I started reading this with the intention of writing a review of it, but found it to be very disappointing and lost interest in it..
I can't be bothered with biographies of the Goughy/Hicky/Belly/Vaughanny ilk..
I can't do with most of them either. Most of them are not biographies but glorified scorecards. I made a rule a few years ago of not buying a biog until the player had retired. That way you might glean a little extra truth from any interesting circumstance and you also know there's little likelyhood of been conned to buy another and another and another........
To go off on a totally different tangent, the best sport book I've read in a long long time is due out on film shortly. Did anyone read ''The Damned United''? Supposedly fiction but very close to the truth, it looks at Brian Clough's 44 days at Leeds United through the eyes of Brian Clough. A fantastic book and if you havn't read it I'd suggest you did, and if you have I'd love to read a review.
I've heard of it but never read it.
I wonder who's going to play Clough in the film? Always hard to do that sort of portrayal without resorting to a bad impersonation. Go and see Frost/Nixon when it comes out because that is incredible..
Completely agree about The Damed United, however the book is far more than BCs 44 days at Elland Rd. That is only half the story. The book is written in alternate chapters dealing with his management at Leeds but the other half takes the reader from his career ending injury at Sunderland though to the end of his time with Derby C. You basically get a 'story' from the end of his playing career until his appointment at Forest. Absolutely fabulous.
Understand that in the forthcoming film Micheal Sheen is to play BC. Micheal is the actor who played Tony Blair in 'The Queen' and Kenneth Williams in 'The Kenneth Willams Diaries'
I too am slightly surprised it won the award. The book is clumsily written (by a ghost) with lengthy quotations and extracts. However its redeeming feature has been picked up by all the press - the honesty with which Tresco talks about his depression. It's worth sticking with for that alone.
Interestingly (if my memory serves me right) about half of the way through the book he talks about the rumours circulating around his wife. Apparently one Yorkshire message board was suggesting a certain Darren Gough was having an affair with his wife! It probably was in jest at the time - but in the circumstances of what he was going through at the time (according to the book) - it proved the old saying the pen is mightier than the sword.
Ultimately imho it is worth picking up when it comes out in paperback for a casual read.
its not the best and its not the worst cricket autobiography but I was surprised it won an award.
I think most people have read it to find out the truth about his illness and to put paid to all the rumours that were circulating about him and his wife which on reflection were totally out of order and the people responsible should be hanging their heads in shame as this can only have added to the problems he had.
i can't help but feel that the book would not have been written if it was not for the illness story and if he had been more honest throughout the illness (which he admits was an error on his part) then it may have helped not only him but also stopped a lot of the rumour mill. But if he told it as it was earlier then his book would not have been so interesting and it would not have won an award.
the one thing I do know about Tres is that the England team sure as hell miss him, especially in the one dayers. If he was opening the batting for us it would at least solve half the problem at the top of the order.
Not read the Brian Clough book but the other one about him by Duncan Hamilton was brilliant about his relationship with him at Forest when he was the local journalist. This just proved to me that the better books are by journalists close to the subject rather than retired cricketers picking up a pen
For me the problem with the book is that Tres describes the symptoms without devoting enough time to talking about how he was actually feeling. There's a lack of depth and analysis to the whole thing. His batting career seems to have been an uncomplicated breeze - nothing ever seemed to caus ehim any problems. And there are glaring inconsistencies as well - he complains about homesickness and yet talks about several happy tours. I think a better ghost writer could have been much harder with him and got to the core of the subject.
Interestingly Michael Sheen plays (I think)David Frost in the afore-mentioned Frost/Nixon...
The thread mentions Duncan Hamilton and his biography of Brian Clough during the 'Forest' years. Agree with Dpressed and others that this is a very well written and enjoyable read.
But is Duncan Hamilton to blame for your current Yorkshire Post cricket correspondant? Duncan, who started as a Sports reporter on the Nottingham Evening News, has for the last 5 years has been the Deputy Editor of the YP. During that time Chris Walters comes from a local paper in Nottingham (poss the Evening News) to be potentially the weakest YP cricket writer of all time. A link perhaps?