Graham Sharpe – författare

'You hold in your hand a miracle. A book about a passion, and the hipsters, oddballs and old heads who share it, written by one of their number, albeit a ludicrously erudite one' - Danny KellyA revival of interest in vinyl music has taken place in recent years - but for many of those from the 'baby boomer' generation, it never went away.Graham Sharpe's vinyl love affair began in the 1960s and since then he has amassed over 3000 LPs and spent countless hours visiting record shops worldwide along with record fairs, car boot sales, online and real life auctions. After leaving his job at William Hill, his retirement dream was to visit every surviving secondhand record shop across the world.Whilst Graham still has a little way to go on his travels, Vinyl Countdown follows his journey to over a hundred shops across the globe including the many characters he has encountered and the adventures he accrued along the way. From Amsterdam and Angus (Scotland), to Bedfordshire and Budapest and Tennessee and Wellington (NZ), always returning to his local record shop Second Scene in Bushey to report on progress.Vinyl Countdown seeks to reawaken the often dormant desire which first promoted the gathering of records, and to confirm the belief of those who still indulge in it, that they happily belong to, and should celebrate the undervalued, misunderstood significant group of music-obsessed vinylholics, who always want - need - to buy... just one more record.Vinyl Countdown is a mesmerising blend of memoir, travel, music and social history that will appeal to anyone who vividly recalls the first LP they bought and any music fan who derives pleasure from the capacity that records have for transporting you back in time.

Prostate cancer really is the little understood male killer.1 in 8 UK males will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, more than 130 new cases are discovered each day and, on average, one man dies from the disease every 45 minutes. Despite these statistics, and the fact that there are getting on for half a million men living with, or in remission from, prostate cancer in the UK, the condition is rarely discussed publicly and most men ignore the warning signs.Graham Sharpe wants to help change that.Faced with a sudden and unexpected diagnosis, Graham managed - just - to overcome a desire to punch the medic charged with the task of telling him he had prostate cancer but who was keener to answer his mobile phone, and set about trying to catalogue what he went through en route to acquiring the condition and how he dealt with the grinding process of his treatment, despite having no idea of the ultimate outcome.Along the way he met and befriended many others undergoing the physical and mental stresses of treatment, emotional turmoil comparable with watching their favourite football team lose every game they play.In this intimate memoir charting his own personal experience of coming to terms with prostate cancer, Graham brings humour and a light touch to a serious subject. Combating the shortage of reading material written by anyone with direct personal experience of the disease, this book seeks to educate the ignorant, raise awareness of the risks and dispel myths - including the widely held belief that the name of the disease is in fact prostrate cancer.Here's one man's personal truth about getting, having and possibly surviving prostate cancer...

Far from being yesterday's fading, forgotten format, vinyl records have survived and flourished as the music medium of choice for not only baby-boomers, but all ages. Every record a collector acquires comes with a story of its own, and the recent Covid-19 lockdowns prompted many vinylholics, including Graham Sharpe, to look more closely at their reasons for collecting, take stock of existing collections and rediscover old favourites.Vinyl Countdown followed Sharpe's journey to over a hundred record shops across the globe, from Amsterdam and Angus, to Bedfordshire and Budapest, Tennessee and Wellington. Now, ON THE RECORDs: Notes from the Vinyl Revival explores the impact of recent global events on the record industry and considers the reasons why vinyl remains a beloved - and booming - format. It includes interviews and contributions from voices across the industry - shop owners, record company insiders, online/postal sellers, auction organisers, market traders of vinyl, amateur collectors - who share their stories with candour, warmth and humour.A mesmerising blend of memoir, travel, music and social history that will appeal to anyone who vividly recalls the first LP they bought and any music fan who derives pleasure from the capacity that records have for transporting you back in time.

As of 2025, there are 59 racecourses operating in Britain, from Perth in Scotland to Newton Abbot in Devon, and another 28 in Ireland. Almost all of them have had a book written about their history, as have many more historic, now defunct, tracks.However, there are two racecourses, both in British Crown Dependencies, which do not have a book dedicated to their history. This is a notably odd omission as the islands they are on have enjoyed properly organised racing for almost 200 years - both reportedly began the sport in 1832 - hosting leading jockeys, trainers, owners and runners over the decades.Graham Sharpe and John Henwood's comprehensive and engaging Jersey Jockeys and Guernsey Gallopers: A History of Channel Islands Horse-Racing corrects this ridiculous racing omission. It explores how the tracks in the two Channel Islands - currently Les Landes in Jersey and L'Ancresse in Guernsey - developed and flourished over the years, although the ongoing future of the latter is seriously under threat.

After a 40-year career taking the bets that no one else would take for William Hill after expanding the company's offerings to its customers beyond purely sporting contests, in Strange Stuff Graham Sharpe chronicles the weirdest, oddest, strangest, craziest antics and events to happen on racecourses to horses, jockeys, trainers, owners, bookies and racegoers over the years. His previous titles include biographies of arch-eccentric racehorse owner Dorothy Paget, whose horses won the Grand National, Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Derby; and William Hill, who founded his eponymous company in 1934, when he was betting on-course and transforming the bookmaking scene. His Magnificent Seven chronicled the story of Frankie Dettori's greatest day, when he almost single-handedly bankrupted the country's biggest bookies. In his latest book you'll find hundreds of stories and unusual racing facts to dip in and out of, making this the perfect gift for any horse racing fan, and it is sure to appeal to young and old alike.

