AFTER my first season reporting cricket, I was very keen to write a John Arlott-style book about the cricket season. I contacted various publishers. They were polite, often bought me drinks but did not take to the idea. Then one publisher told me: "Cricket books like that don't sell. Why don’t you write a book about a great cricketer." He commissioned me to write a book about Keith Miller, the great Australian all-rounder. I received £400 as an advance back in 1975 and the book was finally published by another publisher. By then I had met many more publishers, had many more drinks in pubs and discussed lots of ideas. They led to more books on cricket, football, business, biography and history, even a history of Bollywood. Often I would approach a publisher with an idea and end up writing a totally different book, such as my account of the stock market crash for Bloomsbury.Manchester Unlimited: The Money, Egos and Infighting Behind the World's Richest Soccer Club
Manchester Unlimited: The Rise and Rise of the World's Premier Football Club
Behind Closed Doors: Dreams and Nightmares at Spurs
A Maidan View – The Magic of Indian Cricket
A History of Indian Cricket
Cricket Voices
All in a Day: Great Moments in Cup Cricket
Keith Miller: A Cricketing Biography
Sporting Colours: Sport and Politics in South Africa
The Sporting Alien
Bollywood – A History
Raj, Secrets, Revolution: A Life of Subhas Chandra Bose
The Memons
False Messiah: The Life and Times of Terry Venables
Michael Grade: Screening the Image
The Lost Hero
How to Invest in a Bear Market
Fraud — the Growth Industry of the 1980s
The Crash: the 1987-88 World Market Slump
Crash! A New Money Crisis: a Children's Guide to Money
Insurance: Are You Covered?