Sportsbiografier

'The Power' is back. King of the oche and a legend in the game, Phil Taylor is largely responsible for taking darts into the 21st century. Recently crowned world champion for an unprecedented eleventh time, Taylor is a complete one-off ? the Tiger Woods of his sport ? and the most phenomenal player ever to throw a dart. Brought up in the back streets of the Potteries, where his Dad tried to turn him into a boxer, Taylor's first job saw him earning £75 a week in a factory making ceramic toilet handles ? and by the age of 25 he had hardly thrown a dart in anger. Then he attended an Eric Bristow darts exhibition, and the 'Crafty Cockney' became his mentor and friend and loaned him £10,000 to play the pro circuit. Within five years Taylor had won the first of his eleven world titles ... In his book, Taylor describes how Bristow coaxed, bullied, humiliated and often literally punched him into making it as a pro. He is candid about the booze culture of the game, while revisiting the memorable matches and recalling vivid stories featuring the likes of Bristow, Cliff Lazarenko (who once had 20 cans of lager before a match), John Lowe and the legendary Jocky Wilson. A dispute between the professional players and the British Darts Organisation in 1992 almost led to a dispirited Taylor giving up the game for good. And he retraces the worst six months of his life, during which time he was convicted of sexually assaulting two female fans and had his MBE rescinded. The pain for his family was hard to bear. This is a story of a man having to come to terms with unparalleled success in his professional life after a career setback that would have destroyed many others; a unique sportsman whose steely-eyed determination won him an unprecedented eleventh world title in 2004 in what many observers described as the best professional darts match in living memory.

The Rise is Mike Sielski's inside look at the life of Kobe Bryant, one of the most captivating basketball players of all time, with never-before-seen material.

Out now: the autobiography of the legendary sports promoter, Barry Hearn. 'I am the largest sports promoter in the world. I promote 11 sports to a global audience of billions of people every day of my life'__________A larger than life working class hero, Romford born and bred - always ready with the perfect soundbite - Barry Hearn was famously described as 'roguish but never a rogue'. Hearn is credited with turning snooker into one of the biggest sports in Britain. He essentially turned a sport in which competitors wear bowties into a massive, globally televised event. Away from the table, his promotions empire casts its net over a dozen sports - from professional boxing to darts, fishing to ten-pin bowling - and his career spans four decades. He also previously owned Leyton Orient football club. Packed with hilarious anecdotes from the golden age of snooker, and behind-the-scenes insight into boxing negotiations and darts bust-ups, Hearn's book is a joy to read from start to finish.

Award-winning writer Matt Dickinson recalls Manchester United's historic Treble campaign in 99 compelling chapters

Dette er historien om Camilla Herrem, fra hun med foreldrenes milde tvang blir overtalt til å forlate barndomshjemmet på Sola og reise ut for å bli en av landets beste håndballspillere. Vi blir med bak kulissene i fire klubber i fire land. Vi møter ektemannen Steffen og sønnen Theo, og Lykke, den raggete hunden, som har vært med over alt, fra Trondheim til Romania, Danmark og Makedonia. Her er historien om den omsorgsfulle og kravstore toppidrettsutøveren. Om mesterskapene som har befestet håndballjentenes posisjon som folkeeie, og der Camilla Herrem, flere ganger kåret til verdens beste kantspiller, alltid har gått foran som allsanger og festens midtpunkt etter hvert eneste nye VM-, OL- og EM-gull. Hun er forbildet hundrevis, kanskje tusenvis, av håndballjenter og -gutter over hele landet måler seg mot. Hun er bevisst den rollen og utøver den med nådeløs ærlighet, slik hun alltid har gjort, uten å gå på akkord med noen.

John Lloyd was the poster boy of British tennis - a former British number one, Grand Slam finalist, Wimbledon mixed-doubles champion and Davis Cup captain. Remarkably, he and his two brothers, David (of leisure club fame) and Tony, all played in the singles championship at Wimbledon in the same year: a testament to the parents who believed in their sons' dreams as the boys batted tennis balls against a garage wall in Essex. Told with humour and honesty, John's autobiography is filled with intimate insight and captivating tales of Hollywood celebrities, tennis icons, broadcasting greats and loves lost - from his marriage to the legendary Chris Evert and dealings with Donald Trump to his sobering battle with cancer and drug addiction at the heart of his family. As the story unfolds, the John of today sends letters of advice to his former self in a yearnful act of 'if I only knew then what I know now'. What we now know for certain is that John Lloyd has lived an extraordinary life.

