Roger Alton for the Daily Mail, 1 August 2019, with title “Pitch Perfect”
THE GREAT ROMANTIC …… by Duncan Hamilton (Hodder £20, 400 pp)
A FIELD OF TENTS AND WAVING COLOURS ……………. by Neville Cardus (Safe Haven £14.99, 240 pp)
The last days of summer may soon be upon us — give or take an Ashes tour — but, with these two beautiful books, the sky will always be silky blue, the sun shining down, thousands pouring into Old Trafford for a bitterly fought Roses match and Bradman 160 not out at tea.
Duncan Hamilton is already a multiple award-winning sports writer, but it is hard to imagine he will write a better book than this superb, elegaic portrait of the sociable, feted, but ultimately unknowable, man who virtually invented modern sports writing. Neville Cardus was born, illegitimate, into poverty in 1888. His real name was John Frederick Newsham, but he never knew his father. Both his mother and his aunt worked as prostitutes, and the young Fred Newsham was lightly educated to the age of ten.
Two beautifully written books reflect on how sports writing was impacted by Neville Cardus (pictured) who became one of the best-paid journalists in history
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