{"title":"John Lazenby","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the historical worlds crafted by John Lazenby, perfect for readers seeking insightful and engaging narratives of conflict and strategy. Discover gripping accounts of battles and leadership.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"edging-towards-darkness-book-john-lazenby-9781472941305","title":"Edging Towards Darkness","description":"Cricket matches didn’t always top out at five days, regardless of a result or not – they used to be ‘timeless’, with play continuing until one team won, no matter how many days that took.   The last of these – which took place in Durban in 1939, in a series pitched against the backdrop of impending war – is now universally acknowledged as 'the timeless Test'. Weighing in at a prodigious ten days – the match stretched from 3–14 March 1939, and allowed for two rest days, while one day’s play (the eighth) was lost entirely to rain – it is quite simply the longest Test ever played. A litany of records also perished in its wake and 'whole pages of Wisden were ruthlessly made obsolete'. If that was not enough, one player, the fastidious South African batsman Ken Viljoen, felt the need to have his hair cut twice during the game. Only the matches between Australia and England at Melbourne in 1929, which lasted eight playing days, and West Indies and England at Sabina Park, Jamaica, a year later (seven days), come remotely close in terms of their duration.   In Edging Towards Darkness, John Lazenby tells the story of that Test for the first time. Set firmly in its historical and social setting, the story balances this game against the threat of encroaching world war in Europe – unfolding at terrifying speed – before bringing these two disparate strands together in an evocative and vibrant denouement.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49505494008081,"sku":"GOR008433771","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49659302641937,"sku":"GOR013720757","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49732293427473,"sku":"NGR9781472941305","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1472941306.jpg?v=1750923763"},{"product_id":"strangers-who-came-home-book-john-lazenby-9781408842874","title":"The Strangers Who Came Home","description":"The Ashes cricket series, played out between England and Australia, is the oldest - and undoubtedly the most keenly-contested - rivalry in international sport. And yet the majority of the first representative Australian cricket team to tour England in 1878 in fact regarded themselves as Englishmen.     In May of that year the SS City of Berlin docked at Liverpool, and the Australians stepped onto English ground to begin the inaugural first-class cricket tour of England by a representative overseas team. As they made their way south towards Lord’s to play MCC in the second match of the tour, the intrepid tourists - or ‘the strangers’ as they were referred to in the press - encountered arrogance and ignorance, cheating umpires and miserable weather. But by defeating a powerful MCC side which included W.G. Grace himself  in a single afternoon’s play, they turned English cricket on its head. The Lord’s crowd, having begun by openly laughing at the tourists, were soon wildly celebrating a victory that has been described as ‘arguably the most momentous six hours in cricket history’ and claiming the Australians as their own.    The Strangers Who Came Home is a compelling social history which brings that momentous summer to life, telling the story of these extraordinary men who travelled thousands of miles, risking life and limb, playing 43 matches in England (as well as several in Philadelphia, America, on their return journey) during a demanding but ultimately triumphant homecoming. It reveals how their glorious achievements on the field of play threw open the doors to international sports touring, and how these men from the colonies provided the stimulus for Australian nationhood through their sporting success and brought unprecedented vitality to international cricket.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49506596684049,"sku":"GOR006359578","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1408842874.jpg?v=1751434781"},{"product_id":"strangers-who-came-home-book-john-lazenby-9781408843970","title":"The Strangers Who Came Home","description":"A compelling and beautifully drawn social history of the first Australian cricket tour of England  'An excellent, bustling account of the first Australian cricket XI to tour England' Independent 'A fascinating story, well told' Choice  The Ashes cricket series, played out between England and Australia, is the oldest - and undoubtedly the most keenly-contested - rivalry in international sport. And yet the majority of the first representative Australian cricket team to tour England in 1878 in fact regarded themselves as Englishmen.    In May of that year the SS City of Berlin docked at Liverpool, and the Australians stepped onto English ground to begin the inaugural first-class cricket tour of England by a representative overseas team. As they made their way south towards Lord’s to play MCC in the second match of the tour, the intrepid tourists - or ‘the strangers’ as they were referred to in the press - encountered arrogance and ignorance, cheating umpires and miserable weather. But by defeating a powerful MCC side which included W.G. Grace himself  in a single afternoon’s play, they turned English cricket on its head. The Lord’s crowd, having begun by openly laughing at the tourists, were soon wildly celebrating a victory that has been described as ‘arguably the most momentous six hours in cricket history’ and claiming the Australians as their own.   The Strangers Who Came Home is a compelling social history which brings that momentous summer to life, telling the story of these extraordinary men who travelled thousands of miles, risking life and limb, playing 43 matches in England (as well as several in Philadelphia, America, on their return journey) during a demanding but ultimately triumphant homecoming. It reveals how their glorious achievements on the field of play threw open the doors to international sports touring, and how these men from the colonies provided the stimulus for Australian nationhood through their sporting success and brought unprecedented vitality to international cricket.