Steve Roud was Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, plus other books on traditional drama and folk song, and the Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, which won the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004. His publications include London Lore (2008) and The Lore of the Playground (2010). He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk and popular song. He lives in Sussex.

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Steve Davis

Steve Davis was just a rookie from Plumstead, south London, learning how to play from an old book his snooker-obsessed father had given him, when an encounter with Barry Hearn changed his life forever. With his backing, Steve began touring the country in a clapped-out car as an amateur. Challenging established professionals and winning titles, supported by his loyal following the Romford Roar, it wasn’t long before he progressed to the world’s stage. 
 
By the eighties, Steve had helped transform a previously shady sport into a national obsession. He and a cast of legends such as Ray Reardon, Dennis Taylor and Alex Higgins, with other young guns like Jimmy White, were doing silent battle in front of huge audiences. Tens of millions of viewers would witness the nail-biting conclusions of his world championship finals; this was snooker’s golden era. 
 
The man behind the ‘boring’ tag has always been the sport’s smartest and sharpest man. With his cool, obsessive approach, Steve rewrote the rule book and became untouchably the best player in the world and the best paid sportsman in the country. Interesting lays it all bare: what it was like to win in those pressure-cooker situations; how to cope at the top, when everyone wants you to lose; and how you deal with the moment when a man comes along who is finally better than you. This is a memoir that closely evokes the smoke-filled atmosphere of those arenas, the intrigue behind the scenes and the personal psychology and sacrifice that is required to stay at the top of such an exacting sport.

Interesting

My Autobiography

Jonathan Swan

Over 2,000 sporting funnies from every sport: football, rugby, cricket, golf, boxing, 
snooker and beyond... 
 
Two men fishing on a river bank in a canal in London on a Saturday afternoon miles away from a radio or TV. Suddenly one man turns to the other and says, 'Spurs have lost again.' The other man is astonished and says, 'How on earth do you know that?' The other man replies, 'It's quarter to five.' 
 
After the success of the George Foreman grill, Audley Harrison is launching his own toaster. The problem is it can only do four rounds. 
 
What does Steve Harmison put in his hands to make sure the next ball almost always takes a wicket? A bat

Funny Shaped Balls

The Biggest Book of Sporting Jokes Ever

Drew McIntyre

A destiny chosen, a destiny squandered, and a champion's relentless pursuit for redemption. 
 
 Growing up in a small village in Ayrshire, Scotland, Drew dreamed of becoming WWE Champion and following in the footsteps of heroes Stone Cold Steve Austin and Undertaker. With his parents' support, he trained and paid his dues, proving himself to tiny crowds in the Butlin's circuit. At age twenty-two, McIntyre made his WWE debut and was touted by none other than WWE Chairman Vince McMahon as "The Chosen One," who would lead WWE into the future. With his destiny in the palm of his hands, Drew watched it all slip through his fingers. 
 
 Through a series of ill-advised choices and family tragedy, Drew's life and career spiralled. As a surefire champ, he struggled under the pressure of expectations and was fired from the company. But the WWE Universe has not seen the last of this promising athlete. Facing a crossroads, this powerful Scotsman set a course to show the world the real Drew McIntyre. 
 
 Buoyed by the support of his wife, Kaitlyn, and the memory of his beloved mother, Drew embarked on a mission to recharge, reinvent and revitalise himself to fulfil his destiny. It is a story of grit, courage and determination as a fallen Superstar discovers who he truly is and storms back to reclaim his dream.

A Chosen Destiny

My Story

Matthew Pinsent

With his last-gasp victory as part of the Great British coxless four team at the Athens Olympics, Matthew Pinsent clinched an historic fourth Olympic Gold to add to the three already won with his legendary rowing partner Steve Redgrave. In an uniquely exciting and evocative autobiography, Pinsent interweaves the build-up to Athens 2004 with the extraordinary story of his career and unforgettable partnership with Redgrave. Plucked from obscurity at the age of 20, told to partner his hero, and trained to within an inch of his life, Pinsent's story is uniquely revealing about what it takes to be a champion and the mixed blessings of success. Culminating with a nail-biting final chapter detailing the team's extraordinary victory in Athens in blow-by-blow detail, A Lifetime in a Race is a sports book in a different mould.

A Lifetime In A Race

Don Shaw

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'.

