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.

Steve Roud

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Ruud Gullit

How can one striker be better than three? Why do the best defenders never need to make a tackle? What's the secret of Tiki-taka? 
 
Welcome to Ruud Gullit's masterclass on how to 'read' a match. 
 
From his unrivalled perspective as player, manager and pundit, the Dutch football legend shows us everything to look for in a 90-minute match. From formations and tactical decisions to player qualities and pivotal moments, Ruud Gullit unveils the hidden patterns on the pitch - as if he's sitting right there on the sofa next to you. 
 
Packed with his acute insights, original observations and talking points sure to dazzle down the pub, How to Watch Football will quite simply change the way you see - and enjoy - the beautiful game.

How To Watch Football

Ed Caesar

Two hours to cover twenty-six miles and 385 yards. An exceptional feat of speed, mental strength and endurance. The sub-two-hour marathon is running's Everest, a feat once seen as impossible for the human body. But now we have reached the mountaintop. 
 
In this spellbinding book Ed Caesar takes us into the world of the elite of the elite: the greatest marathoners on earth. Through the stories of these rich characters, and their troubled lives, he traces the history of the marathon as well as the science, physiology and psychology involved in running so fast, for so long. And he shows us why this most democratic of races retains its savage, enthralling appeal - why we are drawn to test ourselves to the limit. 
 
Now with a new afterword telling the inside story of how Eliud Kipchoge achieved the impossible, with exclusive access to Nike's #Breaking2 project, and the Ineos159 event at which the barrier was finally broken.

Two Hours

The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon

Richard Preston

When Steve Sillett was 19 years old, he free-climbed &ndash; with no safety equipment and no training &ndash; one of the tallest trees on earth, in the redwood forests of Prairie Creek, California. 30 storeys above the ground he glimpsed an undiscovered ecosystem, and his passion for that astonishing world would transform the rest of his life. Over the next twenty years, Sillett and a close group of friends charted this system, discovering mosses and lichen never seen before, and travelling among branches so densely interwoven they form incredible sky-high walkways. 
 
There are only twenty people on earth who have climbed the world&rsquo;s tallest trees and who know their location. In writing The Wild Trees, Richard Preston not only managed to gain access to this group, but began to climb these hidden giants himself, putting his life in danger in order to understand the powerful connection between the massive trees and the world&rsquo;s last great explorers.

The Wild Trees

A Story of Passion and Daring with the World's Last True Explorers

Shane Curran

In an age when sportsmen have perfected the art of saying nothing and suppressing any trace of personality, Shane 'Cake' Curran is a beacon of light: passionate, outspoken, utterly himself. As a rare two-code goalkeeper - for Roscommon in Gaelic football and for Athlone Town in soccer - he made his own rules, soloing mesmerisingly out of goal, inventing a new style of kicking tee, and famously poaching a penalty kick a teammate had lined up in the 1989 Connacht minor final. Brave, honest and hilarious, Cake tells the story of an Irish sportsman who has lived the dream in his own utterly distinctive way.

Cake

The Autobiography of a Passionate, Outspoken Sportsman and Entrepreneur

Carly Robyn

The stakes this season have never been higher...Josie Bancroft may be single, but she is definitely not ready to mingle. All she wants to do post-breakup is focus on herself. A simple task, but as a marketing manager for McAllister Racing, she spends every race weekend alongside the charismatic Formula 1 driver, Theo Walker. With his iceberg-melting smile and abs sharper than a cheese grater, he&rsquo;s a distraction she shouldn&rsquo;t entertain but can&rsquo;t seem to ignore.Theo has mastered two things in life: winning races and wooing women. But this season, both are being put to the test. His team&rsquo;s new owner is threatening his hard-earned seat, and the one woman he wants has placed him in the friend zone, despite the fact that their attraction is hotter than his car&rsquo;s engine.As Josie embraces her independence and Theo struggles to cement his place within the racing world, they&rsquo;ll have to decide if they want to fuel the flames of their friendship or forever wonder what could have been.

