Showing results by publisher "W. F. Howes Ltd" in Sports

The first English-language biography of Formula 1’s hottest new talent, Dutchman Max Verstappen. Few drivers have ever shaken up Formula 1 in quite the same way as Verstappen. Already the youngest competitor in F1 history, having made his breakthrough in 2015 aged just 17, his debut race for Red Bull at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix saw him become the youngest driver ever to win a race, achieve a podium finish or even lead a lap.

Oscar Piastri is a rising star in the world of Formula One. Laser-focused, talented and with a huge future ahead of him, he represents the new breed of drivers hungry for success. After just a few seasons at the top, he has shown himself to be a driver of exceptional ability. In this book, motorsport writer Anthony Meredith charts Piastri's remarkable rise from the suburbs of Melbourne to the pinnacle of his sport. Documenting Piastri's trials and successes across his entire racing career, this is an essential listen for fans everywhere.

Few of the drivers on the F1 grid have the racing pedigree of Charles Leclerc. Widely regarded as one of the sport's hottest prospects, he was crowned F3 and then F2 champion in back-to-back seasons before he made his F1 debut with Sauber in 2018. Now firmly established as Ferrari's great hope, following in the footsteps of legends Alberto Ascari, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher, Leclerc has his eyes set on becoming world champion. Writer Adam Hay-Nicholls provides the inside track on this rising star, recounting how he has taken the racing world by storm.

There was a time when DJ Carey didn’t need a surname. The star player of a Kilkenny hurling team that dominated the sport for a decade, he had a rare, natural talent that led his county to five All Ireland titles and won him nine All Stars. DJ wasn’t just a hero on the pitch—his easy charm, generosity, and readiness to meet young fans made him a national treasure. Throughout his meteoric rise, strange rumours followed him. In 2003, shocking claims that DJ was dying of cancer swept the country. Two decades later, the truth emerged.

Sharp, resourceful and a permanent outsider; for nearly 20 years Steve Cummings determinedly blazed his own winning trail in international cycling. A maverick who defied the dominant teams, to record a sequence of gloriously improbable victories, he has lived and raced with legends of the sport—Cavendish, Wiggins, Froome, Thomas and others—about whom he has strong views and untold stories.

Belfast's Carl ‘The Jackal' Frampton MBE is no ordinary boxer. One of only three fighters from the British Isles to be named the Ring magazine Fighter of the Year, he has headlined sellout world championship bouts on both sides of the Atlantic, winning multiple world titles in the process. His dedicated army of fans have traversed the globe to be ringside throughout it all. But Frampton's popularity far exceeds the traditional adulation for a sporting icon; he is regarded as a symbol of hope and unity by both sides of the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland.

As the youngest ever British Formula 1 driver, Lando Norris is trailblazing his way through the world of motor racing. After signing as a junior driver for McLaren in 2017, he has since asserted himself as the team's brightest talent and an aspiring world champion. Born to British and Belgian parents and raised in the idylls of south-west of England, Lando's childhood reflects how even the calmest of upbringings can create an adrenaline junkie.

Hallo—I'm Mark Wood. As an England and Durham cricketer who was born, raised and refined in Ashington, Northumberland, my life has been quite unique. Over the course of my career so far, I've won an Ashes and a World Cup in an international career that at the time of writing is going on seven years and counting. Being a fast bowler like myself is up there with the toughest of all sporting pursuits, like being Tyson Fury's punchbag or working behind the bar during the darts at Ally Pally. Being a cricketer? There's nothing like it.

The Cairngorm mountains in Scotland are a magnet for climbers and walkers. John Allen spent more than thirty years in the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team saving the lost and injured. This special anniversary edition of his story includes new chapters discussing how mountain rescue has developed over the last decade.

Through the seventies and into the mid-eighties, a cohort of young climbers challenged the siege mentality of their seniors on high mountains in the Greater Ranges with fast moving, lightweight expeditions run on a shoestring. Brian Hall was one of them and, in High Risk, he describes their daring adventures and the counterculture they lived within, their rivalries and relationships, and the terrible price many of them paid.