The Hike

Barney Ronay

Fast approaching 30, Barney Ronay is a Sunday League left back with some tough choices to make. Is staying in with his girlfriend and Gardeners' World on a Friday night doing much for his match fitness? Would he be better off back with his best mate Dan in the bachelor pad of pizza boxes, lager and Playstation into the early hours? And at their age can they still afford to spend weekends in their desperate struggle to keep Bolingbroke Athletic afloat? Shouldn't they be growing up, getting married, spending their Sundays at Homebase? 
 
This is the hilarious story of a team in early mid-life crisis, hiding from responsibility in the strange masochism at the ugly end of the beautiful game - the smell of Deep Heat, naked fat men, hangovers and the eternal belief that next week you might just rediscover your first touch.

Any Chance Of A Game?

Matt Rogan

Kerry Potter

'A timely, engaging and thought-provoking read from an ideal guide to explore what the future may hold.' 
Dan Roan, Sports Editor, BBC News 
 
'Matt shows with great insight and wisdom how (sport) can form the foundations for future discovery, development and ultimately, happiness.' 
Ben Ryan, Olympic Gold Medal-Winning Rugby Coach and Author Sevens Heaven, Daily Telegraph Sports Book of the 
Year 2019 
 
 
Sport can save us. 
 
After a fractious decade following the 2012 Olympics, sport - one of our few remaining collective rituals - is entering its golden age. An increasingly powerful force for good, it is undergoing a dramatic transformation that will positively impact our lives, on and off the pitch. 
 
From the collective shared experience of a nationwide event and the individual benefits gained from lacing up your trainers and getting out there to the political power of a footballer's Twitter account, All to Play For is a roadmap for the way that sports can unite us in the worst of times. Illuminated by interviews with a diverse range of sports insiders, including fitness guru Joe Wicks, gold medalist Greg Searle, the mind behind the viral 'This Girl Can' campaign, Tanya Joseph, and running obsessed rockstar Johnny Marr, All to Play For dives into the past, present and future of the industry to show how sport will lead us out of the darkness and guide us in a post-pandemic world. 
 
Covering the rise of the athlete activist, the necessity of grassroots organisations, the secret recipe for making sport an effective tool for change and ten bold predictions on how it will guide us in the future, this is an examined look at why sport has the power to heal a divided world.

All to Play For

How sport can reboot our future

Packie Bonner

Irish national hero, a Celtic great and their most-capped player, Patrick 'Packie' Bonner is a goalkeeping legend. 
 
He was Jock Stein's last signing for the club when he left his native Donegal for the city of Glasgow in 1978, where Packie evolved from being a shy, homesick teenager into a confident, world-class talent and first-choice goalkeeper. Billy McNeill handed him a debut on St Patrick's Day in 1979, and Packie went on to provide the last line of defence a record 641 times for the club. A seasoned Irish internationalist, Packie was a vital component in the most-celebrated Irish national squad ever, playing in a golden era under the tutelage of the inimitable Jack Charlton. 
 
In The Last Line, Packie shares stories from his incredible career, including his greatest moment in front of a global audience during the Italia '90 World Cup tournament when he became the penalty shoot-out hero of the nation by saving a spot-kick that took the Irish to the quarter-finals stage in their very first World Cup adventure. 
 
It was an iconic moment that would change his life forever not least because, whilst in Italy, he, along with his teammates, had an audience with another goalkeeper, Pope John Paul II. 
 
Throughout his 80 cap international career, he competed against the very best in the world. Men such as Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten, Gheorghe Hagi, Roberto Baggio and Gary Lineker came to know the name Packie Bonner. Equally, in his glittering Celtic career that included the winning of four Scottish League titles, three Scottish Cups and one Scottish League Cup, Packie Bonner played alongside some great Celtic names like Tommy Burns, Paul McStay, and Murdo Macleod. 
Along the way, Packie had to endure a career-threatening back injury, as well as the devastation of a routine save going wrong and costing a goal on the world stage against Holland in 1994, ultimately leading to elimination from the World Cup in America. 
 
More than just the telling of trophies, titles and triumphs, this is the story of a Celtic legend and a true great of Irish International football.

The Last Line: My Autobiography

Graham Little

‘It had long ago ceased to be a giddy adventure. It was all mulchy bog, heather and rocks. And tired, aching legs. And then Ty said something that really struck a chord. 
 
“It’s a Man Test now, lads. Just finish it.” 
 
