Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace PDF Author: Richard Tomlinson
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 1408705184
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 413

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Book Description
On a sunny afternoon in May 1868, nineteen-year-old Gilbert Grace stood in a Wiltshire field, wondering why he was playing cricket against the Great Western Railway Club. A batting genius, 'W. G.' should have been starring at Lord's in the grand opening match of the season. But MCC did not want to elect this humble son of a provincial doctor. W. G's career was faltering before it had barely begun. Grace finally forced his way into MCC and over the next three decades, millions came to watch him - not just at Lord's, but across the British Empire and beyond. Only W. G. could boast a fan base that stretched from an American Civil War general and the Prince of Wales's mistress to the children who fingered his coat-tails as he walked down the street, just to say 'I touched him'. The public never knew the darker story behind W. G.'s triumphal progress. Accused of avarice, W. G. was married to the daughter of a bankrupt. Disparaged as a simpleton, his subversive mind recast how to play sport - thrillingly hard, pushing the rules, beating his opponents his own way. In Amazing Grace, Richard Tomlinson unearths a life lived so far ahead of his times that W. G. is still misunderstood today. For the first time, Tomlinson delves into long-buried archives in England and Australia to reveal the real W. G: a self-made, self-destructive genius, at odds with the world and himself.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace PDF Author: Richard Tomlinson
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 1408705184
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 413

Get Book Here

Book Description
On a sunny afternoon in May 1868, nineteen-year-old Gilbert Grace stood in a Wiltshire field, wondering why he was playing cricket against the Great Western Railway Club. A batting genius, 'W. G.' should have been starring at Lord's in the grand opening match of the season. But MCC did not want to elect this humble son of a provincial doctor. W. G's career was faltering before it had barely begun. Grace finally forced his way into MCC and over the next three decades, millions came to watch him - not just at Lord's, but across the British Empire and beyond. Only W. G. could boast a fan base that stretched from an American Civil War general and the Prince of Wales's mistress to the children who fingered his coat-tails as he walked down the street, just to say 'I touched him'. The public never knew the darker story behind W. G.'s triumphal progress. Accused of avarice, W. G. was married to the daughter of a bankrupt. Disparaged as a simpleton, his subversive mind recast how to play sport - thrillingly hard, pushing the rules, beating his opponents his own way. In Amazing Grace, Richard Tomlinson unearths a life lived so far ahead of his times that W. G. is still misunderstood today. For the first time, Tomlinson delves into long-buried archives in England and Australia to reveal the real W. G: a self-made, self-destructive genius, at odds with the world and himself.

W. G. Grace: A Life

W. G. Grace: A Life PDF Author: Simon Rae
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571266363
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
W. G. Grace burst onto the cricket scene in the 1860s with spectacular force. He dominated the game until the end of the century, and influences it to this day. He was the world's first sporting superstar, rivalled as a public figure only by Gladstone and Queen Victoria herself. His staggering achievements as both batsman and bowler made him the greatest draw cricket had ever known. Though often depicted as an overgrown schoolboy, W. G. was extremely shrewd and ruthlessly exploited the power his immense popularity gave him. A notorious 'shamateur', he amassed great wealth through cricket, while remaining the standard-bearer for the Gentlemen against the Players for forty years. Researched in archives from Grimsby (where Grace once scored 400) to Australia, Simon Rae's new biography offers a radical analysis of Grace's career, and reviews the more controversial aspects of his conduct, including verbal and physical altercations, both on and off the field, and his kidnapping of an Australian cricketer from Lord's. But W. G. Grace: A Life provides more than a fresh look at the cricketer. It focuses on Grace's formative family background; his intensely competitive relations with his two famous brothers, 'E. M.' and Fred; his career as a doctor, and his ambitions and bereavements as a father. Drawing on little-known diaries and letters, and unique access to Grace's own library, Simon Rae builds up a convincing psychological portrait of the man behind the most famous beard in English history.

Beyond a Boundary

Beyond a Boundary PDF Author: Cyril Lionel Robert James
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822313830
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
In C. L. R. James's classic Beyond a Boundary, the sport is cricket and the scene is the colonial West Indies. Always eloquent and provocative, James--the "black Plato," (as coined by the London Times)--shows us how, in the rituals of performance and conflict on the field, we are watching not just prowess but politics and psychology at play. Part memoir of a boyhood in a black colony (by one of the founding fathers of African nationalism), part passionate celebration of an unusual and unexpected game, Beyond a Boundary raises, in a warm and witty voice, serious questions about race, class, politics, and the facts of colonial oppression. Originally published in England in 1963 and in the United States twenty years later (Pantheon, 1983), this second American edition brings back into print this prophetic statement on race and sport in society.

WG Grace

WG Grace PDF Author: Robert Low
Publisher: Metro Publishing
ISBN: 1857828321
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Using contemporary accounts of W.G.'s greatest innings, many for the first time, Robert Low presents a radically new image of the sportsman who was recognised as the pre-eminent athlete of his day.From his emergence as a teenage prodigy to well past his fiftieth year W.G. dominated the game of cricket, taking 2,876 wickets and scoring 54,896 first-class runs in a career lasting an incredible 43 years, from 1865 to 1908. His beard and massive frame made him instantly recognisable wherever he went and his gamesmanship and wit were legendary.

