Brian Moore, or 'Pitbull' as he came to be known during nearly a decade at the heart of the England rugby team's pack, established himself as one of the game's original hard men at a time when rugby was still an amateur sport. Since his retirement, he has earned a reputation as an equally uncompromising commentator, never afraid to tell it as he sees it and lash out at the money men and professionals that have made rugby into such a different beast. Yet, for all his bullishness on and off the pitch, there also appears a more unconventional, complicated side to the man. A solicitor by trade, Moore's love of fine wine, career experience as a manicurist and preference for reading Shakespeare in the dressing room before games, mark him out as anything but the stereotypical rugby player and in Beware of the Dog Moore lays open with astounding frankness the shocking events, both personal and professional, that have gone towards shaping him over the years. Presenting an unparalleled insight into the mind of one of British rugby's greatest players and characters, Beware of the Dogis a uniquely engaging and upfront sporting memoir.

The fascinating autobiography of Ted Dexter, the ferociously powerful and debonair cricketer who captained England in 1961-2 and who latterly became England's Chairman of Selectors from 1989 to 1993 and then President of the MCC. Dexter was a classical, hard-hitting batsman and right-arm swing bowler who achieved nine centuries and 27 fifties in 62 Test matches for his country. Competing alongside and against such great names as Fred Truman, Peter May, Colin Cowdrey, Richie Benaud and Garry Sobers, Dexter ended his Test career with 4,402 runs. He was also a consummate golfer and could have been a professional, having played with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. In 2001, Dexter was appointed President of the MCC, and served as Chairman of the establishment's cricket committee until 2003. Forever known as Lord Ted, he was awarded the CBE in the 2001 New Year Honours. Since his retirement, Dexter has worked as a journalist and broadcaster and formed his own Public Relations company.

Muhammed Ali cast a blinding light onto his sport, on the tumultuous times he in part initiated and on all of those who surrounded him. That includes the fighters brave enough to stand alone, across the ring from the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. Ali's own story has been told again and again, but the stories of those who faced him have, by and large, been ignored. For each, the moments alone with Ali changed their careers, changed their lives, and affected them for ever. Facing Ali tells the story of fifteen men from around the world, from famous names like Joe Frazier, Joe Bugner, George Foreman and Henry Cooper to lesser lights like Tunney Hunsaker and Jurgen Blin. Each man, many for the first time, tell their stories in their own words. With an updated introduction from author Stephen Brunt following Ali's death, the resulting book offers a unique perspective on what it was really like to fight him, and gives insights into the character of the most famous man on the planet.

'Verdict on Willis book: a treat' - Express 'The book is a gem' - Mike Atherton 'It's a lovely book, containing previously unseen musings from the great man' - David Lloyd 'It's such a great read' - Piers Morgan A biography celebrating the life of the legendary cricketer Bob Willis, with tributes from key figures in sports and media and a foreword by Sir Ian Botham. Following his passing in 2019, tributes to Bob came flooding in in every major news outlet and from every major figure in the industry - and outside of it. His career spanned decades, from his days as a cricketer for England to his time as a pundit on Sky TV. This autobiography includes never-before-seen writing from Bob alongside contributions from key figures as well as a detailed account of the great England victory over Australia at Headingly in 1981. The book, edited by Bob's brother David, combines a new biography, written by Daily Mail sportswriter Mike Dickson, with a celebration of a truly legendary man. Tributes from some of his many friends in the world of cricket and beyond are accompanied by reflections on highlights from an eventful life, drawing on autobiographical and personal material by Bob himself, contemporary press reports and the accounts of team-mates and opponents.

Paula Radcliffe has managed to be both very successful in her field and incredibly popular with the Great British Public. She was the underdog for so long -- narrowly missing out on medals in the 1999 World Championships and the 2000 Sydney Olympics -- that fans longed to see her win. Paula's rosy manner hides a tough resolve to succeed and in 2002 her luck began to turn. She won gold medals at both the Commonwealth and European championships and started to grab the headlines, bringing Britain's focus back to athletics. Paula's bravery is not limited to the track, however. She has become a passionate spokesperson against drug cheats and, inspired by her own battle with the condition, she is widely admired for her patronage of asthma charities. And even though Athens in 2004 proved to be more Greek tragedy than triumph, her popularity remains undimmed. Her remarkable life story of highs and lows is fully chronicled in this fascinating and inspiring autobiography.