Drive Me Wild

Dick Francis

DICK FRANCIS was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys and author of forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), the biography of Lester Piggott and his own autobiography (The Sport of Queens). He was rightly acclaimed as one of the greatest thriller writers in the world. 
 
 Since his death, his son FELIX FRANCIS has taken over the literary reigns from his father and Dick's legacy lives on through the Dick Francis novels. The Francis flair is clear for all to see in these national treasure thrillers, and readers will appreciate the sporadic reappearance of beloved series characters Sid Halley and Jeff Hinkley.

At midnight Neil Griffon's home is broken into and he is abducted by masked men. When he wakes up, hours later, Neil discovers that 'unless he cooperates' his kidnappers will destroy his father's racing stable, his precious horses and even Neil himself. 
 
Returning to the stables, Neil can tell no one about his ordeal, or his kidnappers' threats of violence if he does not comply with their demands. 
 
Trapped, Neil refuses to surrender - and devises an ingenious scheme to beat his kidnappers at their own game.

Bonecrack

Gene Hawkins is a fixer for his boss Mr Keeble: if Keeble has a problem, Gene fixes it. It's that simple. Sometimes it requires his Luger - mostly it doesn't. 
 Now Keeble has summoned Gene back from a long-overdue holiday. It seems that a very expensive stallion has been taken in Kentucky. It's the third high-value kidnapping in a few years. 
 Keeble wants his horse back. Gene is asked to go out there and find it. But what Gene doesn't know is that he's about to get involved with blackmailers and murderers. Looks like that Lugar will see some use...

Blood Sport

Kerry Howley

In this darkly funny work of literary reportage, narrated by an excitable, semi-fictionalized graduate student named Kit, a bookish young woman insinuates herself into the lives of two cage fighters - one a young prodigy, the other an ageing journeyman. Kerry Howley follows these men for three years through the bloody world of mixed martial arts as they starve themselves, break bones, fail their families and form new ones in the quest to rise from remote Midwestern fairgrounds to packed Vegas arenas. With penetrating intelligence and wry humor, Howley exposes the profundities and absurdities of this American subculture.

Thrown

Chris Froome

WINNER OF THE 2018 GIRO D'ITALIA! 
 
THREE TIME WINNER OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE. 
 
THE FIRST MAN SINCE BERNARD HINAULT TO HOLD THE MAGLIA ROSA, THE MAILLOT JAUNE AND THE MAILLOT ROJO AT THE SAME TIME. 
 
This is Chris Foome in his own words. 
 
'Engaging, vividly evoked' Mail on Sunday, Books of the Year 
 
'What Chris has done is phenomenal' Sir Chris Hoy 
 
Sunday Times Bestseller, July 2014

The Climb

The Autobiography

Rick Stanton

Thailand, July 2018. Twelve boys and their football coach vanish into Tham Luang caves. 
 
 Rick Stanton, a retired Midlands firefighter, races to save them. The boys have been missing for days. Each hour, their chance of escape shrinks. Rick must swim, crawl and squeeze through treacherously tight submerged tunnels hunting for them. 
 
 But that is not the impossible part. Because if by some miracle they're alive then somehow Rick must bring the boys back out again . . . 
 
 He doesn't know it yet but all his life he's been training for this very moment . . .

Aquanaut

A Life Beneath The Surface – The Inside Story of the Thai Cave Rescue

Lulu Moore

All Charlie Masterson wants is to graduate Oxford. With a first, obviously. But then his life gets turned upside down when Evie Waters waltzes into his philosophy class. Evie Waters, the one-time, very careless owner of his heart. A heart he has no intention of giving away ever again, therefore he needs to come up with a plan to make sure that doesn&rsquo;t happen. 
 