I got it immediately. Finishing the race was no longer about being fit, or a good runner, or map-reading, it was about putting up with wind, rain, pain and misery. It was about traditional pig-headed masculine obstinacy and never letting reason get in the way of your objectives. In short, it was about being a man.’ 
 
Cold, exhausted, sore and hopelessly lost on the side of a Welsh mountain, Graham Little had an unlikely epiphany. Finishing the Peaks Race that he and his friend had naively signed themselves up for wasn’t about being the fittest or strongest or best runner. It was, in fact, about being stubborn and refusing to give in, no matter what. After all, conquering the terrain and beating the elements was incredibly exhilarating. 
 
 
This is the funny and insightful story of Graham Little’s obsession with endurance sports. Graham went on to compete in some of the world’s toughest challenges, including completing an Ironman, running the famous Marathon des Sables in the desert and swimming from Europe to Asia – all while trying (and usually failing) to fit in training around family and domestic duties. Along the way Graham meets people who are just as obsessed and tries to work out what it is about modern life that drives us to take on extreme challenges, no matter how difficult, unpleasant or even dangerous they may be.

Man Tests

Marcus Trower

Marcus Trower hated WWF. He hated Hulk Hogan, Big Daddy and all the other spandex-clad musclemen who over the years had made a mockery of his beloved sport. For him, wrestling - real wrestling - was a means of expression, both physical and mental. It was also, in Britain at least, a dying art. 
 
Then tragedy struck - chronic health problems prevented him doing what he loved most. Unwilling to let go, he travelled to such far-flung reaches as India, Mongolia, Nigeria and Brazil in an attempt to uncover some deeper, perhaps spiritual, dimension to wrestling. Amidst incredible scenery and a cast of colourful characters, Marcus discovered the true origins of wrestling appeared to have little to do with spirituality and everything to do with seduction... 
 
The Last Wrestler is the story of one man's rebellion against the office-bound constraints of the modern world. Vivid, comic and often moving, it reveals a testosterone-fuelled world you never knew existed.

The Last Wrestlers

A Far Flung Journey In Search of a Manly Art

Harry Redknapp

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
'The beautiful game has taught me a lot, but I’ve had quite a life outside of football too. This book is full of my best stories – kickabouts with jumpers for goalposts with Bobby Moore, mine and Sandra’s disastrous honeymoon to Torquay in a dodgy car and my funniest ‘Mr Pastry’ moments – as well as my thoughts on the important things in life. 
 
I’m finally sharing what I’ve learned on and off the pitch: from growing up poor in Poplar to the heights of the Premiership and even lying in a coffin with a load of rats on national television. It’s everything I know about true team spirit, hard work, tough times, why family are so important and why everyone deserves respect no matter whether they’re royal or sleeping rough – and, of course, the real joy of a jam roly-poly.'

The World According to Harry

Michael Simkins

A fat boy with a passion for sweets and a loathing for games, the young Michael Simkins finds in cricket a sport where size doesn't necessarily matter and a full-blown obsession is born. Now in middle-age, he still harbours the somewhat deluded belief that the England middle-order might usefully benefit from his hard-earned skills. From impromptu Test series played with his dad in the family sweetshop through to his years running a team of dysfunctional inadequates, Fatty Batter is the bestselling and hilarious story of one man's life lived through cricket.

Fatty Batter

How cricket saved my life (then ruined it)

Stuart Maconie

The Sunday Times Bestseller 
 
'A tribute and a rallying call' - Guardian 
 
Three and half weeks. Three hundred miles. I saw roaring arterial highway and silent lanes, candlelit cathedrals and angry men in bad pubs. The Britain of 1936 was a land of beef paste sandwiches and drill halls. Now we are nation of vaping and nail salons, pulled pork and salted caramel. 
 
In the autumn of 1936, some 200 men from the Tyneside town of Jarrow marched 300 miles to London in protest against the destruction of their towns and industries. Precisely 80 years on, Stuart Maconie, walks from north to south retracing the route of the emblematic Jarrow Crusade. 
 
 Travelling down the country’s spine, Maconie moves through a land that is, in some ways, very much the same as the England of the 30s with its political turbulence, austerity, north/south divide, food banks and of course, football mania. Yet in other ways, it is completely unrecognisable. 
 
 Maconie visits the great cities as well as the sleepy hamlets, quiet lanes and roaring motorways. He meets those with stories to tell and whose voices build a funny, complex and entertaining tale of Britain, then and now.

