A history of the team as told through stories of 101 players and managers who guided it through lows and highs to success.Liverpool: The Story of a Football Club in 101 Lives tells the history of the Anfield club through the biographies of key individuals associated with the Merseysiders from their formation in the gas-lit days of Victorian Britain through to the present day.From John Houlding, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool who was the founder of the c...

A history of the Gunners told through in-depth biographies of the team's key players on and off the pitch, from its late 19th century beginnings to today.Arsenal: The Story of a Football Club in 101 Lives tells the history of the team through the biographies of key individuals associated with the club from its formation in the gas-lit days of Victorian Britain through to the present day.From David Danskin, the Scottish mechanical engineer and footbal...

Gunther Plschow of the German Imperial Navy holds a unique place in history—during the First World War he was the only German prisoner of war ever to escape from the British mainland and make it all the way back to the Fatherland. Yet, although his daring break for freedom in 1915 is astonishing in its own right, Plschow was much more than simply an escaped POW. He was also a fearless aviator who flew against the British and Japanese in the Far East, and he was an explorer. After the war, ...

Anton Rippon is a Derby boy, born and bred. He is also one of the city's best-known writers and personalities, with a string of highly acclaimed books to his name. For the past eight years, he has written a popular weekly column in the Derby Telegraph in which he takes a whimsical, often sideways, look at life in Derby, both the serious side and the frivolous. In the process he captures perfectly the essence of this sturdy Midlands city.Sometimes commenting on current events, sometimes loo...

This "startlingly good and vividly illuminating book" sheds new light on the Fascist sports spectacle that transfixed the world ( The Spectator).For two weeks in August 1936, Nazi Germany achieved an astonishing propaganda coup when it staged the Olympic Games in Berlin. Hiding their anti-Semitism and plans for territorial expansion, the Nazis exploited the Olympic ideal, dazzling visiting spectators and journalists alike with an image of a peaceful, toler...

In December 1922, the distinguished foreign correspondent Leonard Spray warned Britain to 'keep your eye on Hitler'. The carnage of the so-called 'war to end all wars' had left 900,000 British servicemen dead, and more than 2 million suffering physical and psychological wounds, but there was hope. The vanquished had been left with no military capacity to wage another war, and with a huge debt to pay to the victors. The Treaty of Versailles had surely made it impossible for the world to eve...

Did you know that Derbyshire can boast at least three Nobel Laureates and numerous Olympians? This book features more than 100 of the most interesting and influential people of Derbyshire from the fifteenth to the twenty-first century.

'I was 12th man for England against Wales at Wembley. Within a few minutes, the Welsh half-back broke his collar bone. They had no reserves and I as the only spare player to hand. That's how I made my international debut - for Wales.' - Stan Mortensen, Blackpool and England.When Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, football came to an abrupt halt. Large crowds were banned, stadiums were given over to military use, most players joined up. Then it was r...

Amazing & Extraordinary Facts: Football explores some of the most bizarre football events throughout history, from its birth during the Industrial Revolution, to the major tournaments of the Beautiful Game in the 21st century. From the player sold for £10 and a box of kippers, to unusual injuries on the pitch, this book gathers some of the most curious moments of footballing history, a game that continues to be both an amazing entertainment spectacle and extraordinarily accessible...

On New Year's Day 1946, the people of Britain desperately wanted to look forward to a new and better life. The Second World War had ended four months earlier with the formal surrender of Imperial Japan. The war in Europe had been over for eight months. But, upon announcing to Parliament the German surrender, Winston Churchill had told the nation: "Let us not forget the toils and efforts that lie ahead." In 1946, Clement Attlee, leader of the newly elected Labour Government, underlined Chur...

The British are well known for their unique sense of humour - for the ability to see the funny side even in the most dire situation - and it was that humour that helped the nation through the dark days of the Second World War. In this heartwarming, often amusing and sometimes heartbreakingly sad book, Anton Rippon has gathered together stories from people all over the country that reveal the strange, incredible and downright funny things that happened to them between 1939 and 1945....

A biographical account of growing up in Derby in the 1940s and '50s from local author and columnist Anton Rippon.