A summer of sport beckons and we have a podcast to compete. Raphael Honigstein and Danny Kelly talk football ahead of Euro 2016; how did Germany effect Das Reboot, what’s the future for the sport amid all the corruption and who do you want to draw in the office sweepstake? Richard Askwith tells us what made the Czech runner Emil Zatopek so special. Anders Ericsson, the man behind the 10,000 hours rule explains why practice makes perfect and talent is a myth. And finally in tribute to Muhammad Ali we hear an excerpt from George Plimpton’s Shadow Box, soon to be published by Vintage in the UK along with his other amazing participatory sports journalism books. On your marks, get set…. Football – from start Zatopek: 23:50 Anders Ericsson: 31:50 Plipton on Ali: 56:08 Raphael Honigstein: https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/raphael-honigstein/1050718/ Richard Askwith: https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/richard-askwith/1047711/ Anders Ericsson:https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/anders-ericsson/1076269/ George Plimpton: https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/george-plimpton/1019619/

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George Plimpton – Shadow Box

Stepping into the ring against light-heavyweight champion Archie Moore, George Plimpton pauses to wonder what ever induced him to become a participatory journalist. Bloodied but unbowed, he holds his own in the bout – and brings back this timeless book on boxing and its devotees, among them Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ernest Hemingway, and Norman Mailer.

Shadow Boxis one of Plimpton’s most engaging portraits of professional sport seen through the eyes of an inquisitive and astute hopeful. From the gym, the locker room, the ringside, and even in the harsh glare of the ring itself, Plimpton documents what it truly means to be a boxer in some of the finest writing of his career.

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