The Power and the Glory is Mick Clegg's inspirational tale of strength and weakness, both in sport and in life, providing unparalleled insight into the art of coaching from grassroots amateurs to world champions.

To brødres løperliv på friidrettens største arenaer. Arne og Knut Kvalheim fra Grorud var blant verdens beste løpere på mellomdistanse og lange løp fra slutten av 1960-åra til utgangen av 1970-åra. De studerte i Eugene i Oregon sammen med flere av verdens fremste løpere og trenerlegenden Bill Bowerman, som også var med på å starte Nike. Boka handler om brødrenes løperliv, om to viljesterke gutter som hevdet seg på sportens største arenaer i ei tid med stor resultatmessig framgang. Det er også historien om norsk friidrett i en epoke da de beste var amatører og jobbet eller studerte fullt ved siden av. I ei tid da Norge ennå ikke var blitt en oljenasjon for fullt og den kalde krigen preget internasjonal idrett. Brødrene Kvalheim er en ny, sterk idrettsbiografi fra Thor Gotaas. Samtidig med at interessen for norsk friidrett er større enn på lenge, og spesielt interessen for brødre som løper fort.

Jürgen Klopp er allerede myteomspunnet. Her er historien om mennesket og manageren. Jürgen Klopp hadde en anstendig karriere som fotballspiller, ifølge ham selv preget av «ferdigheter på femtedivisjonsnivå og en hjerne på førstedivisjonsnivå». Men som trener er han allerede blitt legendarisk, kjent for gegenpressing og unike lederegenskaper. Boka om Jürgen Klopp er allerede en salgssuksess i flere land. Gjennom eksklusiv tilgang til familie, venner, spillere og kolleger, tar Raphael Honigstein oss med bak kulissene både i Mainz, Borussia Dortmund og Liverpool. Nå er boka også oppdatert med nye kapitler som bringer leseren tett på 2018-19-sesongen og Champions League-seieren. Dette er boka for alle som elsker Liverpool. Og for deg som vil lære mer om hvordan man bygger et vinnerlag.

With more than 400 appearances, Sammy McIlroy - the last player signed by Sir Matt Busby - is a bona fide Old Trafford legend. McIlroy is a Northern Ireland icon, too, having managed the country and played in two World Cups. Here he tells of his extraordinary life in football, with remarkable candour and emotion, pulling no punches.

The definitive biography of Johan Cruyff, the most influential European footballer of all time

The story of the Lakers dynasty from 1996 through 2004, when Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal combinedand collidedto help bring the Lakers three straight championships and restore the franchise as a powerhouse

Boris Johnson, author of the international bestseller The Churchill Factor, explores the most famous British icon: William Shakespeare.

England Rugby Unions head coach gives the full insight into what it takes to be a great leader.

In February 2019, award-winning writer Alex Roddie left his online life behind to walk 300 miles through the Scottish Highlands. The Farthest Shore is the story of his solo trek along the remote Cape Wrath Trail. Journeying through a vanishing winter, Alex learnt about solitude, nature and the threats faced by Scotland's mountain landscape.

The true story of a teenage punk from Yorkshire, seemingly existing on a diet of cider, parties and loud music, rose to the top in the toughest sports.

Always Believe is the gripping autobiography of Chelsea, Arsenal and France star Olivier Giroud. Join him on a remarkable journey, from playing for a small club in southern France to achieving top-flight glory there and in England, before lifting the World Cup with the French national team. Giroud shot to prominence in 2011/12 as the top scorer in France's Ligue 1, netting 21 goals to help Montpellier to their first-ever top-flight title. After signing for Arsenal in 2012, he rewarded the Gunners with 73 goals in 180 games and helped them to three FA Cup wins. He is also the French national team's second-highest scorer. Now at Chelsea, Giroud is still hungry for success. But what about the sacrifices he's made along the way? The pressures of being under the spotlight and having to cope with a constant stream of criticism and questions around his selection for the national side? Usually a private person, Giroud holds nothing back as he shares all the highs and lows of a stellar career at the game's top level in this tell-all book.

