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Reg Harris
Reg Harris
Oct 27, 2024 3:28 AM

Author:Robert Dineen

Reg Harris

Reg Harris, whose statue overlooks the Manchester Velodrome, is the legend who all track cyclists want to emulate. He was a poor, working-class boy born in the Depression who escaped the Lancashire mills to utterly dominate his sport. He triumphed as world champion an incredible

five times between 1947 and 1954 and performed medal-winning heroics at the London Olympics.

At his peak he was the most adored sportsman in the country attracting huge crowds, sponsorship, and the company of the rich and famous. But, fiercely driven and ruthlessly single-minded, Harris had a dark side. His was a sensational life fuelled by an insatiable need for money, celebrity, fast cars and beautiful women that constantly threatened to destroy him.

Following an exhaustive investigation, Robert Dineen has uncovered an epic sporting rise and fall – a story more astounding than anyone had known.

Reviews

A legend of the sport... I got tired of people telling me I wasn't as fast as him

—— Chris Hoy

This book is compelling... Dineen has explored all facets of Harris's character and gets right to the nub of a man who lit the fuse which ultimately led to today's cycling explosion in Britain. With enough attention to detail to satisfy the cycling afficionado and enough insight to engage anybody who has ever paused to consider the human condition, this deserves a wide audience.

—— The Irish Post , The Irish Post

A fascinating read

—— Sport

The first superstar of British cycling

—— Daily Telegraph

Revelatory

—— Mail on Sunday

Well worth reading.

—— UKCycleSport.com

Whitaker paints a compelling picture of a world in which the virtues of old-fashioned professionalism and decency overcome class and race barriers... engaging, surprising and...affecting

—— Alexander Larman , Observer

An examination of a legendary American pugnaciousness... no one ever made winning look quite the rutting alpha-male necessity that Connors made it appear.

—— Observer

The Outsider, a rather overdue autobiography by Jimmy Connors, reads like the American played: full of testosterone and attitude. As a study of the making of an alpha male it is fascinating. Even if [Connors] didn't deal with his successes very well - succumbing to the trappings of fame all too easily - boy, did he work for them. No doubt there have been more gifted players, but no one has won as many tour victories and none, surely, have given themselves so totally to the animal spirit of competition.

—— The Times

Clear as flying chalk: The Outsider takes in a volley of vignettes.

—— Independent on Sunday

An ace.

—— Daily Mail

A gutsy streetfighter on court, the brash US tennis star covers rivals, romances and revelations with unsurprising candour, but also a welcome dash of humour.

—— Sport magazine

Essential reading... With characteristic humour Connors sets the record straight on the tennis circuit on and off the court.

—— Daily Express

The atmosphere of the Sixties is re-created brilliantly.

—— The Times

Hamilton through the stories and backstories of others broadens his horizons to explain the phenomenon that was Best and the world that destroyed him. Offering up new material and new perspective, Hamilton, as one reviewer would opined, mastered biography.

—— Irish Examiner
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