The Daily Telegraph book of sports obituaries - Martin Smith

This varied and colourful collection features the obituaries of sporting greats who played, competed and died in the 20th century. Amongst them are some of the finest proponents their respective sports have ever seen: Denis Compton, Joe Di Maggio, W G Grace, Florence Griffith-Joyner, Helen Wills Moody, Bobby Moore, Ayrton Senna and Johnny Weissmuller. But here too are some lesser-known heroes who contributed to sport in other ways: Alf Twinn, boatman of the Cambridge University Boat Club for half a century; 'Jack Meyer', the founder-headmaster of Millfield, whose proteges included Duncan Goodhew and Gareth Edwards; Cissie Charlton, mother of Jack and Bobby; and Gottfried Dienst, the referee who officiated at the 1966 World Cup Final. As a collection, they recall the greatest moments of sporting achievement, highlight enormous changes in sport and chart the development of sports writing in the pages of the Telegraph.