Long Road from Jarrow

A journey through Britain then and now

Danny Baker

Danny Kelly

At last! The award-winning Baker &amp; Kelly bring you the most entertaining, radical and unreliable football book ever published. The Two Dannys argue the toss, spill the beans and chew that fat about everything and anything from the biggest questions down to stuff they have frankly invented themselves. 
 
Which club has the handsomest fans? Who is the greatest player of all time? Pele? Maradona? Puskas? Rougvie? Have foreign players helped or hindered the English game? Well, Marco Boogers, well? And who was the greatest football dad, Fred Baker or Andy Kelly? 
 
Now with even more footballing facts, myths and legends, the paperback asks (and answers) hard-hitting questions, such as, what was the greatest ever World Cup? Just how much pathetic World Cup tat can one own, Danny Kelly? And where do all those beautiful women in the crowd come from? 
 
A cornucopia of footballing fun and well-crafted wisdom that is certain to sell like beer-flavoured crisps. Baker &amp; Kelly: Sometimes right sometimes wrong - but always certain.

Classic Football Debates Settled Once and For All, Vol.1

Sandy Balfour

What I Love About Cricket is the story of a summer when a 'master' cricket obsessive teaches his novice 'pupil' the wisdom of the game. Sandy Balfour is cast as the supposed master and his sixteen-year-old daughter's new boyfriend - the skateboarding boy wonder - is the reluctant pupil. 
 
This beginner's guide to the infuriatingly perverse game of cricket is a love letter addressed both to 
those who utterly fail to understand it and to those who need reminding why they fell in love in 
the first place. What unfolds is wonderfully observed, very funny and as much about fathers 
and daughters, love and life, as it is about cricket.

What I Love About Cricket

One Man's Vain Attempt to Explain Cricket to a Teenager who Couldn't Give a Toss

Peter Crouch

Shortlisted for the Sports Entertainment Book of the Year at the British Sports Book Awards 
 
The funniest man in British sport - Metro 
 
Peter Crouch is a comedy genius - Daily Mail 
 
Often recruited before they've worn long trousers, today's footballers become superstars who earn huge amounts without ever learning much about the world beyond the training ground. Coddled by their support teams, everything is done for them. They live their lives in the glaring media spotlight, yet only really develop one life skill - how to kick a ball better. Then inevitably, when age catches up with them or injury strikes, these man-children are thrown out into the real world, utterly defenceless apart from their multi-million-pound bank accounts. 
 
So what do these Peter Pans, whose careers end just as most people's are getting going, do with the rest of their lives? Crouch speaks from his own experience and discusses with fellow former professionals too - just how do you safely release a near seven-foot striker back into the wild? 
 
Peter goes in search of the answer to what his second career might be and encounters stories far more bizarre than anything you'll find on the pitch. From the pleasure and pain of management to the lessons we can learn from Jamie Carragher and Joe Cole on not going to seed. From those staying in the sport - the diehard veterans, coaches, managers, owners and of course the legion of pundits, to those moving on to pastures new. Peter talks to entrepreneurs, men of the cloth, eco warriors, artists, private detectives and budding actors, as well as those who've lost their way in addiction, crime and NFTs. 
 
When the final whistle blows, it's still all to play for.

How to Be an Ex-Footballer

James Bannon

'Of course I'm a f**king hooligan, you pr**k. I am a hooligan...there I've said it...I'm a hooligan. And, do you know why? Because that's my f**king job.' 
 
In 1995, a film called I.D., about an ambitious young copper who was sent undercover to track down the ‘generals’ of a football hooligan gang, achieved cult status for its sheer brutality and unsettling insight into the dark and often bloody side of the so-called beautiful game. 
 
The film was so shocking it was hard to believe the mindless events that took place could ever happen in the real world. Well, believe it now... 
 
Almost twenty years on, the man behind the film has explosively revealed that the script was largely a true story. That man, James Bannon, was the ambitious undercover cop. The football club was Millwall F.C. and the gang that he infiltrated was The Bushwackers, among the most brutal and fearless in English football. 
 
In Running with the Firm, Bannon shares his intense and dangerous journey into the underworld of football hooliganism where sickening levels of violence prevail over anything else. He introduces you to the hardest thugs from football’s most notorious gangs, tells all about the secret and almost comical police operations that were meant to bring them down, and, how once you’re on the inside, getting out from the mob proves to be the biggest mission of all. 
 
