Ali, Pel, Lillee and me - Brian Viner

'For lovers of sport, there has never been a better decade to be alive, and in front of the telly, than the 1970s.' Brian Viner's boyhood coincided with an era that was to him, and many others, a golden age of sport. It was the decade of the Rumble in the Jungle and of Kevin Keegan falling off his bike on Superstars. Red Rum won three Grand Nationals and Bjorn Borg five consecutive Wimbledons. Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson joined forces in the Australian cricket team and together became the formidable Lilian Thomson, mother of all fast-bowling partnerships. In rugby union, to this day, there has been no finer try than the one scored by Gareth Edwards, for the Barbarians against the mighty All Blacks, at Cardiff Arms Park in 1973. Nor, for as long as football has been played, wherever it has been played, has there been a finer team than the 1970 Brazilians.
But were all these heroes truly heroic? What became of them in later years? Comparing his childhood adulation with his adult experiences of meeting many of these icons in the course of his work as a sports journalist, Brian Viner discovers some surprising truths about the dreams and realities of sport as both player and spectator. Revealing and very funny, this is an essential read for anyone who has played football in satin shorts or secretly blubbed at a video of Botham's Ashes.