An entertaining, heartwarming memoir detailing the adventures and valuable life lessons learned from the author’s four decades of friendship with Ozzy Osbourne and the Osbourne family. Stephen Rea was born in Northern Ireland in 1969, the same year “The Troubles” began. Violence was everywhere. His grandmother was nearly killed when gunmen opened fire on the wrong house, leaving young Stephen to pick at the bullet holes in the walls. He found refuge from this turmoil in heavy metal—especially the music of Ozzy Osbourne. As a pre-internet teenager, he hunted down dozens of live concert bootlegs—corresponding by mail with collectors around the world—and devoured every music magazine he could find. In late 1984, when Stephen was fifteen, he read about a huge festival in Rio de Janeiro that January called “Rock In Rio” whose bill included AC/DC, Queen, and Osbourne. As a lark, he mentioned it to his dad, and was stunned when he said they should go. He was even more shocked when his mother, looking for information about how to get tickets, began a correspondence with Osbourne’s secretary, who scored the family VIP passes and introduced them to Osbourne in Brazil. Thus began a friendship with Ozzy, his wife Sharon and the rest of the Osbourne family that has continued for decades. While traveling on tour in the mid-nineties, Ozzy gifted Stephen a pair of fancy leather notebooks and told him to keep a record of their adventures and conversations. The result is Ozzy & Me: a beautiful behind-the-scenes memoir that proves the life-affirming, soul-nourishing power of music—and disproves the notion that you should never meet your heroes.

In 2004, Belfast-born Stephen Rea moved to New Orleans, a city where "football" means something entirely different than what it does back home. After struggling to find a place to watch European soccer games, Rea discovered Finn McCool''s pub and its mixed clientele of good-humored European ex-pats, charismatic New Orleanians, and assorted matchless personalities. Before long he was playing on the pub''s motley over-thirty-five fledgling soccer team. Gathered at the bar on August 27, 2005, members of the team were discussing their upcoming match, untroubled by the impending storm and unknowing that their city and team would nearly be obliterated by Hurricane Katrina in a matter of hours. Days later, the lucky among them were scattered across the country; the others struggled to survive as they awaited rescue in New Orleans. With clarity and compassion, Rea examines the disaster as he profiles the experiences of his teammates and their efforts to resurrect the team and pub that had become so central in all of their lives. A gripping and moving memoir about an unusual pub team and a devastating natural disaster, Finn McCool’s Football Club is a celebration of ex-pats and pubs, soccer and sportsmanship, and the strength it takes to rebuild a team, a city, and a life.

For the Summer 2018 World Cup, the ultimate book for soccer fans around the globe!The world will be riveted by the globe’s greatest sporting event in summer of 2018 (more than 27 million Americans watched the final game of the last tournament in Brazil). The 2018 edition will bring the sports’s greatest stars together, but who will take home the trophy?favorites Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina? Or a surprise?Belgium, Mexico, Portugal, or Colombia? And why is the World Cup the greatest event in sports? Whether you call the game soccer or football, whether you have been watching the game for decades or are new to the joys of the beautiful game, you’ll love what Stephen Rea has to say in World Cup Fever. Born in Belfast, and now rooting for Northern Ireland and Chelsea from his home in New Orleans, he breaks down what smart fans should know about the World Cups past and present. Chapters highlight shocking upsets; immortal players such as Pelé, Maradona, Zidane, Iniesta, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, and more; and the most thrilling games from every tournament, starting with tales of the thirteen teams that played in Uruguay 1930. With a look at the stars who will light up Russia in 2018?Lionel Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Paul Pogba (France), Neymar (Brazil), Thomas Müller (Germany)?this is the perfect read for anyone who believes that the World Cup is bigger than the Super Bowl, World Series, and Olympics combined. Often humorous and punctuated with personal anecdotes, passion, and knowledge, here is the beautiful game brought to life for every fan!

