Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141036168 ISBN 13: 9780141036168

Publisher: Penguin UK, 2009

Americans may like to think they invented baseball (even if Jane Austen wrote about it decades earlier). And the French might be proud of founding the modern Olympics (when, in fact, a Shropshire doctor beat them to it by forty years). But it was the British that gave sport to the world. From the beginnings of 'the beautiful game' - raucous matches of folk football with hundreds of players on each side - to the original bowls - a thin excuse for drunkenness and gambling - games grew into sports here in Great Britain. And in "Can We Have Our Balls Back, Please?" Julian Norridge tells their stories with wit and good humor. Including all the many sports we Brits have to be proud of - boxing, horse racing, cricket, football, rugby, hockey, lawn tennis (nearly called 'sphairistike') and more - and even those few that got away, this is everything you need to know about the very British love of sports and all the great games it's produced. Because, even if we rarely win them, it's good to know we invented them.

About the Author:

Julian Norridge is an award-winning journalist, BAFTA- and Emmy-nominated programme maker and writer. He lives in Putney. This is his first book.

Review:

'Accessible and genial' Observer 'Norridge has a mischievous and generous authorial voice' Sunday Telegraph 'A warm-hearted, earnestly composed work that several of today's sporting administrators would do well to read' Sunday Times 'A great and funny read, both to dip into or to consume all in one go' Independent