It is the world's largest and oldest ultramarathon race. It is a festival celebrating the triumph of human spirit over adversity. It has a camaraderie that enables ordinary mortals to overcome human fragility and perform beyond their wildest expectations. In the words of Comrades marvel Bruce Fordyce, this race 'can inspire ordinary people to do extraordinary things, and it brings out the best in all of us. This race has a power to transform, to inspire and to motivate unlike any other'. T...

The Sunday Times BestsellerAll Michael Parkinson really wanted to do was play cricket for Yorkshire and England. However, he soon realised that to be paid to watch films, football and cricket would be the best way to spend life, and he became a journalist.Television beckoned and for three decades Parkinson interviewed the movers and shakers of the late twentieth century, making his television programme the must-see event of the week. In singing wit...

One second in time may separate the great athlete from the merely good. Seb Coe has made every second count. From an early age he has been driven to be the best at everything he does. Since the moment Coe stood alongside a 'scrubby' municipal running track in Sheffield, he knew that sport could change his life. It did. Breaking an incredible twelve world records and three of them in just forty-one days, Seb became the only athlete to take gold at 1500 metres in two successive Olympic Games...

'Retiring in 1975, Fred Daly liked to tell the story of the new Member who sat next to him in the House. Turning to Fred, he said, 'I like to sit here and look across at the enemy.''Son,' said Fred, 'you are looking at the Opposition. The enemy is behind you.' 'Phillip Adams has been close to governments of various persuasions for over fifty years. Having been a confidant – or a fierce opponent – of many of Australia's most influential figure...

Bumble is back! The funny, forthright and not infrequently filthy author of best-seller ‘Start the Car’ and star of Sky Sports returns with a new collection of yarns from his years at the crease and at the microphone. It’s the book that Bumble’s many fans have been longing forAfter three long years, Bumble is finally back! The outspoken author of best-seller ‘Start the Car’ returns with a whole new cricket bag full of yarns from his years on the pitch and in the commentary box.

'The dream was football . . .'John Giles had a gift. At the age of three, he could kick a ball the way it was supposed to be kicked. And he knew that every hour that passed without kicking a ball was an hour wasted.'It was the same dream that most of the kids had at that time . . .'In A Football Man, Giles tells the story of a dream pursued and realised beyond his wildest imaginings, from his humble beginnings in Ormond Squar...

The definitive, fully authorised story of the record-breaking rivalry between London Olympics organiser Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett.Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe presided over the golden era of British athletics. Between them they won three Olympic gold medals, two silvers, one bronze and broke a total of twelve middle-distance records. They were part of the landscape of the late seventies and early eighties -- both household names, their exploits were watched by...

This is the epic story of South Africa’s amazing quests for the Rugby World Cup, which resulted in triumph at Ellis Park in 1995 and in Paris in 2007, while there was heartbreak in 1999 and shame in 2003. The Springboks and the Holy Grail is no mere narration of matches and scores. The author was closely involved in all four RWC campaigns while working for the Sunday Times and SuperSport, and he provides behind-the-scenes reportage on the great cast and incredible incidents that made for s...

A moving story of how a legendary football team was lost to tragedy – and how this disaster irrevocably altered the lives of the survivors and the bereaved families, and ultimately brought shame on the biggest football club in the world.The Manchester United team Matt Busby had built in the fifties from the club's successful youth policy seemed destined to dominate football for many years. Such was the power of the ‘Busby Babes’ that they seemed invincible. The average age of the s...

The world of the international rugby referee has always been a closely guarded secret … until now.As a Durban schoolboy, Jonathan Kaplan watched rugby at Kings Park every Saturday, dreaming of the day he would represent his country. Now, three decades later and at the age of 47, he reflects on the career highs and lows that saw him retire as the most capped international, Super Rugby and Currie Cup referee of all time.But records and milestones are just a part of an intrigu...

They emerged from the harrowing slums of one of the world's great cities, malnourished youths clad in bizarre fashions. They were the hooligans of their day and for thirty years they held the streets of Manchester and Salford in a grip of fear, fighting pitched battles in a brutal war for supremacy. They delighted in names like the Bengal Tigers and the Little Forty, but to a horrified press and public they were simply 'the scuttlers'.The Gangs of Manchester traces the his...

The autobiography of former Surrey and England cricketer Robin Jackman; now a highly-regarded international cricket commentator, working on South African television. Known as one of the top commentators in the world, his articulate story encounters virtually all the cricketing greats of the modern era many of whom he played with or against. During his playing career, he was controversially banned from the West Indies because of his South African connection. The book publishes just before t...