Violet Brooks has her life together, mostly. She&rsquo;s a term into reading English at Oxford, and she&rsquo;s hoping for the lead in the University&rsquo;s summer production of Twelfth Night. There&rsquo;s just one tiny snag. Her brother&rsquo;s best friend just asked her to be his fake girlfriend. Her brother&rsquo;s best friend who she&rsquo;s been in love with since the first time she saw him. 
 
Evie&rsquo;s reappearance makes it hard for Charlie to focus on anything but repelling her advances. While Violet is now immersed in the role of a lifetime. 
 
As Charlie and Violet spend more time together, it soon becomes hard to tell where the acting ends and real life begins, especially when Charlie starts looking at Violet the way she&rsquo;s always looked at him. 
 
Because all&rsquo;s fair in love and war, right?

You Float My Boat

Olivia Belle

They can't keep skating around their feelings... 
 
When disgraced Hollywood star Luca Vasvault is partnered with drama-averse professional skater Matilda Stevens on Stars on Ice, the pair get off to a less-than-smooth start. Matilda’s dazzling smile and generous spirit immediately set Luca on edge (surely no one can be that nice?) while Luca’s standoffish and brooding behaviour is making Matilda’s job unnecessarily difficult. 
 
Despite their tension behind the scenes, though, there’s no denying their chemistry on the ice. And since Matilda and Luca both need to win for their own reasons, they strike a deal: they’ll work together, playing up their “showmance”, to win the public’s love and better their chances of winning the competition. 
 
After all, they’re both performers for a living. How hard can it be to pretend their feelings are real?

On Thin Ice

Alicia Thompson

'Unfailingly sweet and surprisingly sexy at the same time, The Art of Catching Feelings is a home run' 
JODI PICOULT, Sunday Times bestselling author of Mad Honey 
 
Daphne Brink doesn&rsquo;t follow baseball, but watching &ldquo;America&rsquo;s Snoozefest&rdquo; certainly beats sitting at home in the days after she signs her divorce papers. After one too many ballpark beers, she heckles Carolina Battery player Chris Kepler, who quickly proves there might actually be a little crying in baseball. Horrified, Daphne reaches out to Chris on social media to apologize . . . but forgets to identify herself as his heckler in her message. 
 
Chris doesn&rsquo;t usually respond to random fans on social media, but when a DM from &ldquo;Duckie&rdquo; catches his eye, he impulsively messages back. Duckie is sweet, funny, and seems to understand him in a way no one else does. 
 
Daphne isn&rsquo;t sure how much longer she can keep lying to Chris, especially as she starts working with the team in real life and their feelings for each other deepen. When he finds out the truth, will it be three strikes, she&rsquo;s out?

The Art of Catching Feelings

Jeremy Clarkson

CLARKSON'S BACK - AND THIS TIME HE'S PUTTING HIS FOOT DOWN 
 
From his first job as a travelling sales rep selling Paddington Bears to his latest wheeze as a gentleman farmer, Jeremy Clarkson's love of cars has just about kept him out of trouble. 
 
But in a persistently infuriating world sometimes you have to race full-throttle at the speed-bumps. 
 
Because there's still plenty to get cross about, including: 
 
· Why nothing good ever came out of a meeting 
· Muesli's unmentionable side effects 
· Navigating London when every single road is being dug up at once 
· People who read online reviews of dishwashers 
· ****ing driverless cars 
 
Buckle up for a bumpy ride - you're holding the only book in history to require seatbelts . . .

Really?

Some things burn hot on and off the track… 
 
A tumultuous season filled with reckless driving, drunken debauchery, and more bad press than a kinky politician leaves five-time Formula One World Champion Blake Hollis in desperate need of an image overhaul. To redeem his tarnished reputation, his team decides it’s time for drastic measures. Their solution: a tell-all book that showcases his illustrious career and presents a more respectable public persona. 
 
