Bat, Ball And Field

Jon Hotten

HarperCollins Publishers. London

Muscle: A Writer's Trip Through a Sport With No Boundaries

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Yellow Jersey Press

<p>"The Years of the Locust" is a true story of intrigue, paranoia, murder and money set in the shimmering cities of America's South in the 1990s. It's the story of two men who never should have met, and when they did, one killed the other. There are walk-on parts for Don King, George Foreman, the FBI and a fallen NFL hero, yet it's the two central characters - sociopathic door-to-door-sales-king-turned-boxing-promoter Rick 'Elvis' Parker and his loyal, naive and ultimately incorruptible fighter Tim Anderson - that make this story extraordinary and unforgettable. It would be impossible to invent a man like Rick Parker, a freakishly fat ginger-haired giant who modelled his personal style on Elvis Presley and wanted to become the next Don King. Don himself told Rick how to do it - find a white man who could become the heavyweight champion of the world. Then Rick met Tim Anderson, a handsome, funny former baseball pro - was he the fighter to take Parker all the way? Rick left a trail of fixed fights and violent mayhem all across the South, but his dream stayed out of reach. By the end of his reign of terror Tim would be broke, poisoned and facing the hardest choice of his life. And now Tim is doing life without parole in a state prison, and Rick - well, Rick's dead. By juxtaposing the lives of these two extraordinary men, "The Years of the Locust" turns a remarkable, riotous true-crime story into a profound examination of chance, choices and remorse - one that's scary, sad and blackly, bleakly funny.</p>

The Years of the Locust

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Yellow Jersey

<p>Geoffrey Boycott is undoubtedly one of England's greatest ever batsmen. Playing 108 Test matches between 1964 and 1982, the hugely controversial opener scored a then record 8 114 runs at 47 72 - the highest completed average of any English player since 1970 - against some of the greatest bowlers the world has ever seen.\nWhen the first lockdown came, finding himself without cricket for the first time in his life, Geoffrey Boycott sat down and began to write a retrospective warts-and-all diary of each of his Test match appearances. It is illuminating and unsparing, characterized by Boycott's astonishing memory, famous forthrightness and unvarnished, sometimes lacerating, honesty. That 100 000 word document forms the basis for Being Geoffrey Boycott, a device that takes the reader inside Geoffrey's head and back through cricket history, presenting a unique portrait of the internal and external forces that compelled him from a pit village in Yorkshire to the pinnacle of the world game.\nNow 81 and still one of the most recognizable cricketers England has ever produced, Boycott has teamed up with award-winning author Jon Hotten in this catalogue of his tumultuous time with the national side. Dropped for scoring a slow double hundred, making himself unavailable to play for England for several years, captain for eight seasons of a group of strong, stroppy and extremely talented players at Yorkshire, bringing up his hundredth hundred at Headingley against the Old Enemy, seeing David Gower and Ian Botham emerge as future greats, playing under Mike Brearley in the 1981 Ashes, in this enlightening book Boycott reveals a host of never-before-heard details regarding his peers and his playing days.</p>

Being Geoffrey Boycott

Sports & Outdoors

Geoffrey Boycott

Other Team Sports

Fairfield Books

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Books by Jon Hotten