Ned Boulting – författare

WINNER OF THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2024 CYCLING BOOK OF THE YEARA WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023: SPORTNOMINATED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 'An absorbing mix of historical sleuthing and travel writing' -The Telegraph'[a] fascinating and often touching book… Wonderful' -The TimesWhen cycling commentator Ned Boulting bought a length of Pathé news film featuring a stage of the Tour de France from 1923 he set about learning everything he could about it - taking him on an intriguing journey that encompasses travelogue, history and detective story.In the autumn of 2020 Ned Boulting (ITV head cycling commentator and Tour de France obsessive) bought a length of Pathé news film from a London auction house. All he knew was it was film from the Tour de France, a long time ago. Once restored it became clear it was a short sequence of shots from stage 4 of the 1923 Tour de France. No longer than 2.5 minutes long, it featured half a dozen sequences, including a lone rider crossing a bridge.Ned set about learning everything he could about the sequence – studying each frame, face and building – until he had squeezed the meaning from it. It sets him off in fascinating directions, encompassing travelogue, history, mystery story – to explain, to go deeper into this moment in time, captured on his little film.Join him as he explores the history of cycling and France just five years after WWI.

'Paris, 4 July 2003: My first Tour de France. I had never seen a bike race. I had only vaguely heard of Lance Armstrong. I had no idea what I was doing there. Yet, that day I was broadcasting live on television. I fumbled my way through a few platitudes, before summing up with the words, "...Dave Millar just missing out on the Yellow Jumper." Yes, the Yellow Jumper.'Follow Ned Boulting's (occasionally excruciating) experiences covering the world's most famous cycling race. His story offers an insider's view of what really goes on behind the scenes of the Tour. From up-close-and-personal encounters with Lance Armstrong to bewildered mishaps with the local cuisine, Ned's been there, done that and got the crumpled-looking t-shirt. Eight Tours on from Ned's humbling debut, he has grown to respect, mock, adore and crave the race in equal measure. What's more, he has even started to understand it. Includes How Cav Won the Green Jersey: Short Dispatches from the 2011 Tour de France

‘British cyclist. It used to be an oxymoron, a sort of silliness. Like French Cricket’Ned Boulting has noticed something. It’s to do with bikes. They’re everywhere. And so are their riders. Some of these riders seem to be sporting sideburns and a few of them are winning things. Big things. Now Ned wants to know how on earth it came to this. And what, exactly is 'this'.In On the Road Bike, Ned Boulting asks how Britain became so obsessed with cycling. His journey takes him from the velodrome at Herne Hill to the Tour of Britain at Stoke-on-Trent via Bradley Wiggins, Chris Boardman, David Millar (and David’s mum), Ken Livingstone, both Tommy Godwins, Gary Kemp (yes, him from Spandau Ballet) and many, many more. The result is an amusing and personal exploration of the austere, nutty soul of British cycling.'Funny, fascinating and frequently touching ... will be enjoyed by anyone with even a passing interest in cycling. No bib shorts required' Guardian

FROM THE WINNER OF THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2024 CYCLING BOOK OF THE YEAR: 1923'A fascinating and inspiring book ... An excellent read' – Phil Liggett MBEEmbark on a whirlwind (and worldwide) tour of cycling stories from one of the nation’s favourite commentators.Join Ned Boulting once more as he brings his cycling stories up to the present day – full of recollections of chaotic, memorable and sometimes surreal encounters with all the key riders. While the Tour de France takes centre stage, his horizons expand far beyond its confines to take in races across Europe as well as to fascinating locations in the Middle East, China and Malaysia.There are behind-the-scenes chapters on life at the Giro d'Italia; the growth of women's racing; forays into podcasting; replacing the great Phil Liggett as ITV's main commentator; the Flemish classics; and the life and times of Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish.Ride along as Ned travels around the UK with a stage show about the Tour de France, and on the many days that he and David Millar have spent quixotically riding folding bikes up and down enormous mountains.

