Can We Have Our Balls Back Please? by Julian Norridge Release date: 01st December, 2008 Publisher: Allen Lane List Price: £17.99 Our Price: £11.69 You Save: £6.3 (35%) Buy Now

According to an unintentionally amusing online blog written by an east European who clearly hadn't been paying full attention during his English vocabulary classes, the British are "the most Bering (sic) people in the word (sic). They wear formal clothes, eat tasteless food, practise slow sports and have a peculiar sense of humor (sic)." You may feel the guy is describing a cricket match (admittedly, it could it be bowls) although he is, in fact, commenting upon our unique national characteristics. If this is how some foreigners perceive us, is it any wonder that when we introduced games such as cricket, golf and football to the rest of the world, many people believed us to be crazy? In his hugely enjoyable 'Can We Have Our Balls Back Please?' Julian Norridge tackles the story of fourteen major sports from football and boxing to modern tennis and cricket without so much as a reference to formal clothing. The British, he maintains, have always had a passionate relationship with sport and Norridge succeeds in explaining why we retain a soft spot for men such as Welsh inventor Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, creator modern tennis, and why our sporting history is packed with similarly eccentric figures. Norridge manages to incorporate an amusing look at our popular history while chronicling the constant battle between fair and underhand play. 'Can We Have Our Balls Back Please?' proves there is plenty to be proud of in our history and examines just why we get just so excited when taking on other nations at sport and why we're so disappointed when we loseÖ" For every copy of 'Can We Have Our Balls Back Please?' that is purchased, 50% of the profit will go to Save The Children. Visit www.savethechildren.org for more information.