Description

Book Synopsis

''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?

Everything to Play For 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.

**<

Everything to Play For

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Order before 4pm today for delivery by Sat 20 Dec 2025.

A Hardback by James Harkin

5 in stock


    View other formats and editions of Everything to Play For by James Harkin

    Publisher: Faber & Faber
    Publication Date: 12/10/2023
    ISBN13: 9780571372539, 978-0571372539
    ISBN10: 0571372538

    Description

    Book Synopsis

    ''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?

    Everything to Play For 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.

    **<

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