Updated at 16.22
JUDY MURRAY’S BOOK on life with her son Andy and a biography about the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali are among the contenders to feature on the longlist for the 2017 William Hill prize.
The prestigious accolade sees a number of critics vote to determine the best sports book of the year.
Also included is a biography of Bob Paisley by British sports journalist Ian Herbert, who recently spoke to The42 about the book on the iconic Liverpool manager.
Previous winners of the William Hill include Rough Ride: An Insight into Pro Cycling by Irish journalist Paul Kimmage, Fever Pitch: A Fan’s Life by Nick Hornby and Provided You Don’t Kiss Me: 20 Years With Brian Clough by Duncan Hamilton, while last year’s prize went to Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan.
The winning author receives a £29,000 cash prize, as well as a £2,500 William Hill bet, and a day at the races.
This year’s judging panel features journalist and broadcaster Mark Lawson; retired professional footballer and former chairman of the Professional Footballer’s Association, Clarke Carlisle; broadcaster and writer John Inverdale; broadcaster Danny Kelly; award-winning journalist Hugh McIlvanney; and The Times columnist and author, Alyson Rudd, while the Chair of Judges is Graham Sharpe, co-creator of the Award alongside John Gaustad.
The shortlist for the prize will be confirmed on 24 October, while the winner will be announced at a ceremony in central London on 28 November.
The longlist in full (alphabetically by author’s surname):
- The Greatest Comeback: From Genocide to Football Glory by David Bolchover (Biteback Publishing)
- On Form by Mark Brearley (Little, Brown)
- When Lions Roared: The Lions, the All Blacks & the Legendary Tour of 1971 by Tom English and Peter Burns (Polaris Publishing)
- Four Mums in a Boat by Helen Butters, Niki Doeg, Frances Davies and Janette Benaddi (HQ, HarperCollins)
- Ali: A Life by Jonathan Eig (Simon & Schuster)
- Gambling for Life by Harry Findlay (Trinity Mirror Sport Media)
- Quiet Genius: Bob Paisley, British Football’s Greatest Manager by Ian Herbert (Bloomsbury Sport, Bloomsbury)
- Swell: A Waterbiography by Jenny Landreth (Bloomsbury Sport, Bloomsbury)
- Redemption: From Iron Bars to Iron Man by John McAvoy and Mark Turley (Pitch Publishing)
- Tom Simpson: Bird on the Wire by Andy McGrath (Rapha Editions)
- Centaur by Declan Murphy and Ami Rao (Doubleday, Transworld)
- Knowing the Score: My Family and Our Tennis Story by Judy Murray (Chatto & Windus, Penguin Random House)
- Connie: The Marvellous Life of Learie Constantine by Harry Pearson (Little, Brown)
- Feeling is the Thing that Happens in 1000th of a Second: A Season of Cricket Photographer Patrick Eager by Christian Ryan (riverrun, Quercus Books)
- The Talent Lab: The secrets of creating and sustaining success by Owen Slot (Ebury Press, Penguin Random House)
- Breaking Ground: Art, Archaeology and Mythology edited by Neville Gabie, Alan Ward and Jason Wood (Axis Projects)
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