
The Beast, the Emperor and the Milkman: A Bone-shaking Tour through Cycling's Flemish Heartlands (Paperback)
Harry Pearson (author)
£11.99
Paperback
272 Pages
Published: 26/12/2019
Published: 26/12/2019
***SHORTLISTED FOR THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2020 - CYCLING BOOK OF THE YEAR***
***LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019***
'A joy.' - Ned Boulting
Every nation shapes sport to test the character traits it most admires.
In The Beast, the Emperor and the Milkman, committed Belgophile and road cycling obsessive Harry Pearson takes you on a journey across Flanders, through the lumpy horizontal rain, up the elbow juddering cobbled inclines, past the fans dressed as chickens and the shop window displays of constipation medicines, as he follows races big, small and even smaller through one glorious, muddy spring.
Ranging over 500 years of Flemish and European history, across windswept polders, along back roads and through an awful lot of beer cafes, Pearson examines the characters, the myths and rivalries that make Flanders a place where cycling is a religion and the riders its lycra-clad priests.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN: 9781472945068
Number of pages: 272
Weight: 252 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
An enormously entertaining cycling journal * Times Literary Supplement *
Absolutely splendid ... full of wonderful things. -- Rhod Sharp * BBC Radio 5 Live *
Harry Pearson's class and wit were the reason I wanted to start writing in the first place. To read his words on cycling and Flanders, two of the best things in the world, is a joy. -- Ned Boulting
Entertaining -- Richard Williams * The Guardian *
The ever amiable Harry Pearson invites us to accompany him on a tour of Flanders ... [the cyclists' stories] illuminate the landscape and history of this little understood pocket of Europe. * Guardian Books of the Year *
A witty, engaging guide to the spring bike races in Flanders ... [Pearson] covers a lot of quirky historical ground in his "bone-shaking tour". * Telegraph Books of the Year *
Absolutely splendid ... full of wonderful things. -- Rhod Sharp * BBC Radio 5 Live *
Harry Pearson's class and wit were the reason I wanted to start writing in the first place. To read his words on cycling and Flanders, two of the best things in the world, is a joy. -- Ned Boulting
Entertaining -- Richard Williams * The Guardian *
The ever amiable Harry Pearson invites us to accompany him on a tour of Flanders ... [the cyclists' stories] illuminate the landscape and history of this little understood pocket of Europe. * Guardian Books of the Year *
A witty, engaging guide to the spring bike races in Flanders ... [Pearson] covers a lot of quirky historical ground in his "bone-shaking tour". * Telegraph Books of the Year *
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“Difficult to read”
This could be a good read, but the print far to small.
“It's like a Bill Bryson book on Flemish cycling / cyclists!”
Thoroughly enjoying this book. It's a very amusing and informative read. Explains the background to the Flemish people, their ancient and recent history and how that interlocks with their love of cycling. he... More
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