Description
Book SynopsisDuring his time as speedway reporter for MCN, Andrew Edwards travelled extensively witnessing first-hand the thrills and spills of world class speedway, meeting the top riders and hearing and reporting on stories of epic euphoric success and sometimes tragedy. Here Andrew recounts his own story from humble beginnings in provincial journalism in the West Midlands to national newspaper reporting of Grand Prix world meetings with anecdotes and characters described in his own style with a fair bit of humour along the way. How he met with some of the greatest headline makers over decades of speedway reporting becoming great friends of many along the way including legendary names like Ivan Mauger, Barry Briggs, Bruce Penhall, Peter Collins, Simon Wigg, Jason Crump and Kenny Carter. There is also the story of how Andrew experienced major changes in the publishing industry, from hot metal presses, the days when clanky ink ribbon typewriters were the latest technology and even before mobile phones were invented, right through to a new dawn of the new digital printing revolution.
Table of ContentsChapter 1 The wrong car park 1 Chapter 2 World Final Poland 4 Chapter 3 My early days 11 Chapter 4 My dream 17 Chapter 5 Brierley Hill office 23 Chapter 6 Tragedy on track 28 Chapter 7 Four meetings in four days, one in Poland! 31 Chapter 8 Second phase, MCN 38 Chapter 9 Early MCN days 46 Chapter 10 MCN office for japes 66 Chapter 11 MCN story 80 Chapter 12 Peter Arnold nostalgia 104 Chapter 13 Fan to speedway reporter 109 Chapter 14 MCN on tour, to Silverstone GP 119 Chapter 15 Back to the speedway 124 Chapter 16 Cradley days 133 Chapter 17 Tragedy off track 139 Chapter 18 MCN Golden Helmet days 148 Chapter 19 MCN state of our sport! 162 Chapter 20 The press corps, Simon Wigg 169 Chapter 21 F1! 182 andrew edwards x x Chapter 22 The TT 189 Chapter 23 Back to speedway. Again 197 Chapter 24 Speedway GPs take over 208 Chapter 25 EastEnders! 217 Chapter 26 Honda speedway engine 229 Chapter 27 MCN stars of four decades 233 Chapter 28 More MCN changes 237 Chapter 29 My era 1973-98 246 Chapter 30 Life After MCN 251 Chapter 31 In court! 255 Chapter 32 Speedway freelance years 263 Chapter 33 Vintage speedway 274 Chapter 34 Programmes 283 Chapter 35 Characters along the way 286 Chapter 36 Mum's book 302 Chapter 37 The biggest laugh 306