A disturbing but compelling read, this is the book that proves fact really is stranger than fiction.

Running with the Firm

Alexander Roy

On his deathbed, Alex Roy's father dropped tantalizing hints about the notorious Cannonball Run of the 1970s, the utterly illegal high-speed non-stop races from New York to LA. Inspired by his father's dying words, and against the advice of his friends, Roy enters this mysterious world - trying both to find himself, and to locate 'The Driver' - the anonymous organizer of the world's ultimate car race. 
 
In this riveting memoir, Roy straps you into his highly modified BMW M5, takes you on a terrifying 120 mph lap of Manhattan, then tackles the Gumball 3000 and the Bullrun - the two most infamous road rallies in the world. His bogus Polizei Autobahn Interceptor sticks out among the Lamborghinis and Ferraris driven by millionaire playboys, software moguls, Arab princes, movie stars, leggy Czech supermodels, gearheads, and tech whizzes. Armed with myriad radar detectors, laser jammers and police scanners, and his trunk crammed with a variety of fake uniforms, the obsessively prepared Roy evades arrest at almost every turn, wreaking havoc on his fiercest rivals and gaining the admiration of police forces around the globe. 
 
Filled with insane driving and Roy's quixotic quest to win both for his late father and himself, The Driver is the tale of one man's insatiable drive beyond life in the fast lane.

The Driver

True Life Adventures of an Underground Road Racer

Sam Briggs

INCLUDES AN UPDATED CHAPTER ON THE 2020 SEASON 
 
You don't get biceps like Briggs by giving up when the going gets tough... 
 
 CrossFit superstar Sam Briggs, aka 'The Engine', is a true hero in the sport, with a level of endurance unparalleled in the game. This is the story of how she got to the top, and battled with everything she had to stay there. 
 
 Sam's memoir takes in the whole story, from being kicked out of ballet lessons as a child but being accepted on the boys' sports teams, to working as a firefighter in West Yorkshire for ten years, tackling dangerous and adrenaline-fueled situations on a daily basis, and to taking up CrossFit at the comparatively ancient age of 27. Sam tells of what it took to become champion a mere three years later, and after a year out with a broken patella. Despite the numerous setbacks and debilitating injuries that have plagued her in the years that followed, when most other athletes would have thrown in the towel, Sam has fought, and continues to fight, to be the very best that she can be. 
 
Start Your Engines is the story of how, with a combination of grit, training and dogged motivation, it's never too late to achieve your dreams.

Start Your Engines

My Unstoppable CrossFit Journey

Niki Lauda

Niki Lauda drove a car for sport, but crossed the line between life and death and fought back to even greater glory. Even people who know nothing of Formula One have heard of his crash at Nurburgring in 1976, when we was dragged from the inferno of his Ferrari so badly injured he was given the last rites. Within 33 days, he was racing again at Monza. His wounds bled, he had no eyelids. He was terrified. A year later, he reclaimed his World Championship title. 
 
In To Hell and Back he reveals how he battled fear to stage a comeback that seemed beyond human endurance. Then it’s Lauda vs Hunt, an epic rivalry later dramatized in 2013’s Hollywood blockbuster Rush, and he looks back on the strict childhood and parental disapproval that he believes gave him an ‘addiction to excellence’. There’ll never be another like him.

To Hell and Back

An Autobiography

Tony Hawks

'All I knew about Moldova were the names of eleven men printed on the inside back pages of my newspaper. None of them sounded to me like they were any good at tennis ...' 
 
An eccentric wager finds Tony Hawks, a man who loves an unusual challenge, bound for the little-known Eastern European state of Moldova. His mission: to track down members of the country's football team and persuade them to play him at tennis. The bizarre quest ultimately has little to do with tennis or football, but instead turns into an extraordinary journey involving the Moldovan underworld, gypsies, chronic power shortages, near kidnap, and a surprisingly tender relationship with his host family. 
 
Follow the fortunes of Tony in this hilarious and often moving adventure as it takes him from Moldova, onwards to Northern Ireland, leading to an exciting denouement in Nazareth - and the naked truth of the bet's final outcome ...

Playing the Moldovans at Tennis

Chris Eakin

The true story of the tragic round-the-world yacht race - now the subject of The Mercy, starring Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz 
 
In 1968, the Sunday Times organised the Golden Globe race–an incredible test of endurance never before attempted–a round the world yacht race that must be completed single-handed and non-stop. 
 