From the author of the international bestseller Born To Run When barefoot running guru Christopher McDougall takes in a neglected donkey, his aim is to get Sherman back to reasonable health. But Sherman is ill-tempered, obstinate and uncooperative - and it's clear his poor treatment has made him deeply fearful of humans. Chris knows that donkeys need a purpose - they are working, pack animals - and so when he learns of the sport of Burro Racing or running with donkeys, he sets out to give Sherman something worth living for. With the aid of Chris's menagerie on his farm in rural Pennsylvania, his wife Mika and their friends and neighbours including the local Amish population, Sherman begins to build trust in Chris. To give him a purpose, they start to run together. But what Sherman gains in confidence and meaning is something we all need: a connection with nature, the outdoors, with movement. And as Chris learns, the side benefits of exercise and animal contact are surprising, helping with mental and physical health in unexpected ways.

Forever remembered as one of the most dramatic storylines in the history of golf, Payne Stewart's phenomenal career was bookended by a brass and colorful start and an inspired comeback with a shocking, tragic end. Written off as a pompous showman past the prime of his career, Stewart emerged from a long slump in the unforgettable season of 1999 to capture the U.S. Open and play on the victorious U.S. Ryder Cup team. He appeared to be a new man that summer: wiser, deeper, and on the verge of a new level of greatness. Then his journey to redemption ended in October, when his chartered Learjet flew aimlessly for more than a thousand miles, ran out of fuel, and fell to earth in a prairie in South Dakota. His death marked the end of an era, one made up of "shotmakers" who played the game with artistry, guile, finesse, and heart. Behind them were Tiger Woods, David Duval, Phil Mickelson, and other young players whose power and strength changed the PGA Tour forever. With exclusive access to Stewart's friends, family, and onetime colleagues, Kevin Robbins provides a long-overdue portrait of one of golf's greats in one of golf's greatest seasons

Phil "The Power" Taylor. Eric "The Crafty Cockney" Bristow. Andy "The Viking" Fordham. To this great hall of fame, add another name: Justin Irwin. Or, to give him his darts moniker: Justin "The Bachelor of Darts" Irwin". Justin Irwin used to have another moniker - that of the Director of England at the children's charity, Childline. However, in December 2004, he suddenly resigned, giving up his well-paid job in order to...... play darts. His aim was simple: to qualify for the World Darts Championship in one year's time in December 2005. As a child, Justin had wanted to become a sportsman. But as the sportsman got younger, Justin just got older, until he realised that in his mid-thirties he was old enough to be Wayne Rooney's father. So, professional footballer was out the window. However, he remembered that in 1987 he once hit treble 20 - darts nirvana! So, why couldn't he do that again, just on a more regular basis? And so began his journey. From playing with friends, he graduated to pub teams, moving on to Open Tournaments in Essex and Hampshire. From backroom bars to the glamour of the Novotel in Southampton, he learnt the difference between a "Bull-up" and "Bullseye". Between a "Double-in" and "Double Trouble". Justin immersed himself completely in the darts community, getting to know the players, the players' wives and entourages, the strange rules and language as well as earning himself the sobriquet of "The Bachelor of Darts" (so christened because he was the only darts player with a Degree......). Until finally, he found himself playing to qualify for the Darts World Championship in December 2005.

Saved from an inglorious end as a garden ornament, Amulet a 26-foot wooden keel boat, amateur built in Fort William, Scotland in 1964, was restored by Cumbrian based author and charter yacht skipper, Bob Orrell. The story is a humorous account of the author's love hate relationship with Amulet during the eighteen month restoration and the subsequent voyage from Maryport, on the Cumbrian coast to the Western Isles of Scotland.

In early 1978, an extraordinary new invention for rock climbers was featured on the BBC television science show Tomorrow's World. It was called the 'Friend', and it not only made the sport safer, it helped push the limits of the possible. The company that made them was called Wild Country, the brainchild of Mark Vallance. Within six months, Vallance was selling Friends in sixteen countries. Wild Country would go on to develop much of the gear that transformed climbing in the 1980s. Mark Vallance's influence on the outdoor world extends far beyond the company he founded. He owned and opened the influential retailer Outside in the Peak District and was part of the team that built The Foundry, Sheffield's premier climbing wall - the first modern climbing gym in Britain. He worked for the Peak District National Park and served on its board. He even found time to climb eight-thousand-metre peaks and the Nose on El Capitan. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in his mid fifties and robbed of his plans for retirement, Vallance found a new sense of purpose as a reforming president of the British Mountaineering Council. In Wild Country, Vallance traces his story, from childhood influences like Robin Hodgkin and Sir Jack Longland, to two years in Antarctica, where he was base commander of the UK's largest and most southerly scientific station at Halley Bay, before his fateful meeting with Ray Jardine, the man who invented Friends, in Yosemite. Trenchant, provocative and challenging, Wild Country is a remarkable personal story and a fresh perspective on the role of the outdoors in British life and the development of climbing in its most revolutionary phase. Mark Vallance (1945-2018), the man who made Friends.

