Recent work
The British Olympics
by Martin Polley
Played in Britain 2011
Part of the sports heritage series that I have been designing 2005, The British Olympics traces the long and fascinating relationship between the British and all things Olympian. The story starts back in 1612, when the first games were recorded, continuing through to the 1908 and 1948 games when London stood in as emergency hosts. The 2012 games logo is rightly ignored.
"This is a superb book, richly illustrated and minutely researched" Londonist
61 – The Spurs Double
Text by Martin Cloake and Adam Powley
Vision Sports 2010
I started supporting Spurs after a chance conversation in my school playground in 1976 alerted to me to the achievement of the 1960-61 Double side. I got closer to the team than I could have imagined back then compiling this 50th anniversary illustrated book. It's packed with rare photos, memorabilia and clippings alongside expertly written text by Spurs officionados Martin Cloake and Adam Powley. It comes in a rather attractive navy cloth slipcase. It was voted lllustrated Sports Book of the Year 2010 by a panel which rather suspiciously contained at least two Spurs fans.
"A splendid book, A treasure trove of pictures, stories and memories... Quite superb" BBC Radio London
Dreams & Goals –
The World Cup and world football 1990-2010
by Alistair Berg
Dewi Lewis Media 2009
This book of Alistair Berg's photography captures twenty years of football fan culture around the world at its most vibrant and colourful. As well as the 1990-2006 World Cups, photos are drawn from local parks in the UK, the stadiums of Brazil and everywhere in between. An extended chapter captures the unique flavour of football in Africa. It's a weighty tome, and, I'm bound to say, the photography looks incredible.
Historic Views of London –
Photographs from the collection of BEC Howarth-Loomes
English Heritage 2008
Historic Views of London contains a rare collection of images from 1852 to 1915. The pictures pre-date not only motorised traffic but conventional photography. Many were taken with a stereoscope, which, with the aid of a viewfinder, enable the images to be seen in 3D. Sadly the book could only be published in 2D, but the images - which are part of NMR archive - are remarkable nonetheless.
The Tottenham Hotspur Opus
Kraken Sport & Media 2007
I was senior designer on this colossus of a publication that marked 125 years of Tottehham Hotspur football club. A metre wide, with over 800 pages and presented in a case weighing over 30 kilos, it's not one to read on the tube. It does however, contain just about everything it is possible to publish about one football club, with lavish illustration, great photography and amazing production values throughout.
1966 Uncovered –
The Unseen Story of the World Cup in England
Text by Harry Pearson
Mitchell Beazley 2006
I designed and co-produced this book of archive football photography from the 1966 World Cup in 2006. The book brings together images of the era, as well as the famous tournament, with accompanying essays by Harry Pearson. It won lllustrated Sports Book of the Year in 2007. I received the award (a formidable piece of engraved perspex) from ‘66 veteran George Cohen, and it got some good reviews:
“Peerlessly beautiful... an era magnificently and faithfully documented” Observer
“A handsome coffee-table book... The pictures are outstanding” Brian Glanville, Times
“A superb new book: 1966 Uncovered features an astonishing range of archive material” Independent on Sunday
Engineering Archie –
Archibald Leitch, Football Ground Designer
by Simon Inglis
Played in Britain 2005
This book was one of the first titles I designed for the specialist sports heritage imprint Played in Britain. It is written by sports stadium expert Simon Inglis and was nominated for both William Hill Sports Book of the year and Illustrated Sports Book of the year in 2005. It missed out on both (narrowly I'm told) but people did say some very nice things about it:
"Well written, forensically researched, elegantly designed and sumptuously illustrated, Engineering Archie is a book that must command a place on the shelf of every discerning fan" Times
"A tome full of wonderful anecdotes... a delight to the eye..." Professional Engineering