This remarkable challenge inspired those daring to enter–with or without sailing experience. A Race Too Far is the story of how the race unfolded, and how it became a tragedy for many involved. 
 
Of the nine sailors who started the race, four realised the madness of the undertaking and pulled out within weeks. The remaining five each have their own remarkable story. Chay Blyth, fresh from rowing the Atlantic with John Ridgway, had no sailing experience but managed to sail round the Cape of Good Hope before retiring. Nigel Tetley sank while in the lead with 1,100 nautical miles to go, surviving but dying in tragic circumstances two years later. Donald Crowhurst began showing signs of mental illness and tried to fake a round the world voyage. His boat was discovered adrift in an apparent suicide, but his body was never found. Bernard Moitessier abandoned the race and carried on to Tahiti, where he settled and fathered a child despite having a wife and family in Paris. Robin Knox-Johnston was the only one to complete the race. 
 
Chris Eakin recreates the drama of the epic race, talking to all those touched by the Golden Globe: the survivors, the widows and the children of those who died. It is a book that both evokes the primary wonder of the adventure itself and reflects on what it has come to mean to both those involved and the rest of us in the forty years since.

A Race Too Far

Wilfried de Jong

The world as seen from a bike 
 
'Understated, comic and melancholic... It’ll inspire you to get back on your bike.' Martin Love, The Guardian 
 
‘One of the most entertaining sports books I have ever read’ Joe Short, The Daily Express 
 
In this award-winning collection of cycling tales, Wilfried de Jong uncovers the true soul of cycling – why we do it, why we watch it, why we hate it, why we love it – stripped bare. 
 
With his distinctly comic and melancholic charm Wilfried ponders life, love and death on his trusted bike, chasing the essence of our existence against the backdrop of major cycling events or while roaming alone in nature. 
 
Whether he is describing being ejected from Paris-Roubaix, a terminal incident with a bird while out riding, or explaining why he is standing stark naked on Belgian cobbles with a tyre in his hand, Wilfried unlocks a sport that involves so much pain, punishment, and a high probability of failure, but that will always liberate and inspire us.

The Man and His Bike

Musings on life and the art of cycling

Paddy Doherty

'I fight hard and love strong. I'm a traveller.' 
 
Paddy Doherty loves his life as an Irish traveller, but as a child he felt like an outsider. He was different to his siblings. On the rare occasions he went to school, he was bullied for being a gypsy boy. And beyond the gates of the camp he found nothing but hostility. 
 
Slowly, Paddy's hurt turned into anger and by the age of 11 he had started out on an illustrious career in bare-knuckle fighting. This earned him a position as one of the most well-respected (and feared) men in the travelling community. Yet while he won countless contests in the ring, the real battles he faced were very much outside. 
 
In this deeply honest autobiography, he tells of how he has loved and lost five children; plummeted to seven stone while battling depression, drink and drugs. He describes how it feels to be shot point-blank in the head and the lengths he'll go to to protect his people, as well as life since My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and Big Brother. 
 
Told with all the warmth and humour he is famed for, Paddy's rich and colourful story is one that will stay with you for a long time to come.

Hard Knocks & Soft Spots

Joe Marler

SHORTLISTED FOR THE TELEGRAPH RUGBY BOOK OF THE YEAR 
 
The hilarious, must-read memoir from everyone's favourite Celebrity Traitors Faithful - The truth about being a rugby player from the horsey's mouth. 
 
This book is not just about how a psychiatrist called Humphrey helped me get back on my horse and clippity-clop all the way to the World Cup semi-final in Japan. 
 
It's the story of how a fat kid who had to live up to the nickname Psycho grew up to play and party for over a decade with rugby's greatest pros and live weird and wonderful moments both in and out of the scrum. 
 
That's why I'm letting you read my diary on my weirdest days. You never know what you're going to get with me. 
 
From being locked in a police cell to singing Adele on Jonathan Ross (I'll let you decide which is worse), being kissed by a murderer on the number 51 bus to drug tests where clipboard-wielding men hover inches away from my naked genitalia, melting opponents in rucks, winning tackles, and generally losing blood, sweat and ears in the name of the great sport of rugby. 
 
This is how (not) to be a rugby player.