An entertaining, heartwarming memoir detailing the adventures and valuable life lessons learned from the author’s four decades of friendship with Ozzy Osbourne and the Osbourne family.Stephen Rea was born in Northern Ireland in 1969, the same year “The Troubles” began. Violence was everywhere. His grandmother was nearly killed when gunmen opened fire on the wrong house, leaving young Stephen to pick at the bullet holes in the walls. He found refuge from this turmoil in heavy metal—especially the music of Ozzy Osbourne. As a pre-internet teenager, he hunted down dozens of live concert bootlegs—corresponding by mail with collectors around the world—and devoured every music magazine he could find. In late 1984, when Stephen was fifteen, he read about a huge festival in Rio de Janeiro that January called “Rock in Rio” whose bill included AC/DC, Queen, and Osbourne. As a lark, he mentioned it to his dad, and was stunned when he said they should go. He was even more shocked when his mother, looking for information about how to get tickets, began a correspondence with Osbourne’s secretary, who scored the family VIP passes and introduced them to Osbourne in Brazil. Thus began a friendship with Ozzy, his wife Sharon, and the rest of the Osbourne family that has continued for decades. While traveling on tour in the mid-nineties, Ozzy gifted Stephen a pair of fancy leather notebooks and told him to keep a record of their adventures and conversations. The result is Ozzy & Me, a beautiful behind-the-scenes memoir that proves the life-affirming, soul-nourishing power of music—and disproves the notion that you should never meet your heroes.

An entertaining, heartwarming memoir detailing the adventures and valuable life lessons learned from the author’s four decades of friendship with Ozzy Osbourne and the Osbourne family. Stephen Rea was born in Northern Ireland in 1969, the same year “The Troubles” began. Violence was everywhere. His grandmother was nearly killed when gunmen opened fire on the wrong house, leaving young Stephen to pick at the bullet holes in the walls. He found refuge from this turmoil in heavy metal—especially the music of Ozzy Osbourne. As a pre-internet teenager, he hunted down dozens of live concert bootlegs—corresponding by mail with collectors around the world—and devoured every music magazine he could find. In late 1984, when Stephen was fifteen, he read about a huge festival in Rio de Janeiro that January called “Rock In Rio” whose bill included AC/DC, Queen, and Osbourne. As a lark, he mentioned it to his dad, and was stunned when he said they should go. He was even more shocked when his mother, looking for information about how to get tickets, began a correspondence with Osbourne’s secretary, who scored the family VIP passes and introduced them to Osbourne in Brazil. Thus began a friendship with Ozzy, his wife Sharon and the rest of the Osbourne family that has continued for decades. While traveling on tour in the mid-nineties, Ozzy gifted Stephen a pair of fancy leather notebooks and told him to keep a record of their adventures and conversations. The result is Ozzy & Me: a beautiful behind-the-scenes memoir that proves the life-affirming, soul-nourishing power of music—and disproves the notion that you should never meet your heroes.

An entertaining, heartwarming memoir detailing the adventures and valuable life lessons learned from the author''s four decades of friendship with Ozzy Osbourne and the Osbourne family.Stephen Rea was born in Northern Ireland in 1969, the same year '';The Troubles'' began. Violence was everywhere. His grandmother was nearly killed when gunmen opened fire on the wrong house, leaving young Stephen to pick at the bullet holes in the walls. He found refuge from this turmoil in heavy metalespecially the music of Ozzy Osbourne. As a pre-internet teenager, he hunted down dozens of live concert bootlegscorresponding by mail with collectors around the worldand devoured every music magazine he could find. In late 1984, when Stephen was fifteen, he read about a huge festival in Rio de Janeiro that January called '';Rock In Rio'' whose bill included AC/DC, Queen, and Osbourne. As a lark, he mentioned it to his dad, and was stunned when he said they should go. He was even more shocked when his mother, looking for information about how to get tickets, began a correspondence with Osbourne''s secretary, who scored the family VIP passes and introduced them to Osbourne in Brazil. Thus began a friendship with Ozzy, his wife Sharon and the rest of the Osbourne family that has continued for decades. While traveling on tour in the mid-nineties, Ozzy gifted Stephen a pair of fancy leather notebooks and told him to keep a record of their adventures and conversations. The result is Ozzy & Me: a beautiful behind-the-scenes memoir that proves the life-affirming, soul-nourishing power of musicand disproves the notion that you should never meet your heroes.

The Shy Man’s Revenge charts Stephen Rea’s remarkable passage from a quiet, watchful boy in North Belfast to one of Ireland’s most singular actors. Growing up along the Antrim Road as the Troubles gathered force, he navigates a home riven by drink and silence, finding refuge instead in school plays, cinemas, and the charged language of performance. Rea’s story moves through Queen’s University, the ferment of civil rights activism, and the seismic cultural shifts that shaped his generation, before carrying him to London’s avant‑garde stages, the Abbey Theatre, and the founding of Field Day with Brian Friel and Seamus Heaney. Told with lyricism, candour, and an actor’s instinct for the revealing detail, this memoir traces how a shy Belfast boy found his voice: onstage, in politics, and in Ireland’s ongoing argument with itself. A book of art, resistance, friendship and survival, it is Stephen Rea’s own hard‑won revenge.

