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The Beast, the Emperor and the Milkman by Harry Pearson
£11.99
Available
Product Ref. (e.g. ISBN, SKU)
9781472945068
Published:
26 Dec 2019
Format:
Paperback
Number of pages:
272 pages
Dimensions:
198x129x19mm
Weight:
0.252kgs
Author:
Cycling is wildly popular all over Belgium, but in the northern, Dutch-speaking half of the country it is part of the psyche. Flanders is the size of East Anglia with population a tenth of that of Great Britain, yet this small corner of north-west Europe has produced eight winners of the Tour de France, five times as many professional riders as Italy or Spain. Blending reportage, interviews, observation, biography and history and written with affectionate humour by a committed Belgophile, 'The Beast, the Emperor and the Milkman' tells the story of Flanders' neurotic love affair with bike racing, from tough early heroes such as Jules Vanhevel - wounded by mortar fire in the First World War and leading the world championship road race until he collided with a cow - to latter-day ironmen such as Tom Boonen, three-times winner of the Tour of Flanders and owner of a pet donkey named Kamiel.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2020 - CYCLING BOOK OF THE YEAR
LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019
'A joy.' - Ned Boulting
Every nation shapes sport to test the character traits it most admires.
In The Beast, the Emperor and the Milkman, committed Belgophile and road cycling obsessive Harry Pearson takes you on a journey across Flanders, through the lumpy horizontal rain, up the elbow juddering cobbled inclines, past the fans dressed as chickens and the shop window displays of constipation medicines, as he follows races big, small and even smaller through one glorious, muddy spring.
Ranging over 500 years of Flemish and European history, across windswept polders, along back roads and through an awful lot of beer cafes, Pearson examines the characters, the myths and rivalries that make Flanders a place where cycling is a religion and the riders its lycra-clad priests.
About the Author: Harry Pearson has been shortlisted for both the William Hill and the Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph prizes. Slipless in Settle was the 2012 MCC/Cricket Society Book of the Year and Connie: The Marvellous Life of Learie Constantine won the award in 2018. The Far Corner has been named as one of the fifty greatest sports books of all time by both The Times and the Observer. His book A Tall Man in a Low Land is the bestselling English language travelogue about Belgium.
| Number of pages | 272 |
|---|
We will despatch your order as quickly as we can. If, for whatever reason, a product is out of stock we will contact you to discuss the likely delivery time or an alternative product.
| First Item | 2 Items & Over | |
|---|---|---|
| UK | £3.75 | £5.00 |
| EU | £15.00 | £30.00 |
| USA & Canada | £30.00 | £50.00 |
| Rest of the World | £45.00 | £60.00 |
| Collect in Store | free | free |
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