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is one of the most promising young players in the NFL, but he believes that true success lies in leading his team from a perspective of service. In this inspiring, practical book, Deshaun illustrates how the seven qualities of a servant leader can lead to a more successful life. Deshaun Watson was only eleven when his family received a house from Atlanta Falcons running back Warrick Dunn through Dunn's charity, Homes for the Holidays. But that early gift left a lasting impression, teaching Deshaun that generosity and service to others are important parts of true success. Now a star in his own right, and the most promising young player in the NFL, Deshaun reveals the lessons that have guided him throughout his life. From Deshaun's early days in Gainesville, Georgia, where he nursed his mother through cancer, to his years at Clemson-where he graduated in three years while being nominated for the Heisman twice-to his first few seasons in the NFL, Deshaun has distinguished himself as a leader by putting the others first. In Pass It On, Deshaun opens up about the seven core values that have guided him on his own journey. Generosity Empathy Self-Sacrifice Service Commitment Strength Values in Action Interweaving stories from his life with practical advice that every reader can apply, Deshaun demonstrates how true strength lies in putting others first.

Shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature. The Uncrowned King of Mont Blanc by Peter Foster is the biography of scientist and mountaineer Thomas Graham Brown, whose encyclopaedic knowledge of the mountain earned him the soubriquet, and whose achievements in the Alps and Greater Ranges place him at the forefront of British mountaineering between the two world wars. Born in Edinburgh in 1882, Graham Brown first pursued a career in the sciences as a physiologist - his exacting father demanding the highest standards - and the results of his research, largely unrecognised at the time, now underpin current understanding of the nervous control of movement in animals and man. His mountaineering career began in earnest after the First World War. From rock climbing in the Lake District he progressed to guided climbs in the Alps, where in 1927 he was fatefully introduced to Frank Smythe with whom he made the groundbreaking first ascents of the Sentinelle Rouge and the Route Major on the Brenva Face of Mont Blanc. This resulted in an obsession with the mountain and a feud between the pair that smouldered and flared for twenty years. Ambitious, determined and uncompromising in his views, he never left others feeling neutral: Geoffrey Winthrop Young thought him 'a vicious lunatic', yet Charles Houston felt closer to Graham Brown 'than almost anyone else I know'. Graham Brown's life was one of turbulence in his career, relationships and in the mountains, whether on expeditions to Mount Foraker, Nanda Devi and Masherbrum, or most frequently, the Alps. Peter Foster has drawn upon diaries, letters and extensive archival research that illuminate the highs and lows of Graham Brown's scientific and climbing careers, and explores the imbalance between the significance of his achievements and the lack of recognition he received. But, above all, The Uncrowned King of Mont Blanc allows one to hear Graham Brown's voice: querulous, opinionated and, to the discomfort of his many adversaries, almost always right.

From the daughter of Muhammad Ali comes an intimate portrait of the heavyweight boxing champion and a final love letter from a daughter to her father.

Through audio journals, love letters and cherished memories, Ali's daughter Hana tells the story of a very typical and yet fully-unique family, the rise and fall of her parent’s marriage and the struggles they faced as a family surrounding Ali’s loss to Larry Holmes in 1981.

With the decline of Ali’s voice, his recordings are important to history as they are to his personal legacy. At Home with Muhammad Ali offers a candid look at a man who was trying to find his purpose in the world as he realized he was coming to the end of his lucrative sporting career, all the while trying to balance fatherhood and his worldly and political obligations. Additionally, Hana tells of the everyday adventures that the family experienced around the house—with visitors like Michael Jackson and Clint Eastwood dropping by. And for the first time, Hana’s mother Veronica will share her memories of the 12-year relationship with Muhammad.

At Home with Muhammad Ali is a candid and revealing portrait of a legend, a man admired and respected as the greatest sporting icon of our age.

