Four Lions: The Lives and Times of Four Captains of England

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Four Lions explores the changing landscape of postwar England through the careers of four iconic England football captains: Billy Wright, Bobby Moore, Gary Lineker and David Beckham. Between Wright, who fought in World War II, and Beckham, whose battles against Germany were played out on the football field, huge shifts in English society were mirrored by seismic changes to the national game as television transformed the way in which it is financed and consumed. In England, more than any other nation, the man with the captain's armband has symbolic significance: he embodies the nation. And these four lions embody half a century of change: Wright smoked a pipe and had a side parting; Moore, hero of '66, exuded the cool of his era but never found a role beyond football; the savvy, telegenic Lineker hung up his boots to become the face of BBC football; while in the tattooed body of Beckham can be read the impact of commercialisation, corporate sponsorship and the cult of celebrity.

Reviews

Well-written narrative... an efficiently put-together chronology of English football's transformation into what it is today' * All About History *
Imaginatively chronicles English footballing history via the life, career and times of four England captains * Philosophy Football *
Four ages in British life as defined by four iconic England soccer captains is the subject of this fascinating book * Choice *

Author Bio

Colin Shindler is a social and cultural historian, lecturing at Cambridge University. Among the dozen books he has written are the bestselling memoir Manchester United Ruined My Life, and National Service, a social history of conscription 1946-62.