The Sunshine Kids is no ordinary autobiography. Twins Fabio and Rafael Da Silva have seen it all in football - from the favelas of Brazil to the height of the European game with Manchester United. Their performances and contribution to one of the most glittering periods in the club's history cemented their place in the heart of every United fan. Theirs is an incredible journey and story - and, with Wayne Barton ('The pre-eminent writer on Manchester United' - Martin Edwards) the pair tell all. The sheer personality pours from the pages as Rafael's energy shines through in tales of fierce rivalries with Liverpool and Manchester City, and Fabio reveals his battle with anxiety as he sought to establish himself at Old Trafford. From the experience of joining the best team in Europe, to the human aspect and difficulty that comes with it, their familial relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson and their careers since leaving United - you'll discover just why the twins have been adored wherever their football careers have taken them.

In 1976, a young Swede named Bjorn Borg put a stranglehold on the Wimbledon men's singles title that proved unbreakable for the next five years. No one in the game's modern era had ever pulled it off and only one, Roger Federer, has subsequently matched it. The Golden Boy of Centre Court tells the story of that phenomenal sporting achievement.

George Sephton's relationship with Liverpool Football Club began in 1971 when he wrote to the club secretary applying to be the stadium announcer. His first match also marked the debut of Kevin Keegan. For the past fifty years, Sephton has been at Anfield for all but a handful of home fixtures, as well as travelling with the team to major finals.From the highs of winning numerous league titles and European Cups, to the lows of Heysel and Hillsbrough, Sephton has been with Liverpool through it all. From encounters with great managers and legendary players - from Bill Shankly to Kenny Dalglish, John Barnes to Jurgen Klopp, he tells his unique and entertaining story of the greatest club in the world.

'It's a preposterous plan. Still, if you do get up it, I think it'll be the hardest thing that's been done in the Himalayas.' So spoke Chris Bonington when Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker presented him with their plan to tackle the unclimbed West Wall of Changabang - the Shining Mountain - in 1976. Bonington's was one of the more positive responses; most felt the climb impossibly hard, especially for a two-man, lightweight expedition. This was, after all, perhaps the most fearsome and technically challenging granite wall in the Garhwal Himalaya and an ascent - particularly one in a lightweight style - would be more significant than anything done on Everest at the time. The idea had been Joe Tasker's. He had photographed the sheer, shining, white granite sweep of Changabang's West Wall on a previous expedition and asked Pete to return with him the following year. Tasker contributes a second voice throughout Boardman's story, which starts with acclimatisation, sleeping in a Salford frozen food store, and progresses through three nights of hell, marooned in hammocks during a storm, to moments of exultation at the variety and intricacy of the superb, if punishingly difficult, climbing. It is a story of how climbing a mountain can become an all-consuming goal, of the tensions inevitable in forty days of isolation on a two-man expedition; as well as a record of the moment of joy upon reaching the summit ridge against all odds. First published in 1978, The Shining Mountain is Peter Boardman's first book. It is a very personal and honest story that is also amusing, lucidly descriptive, very exciting, and never anything but immensely readable. It was awarded the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize for literature in 1979, winning wide acclaim. His second book, Sacred Summits, was published shortly after his death in 1982. Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker died on Everest in 1982, whilst attempting a new and unclimbed line. Both men were superb mountaineers and talented writers. Their literary legacy lives on through the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, established by family and friends in 1983 and presented annually to the author or co-authors of an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature. For more information about the Boardman Tasker Prize, visit: www.boardmantasker.com

From humble beginnings in a small village in Austria, Arnold Schwarzenegger has come to symbolise the opportunities that exist for anyone willing to work hard. Fiaz Rafiq uses in-depth interviews with Schwarzenegger's peers to tell the life story of the one-time Governator, featuring exclusive interviews.

The brilliant and combative autobiography from the most capped rugby player in history, Alun Wyn Jones.