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Alone: The Triumph And Tragedy Of John CurryStock informationGeneral Fields
Special Fields
DescriptionShortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. One winter's night in 1976, over 20 million people in Britain watched John Curry skate to Olympic glory on an ice rink in Austria. Many millions more watched around the world. Overnight he became one of the most famous men on the planet. He was awarded the OBE. He was chosen as BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Curry had changed ice skating from marginal sport to high art. And yet the man was - and would always remain - an absolute mystery to a world that had been dazzled by his gift. Surely, men's skating was supposed to be Cossack-muscular, not sensual and ambiguous like this. Curry himself was an often-tortured man of labyrinthine complexity. For the first time, Alone untangles the extraordinary web of his toxic, troubled, brilliant - and short - life. It is a story of childhood nightmares, furious ambition, sporting genius, lifelong rivalries, homophobia, Cold War politics, financial ruin and deep personal tragedy. Promotion infoThe previously-untold story of the life and tragic early death of John Curry, one of the most famous ice skaters in history. ReviewsIt's a terrific read, filled with juicy detail and driven by sympathy for a man who was feted as a national hero but was extremely hard to like The Times Alone is more than a sports biography. ...it is a timely reminder of the fine boundary between sport and art and the courage it took, and still takes, to be a gay athlete. Sunday Times A moving and explosive biography of an ice skating genius Manchester Evening News A fascinating exploration of a tragic talent Attitude Author descriptionBill Jones has spent most of his working life making award-winning international documentaries with Granada Television in Manchester. In 2011, his first book The Ghost Runner - a biography of John Tarrant - was published to widespread critical acclaim. It was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, and won the 'Best New Writer' category at the British Sports Book Awards. He lives in the North of England. |