Julie Welch – författare

When Spurs legend John White was killed by a bolt of lightning in 1964, the football world was rocked by the tragedy. He was just 27 years of age.Nicknamed the 'Ghost' for the way that he could drift into space undetected, White played an inspirational role in the great double-winning Tottenham Hotspur side of the early 1960s. Every fan has a story about him. When White died, his son, Rob, was only six months old and so never knew his father. The man who was revered by hundreds of thousands of football fans across the country was a stranger to him. Beyond the grainy Cup Final footage and yellowed newspaper articles, there was so much Rob didn't know, questions he had never had an opportunity to ask. To find answers he set out to speak to White's former teammates, his family and followers, and built up a touching portrait of a gifted young footballer and of a lost era. 'Had John lived, he could have been one of the greatest footballers of all time' - Jimmy GreavesWith a new afterword for the paperback.

When Julie Welch called in her first ever football report at the Observer, an entire room of men fell silent. Heart in her mouth, Julie waited for the voice on the other end of the line to declare it passable. She'd done it. She was the first ever female football reporter. In The Fleet Street Girls, Julie looks back at the steps that led to that moment, from the National Union of Journalists nearly calling a strike when she dared to write an article as a mere secretary (despite allowing men who weren't journalists to write for the same pages), and many other battles in between. Julie also shines a light on the other trail-blazing women who were climbing the ladder against all odds, from Lynn Barber (of An Education fame) to Wendy Holden, a war correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, and many more, as well as some of the secretaries whom the men overlooked but who actually knew everything. Pioneers one and all. The Fleet Street Girls is a fascinating story of the hopes and despairs, triumphs and tribulations of a group of women in the glitzy heyday of journalism, where they could be interviewing Elton John one moment and ducking flying bullets or fighting off the sex pests the next. At a time when Fleet Street was the biggest, cosiest all-male club you can imagine, and the interests of half the human race were consigned to 'The Women's Page' in the paper, we follow Julie and her contemporaries through dramas, excitement and sheer fun in their battle to make sure women's voices were heard.

Renowned football writer and Spurs expert Julie Welch brings us a revealing and exhilarating account of the club's roller-coaster journey down the decades through the prism of its key strike partnerships.In 1961, Bobby Smith and Les Allen were the strike duo who led Tottenham to the league and cup double, making them the first club to achieve the feat in the modern era. It set in train Spurs' proud record of memorable strike partnerships whose goals brought glory to the club, rescued it from the doldrums or simply supplied unforgettable entertainment to millions of fans.These strike duos featured some of the greatest goalscorers and biggest personalities in English football history - from the top flight's record scorer in Jimmy Greaves partnering Alan Gilzean, to Steve Archibald and Garth Crooks, Teddy Sheringham and Jurgen Klinsmann and Son Heung-min and Harry Kane.Packed with insight, anecdotes and the recollections of legendary players, managers and supporters, Double Acts brings to life a rich and glorious history.