This superb biography, filled with photographs from his sensational career, follows Roger Federer from his first steps in tennis in the junior tournaments right through to the main professional circuit. Federer: Portrait of a Tennis Legend is an illustrated biography of a man who has graced the world of tennis for more than two decades, playing with grace, panache, and magnificent sportsmanship. He who has transcended tennis to become one of the greatest sportsmen of the twenty-first century. This portrait illustrates his great rivalries, his great matches and his great victories.

"Zero regrets. It's a philosophy not just about sport but about life. School, business, academics, love--anything and everything. It's complicated and yet not. You have to figure out who it is you want to be. Not what you want to be--"who. "There has to be a vision, a dream, a plan. Then you chase that with everything you've got."
Over three consecutive Olympic games, Apolo Ohno has come to symbolize the very best of the competitive spirit--remaining equally gracious in victory and defeat, always striving to improve his performance, and appreciating the value of the hard work of training as much as any reward it might bring. In "Zero Regrets, "Apolo shares the inspiring personal story behind his remarkable success, as well as the hard-won truths and strategies he has discovered in good times and bad.
Raised by his single father, an immigrant from Japan who often worked twelve-hour days, the young Apolo found it difficult to balance his enormous natural gifts as an athlete with an admittedly wild, rebellious streak. After making a name for himself as a promising young speed skater, his career was almost over before it began when his lack of preparation caused him to finish last at the U.S. Olympic trials in 1998. A life-changing week of solitary soul-searching at the age of fifteen led him to recommit himself to his training, and at the 1999 world junior championships he won first place overall--one of the most remarkable turnarounds in sports history. From that moment on, the world of speed skating had a new champion and Apolo was on his way to legendary status.
Much more than an account of races won and lost, "Zero Regrets "is a compelling portrait of a father-and-son relationship that deepened over time and was based on respect, love, and unshakable faith in each other. For the first time, Apolo reveals what he knows about his long-absent mother; he makes us feel what it is like to face the best competitors on the planet with the eyes of millions of fans upon you; and he shares his secrets for achieving total focus and mental toughness, secrets that can be applied in situations well beyond sports. We learn the details of the unbelievably intense workout and diet that he endured while training for the 2010 Winter Olympics, a regime that literally reshaped his body and led to some of his most thrilling victories.
In this deeply personal and entertaining book, Apolo shows how we can all come closer to living with zero regrets. While Apolo's own journey may be unique, the insights he has gleaned along the way have the power to help us all feel like champions every day.
***

Nine days after dropping me off, Dad came to pick me up.
In that call from the pay phone, I hadn't said anything to him about what decision I had made. On the car ride back home, I told him. "I want to try this," I said.
"Are you willing," he asked, "to really put forth a true effort? From the bone?"
I told my father: "I want to skate."
With clarity of purpose, everything suddenly seemed different. I didn't just want to skate--I loved it. I realized, too, that while I had to want to buy into the training, the discipline, the self-sacrifice, I needed direction and guidance, too. You truly can't get there by yourself. I needed not only to truly and profoundly depend upon Dad for help but also to welcome those--coaches, trainers, others--who could help me along the way. . . .
I was also making promises to myself and writing them in my journal:
"I'm not going to mess it up this time. When I go home, I really am going to be the different person I decided in Iron Springs I would be. I know what I want to do. I want to be the best in the world. "
I didn't know quite yet how I would get there. But I was clear, and I had no doubt-- that's what I was after.
--From Zero Regrets

Proclaimed the young fighter from Louisville. Most boxing fans criticised this upstart and few believed he had the skills to justify such a statement. He proved them so very wrong on so many levels. Muhammad Ali became the greatest heavyweight ever to step into the boxing ring and a compelling presence outside of it - the most recognised man on the planet. Muhammad Ali: The Story of a Boxing Legend charts the fascinating story of an extraordinary man through the words of not just Ali himself, but of those who were lucky enough to bear witness to the legend that was unfolding in front of them.

For a time there were four bikes in Matt Seaton?s life. His evenings were spent 'doing the miles' on the roads out of south London and into the hills of the North Downs and Kent Weald. Weekends were taken up with track meets, time trials and road races ? rides that took him from cold village halls at dawn and onto the empty bypasses of southern England.

With its rituals, its code of honour and its comradeship, cycling became a passion that bordered on possession. It was at once a world apart, private to its initiates and, through the races he rode in Belgium, Mallorca and Ireland, a passport to an international fraternity. But then marriage, children and his wife's illness forced a reckoning with real life and, ultimately, a reappraisal of why cycling had become so compelling in the first place. Today, those bikes are scattered, sold, or gathering dust in an attic.