Enter Ella Gold, a once-renowned sportswriter and podcast host desperate for a fresh start. She accepts the challenge of writing Blake’s biography knowing that getting close to the brooding Brit will be challenging. But interviewing Blake can’t be worse than staying in NYC where rumours of her podcast’s demise follow her like a bad Hinge date. 
 
As they spend the season together, sparks fly, barriers break, and their dynamic shifts from antagonistic to something entirely unexpected. Throughout twenty-one races around the world, they’ll face the ultimate interview question: can they write their own happy ending, or is their love destined to crash and burn?

Drive Me Crazy

Ilana Long

When she loses her job, Lulu’s stable world spins out, but somehow, she finds herself on a “de-stressing” trip to Costa Rica for a pickleball tournament. Maybe an all-inclusive picklecation is just the pick-me-up she needs to loosen her grip? 
 
Or it would have been if she wasn’t backhanded by the sight of Tyler Demming, the disgraced pro of the tennis world. 
 
But Lulu’s had years to steel herself against his rugged good looks and hypnotic charm. Despite the changes she sees in Tyler since their teenage fling, Lulu will have no problem keeping her head in the game and her heart on the sidelines. Or so she tells herself….

Pickle Perfect

Emilee Carter

Revolution Racing has its first ever all female team, and rookie Savannah Hart is ready to prove herself. 
 
 
Even though Savi grew up on a ranch in Wyoming, she’s happiest on the racetrack. But can she stop her secret relationship with country music megastar, Jesse Motalvo, from distracting her from winning the championship? 
 
 
Marco De Luca is an all-star driver, and a hopeless romantic at heart. He agrees to be in a fake relationship with Savi to keep the press off the scent of her famous boyfriend, but he certainly couldn’t have predicted how hard it would be to push his feelings aside when he falls for her for real. 
 
 
Then things start to go wrong between Savi and Jesse, and Marco is there to steer her in the right direction. But will Savi ever realise that she and Marco could be a winning partnership, both on and off the track?

Rush

Bert Checkov, a racing correspondent, drunkenly confesses to fellow Fleet Street hack James Tyrone that he's been giving his readers bum tips for years. Five minutes later, Checkov's fallen out a seventh floor window. 
 Tyrone has a nose for a story and he's convinced there's more to his friend's death than meets the eye. When he starts digging, he discovers that many of Checkov's tips never even made it to the start. 
 But the deeper Tyrone gets, the dirtier and more dangerous this business appears to be. If he's not careful he'll be following Checkov to his death...

Forfeit

Jilly Cooper

Jilly Cooper's legendary hero returns! 
 
Rupert Campbell-Black, all-conquering racehorse owner-trainer and handsomest man in England, is in the darkest of places. His adored wife, Taggie, is about to undergo chemotherapy. His beloved leading stallion has been assassinated. 
 
Now his daughter Bianca is badgering him to buy into a failing local football club, Searston Rovers, so he can sign up her superstar striker boyfriend, Feral Jackson, and he and Bianca can return home from Perth to look after Taggie. 
 
Rupert dislikes football and his first impressions of Searston are distinctly unfavourable. But as their new and indelibly competitive Chairman, he won&rsquo;t stand for anything less than an Everest climb to the top of the Premier League. 
 
With the help of the club&rsquo;s ravishing and adorable secretary, Tember West, and his sassy Press Officer, Dora Belvedon, he becomes increasingly fond of his riotous mix of players, despite bawling them out whenever they face defeat. 
 
Rupert&rsquo;s explosive arrival at Searston causes outrage, so the fights are as furious off the field as on &ndash; particularly when glamorous WAGS flood in to stir up trouble and lust after Rupert&hellip; 
 
Nor do the rival local football team, their duplicitous chairman and their corrupt dealings make things easier &ndash; let the scandals, sabotage and seductions begin&hellip;

Tackle!