Jack Hobbs

Jack Hobbs PDF Author: Leo McKinstry
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1409019675
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
The astonishing feats of Sir Jack Hobbs continue to resonate more than a century after he first played Test cricket. During his long career that stretched from the age of W.G. Grace to the era of Don Bradman, he scored more first-class runs and centuries than any player. Even today, he remains England's greatest run maker in Ashes Tests. He changed the art of batting with his elegant style, and transformed the status of professional cricketers through the strength of his personality. Born into poverty, Hobbs rose to have a central role in some of Test cricket's most explosive series, but not without controversy and dispute. At last here is a comprehensive biography of Hobbs, giving us fresh insights into every aspect of his story. SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2012 CRICKET BOOK OF THE YEAR.

W.G. Grace Ate My Pedalo

W.G. Grace Ate My Pedalo PDF Author: Alan Tyers
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1408166054
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
Freddie Flintoff and W.G. Grace: Together at last! W.G. Grace Ate My Pedalo is a spoof 1896 periodical from The Wisden Cricketer archives that looks at cricketing events of 2010 through a Victorian lens. Funny, irreverent and lavishly illustrated, the book draws inspiration from the exuberant sporting papers of the Victorian era to lampoon England cricketers new and old. From Queen Victoria's views on women's cricket to Freddie Flintoff's heroic defiance of the Temperance Movement, no figure - historical or contemporary - is safe. A comedy cricket book of wit, intelligence and cheek that will appeal to cricket fans of all ages, be they members of the MCC or the Barmy Army.

The Memorial Biography of Dr. W.G. Grace

The Memorial Biography of Dr. W.G. Grace PDF Author: William Gilbert Grace
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cricket
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description


International Sport

International Sport PDF Author: Richard William Cox
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0714652601
Category : Sports
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
There has been an explosion in the quantity of sports history literature published in recent years, making it increasingly difficult to keep abreast of developments. The annual number of publications has increased from around 250 to 1,000 a year over the last decade. This is due in part to the fact that during the late 1980s and 90s, many clubs, leagues and governing bodies of sport have celebrated their centenaries and produced histories to mark this occasion and commemorate their achievements. It is also the result of the growing popularity and realisation of the importance of sport history research within academe. This international bibliography of books, articles, conference proceedings and essays in the English language is a one-stop for the sports historian to know what is new.

England: The Biography

England: The Biography PDF Author: Simon Wilde
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471154866
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 511

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Book Description
'An astonishing work of research, detail and revelation. Bulging with information, packed with nuggets.' John Etheridge, Sun 'Superbly researched... His eye for detail never wavers. It’s a pleasure to read.' Vic Marks, Observer 'The Cricket Book of the Year: Dauntingly comprehensive and surprisingly light-footed.' Simon Briggs, Daily Telegraph England: The Biography is the most comprehensive account of the England cricket team that has ever been published, taking the reader into the heart of the action and the team dynamics that have helped shape their success, or otherwise. It is now 140 years since England first played Test match cricket and, for much of that time, it has struggled to perform to the best of its capabilities. In the early years, amateurs would pick and choose which matches and tours they would play; subsequently, the demands of the county game - and the petty jealousies that created - would prevent many from achieving their best. It was only in the 1990s that central contracts were brought in, and Team England began to receive the best possible support from an ever-increasing backroom team. But cricket isn't just about structures, it depends like no other sport on questions of how successful the captain is in motivating and leading his team, and how well different personalities and egos are integrated and managed in the changing room. From Joe Root and Alastair Cook back to Mike Atherton, Mike Brearley and Ray Illingworth, England captains have had a heavy influence on proceedings. Recent debates over Kevin Pietersen were nothing new, as contemporaries of W.G.Grace would doubtless recognise. As England play their 1000th Test, this is a brilliant and unmissable insight into the ups and downs of that story.

Ten to Win . . . And the Last Man In

Ten to Win . . . And the Last Man In PDF Author: Henry Blofeld
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 1529359961
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
'Is there anything in sport to compare with the sustained excitement of a cricket match, especially a Test match, in which the advantage continually fluctuates one way and then the other, and when the match enters its last few minutes, all four results are still possible?' After entertaining countless radio listeners around the world for decades, who better to convey the breathless drama of a Test match cliffhanger than Henry Blofeld? Now, in Ten to Win . . . and the Last Man In, he has personally selected thirty matches featuring unforgettable finishes and brought them vividly to life again in his own inimitable way. Ranging from the match-winning bowling of F.R. Spofforth against W.G. Grace's England in 1882, via the first tied Test between Benaud's Australia and Worrell's West Indies in 1960, to the never-say-die batting of Ben Stokes in 2019, he picks out the key events and performances of each memorable match and describes them as only he can. Alongside the big-hitting heroics of Jessop in 1902 and Botham in 1981, he revisits less celebrated matches such as South Africa's hard-fought first Test win in 1906, as well as a crucial innings from Denis Compton in 1948 and a match-saving performance by a young Alan Knott in Guyana in 1968 - one of the most exciting matches he has ever witnessed first-hand. Filled with colourful detail and informed by insight gained from a lifetime immersed in the sport he loves, Henry Blofeld's latest book will leave the reader in no doubt - as he himself puts it - about 'what an absurdly irresistible game cricket can be'.