Everybody Wants to Rule the World: Britain, Sport and the 1980s

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Description

A social history of 1980s Britain, told through the sport of the time. A social history of 1980s Britain, told through the sport of the time. Travel back to the 1980s - to Botham's Ashes and the Brixton riots; the Moscow Olympics and the miners' strike; the Crucible Theatre and the Falklands - to explore how we got to where we are now. Discover how sport became fully entwined in our national story; how sporting heroes were made, and destroyed; how 'wars' were fought on the pitch; and how sport responded to - and drove cultural change in - our society. From Sebastian Coe to Margaret Thatcher, John Barnes to the ZX Spectrum, Martina Navratilova to Section 28, Everybody Wants to Rule the World speaks to our treasured memories of eighties sports while also throwing light on where things went deeply wrong. In so doing it tells nothing less than the story of how British sport came into the modern era.

Reviews

An entertaining romp, a comfortable armchair ride crammed with colourful detail -- Barney Ronay * Literary Review *
Comprehensive Illuminates our own time too -- Simon Kuper * Spectator *
[A] compelling case... of how the way that Eighties sport was interwoven with its surroundings * New Statesman *

Author Bio

Roger Domeneghetti is a senior lecturer in journalism at Northumbria University. His first book, From the Back Page to the Front Room- Football's Journey Through the English Media, was shortlisted for the 2015 Lord Aberdare Literary Prize for Sports History, and received widespread critical praise. Prior to this, he worked as a journalist for more than 20 years in both print and new media. He continues to work as a freelancer for a variety of publications including The Blizzard, The New European, BBC History Magazine, the TLS, Wisden Cricket Monthly and The NightWatchman.