FOUR HUNDRED AT FIVE-THIRTY WITH NANNIES

Pitch Publishing is a fantastic imprint.
They do all the great Got, Not Got series
and plenty of other retro sports titles.

James Brown, The Late Tackle, talkSPORT

Pitch Publishing show the way for enterprising
sports book publishers and remains a beacon
of hope for sports authors aspiring or established.

The Sports Bookshelf.com

Pitch Publishing, an outfit whose "pitch perfect"
commissioning of boxing material stands
as a rebuke to more established houses

Boxing Monthly

Pitch capture the real spirit of sport with entertaining
and clever ideas. They work out what the aficionado
would want to read, then deliver it with great verve.

Paul Hayward, The Daily Telegraph

Pitch have enabled me to write in the ways I enjoy most.
Their production support is superb, delivering eye-catching
designs, attentive proof-reading, energetic marketing and helpful advice.

Tim Quelch, Good Old Sussex by the Sea, Orient to the Emirates, Underdog!

Pitch are willing to back out-of-the-blue and innovative
ideas and turn them into viable, entertaining books.
They do so with great presentation and editorial flair.

Justin Parkinson, Then Came Massacre

Pitch saw the potential in my story, used their expertise
to polish it, published it and helped inspire thousands
around the world to get into the sport of triathlon.

Andy Holgate, Can’t Swim, Can’t Ride, Can’t Run & Can't Sleep, Can't Train, Can't Stop

The process of working with Pitch to produce Picking up the Threads
was enjoyable and rewarding, with the final edition surpassing
expectations and becoming a resounding success.

John Chandler, Picking up the Threads

Pitch will take a chance on books that other publishers won't
and realise that interest in football extends beyond the
Premier League and the top 20 countries in the FIFA rankings.

Steve Menary, Outcasts!

Pitch have the vision to look beyond the obvious,
seeking out interesting ideas and subjects and
matching them with the right target audience.

David Tossell, Tony Greig, The Great English Final, Grovel!, Natural

Pitch have been an absolute joy to work with,
contributing their passion, expertise, knowledge
and experience to help produce a brilliant book.

Sam Pilger, Ashes Match of My Life

Pitch took our original concept and further enhanced it,
using their knowledge, experience and expertise, and helped
make Got, Not Got one of the football books of the year for 2011.

Derek Hammond, Got, Not Got series of books

Pitch bought into the concept of development through football,
channeling profits and proceeds from Eleven into helping
some of the most disadvantaged young people in the world.

Steve Fleming, Eleven

In the highly competitive world of sport publishing,
Pitch have consistently demonstrated the happy
knack of spotting, nurturing and promoting winners.

Neil Dunkin, Anfield of Dreams

13 Aug

FOUR HUNDRED AT FIVE-THIRTY WITH NANNIES

For Calais, read chaos. It is a disaster zone this summer and it has been, on and off, for years. Want to know how to jump a queue of 700 cars at the French port? This book will tell you how – and it doesn’t necessarily involve dressing up in a Clermont Auvergne beret or an Agen jersey match-worn by the former French international centre Philippe Sella!

How do you do a live radio broadcast on a rugby match with a half-naked woman sitting in front of you, trying to distract you by stripping off? You will find out in this book.

No journalists’ training course can prepare you for these situations.

But a new book by top sports writer Peter Bills reveals the devious answers. Bills was a freelance sports writer for more than forty years working for national newspapers in Fleet Street and around the world. More recently, he was chief rugby writer worldwide for the Independent News & Media Group.

His work took him all over the world to some of sport’s most iconic events: The Masters at Augusta, US Open golf tournaments, every Rugby World Cup to date, European soccer finals and the Sydney Olympics.

During his career he met and interviewed some of the greatest names of the era: South African presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Donald Bradman, John Arlott, Bill McLaren, Gareth Edwards, Willie John McBride, David Campese and others such as Spike Milligan, Oliver Reed and Jose Carreras.

This book provides a revealing portrait of many of those characters. It tells of amazing times, extraordinary escapades and downright outrageous tricks of the trade… like how Bills wangled a free upgrade onto a British Airways Concorde flight, how he rode in the team bus with the French international rugby players and dined out with stars such as former French rugby captain Jean Pierre Rives, Formula 1 motor racing driver Alain Prost and New Zealand rugby player Dan Carter.

But the book is much more than tales of dinners with the stars and speed-breaking journeys to airports. Bills visited South Africa in the apartheid years and writes harrowing accounts of the brutality and hatred he saw among the white people. He also went to Auschwitz and writes a poignant memoir of his visit, believing that it changed him forever as a person.

This is no book of rehashed rugby reports, of tries scored, penalties kicked long ago. It is, in the words of one critic, a book that lives.

Four Hundred at Five-Thirty is the story of how a British sports writer made fun his modus operandi and set off around the world to experience it in every corner of the globe. The book is full of front-row atmosphere, and true tales packed with humour, sadness, emotion and detail – not to mention some amazing nannies.

In case you're wondering, nannies means 'nanny goats', which is rhyming slang for quotes; and the title is what many an editor would have said to Peter. In layman's terms: "A four-hundred word report, by 5.30pm, with quotes (nannies) from one of the subjects!"

Click here for more information, or to read a free sample from Four Hundred at Five-Thirty with Nannies – Inside the Lost World of Sports Journalism.