The Sports Bookshelf

The winner of the 2015 William Hill Sports Book of the Year will be revealed at a lunchtime ceremony at BAFTA in London on Thursday.  Here is a reminder of the six titles shortlisted for the award. Speed Kings: The 1932 Winter Olympics and the Fastest Men in the World , by Andy Bull (Bantam Press) The early days of bobsleigh were dominated by rich and adventurous young men drawn to the thrill of hurtling along sheer ice tracks at breakneck speeds, typified by the disparate group that came together to win the four-man bob titles for America at the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1932.  Andy Bull traces their back stories in a tale of loose living, risk taking and hell raising from a golden age of decadence. "Hollywood stars, politicians, royalty, gangsters and other denizens of the demi-monde – hedonists and hucksters, harlots and heroes – flicker through a well-paced narrative," wrote Richard Williams in The Guardian , commenting that although none of the quartet survi

Donald McRae's chance to become the first triple winner of William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award remains intact after the shortlist for 27th edition of the richest and longest-running prize for sportswriting was revealed. The author and Guardian journalist, who has twice won the prize for books with boxing at their heart, returns to the subject with A Man's World , his biography of the US boxer Emile Griffith, who became a world champion while fighting deep-seated prejudices on two counts, not only as a black man but because he was gay at a time when the American Medical Association still regarded homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder. McRae -- who ghosted Steven Gerrard's bestselling autobiography My Story -- won previously in 1996 with Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing and in 2002 for In Black and White: The Untold Story of Joe Louis and Jesse Owens. The only other double winner of the William Hill prize is Duncan Hamilton. Three football books are among the

Donald McRae, the Guardian writer who is one of only two authors to have won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award twice, is in contention to take sports writing's richest literary prize for a third time. A Man's World: The Double Life of Emile Griffith (Simon & Schuster) is named on a longlist of 14 titles for the 2015 edition of the award, the winner of which will be revealed in November. In A Man's World, McRae tells the story of the American boxer who became world champion in both welterweight and middleweight divisions during a 19-year career but was also gay at a time when homosexuality was a crime in all but one of the American states and still classified by the American Medical Association as a 'psychiatric disorder'. McRae's ability to draw the reader into the story is particularly strong in his recounting of the rivalry between Griffith and Benny "Kid" Paret, the Cuban fighter against whom he battled for the world wel

Fans of the Guardian writer Donald McRae will be delighted to discover that three of his classic sports books have been reissued by Simon & Schuster. Dark Trade , originally published by Mainstream , established McRae as a sports writer of distinction when it won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 1996. Written over a five-year period, it was based on a series of encounters with boxers, including Mike Tyson, James "Lights Out" Toney, Oscar de la Hoya, Roy Jones Jr, Michael Watson and Chris Eubank. Nine out of the 10 publishers to whom he submitted his proposal rejected it before Mainstream saw its potential. Two years later, by which time the South African-born McRae had given up his office job in London to write full time, he was shortlisted for the William Hill prize again for Winter Colours , also published by Mainstream. In Winter Colours, McRae explored the place occupied by rugby union in the culture of the different countries in which it is

BIOGRAPHIES OF VICTORIA PENDLETON, JONNY WILKINSON, RICHARD HUGHES, CHRISSIE WELLINGTON, SIMON JORDAN AND JAMES WILLSTROP ON 2012 WILLIAM HILL LONGLIST Sportswriters Duncan Hamilton and Donald McRae are pitted head to head in a bid to make history by becoming the first to win the prestigious William Hill Sports Book of the Year for a third time.  Both have made the longlist - just announced - for the 2012 award and a £24,000 cash prize.   McRae, who won in 1996 with Dark Trade , his exploration of the shadier sides of professional boxing, and again in 2002 for In Black and White , his joint biography of iconic black athletes Joe Louis and Jesse Owens, is in the running as co-author of British Olympic cycling champion Victoria Pendleton's autobiography Between The Lines.   Hamilton, winner of the award in 2007 with Provided You Don't Kiss Me, his account of his day-to-day dealings with Brian Clough as a local newspaper reporter, and again two years later with his biog