Horseracing happens literally every day of the year - which is why unique and unusual events are almost commonplace in the Sport of Kings, Queens and commoners, even when that day in designed to fool you - as many felt was the case when, on 1 April 1929, a jockey named Frank Wise didn't live up to his name as he was unwise enough to ride in the Irish Grand National with only one leg and minus the tops of three fingers - yet he and his mount, Alike, won the race. Then there was the race meeting at which two dates combined when Good Friday fell on Boxing Day - literally - with the horse of that name taking a tumble at Wolverhampton on 26 December 1899. Make a note in your diary to buy yourself or your racing relatives and friends Graham Sharpe's latest book, containing literally hundreds more similarly notable, memorable, racey stories for every single day of the year. All the stories in The Racing Post's Horseracing On This Day have been expertly researched and this book is a must-have for any fans of horseracing

Miscellaneous matters are what keep us fascinated by what's going on around us while we indulge our own favourite interests. If one of those interests happens to be horseracing, then The Racing Post Horseracing Miscellany, full of marvellously magnificent moments - many magically memorable - from racing's several centuries of excellent equine existence, and an amazing, amusing, absorbing collection of little-known jockey japes, trainer and turf trivia, owner observations, punter punditry and bookie banter, is a book you will love. Every race meeting produces winners and also-rans, but every off-beat, intriguing story chronicled in this cornucopia of course and distance action will be an odds-on favourite with racegoers young and old. As the title suggests, you'll find literally thousands of little-known, unexpected yarns, tales and stories from the off to the finish line; the starting stalls to the winning post, the first to the last page. And you can bet it's an odds-on shot you'll know you have really backed a winner.

A Racing Ready ReckonerOne of the most comprehensive and useful ready reckoners ever published and, with a simple guide to settling bets which explains the short cuts and systems used by the professional bet settler, there is no bet that a Gentleman should not be able to calculate himself.This handy guide covers:� The settlement of all standard bets such as Singles, Doubles, Trebles, Accumulators, forecasts and much more� Details on how to calculate the newer and more esoteric bets� Short cuts to settling your bets� Chart which shows odds as a percentage� Achieving Value for Money� How to make a 'book'� Tic Tac 'sign language' chart of all the major prices - know what the bookies are 'saying'� Full glossary of bets and betting terms

This intriguing exploration of the 1915 match-fixing scandal that occured between Manchester United and Liverpool FC. In the wake of the First World War fans came together in an attempt to pull off a surprising plot which resulted in seven players being banned for life. In 1915 one of the most shameful occasions in sporting history took place. The players of Manchester United and Liverpool conspired to arrange that United would win their game with Liverpool by 2-0, thus permitting the conspirators to cash in on bets placed on that pre-arranged score-line of odds of 7/1.As a result, United did stay up but eight players were banned for life, one lost his life, the reputations of the two clubs were permanently tainted and football's image severely impaired. This is the amazing tale of that fateful Good Friday.

Romping through crooked games, dodgy players, exotic venues and incredible hands, 'Poker's Strangest Hands' celebrates the strange history of Poker's most celebrated tournament, its World Championship event and the characters who have graced it with their presence, compiles some of the strangest things said about the game and fully records the details of the strangest Poker Year yet, 2006.The Poker world is divided between those who believe the game to be the most skilled contest ever devised, and those who believe that success in the game relies on pure luck. Sharpe's thorough excavations through long forgotten archives of the game have uncovered the first ever Poker cheat, who was literally making a spectacle of himself in 1829; has unearthed the game which reportedly lasted for 24 years; exposed the US President who gambled away the White House crockery; and discovered that a certain member of the Royal family was very much amused by Poker.Whatever your view this book will appeal to the novice player who can barely tell his flops from his nuts, and equally to the connoisseur of the subtleties of Poker who has developed and matured his or her skills over many years.

Whether it be one pound on the National Lottery or a million pounds on the turn of a card, the instinct to bet is the same. Over the centuries there have been many strange gamblers – and even more strange gambles – and in this unique collection of punts and punters, Graham Sharpe reveals fearless, flamboyant and fantastic flutters.Some of the most extraordinary bets include the male gambler who had a boob job to win a big bet; the gambler who set off to walk round the world wearing an iron mask to land a wager; the man who could genuinely dream winners. Sharpe is also haunted by a couple of ghostly gambles, and looks at the betting propensities of US Presidents – including one who gambled away the White House's finest china.Celebrities who indulge in strange betting practices are unmasked, too – the Marx Brothers, Ben Affleck, James Bond, Kerry Packer, Richard Burton, Oscar Wilde, Professor Stephen Hawking, to name a few. This painstakingly researched, original and unusual offering is an overdue addition to the ever-popular 'Strangest' series – and you can bet on that!