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49586072420625,"sku":"GOR007757866","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49958534283537,"sku":"GOR009039877","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53489651286289,"sku":"GOR009682257","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1408843978.jpg?v=1751083760"},{"product_id":"test-of-time-book-john-lazenby-9780719566516","title":"Test of Time","description":"John Lazenby's interest in cricket began with a glimpse of his grandfather's old leather cricket bag stored among the rafters. His curiosity piqued, one day he decided to climb up and explore its contents. The faded blazer, heavy ball and linseed-scented bats exerted a subtle influence on him. This re-emerged decades later when he discovered a box of letters written by his grandfather, the England cricketer J. R. Mason, while on a boat to Australia for the 1897-8 Ashes tour. Inspired by these extraordinary letters, John Lazenby retraces the journey. His tour becomes a cricketing pilgrimage and a voyage of discovery as he passes through Australian cities and remote towns his grandfather visited more than a hundred years ago. During his travels he uncovers a wealth of memorabilia and anecdotes, and his wide-reaching narrative encompasses not only Mason and his team-mates, but also a wider insight into late Victorian mores.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49593568100625,"sku":"GOR003993241","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51682239873297,"sku":"GOR014354704","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53111019307281,"sku":"GOR004338618","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0719566517.jpg?v=1750744373"},{"product_id":"test-of-time-book-john-lazenby-9780719566530","title":"Test of Time","description":"John Lazenby's interest in cricket began as a boy with a glimpse of his grandfather's old leather cricket bag stored in the rafters. His curiosity piqued, he explored its contents to discover a faded blazer, scuffed ball and linseed-scented bats. Decades later, when he found a box of letters written by his grandfather, J. R. Mason, on the boat to Australia for the Ashes tour, John was inspired to retrace the journey. John's tour through the Australian cities and remote towns visited by England cricketers over a hundred years ago uncovers a wealth of anecdotes and memorabilia. His narrative vividly evokes not only Mason and his teammates, but a wider sense of late Victorian mores at home and abroad.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49615720448273,"sku":"GOR003651812","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50662344589585,"sku":"GOR014028207","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50684460007697,"sku":"GOR004161506","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0719566533.jpg?v=1751009455"},{"product_id":"first-punic-war-book-john-lazenby-9780804726740","title":"The First Punic War","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50293477376273,"sku":"CIN0804726744G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53404805660945,"sku":"GOR014907797","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0804726744.jpg?v=1750702872"},{"product_id":"first-punic-war-book-john-lazenby-9781857281361","title":"The First Punic War","description":"The text provides a study of the longest continuous war in ancient history and the greatest naval conflict ever fought. It is intended for Roman history courses, academic and research libraries, and military history buffs.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50408811725073,"sku":"GOR006029446","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53183191515409,"sku":"GOR004968289","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53364000981265,"sku":"GOR014879744","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1857281365.jpg?v=1750725427"},{"product_id":"nhoj-book-john-lazenby-9781785908095","title":"NHOJ","description":"As a journalist and author, John Lazenby has spent more than forty years chronicling the tales of others. But for much of his life he closely guarded his own compelling story - a long and challenging struggle with childhood dyslexia, unable to read or write at a time when neurodiversity was rarely considered or recognised. Sent away to boarding school at the age of seven, John's future pivoted on the life-changing intervention of a teacher who finally understood the boy whom no one else could teach.    In this warm and poignant memoir, John traces his misadventures through the unforgiving education system of the 1960s, when illiteracy was viewed as a character defect that could be rectified by stern discipline and regular beatings, and takes us on an evocative visit to the not-so-distant past, introducing the kind and eccentric family who never gave up on him - and the array of teachers who did.    We follow the intrepid progress of a boy who could write only one word - his name, spelled backwards - to a man who finally found his true calling after a series of setbacks and false starts, only to make the late discovery that he had travelled through life unaware of a second neurodiversity, hiding in plain sight. Heart-warming, hilarious, raw and shocking, NHOJ is a tribute to overcoming challenges, ignoring barriers and holding on to hope in a world that initially seems to have no place for you.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51216140566801,"sku":"NGR9781785908095","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51217598972177,"sku":"GOR014201435","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/178590809X.jpg?v=1751438361"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-au\/collections\/author-books-by-john-lazenby.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}