An entertaining, heartwarming memoir detailing the adventures and valuable life lessons learned from the author’s four decades of friendship with Ozzy Osbourne and the Osbourne family. Stephen Rea was born in Northern Ireland in 1969, the same year “The Troubles” began. Violence was everywhere. His grandmother was nearly killed when gunmen opened fire on the wrong house, leaving young Stephen to pick at the bullet holes in the walls. He found refuge from this turmoil in heavy metal—especially the music of Ozzy Osbourne. As a pre-internet teenager, he hunted down dozens of live concert bootlegs—corresponding by mail with collectors around the world—and devoured every music magazine he could find. In late 1984, when Stephen was fifteen, he read about a huge festival in Rio de Janeiro that January called “Rock In Rio” whose bill included AC/DC, Queen, and Osbourne. As a lark, he mentioned it to his dad, and was stunned when he said they should go. He was even more shocked when his mother, looking for information about how to get tickets, began a correspondence with Osbourne’s secretary, who scored the family VIP passes and introduced them to Osbourne in Brazil. Thus began a friendship with Ozzy, his wife Sharon and the rest of the Osbourne family that has continued for decades. While traveling on tour in the mid-nineties, Ozzy gifted Stephen a pair of fancy leather notebooks and told him to keep a record of their adventures and conversations. The result is Ozzy & Me: a beautiful behind-the-scenes memoir that proves the life-affirming, soul-nourishing power of music—and disproves the notion that you should never meet your heroes.

In 2004, Belfast-born Stephen Rea moved to New Orleans, a city where "football" means something entirely different than what it does back home. After struggling to find a place to watch European soccer games, Rea discovered Finn McCool''s pub and its mixed clientele of good-humored European ex-pats, charismatic New Orleanians, and assorted matchless personalities. Before long he was playing on the pub''s motley over-thirty-five fledgling soccer team. Gathered at the bar on August 27, 2005, members of the team were discussing their upcoming match, untroubled by the impending storm and unknowing that their city and team would nearly be obliterated by Hurricane Katrina in a matter of hours. Days later, the lucky among them were scattered across the country; the others struggled to survive as they awaited rescue in New Orleans. With clarity and compassion, Rea examines the disaster as he profiles the experiences of his teammates and their efforts to resurrect the team and pub that had become so central in all of their lives. A gripping and moving memoir about an unusual pub team and a devastating natural disaster, Finn McCool’s Football Club is a celebration of ex-pats and pubs, soccer and sportsmanship, and the strength it takes to rebuild a team, a city, and a life.

For the Summer 2018 World Cup, the ultimate book for soccer fans around the globe!The world will be riveted by the globe’s greatest sporting event in summer of 2018 (more than 27 million Americans watched the final game of the last tournament in Brazil). The 2018 edition will bring the sports’s greatest stars together, but who will take home the trophy?favorites Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina? Or a surprise?Belgium, Mexico, Portugal, or Colombia? And why is the World Cup the greatest event in sports? Whether you call the game soccer or football, whether you have been watching the game for decades or are new to the joys of the beautiful game, you’ll love what Stephen Rea has to say in World Cup Fever. Born in Belfast, and now rooting for Northern Ireland and Chelsea from his home in New Orleans, he breaks down what smart fans should know about the World Cups past and present. Chapters highlight shocking upsets; immortal players such as Pelé, Maradona, Zidane, Iniesta, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, and more; and the most thrilling games from every tournament, starting with tales of the thirteen teams that played in Uruguay 1930. With a look at the stars who will light up Russia in 2018?Lionel Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Paul Pogba (France), Neymar (Brazil), Thomas Müller (Germany)?this is the perfect read for anyone who believes that the World Cup is bigger than the Super Bowl, World Series, and Olympics combined. Often humorous and punctuated with personal anecdotes, passion, and knowledge, here is the beautiful game brought to life for every fan!