Further immerses the listener in the world of endurance cycling as well-known former professional cyclist Michael Hutchinson talks to ultra-distance athletes, exercise scientists, nutritionists and psychologists—'those who've done it and those who understand it'—as he unpicks both the physical and mental demands, attempts to understand the key to successful endurance, and tries not to get himself accidentally killed while riding a frankly terrifyingly long-distance event.

Nick Compton had it all. A literal golden boy, to many observers it would seem that he was born to be a great in the sporting arena coming as he did from an incredible sporting ancestry. HIs grandfather Sir Denis Compton played cricket for England and football for Arsenal. Honed at an elite English boarding school, with a telegenic profile perfectly suited to the modern media environment, Nick appeared to be blessed with that rare ability to be able to stride out and face down the world's quickest bowlers, to survive and thrive in the danger zone at the hands of the hurtling new ball.

Last year, Dame Kelly came out publicly as being gay and revealed that for the first 52 years of her life, she'd been living a LIFE OF FEAR. Now in an inspirational new memoir, she tells of her journey from hiding her sexuality as a young soldier at a time when being gay in the military was illegal, to her fears of being outed as she stood on the podium at the Athens Olympics, the games which catapulted her to fame as a double-gold medalist. Dame Kelly tells how she has managed to find happiness and inner peace as she has opened herself to a world where she's finally free to be herself.

Simon Thomas (former Blue Peter presenter and, for so long, the face of Sky Sports Football) reveals how grief nearly destroyed him in his heart-breaking memoir. When Simon lost the woman he had loved for 16 years, the future he'd imagined for their happy family disappeared for ever. Gemma died from acute myeloid leukaemia, just three days after being diagnosed. In Love, Interrupted, Simon is brutally honest about his journey through grief, and opens up about how close he came to ending his own life.

Strength, speed and dedication: Cristiano Ronaldo is known throughout the world as a colossus of the modern game. But did you know that he underwent laser heart surgery aged just fifteen to enable him to continue playing the game he loved? Or that Nacional, his first professional club, donated twenty balls and two sets of kits to his youth team in order to sign him? Or how he came to be known as abelhinha—'little bee'—a name he would later pass on to his Yorkshire Terrier? Find out all this and more in Luca Caioli's biography of the global superstar.

In August 2015 bookmakers priced Leicester at 5000-1 to win the Premier League - the same odds as Elvis being found alive. On 2 May 2016, Leicester won, to ecstatic celebrations in the city and around the world. Leicester Mercury 's chief football writer, Rob Tanner, relives the great escape of 2015 to the curtain-closer at Stamford Bridge.

From dominating the karting tracks of East Anglia to the top of the podium in Formula 3 and Formula 2, George Russell has now fully established himself as a rising Formula 1 star. After cutting his teeth as a driver with Williams, in 2022 he signed a lucrative contract with Mercedes, highlighting the extent of his raw talent. Driving for Mercedes, Russell has been confirmed as the designated successor to none other than Lewis Hamilton. As Hamilton's heir-apparent, will this protégé manage to follow in the footsteps of the greatest F1 driver of all time?

In his memoir Barry Silkman tells the incredible story of his career from player to agent with colourful anecdotes of all the characters he encountered along the way, along with some touching, personal recollections of his life so far. Silkman boasts an impressive playing career which lasted 16 years, playing for 11 different clubs including Manchester City. A gifted and skillful player, he was your archetypal Cockney, with Romany gypsy appearance with a shock of black curly hair, tan and socks rolled around his ankles.

Prolific, cool-headed and unerringly consistent, Lionel Messi is one of the most revered footballers in history. But did you know that his transfer to Barcelona was first agreed on a paper napkin? Or that an x-ray of his hand was to thank for identifying his growth hormone deficiency? And do you know why he refused to collect his first ever Champions League winner's medal?

From the tennis court to the boxing ring, the athletics track to the football pitch, the visibility of women in sport has been gathering pace. Women's competitions are increasingly popular. In Roar Sam takes a deep dive into the experiences of some of sport's most high-profile female athletes—some have overcome heartbreaking adversity to reach the top of their game; others have succeeded in the face of prejudice. Featuring a series of candid interviews from some of sport's most successful women, Sam lifts the lid on what it takes to reach those heights