<p>David Beckham's transfer to Real Madrid was football's worst kept secret. After he moved, it seemed the British press devoted more coverage to the Spanish game than their own. But while Beckham's arrival at Real Madrid captured the world's imagination, in the hands of author Jimmy Burns, this is much more than a book about David Beckham and Real Madrid. It is about how Spain became Europe's most exciting country, a revolution in the world of football; and how this came to be epitomised by the arrival of a sports icon.</p>

When Beckham Went to Spain : Power, Stardom and Real Madrid

Jimmy-Burns

Sports & Outdoors

Michael, Joseph

Hand of God: the Life of Maradona

Biographies & Memoirs

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

The Hand of God: The Life of Diego Maradona

A biography of arguably the world's most famous footballer of all time, Diego Maradona.

Hand of God

Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd.

La Roja: A Journey Through Spanish Football

La Roja: a Journey Through Spanish Football

History

Europe

Simon Schuster Ltd

The author of a best-selling biography of Diego Maradona, and similarly widely acclaimed books on FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, digs deep into the roots of the most popular sport, to look at how football played in Spain became the most admired in the world. From its early beginnings when the first football on the shores of Bilbao and Buenos Aires was played by British sailors and engineers, through to the influx of South American stars, and similarly inspirational Italians, Dutchman and Scandinavians, the author shows how the engagement of foreigners with home-grown Spanish talent overcame political adversity and produced football of sublime skill, passion, and unparalleled entertainment value. The book takes us on a journey through some of the extraordinary characters, games, and moments that have defined Spanish football from the early days when a few enthusiasts developed their talent kicking a ball around on a piece of industrial waste-ground or beach, to the emergence of rival giants, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid - the most powerful and successful football clubs in the world - and a national team that, encompassing all that was most brilliant in the Spanish League, became the World Champions.

La Roja

Simon & Schuster Ome

In the 1930s Tom Burns was a rising star of British publishing, whose friends and authors included G. K. Chesterton, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, the artist Eric Gill and the poet David Jones. And among his glittering social circle he had set his heart on the beautiful Ann Bowes-Lyon, cousin of the Queen. When war was declared in 1939, Burns joined the Ministry of Information, effectively the propaganda wing of the secret services. Sent to Madrid as press attached at the British Embassy, where the Ambassador was the formidable and very Protestant Sir Samuel Hoare, Burns used his faith and his deep love of Spain in the propaganda war against the Nazis, who at the time had pretty much unrestricted access to the Spanish media. Burns' brief was to do all in his power to keep Franco neutral and so protect Gibraltar and access to the western Mediterranean. The strategy was simple, but the tactics were more complicated, especially when Burns found he had begun to make enemies at home, not least among them Kim Philby and Anthony Blunt, head of the MI6's Iberian section. By 1941 he felt far from the real fighting, Ann had pledged herself to another man, and Burns was spending as much time protecting his back as fighting the Nazis. How he overcame these odds, was involved in the Man Who Never Was decoy plot, arranged Leslie Howard's fatal propaganda trip to Portugal and Spain, and finally found true love while loyally serving his country is the story told in this extraordinary book by his son.

Papa Spy: A True Story of Love, Wartime Espionage in Madrid, and the Treachery of the Cambridge Spies

Bloomsbury Paperbacks

<p>Diego Maradona, is arguably the greatest and certainly the most widely-known footballer of the modern age. During his tempestuous career he played for top clubs in South America and Europe, and was a central figure in four World Cups. With the fortunes he has earned from sponsorship and transfer deals, he personified football, both as popular sport and big business. Jimmy Burns pursued his research in several countries on both sides of the Atlantic, gaining access to Maradona's inner circle, and to other key witnesses, such as players, managers, trainers, doctors and officials. The result is a story straddling the international scene, from the slums of Buenos Aires, where Maradona was born, to the huge stadiums of the United States from where, in 1994, he was ignobly expelled after undergoing a positive drugs test. In his rise to fame - and notoriety - Maradona played for some of the world's greatest teams: Boca Juniors, Napoli and Barcelona. He scored some brilliant goals - and cheated with others. He provoked fans into a mass hysteria of adulation, and his enemies into sinister campai. Now, as coach of Argentina, he is leading the country into the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This new edition brings the story of Maradona completely up to date.</p>

Maradona

Biographies

Bloomsbury Publishing

Financial Times journalist Jimmy Burns was posted to Argentina three months before the invasion of the Falkland Islands, remaining there throughout the war and the country's subsequent transition to democracy. This updated and revised edition of his celebrated history analyses the conflict, largely from the Argentinian perspective, exposing the inadequacies of British diplomacy and intelligence, exploring the motives and nature of the military junta and charting the regime's collapse in the aftermath of the war.

Land That Lost Its Heroes: How Argentina Lost the Falklands War

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Books by Jimmy-Burns