Charlotte Walker&rsquo;s life had always been a well-scripted story, until she took an unexpected detour to London and is met with an intriguing offer comes her way from an unlikely source &ndash; her brother's best friend/ 
 
Lucas Adler, AlphaVite Racing&rsquo;s star driver, understands all too well that Charlotte Walker is a temptation he should avoid at all costs, but he needs her help and no one else is up to the job. When she accepts his proposal he vows to keep everything strictly professional. 
 
Yet, the charismatic Aussie challenges Lucas&rsquo;s resolve at every turn and the he must decide whether some vows were made to be broken&hellip;

Drive Me Home

Brett Anderson is Revolution Racing&rsquo;s all star driver. The only thing that matters more to Brett than winning championships? His best friend, and Revolution Racing&rsquo;s Social Media Manager, Lucie Carolan.Together, Lucie and Brett have spent 10 years travelling the world with their team, partying like VIPs and, for the sake of their friendship, denying the chemistry that has sizzles between them. So when Brett is forced to take a step back from racing, Lucie knows there&rsquo;s nowhere else in the world she should be than by his side.As Brett&rsquo;s recovery takes them from race tracks to Lucie&rsquo;s family home in Tuscany, will slowing the pace of their lives finally allow them to give in to their feelings or each other, or will taking a foot off the gas of their glamorous lives cause them to crash and burn?

Retrograde

Meredith Trapp

She’s Texas's toughest bull rider, and he’s determined to win her heart. 
 
Dakota and Wyatt. Storm and sunshine. Growing up, they were as inseparable as a pair of cowboy boots. The best of friends – or so Dakota thought. 
 
Every summer, Wyatt would come home to his family’s flower farm in Granite Falls, Texas, and they’d stargaze in the fields together, pinkies brushing, laughter rumbling with the cicadas . . . until one summer, he never returned. 
 
Dakota hasn’t heard a peep from Wyatt in over three years, and during that time, a lot has changed. He’s the hockey world’s golden boy, and she’s developed a reputation as “The Cowboy Killer,” breaking both rodeo records and men’s hearts. The last thing Dakota needs is a distraction from her bull-riding goals, but everything changes when her old friend waltzes back into town with an adorable baby on his hip. 
 
Wyatt’s back to get the girl he’s been obsessing over for years, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get her back – two-stepping at the rodeo, jumping into Cibolo Creek, even rendezvousing in outdoor showers. All Dakota wants is to keep her distance and focus on training, but when she learns the truth behind why Wyatt left, she finds it hard to stay away. . . 
 
The scorching Texas sun might not be the only thing that burns them this summer.

Homebound

Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard is the former captain of Liverpool football team and of the England national football team, and is the only player ever to have scored in a FA cup final, a league cup final, a UEFA cup final and a champion's league final. His entire career, since 1998, has been spent at Anfield with Liverpool. In this book he charts his full playing career, shedding light on the defining games, his life off the pitch as well as the players and managers he's encountered. Explosive, controversial and searingly honest, this will be the last word from an era-defining player.

My Story

Sid Halley, ex-champion jockey turned investigator, is facing his toughest test. 
 
A number of horses have been brutally mutilated, provoking horror all round. Even Sid's friend, broadcaster Ellis Quint, has been moved to make a shocking programme about it. 
 
But when Sid is asked to investigate, the evidence he uncovers points in a startling direction and he finds that his head must overrule his heart. 
 
As friends and associates are angered by his discoveries, so Sid is drawn into a terrible web of conspiracy and intrigue. Escape will require all his legendary wits and cunning . . .

Come To Grief

She's rowing for Cambridge. He's rowing for Oxford. A boat race to go down in history. 
 
Arthur Osbourne-Cloud has always had his future mapped out for him &ndash; graduate Oxford and follow his dreadful father into politics. Except Arthur wants to do anything but that. He&rsquo;s more than happy filling his days rowing for golds at the Olympics or World Championships, and this year he has The Boat Race to win. 
 