Wry, frank and elegiac, ?The Escape Artist? is a celebration of an amateur sport and the simple beauty of cycling. It is also a story about the passage from youth to adulthood, about what it means to give up something fiercely loved in return for a kind of wisdom.

**A Daily Mail Book of the Year** What happens on the pitch is only half the story. Being a footballer is not just kicking a ball about with twenty-one other people on a big grass rectangle. Sometimes being a footballer is about accidentally becoming best mates with Mickey Rourke, or understanding why spitting is considered football's most heinous crime. In How to be a Footballer, Peter Crouch took us into a world of bad tattoos and even worse haircuts, a world where you're on the pitch one minute, spending too much money on a personalised number plate the next. In I, Robot, he lifts the lid even further on the beautiful game. We will learn about Gareth Bale's magic beans, the Golden Rhombus of Saturday night entertainment, and why Crouchy's dad walks his dog wearing an England tracksuit from 2005. Whether you're an armchair expert, or out in the stands every Saturday, crazy for five-a-side or haven't put on a pair of boots since school, this is the real inside story of how to be a footballer.

AB de Villiers is een van Suid-Afrika se grootste sporthelde. Hy is sedert 2011 kaptein van die Suid-Afrikaanse eendagspan asook ’n lid van die nasionale span sedert hy op 20 Desember 2004, op 20-jarige ouderdom, sy buiging vir die Proteas gemaak het. AB het reg deur sy lewe op die sportveld uitgeblink én word vandag as een van die beste kolwers ter wêreld, in alle aspekte van die spel beskou.

AB: Die Outobiografie, sal insig bied oor die man agter die kolf en onder die kopskerm, asook oor deurslaggewende oomblikke tydens sy loopbaan en sy verhoudingsbande met verskillende mentors. Die leser sal teruggeneem word na die agterplaas van AB se ouerhuis waar hy as kind die eerste keer saam met sy broers leer krieket speel het, en sal voorgestel word aan al die kleurvolle karakters en sportlui wat paaie met AB gekruis het.

AB se belangstelling in musiek en in die sakewêreld word ook onder die loep geneem asook hoe hy hierdie belangstellings van hom saam met sy internasionale krieketloopbaan uitleef.

Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, this is the bestselling story about a rowing team's quest for Olympic gold in Nazi Germany. Cast aside by his family at an early age, abandoned and left to fend for himself in the woods of Washington State, young Joe Rantz turns to rowing as a way of escaping his past. What follows is an extraordinary journey, as Joe and eight other working-class boys exchange the sweat and dust of life in 1930s America for the promise of glory at the heart of Hitler's Berlin. Stroke by stroke, a remarkable young man strives to regain his shattered self-regard, to dare again to trust in others - and to find his way back home. Told against the backdrop of the Great Depression, Daniel James Brown's The Boys in the Boat is narrative non-fiction of the first order; a personal story full of lyricism and unexpected beauty that rises above the grand sweep of history, and captures instead the purest essence of what it means to be alive. 'I really can't rave enough about this book . . . I read the last fifty pages with white knuckles, and the last twenty-five with tears in my eyes' - David Laskin, author of The Children's Blizzard and The Long Way Home.

Alan Scott Haft provides the first-hand testimony of his father, Harry Haft, a holocaust victim with a singular story of endurance, desperation, and unrequited love. Harry Haft was a sixteen-year-old Polish Jew when he entered a concentration camp in 1944. Forced to fight other Jews in bare-knuckle bouts for the perverse entertainment of SS officers, Harry quickly learned that his own survival depended on his ability to fight and win. Haft details the inhumanity of the "sport" in which he must perform in brutal contests for the officers. Ultimately escaping the camp, Haft's experience left him an embittered and pugnacious young man. Determined to find freedom, Haft traveled to America and began a career as a professional boxer, quickly finding success using his sharp instincts and fierce confidence. In a historic battle, Haft fights in a match with Rocky Marciano, the future undefeated heavyweight champion of the world. Haft's boxing career takes him into the world of such boxing legends as Rocky Graziano, Roland La Starza, and Artie Levine, and he reveals new details about the rampant corruption at all levels of the sport. In sharp contrast to Elie Wiesel's scholarly, pious protagonist in Night, Harry Haft is an embattled survivor, challenging the reader's capacity to understand suffering and find compassion for an antihero whose will to survive threatens his own humanity. Haft's account, at once dispassionate and deeply absorbing, is an extraordinary story and an invaluable contribution to Holocaust literature.