A Load of Old Balls: The QI History of Sport
Jul 2024 · Faber & Faber
Ebook
256
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About this ebook
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CHARLES TYRWHITT SPORTS BOOK AWARDS
' Top Bins! A personal best, a lap record and a hole in one for when rain has stopped play.' ALAN DAVIES
'The trivia book of the season . . . magnificent.' SPECTATOR
Did you know that Henry VIII owned the first pair of football boots? Or that David Attenborough is responsible for yellow tennis balls?
A Load of Old Balls is the curious story of us and sport. It's about our mind-blowingly determined attempts to be the fastest, the strongest, the most skilful. In this endlessly entertaining tale of play and belonging, astonishing violence and jaw-dropping cheating, we learn what led ancient Egyptian athletes to have their spleens removed and discover why Michael Palin was disqualified from a conker tournament. Crossing millennia, continents and cultures, Harkin and Ptaszynski - the brainy researchers for BBC's QI and co-hosts of No Such Thing As A Fish -show us sport as we've never seen it before.
**
Published in hardback as Everything to Play For.
**
For more from the team behind QI's hit TV show, check out the QI FACTS series of books, @qikipedia, their weekly podcast at nosuchthingasafish.com or visit qi.com.
' Top Bins! A personal best, a lap record and a hole in one for when rain has stopped play.' ALAN DAVIES
'The trivia book of the season . . . magnificent.' SPECTATOR
Did you know that Henry VIII owned the first pair of football boots? Or that David Attenborough is responsible for yellow tennis balls?
A Load of Old Balls is the curious story of us and sport. It's about our mind-blowingly determined attempts to be the fastest, the strongest, the most skilful. In this endlessly entertaining tale of play and belonging, astonishing violence and jaw-dropping cheating, we learn what led ancient Egyptian athletes to have their spleens removed and discover why Michael Palin was disqualified from a conker tournament. Crossing millennia, continents and cultures, Harkin and Ptaszynski - the brainy researchers for BBC's QI and co-hosts of No Such Thing As A Fish -show us sport as we've never seen it before.
**
Published in hardback as Everything to Play For.
**
For more from the team behind QI's hit TV show, check out the QI FACTS series of books, @qikipedia, their weekly podcast at nosuchthingasafish.com or visit qi.com.
About the author
James Harkin is a senior researcher, writer and script-editor for the BBC's QI, and one-fourth of the award-winning podcast No Such Thing As A Fish. He has authored 13 books with the QI Elves and toured sell-out shows across the world, from the London Palladium to the Sydney Opera House. He is a long-suffering fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Anna Ptaszynski is a senior researcher, writer and script-editor for the BBC's QI, and one-fourth of the award-winning podcast No Such Thing As A Fish. She has contributed to 11 books with the QI Elves and toured sell-out shows across the world, from the London Palladium to the Sydney Opera House. She is a long-suffering fan of Charlton Athletic.
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