, cowardice and all.

Roger Hutchinson

Praise for Aleister Crowley

An astonishing book . . . Crowley was one of the most infamous figures of the first half of the twentieth century

Hutchinson means what he says about demystifying his subject - by the biography's end there's not a stone left unturned

A level-headed reappraisal of a man whose fantasies were fuelled as much by self-publicity as by any real demonic contact

An astonishing book . . . Crowley was one of the most infamous figures of the first half of the twentieth century

Hutchinson means what he says about demystifying his subject - by the biography's end there's not a stone left unturned

A level-headed reappraisal of a man whose fantasies were fuelled as much by self-publicity as by any real demonic contact

An astonishing book . . . Crowley was one of the most infamous figures of the first half of the twentieth century

Hutchinson means what he says about demystifying his subject - by the biography's end there's not a stone left unturned

A level-headed reappraisal of a man whose fantasies were fuelled as much by self-publicity as by any real demonic contact

Books by Roger Hutchinson

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