Kate Astley also has her future mapped out &ndash; the next six years at least. Fly half-way across the world, and win a scholarship at Cambridge University to study medicine. Oh, and become a crew member for the legendary Boat Race. Seems simple enough. But then she meets Arthur. 
 
For Arthur, this feisty American challenges everything he's been taught to believe, while Kate battles between what she wants to do, and what she&rsquo;s expected to do. The bitter rivalry between their schools is destined to destroy them, but it&rsquo;s only a matter of time before they give in to the sizzling chemistry bubbling between them. 
 
Then the reality of their future comes knocking. In The Boat Race, there can only be one winner. Who will sink and who will swim?

Oar Than Friends

Ex-steeplechaser Randall Drew is reluctantly off to pre-Olympic games Moscow, as a favour to royalty. One of the blue bloods is destined to compete in the games and there are concerns - both of safety and of scandal - that only Drew, with his racing connections, can sort out. 
 
On arriving - speaking no Russian and wishing he were back home - Drew is supposed to identify and contact one Alyosha to clear up the scandal. Instead, he finds himself tailed by the KGB and embroiled in foiling a terrorist plot - or die trying.

Trial Run

Ava Harrison

Hudson Wilde is just as fun as he is fierce. The wild card of the Redville Saints, that runs through women, leaving a pile of broken hearts in his wake. His best friend’s little sister is completely off limits. 
 
From the moment they meet, Hudson and Molly clash. She doesn’t appreciate his partying ways, and he’s annoyed by how much she’s around, constantly looking down on him. What does she care about the things he does? 
 
Forced to spend time together while on the road, Hudson and Molly’s hatred soon morphs into something unexpected. A spark ignites and one drunken night changes everything. 
 
Hudson sees Molly in a new light. A forbidden fruit he wants to taste. A line he’s willing to cross. A challenge he wants to accept. 
 
Because one thing is for certain, Dane would never approve. Engaging in a secret relationship with your best friend's sister will undoubtedly lead to trouble.

Beautiful Collide

'Admiral met the fence perfectly. He rose to it as if flight were not only for birds. And he fell.' 
 
Alan York's friend, jockey Bill Davidson, was killed in Admiral's fall. After the race, York visits the fence and discovers a coil of wire lying beside the fence post and signs of where the wire had been attached. 
 
The fall was no accident - but murder. 
 
Unable to convince the police of this, York is forced to turn amateur sleuth and is soon on the trail of a ruthless gang of race-fixers.

Dead Cert

Neil Oliver

Captain Robert Falcon Scott didn't start out life as a hero. In fact, as a boy and young man he was considered small, frail and shy. So what was it that turned this ordinary man into a legend? 
 
Through his gripping new account of how this modest naval officer became Scott of the Antarctic, Neil Oliver vividly relates the awe-inspiring tales that inspired Britain's greatest hero. And alongside these epics of courage, fortitude and sacrifice, Oliver tells the astonishing stories of those heroes who followed Scott and whose deeds stood comparison with this iconic explorer's own humbling example. 
 
From Rorke's Drift to the Battle of Britain and Nelson to Neil Armstrong, these are men who understood - as Scott always did - that it was more important to die a hero than live a coward's life.

Amazing Tales for Making Men out of Boys

Roddy Collins

Paul Howard

Roddy Collins is a football man - now in the sixth decade of a career as a player (at sixteen clubs), manager (twelve clubs) and commentator. And he is a funny man: an unequalled raconteur with a sharp eye for the absurdities of the professional game and spectacular recall. He has made friends wherever he has gone, along with some high-quality enemies. When John Delaney said he could get Roddy a job if he'd just stop criticising him, Roddy replied that he'd 'rather dig holes in the road'. 
 
Now, with the brilliant Paul Howard, Roddy puts it all down on paper for the first time - the adventures, the rows and the craic - in what is not only one of the funniest but also one of the most eye-opening books ever written about professional football.

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