FROM THE WINNER OF THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2024 CYCLING BOOK OF THE YEAR: 1923'A fascinating and inspiring book ... An excellent read' – Phil Liggett MBEIn the follow up to the bestselling How I Won the Yellow Jumper and the award-winning 1923, this is a lap of honour for everything that Ned has been lucky enough to have experienced during his commentating career.Join Ned once more as he brings his cycling stories up to the present day – full of recollections of chaotic, memorable and sometimes surreal encounters with all the key riders. While the Tour de France takes centre stage, his horizons expand far beyond its confines to take in races across Europe as well as to fascinating locations in the Middle East, China and Malaysia.There are behind-the-scenes chapters on life at the Giro d'Italia; the growth of women's racing; forays into podcasting; replacing the great Phil Liggett as ITV's main commentator; the Flemish classics; and the life and times of Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish.Ride along as Ned travels around the UK with a stage show about the Tour de France, and on the many days that he and David Millar have spent quixotically riding folding bikes up and down enormous mountains.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 - SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR'What Ned hasn’t seen on a sports TV channel isn’t worth knowing about.'Gabby Logan'From falling out with Mourinho to flying with Gerrard, this is a wonderful journey through football.'Henry WinterSquare Peg, Round Ball is a candid, insightful reminiscence on a life in football.Although best known as ITV's commentator on the Tour de France, Ned Boulting has spent most of his professional life covering football.Follow Ned's journey from football supporter to reporter – from criss-crossing the country in a banger of a car hoping for a word or two from the latest big signing, to the glamour of the Champions League. Ned really has been there, done that, and got the Sky Sports jacket to prove it.Witnessing the shenanigans, the machinations and the idiocy of football at close quarters Ned shares his best stories with affection. Whether it's treading mud into Steven Gerrard's pristine white carpets, or nearly being pushed into oncoming traffic by a menacing Vinnie Jones, or being chased away from Roman Abramovich's house by some scary looking men on quadbikes – Ned has made a fool of himself to bring us the best tales from his experiences in 90s and 2000s football.

In Heart of Dart-ness, TV's Ned Boulting sets out to answer the forty-something year old question: What exactly is darts? Is it a sport, a freak show, a side-show, a pantomime, a riot or a party?From Purfleet to Minehead, Milton Keynes to Frankfurt, Ned embarks on a journey back to the beginning of the modern game. He tracks down some of the household names who graced childhood television screens and are still among us; names such as Andy Fordham, whose fifty bottles of Pils a day habit led to his near death on the oche, Cliff Lazarenko, whose prodigious drinking was the stuff of legend even among his not exactly abstemious peer-group, Phil Taylor, the greatest of all time, as well as the Europeans, Michael van Gerwen, and Raymond van Barneveld.Is it entertainment, or exploitation? To answer that question, as well as every other, he learns that all roads lead to the Heart of Dart-ness, and the biggest character the game has ever produced, Eric Bristow.Perhaps darts is after all, just exactly what it sets out to be; an anti-sport sport, a two-fingered salute to the establishment, a piss-up in a brewery, the ultimate escape. The best night out.

Find yourself confused, nodding along when a rouleur relates how le biscuit was effrité (crumbled)? How today they’re feeling Angers (past caring)? Fear no more, for Boulting's Velosaurus will illuminate, enlighten and, frankly, mislead. In his Velosaurus, ITV Tour de France commentator and cycling writer Ned Boulting provides the ultimate lexicon of nonsense terminology surrounding the esteemed Tour de France. Featuring essential vocabulary like Alpe (an Alp), panache (riding with doomed flamboyance, conscious of the need to renew one’s contract), moutarde (any race that ends, begins or passes through the city of Dijon) and maillot (a jumper, obviously), Boulting’s Velosaurus is the ideal companion to all things peloton for linguistically-challenged fans of non-automotive two-wheeled sport.'Deserves to be on any Tour de France fan’s shelf.' Cycle