| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'The best cycling biography ever written' - Velo
Book Description
The book the cycling world was waiting for. Described by Velo magazine as "the best cycling biography ever written" this is the definitive account of the life of Tom Simpson, Britain's greatest cyclist.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Distant memories,
By D. Harvey-George "arwall" (France) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Put Me Back On My Bike: In Search of Tom Simpson (Paperback)
A couple of weeks ago I bumped into a couple of German girls cycling up to l'Alpe d'Huez. We finished our 'stage' and stopped for a chat. Why were they here? To ride in the tire tracks of Lance Armstrong they said. Where next? Mont Ventoux of course, they were making a pilgrimage to the Simpson memorial.The ghostly newsreel footage of Simpson zig-zaging close to the summit of the Ventoux on that fateful July day in 1967 haunt many a cyclist and the memorial has become as much a place of worship as the grave of Jim Morrison in Paris. Simpson's story has a great allure, plucky but flawed Brit battling against the odds in an ultimately tragic endeavor. Fotheringham's book does much to capture the essence of the man but finally it seems too distant. Although well researched, and who better to do the job, there are ultimately not enough revelations to satisfy. Short of pulling a smoking gun out of the archives of the Avignon prefecture the book isn't going to have the shocking general impact of Sophie Anquetil's recently published biography of her father Jacques (Pour l'amour de Jacques, ISBN:2246669618), a rival of Simpson's. A couple of points which Fotheringham seemed to miss. He discusses (and rejects) the possibility that transporting Simpson in the helicopter killed him as he was lifted high into the air. The incident occured at around 2000 meters, not a great height and it is doubtful if the helicoper gained much more height transporting Simpson. It is standard practise for mountain rescues to keep close to the ground and lose height and the newsreel seems to show the helicopter doing exactly this. It also appears in one of the photos in the book that Simpson's right thigh is coated in Iodine possibly after an injection of what... adrenalin? It would have been a scoop if Fotheringham had uncovered the medical report detailing the treatment. As a Simpson fan I gave the book 4/5 but someone not familiar with the story may find the book less satisfying. Ultimately it seems that Simpson will remain the ghost on the grainy newsreel.
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best Biography I have ever read,
This review is from: Put Me Back on My Bike: In Search of Tom Simpson (Hardcover)
Although only twelve years old at the time, I still vividly remember seeing the news of Tom Simpson's death on TV. This is strange because I wasn't a cycling fan and I can't remember seeing the TV news of any of the other historic events of the time like JFK being shot (and we're all suppossed to remember where we were when this happened), Luther King's death, Perfumo, or even the man on the moon. So why did Tom Simpson stick in my mind like nothing else? I didn't really know but this book seemed to be to a must read to try and find out. I now know. Fotheringham's excellent account of the life (and most importantly - the times) of Tom Simpson is an excellent account. It is incredibly well researched, engrossing, entertaining and yet onbjective and dispassionate. This books captures the strengths and the flaws in Simpson's character but left me with a fascination of the man and answered my question as to why his death has stuck in my mind for so long. This is probably the best biography I have ever read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic, couldn't put it down,
By
This review is from: Put Me Back On My Bike: In Search of Tom Simpson (Paperback)
Really great read. Didn't know too much about Tom Simpson before I picked this book up and am glad I did pick it up. Thoroughly recommend it.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
