My Sporting Life: Memories, moments and declarations

Description

'A lovely kind of nostalgia, which colourises the black and white of yesteryear' - The Oldie Review 'He writes about them all with wonderful precision and a powerful evocation' - Radio Times 'Like my father before me, I believe that both the playing and watching of sport can teach us important lessons about ourselves by providing practical instruction in co-operation, tests of resolve and temper' For Michael Parkinson it was never really in doubt that he would spend his life in sport. His father, a fearsome fast bowler himself, indoctrinated young Michael from an early age into the Yorkshire cricket tradition and supporting Barnsley FC. All he ever wanted was to play cricket for Yorkshire and England. He rose through the ranks of Barnsley cricket along with his friends Dickie Bird and Geoffrey Boycott. But while they went on to find fame on the field, he spent the next few decades watching, writing and talking about sport. My Sporting Life is Sir Michael's love letter to sport, to the heroes and legends of his Yorkshire youth, to the characters of the international games he watched and wrote about, and to the very idea of sport itself. With warm humorous anecdotes about many icons of sport, from Shane Warne to George Best and Muhammad Ali to Fred Trueman, Sir Michael Parkinson reflects on his life writing about his one great passion.

Born in Yorkshire, Michael Parkinson left school at sixteen with the ambition to play cricket for Yorkshire and England and to write about cricket for the Manchester Guardian. Although, he didn't manage to fulfil the first half of his ambition, he has since become one of the most successful journalists of his generation. He wrote a sports column for The Sunday Times for fifteen years and has also written for the Telegraph. He is also a legendary TV and radio presenter - his long-running chat show Parkinson was hugely popular for many years.

PRAISE FOR MICHAEL PARKISON: A lovely kind of nostalgia, which colourises the black and white of yesteryear * The Oldie Review * He writes about them all with wonderful precision and a powerful evocation * Radio Times * A quietly impressive book, which does something most celebrity autobiographies shy away from: it seeks the truth and, more often than not, finds it * Mail, on Like Father, Like Son * A joyous, breezy read . . . It is also beautifully written * Daily Telegraph on Parky * Funny and self-deprecating and just as laid-back as he is on camera * Independent on Parky * Engrossing and entertaining * Irish Time on Parky *