Loose Head

Confessions of an (un)professional rugby player

Daniel Bryan

YES! YES! YES! Daniel Bryan is the real deal. Everyone’s favorite underdog, he’s proven to the world and to all of WWE that looks can be deceiving. Just ask everyone who’s ever underestimated him…right before he went out and whipped the WWE Universe into a frenzy. 
 
This is Bryan’s behind-the-scenes story told for the first time ever — from his beginnings as a child wanting to wrestle to his ten years on the circuit before finally making it in WWE. When his "YES!" chant becomes a full-fledged movement, his career skyrockets. This book chronicles all the hard work, values, influences, unique life choices and more leading to his watershed week at WrestleMania 30. You won’t want to miss it. Yes! We’re sure about this.

Yes!

My Improbable Journey to the Main Event of Wrestlemania

Martin Brundle

Maurice Hamilton

In this unique book the reader will have his armchair converted to the laid-down cockpit of a Formula One car and be swept around the world's classic motor racing circuits. He will experience the extraordinary sensations, the adrenaline and the atmosphere as told by the sport's best analyst. 
 
Together with F1's respected journalist, Maurice Hamilton, Brundle brings his infallible humour and insight, his experiences and opinion, to each of the circuits and its classic races. From the camber at Monaco, which will leave your wheels hanging in the air, to Melbourne and the dynamics behind the most dramatic crash of the decade. Encompassing such essential details as neck-snapping acceleration, smashing cars worth a quarter of a million, and the amount of sweat a driver will lose in a race, this is a rare F1 book - funny, opinionated, evocative and dramatic.

Working The Wheel

Geoff Tibballs

'He dribbles a lot and the opposition doesn't like it - you can see it all over their faces' - Ron Atkinson 
 
'Rugby is a good occasion for keeping thirty bullies far from the city centre' - Oscar Wilde 
 
Whether over the moon or sick as a parrot, sportsmen and women can invariably be relied upon to come out with a humorous quote...even if it's not always intentional. The Bowler's Holding, The Batsman's Willey provides the definitive collection of sporting wit, from participants and observers alike. 
 
The book covers the full gamut of the sports spectrum and provides over 4,000 side-splittingly funny quotes - some examples of incisive sporting wit, others inadvertent howlers never to be forgotten; ranging from the cutting remarks of Brian Clough and Muhammad Ali to the studied observations of John Arlott and the hilarious gaffes of Murray Walker. 
 
The Bowler's Holding, The Batsman's Willey is an absolute must for any sports fan.

The Bowler's Holding, the Batsman's Willey

The Greatest Collection of Humorous Sporting Quotations Ever!

Thomas Dekker

'I have success, money, women. I've been lionised by the public and the media. The world is at my feet. I've spread my wings and here I am, soaring above everything and everyone. But in reality, the descent has already begun.' 
 
Thomas Dekker was set to become one of pro cycling’s superstars. But before long, he found himself sucked in by the lure of hedonistic highs and troubled by the intense pressure to perform. 
 
In The Descent, Dekker tells his story of hotel room blood bags, shady rendezvous with drug dealers and late-night partying at the Tour de France. This is Dekker’s journey from youthful idealism to a sordid path of excess and doping that lays bare cycling’s darkest secrets like never before.

The Descent

John McGuinness

Go on the ride of your life with the racing legend himself 
 
**with a thrilling NEW CHAPTER on John’s dramatic 2017 crash** 
 
‘Then I was there myself, just another face in the crowd, watching the bikes fly by. The smells, the noise and the speed were all there for me to experience. It was like a massive injection in my head and it just blew my mind. I knew within seconds that I was going to be a TT racer. I didn’t know how or what I was going to have to do to achieve this, and my dad wasn’t going to be keen. Everyone around me was aware of the dangers, but from that moment I knew I had to do it.’ 
 
John McGuinness is one of the all-time giants of road racing, with a huge host of victories to his name. But his easy humour and down-to-earth attitude off the bike have always kept people guessing: what’s the truth about the man inside the helmet, that has kept him at the top of such a sport for over 20 years? 
 
His autobiography tells the whole story, from his humble beginnings in Morecambe and getting his first bike at the age of 3, to working as a bricklayer and cockle fisherman before deciding to follow his dream, and finally to his many victories in the most dangerous sporting event on the planet. He tells of what it takes to be a champion in such an exacting sport, and to keep winning even though all logic tells you to stop – and when so many of your fellow racers are paying the ultimate price for doing it. This thrilling autobiography gets into the head of the man who stares death in the face, and doesn’t even flinch.

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