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 for
Sir Ian Botham and the Ashes are as closely intertwined as willow and leather or Merv Hughes and his moustache. You simply cannot think of one without the other. In this book, Sir Ian takes you on a ride through a lifetime's relationship with cricket's oldest and most treasured prize, revealing just how it has shaped his life and how he has helped to turn it into the contest it is today. From the moment he first watched the likes of Ken Barrington stride to the wicket in jaw-jutting defiance to the day he flayed Australia's bowling attack around Headingley as if playing with his mates in the park, and then onwards to his role in commentating on what was arguably the finest series of the lot, in 2005, Sir Ian has a rich and varied connection with the Ashes, and he tells all here. The Ashes is a series that has provided incredible highs and heartbreaking lows for English and Australian fans alike over the past 35 years. Sir Ian has often been at the centre of the roller-coaster ride. Whether it is his account of his days as England's dogsbody in 1977 in Melbourne or the story of his refusal to let Bob Willis bowl downwind until he was angry enough to skittle the Aussies in 1981, all is revealed in depth in Botham's Book of the Ashes.
Shortlisted for Cricket Book of the Year at the British Sports Book Awards Graeme Swann leads us on a compelling adventure through one of world sport's most engrossing rivalries. He knows as much as anybody about the heat of England v Australia battles, having played in three series wins and also the whitewash defeat of 2013-14 when its intensity ended his international career. However, it brought out some of his best displays in Test cricket. But he is just one of dozens of colourful characters to have added their chapters to this great tome. The mock obituary of English cricket in the Sporting Times of 1882 was the forerunner of summers and winters of heaven and hell, depending on which side of the divide you were situated. When it comes to on-field relations nothing quite compares to the over-my-dead-body feel of the Ashes. From Grace to Sir Don, the most graceful of them all. From the foulest play to the fairest - contrast the 1932-33 Bodyline series affair to the image of Andrew Flintoff hunched over a distraught Brett Lee in 2005. From Ray Illingworth's famous walk-off in the Seventies, when an England team-mate was assaulted by a spectator, to Steve Waugh's hugely emotional lap of honour when he retired a quarter of a century later. Swann's book will reveal the magic of a series that first gripped him in his front room in Northampton as an aspiring spin bowler in the mid-1980s.
America is a land that drew families away from their native countries, many seeking to escape the turmoil of war and strife, others from overcrowding, poverty, famine, or pestilence. Follow the lives of three families living in a small town in rural Minnesota, where second and third generations plus new arrivals are paving a new way of life but still holding tight to the traditions and history of their ancestors. They share friendship and faith during the 1930s, when prohibition followed with the depression are woven into their life experiences. They led rich, full lives filled with laughter and sharing in spite of these adversities. Parents and grandparents were thankful that the children could grow up free from the fear and turmoil of war. They were grateful that they had found peace and the space for their families to not only grow but to excel in the peace and beauty of the Minnesota landscape. They were thankful that they had found the strength, courage, and fortitude to leave their ancestral homes to forge new lives, and that they had found . . . the courage to rise from the ashes.
An Unexpected Parody: The Unauthorized Spoof of The Hobbit revisits the film with mayhem, mirth, and magic missiles-or at least, crumpled newspaper missiles. Torn Teepeeshield, the Hot Prince of the Dwarves, puts aside his developing stardom in dwarf cabaret to quest to the Lame Old Mountain and destroy the dragon Erpolushun, or in the common tongue, Smog. Gonedaft the Grey, formerly known as Gonedaft the Grizzled and Gonedaft of the Rainbow Tie-die that He So Can't Pull Off, recruits Bumble Baglunch, country gentleman and professional coward, since as an avid comic book fan and all-around geek, Bumble's too smart to fall prey to obvious fantasy clich�s. Together with Bobbin, Noggin, Rover, Clover, Sloppy, Ploppy, Frappe, Hottie, Spottie, Quaff, Sloth, and Ezekiel the dwarves, they journey across Renfair Earth to revive their franchise. Destiny may be a word writers use to pave over plotholes, but Bumble is determined to triumph nonetheless and play as good a game of goblin golf as his ancestors.
Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of "Bumble", the legendary SkySports cricket commentator who's one ball short of an over and delivers madcap moments galore in this ebullient, endearing and hilarious book.
The quintessentially English cricket commentator, writer, oenophile, bon viveur, collector and national treasure, fondly known as “Blowers”, tells his riveting life story.
We've all heard about Dementia, and quite possibly, have even been touched personally by this disease. But when I researched content for this endeavor, Dementia's voice foretold of a terrifying and nameless world, one in which identities, relationships, and memories were hollowed from the inside out. It's a world in which every frame of life smoldered until the ashes fell, leaving a land so barren that the final destination was unmistakable. It was only after witnessing 2 relatives succumb to the disease did Dementia have a face and leave me begging: 'what did you hear, see, and feel'? Before the Ashes Fall illustrates this world with uniquely distinct character voices, each struggling to understand the journey. Richard, the young schoolteacher battling the disease, desperately reaches for every thread which once made him whole. Cafferty, a prominent attorney turned Memory Care Advocate, wishes to offer 'unprecedented care with dignity' unlike the experience during his mom's own fight with the disease. Danny, Richard's cantankerous and terminally ill father, hasn't found a single reason to live until fate reunites him with the son he abandoned over a half-century prior. And finally, Dementia, the ultimate puppeteer who orchestrates the modern Danse Macabre with a brutal flair. In its purest form, the 81,000-word journey is a race toward freedom from a despotic disease and ultimate forgiveness of a father before time runs out. The manuscript has been content and line edited by a highly respected industry professional (David Aretha), who offered this impression upon conclusion: