Dan Waddell - Böcker

Adolf Hitler despised cricket, considering it un-German and decadent. And Berlin in 1937 was not a time to be going against the Fuhrer’s wishes. But hot on the heels of the 1936 Olympics, an enterprising cricket fanatic of enormous bravery, Felix Menzel, somehow persuaded his Nazi leaders to invite an English team to play his motley band of part-timers.That team was the Gentlemen of Worcestershire, an ill-matched group of mavericks, minor nobility, ex-county cricketers, rich businessmen and callow schoolboys – led by former Worcestershire CC skipper Major Maurice Jewell. Ordered ‘not to lose’ by the MCC, Jewell and his men entered the 'Garden of Beasts' to play two unofficial Test matches against Germany. Against a backdrop of repression, brutality and sporadic gunfire, the Gents battled searing August heat, matting pitches, the skill and cunning of Menzel, and opponents who didn't always adhere to the laws and spirit of the game. The tour culminated in a match at the very stadium which a year before had witnessed one of sport's greatest spectacles and a sinister public display of Nazi might. Despite the shadow cast by the cataclysmic conflict that was shortly to engulf them, Dan Waddell's vivid and detailed account of the Gentlemen of Worcestershire's 1937 Berlin tour is a story of triumph: of civility over barbarity, of passion over indifference and hope over despair.

As ‘the voice of darts’, the inimitable Sid Waddell helped transform it from an unfashionable pub game to a massively successful international sport. His uninhibited enthusiasm, classical allusions and memorable one-liners endeared him to millions. His son Dan Waddell grew up in this smoky, boozy world and witnessed Sid’s turbulent journey from failed novelist and struggling TV producer to much-loved television personality. We Had Some Laughs is Dan’s warm, moving and funny account of Sid’s colourful life and career and a son’s memories of an unconventional dad. It is also a celebration of a way of life and a story of loss – of people, places and times now gone or changed for ever. But, most of all, it’s a story about fathers and sons, and the unshakeable bond between them.