An entertaining, heartwarming memoir detailing the adventures and valuable life lessons learned from the author’s four decades of friendship with Ozzy Osbourne and the Osbourne family.Stephen Rea was born in Northern Ireland in 1969, the same year “The Troubles” began. Violence was everywhere. His grandmother was nearly killed when gunmen opened fire on the wrong house, leaving young Stephen to pick at the bullet holes in the walls. He found refuge from this turmoil in heavy metal—especially the music of Ozzy Osbourne. As a pre-internet teenager, he hunted down dozens of live concert bootlegs—corresponding by mail with collectors around the world—and devoured every music magazine he could find. In late 1984, when Stephen was fifteen, he read about a huge festival in Rio de Janeiro that January called “Rock in Rio” whose bill included AC/DC, Queen, and Osbourne. As a lark, he mentioned it to his dad, and was stunned when he said they should go. He was even more shocked when his mother, looking for information about how to get tickets, began a correspondence with Osbourne’s secretary, who scored the family VIP passes and introduced them to Osbourne in Brazil. Thus began a friendship with Ozzy, his wife Sharon, and the rest of the Osbourne family that has continued for decades. While traveling on tour in the mid-nineties, Ozzy gifted Stephen a pair of fancy leather notebooks and told him to keep a record of their adventures and conversations. The result is Ozzy & Me, a beautiful behind-the-scenes memoir that proves the life-affirming, soul-nourishing power of music—and disproves the notion that you should never meet your heroes.

An entertaining, heartwarming memoir detailing the adventures and valuable life lessons learned from the author’s four decades of friendship with Ozzy Osbourne and the Osbourne family. Stephen Rea was born in Northern Ireland in 1969, the same year “The Troubles” began. Violence was everywhere. His grandmother was nearly killed when gunmen opened fire on the wrong house, leaving young Stephen to pick at the bullet holes in the walls. He found refuge from this turmoil in heavy metal—especially the music of Ozzy Osbourne. As a pre-internet teenager, he hunted down dozens of live concert bootlegs—corresponding by mail with collectors around the world—and devoured every music magazine he could find. In late 1984, when Stephen was fifteen, he read about a huge festival in Rio de Janeiro that January called “Rock In Rio” whose bill included AC/DC, Queen, and Osbourne. As a lark, he mentioned it to his dad, and was stunned when he said they should go. He was even more shocked when his mother, looking for information about how to get tickets, began a correspondence with Osbourne’s secretary, who scored the family VIP passes and introduced them to Osbourne in Brazil. Thus began a friendship with Ozzy, his wife Sharon and the rest of the Osbourne family that has continued for decades. While traveling on tour in the mid-nineties, Ozzy gifted Stephen a pair of fancy leather notebooks and told him to keep a record of their adventures and conversations. The result is Ozzy & Me: a beautiful behind-the-scenes memoir that proves the life-affirming, soul-nourishing power of music—and disproves the notion that you should never meet your heroes.

An entertaining, heartwarming memoir detailing the adventures and valuable life lessons learned from the author''s four decades of friendship with Ozzy Osbourne and the Osbourne family.Stephen Rea was born in Northern Ireland in 1969, the same year '';The Troubles'' began. Violence was everywhere. His grandmother was nearly killed when gunmen opened fire on the wrong house, leaving young Stephen to pick at the bullet holes in the walls. He found refuge from this turmoil in heavy metalespecially the music of Ozzy Osbourne. As a pre-internet teenager, he hunted down dozens of live concert bootlegscorresponding by mail with collectors around the worldand devoured every music magazine he could find. In late 1984, when Stephen was fifteen, he read about a huge festival in Rio de Janeiro that January called '';Rock In Rio'' whose bill included AC/DC, Queen, and Osbourne. As a lark, he mentioned it to his dad, and was stunned when he said they should go. He was even more shocked when his mother, looking for information about how to get tickets, began a correspondence with Osbourne''s secretary, who scored the family VIP passes and introduced them to Osbourne in Brazil. Thus began a friendship with Ozzy, his wife Sharon and the rest of the Osbourne family that has continued for decades. While traveling on tour in the mid-nineties, Ozzy gifted Stephen a pair of fancy leather notebooks and told him to keep a record of their adventures and conversations. The result is Ozzy & Me: a beautiful behind-the-scenes memoir that proves the life-affirming, soul-nourishing power of musicand disproves the notion that you should never meet your heroes.

The Shy Man’s Revenge charts Stephen Rea’s remarkable passage from a quiet, watchful boy in North Belfast to one of Ireland’s most singular actors. Growing up along the Antrim Road as the Troubles gathered force, he navigates a home riven by drink and silence, finding refuge instead in school plays, cinemas, and the charged language of performance. Rea’s story moves through Queen’s University, the ferment of civil rights activism, and the seismic cultural shifts that shaped his generation, before carrying him to London’s avant‑garde stages, the Abbey Theatre, and the founding of Field Day with Brian Friel and Seamus Heaney. Told with lyricism, candour, and an actor’s instinct for the revealing detail, this memoir traces how a shy Belfast boy found his voice: onstage, in politics, and in Ireland’s ongoing argument with itself. A book of art, resistance, friendship and survival, it is Stephen Rea’s own hard‑won revenge.