Pride comes before and after a fall

The boys from Turin march out in some natty 1949 shorts. 

In this country the Busby Babes were famous for keeping Manchester United on the world football stage after an horrific plane crash robbed them of most of their talent. Outside of Italy fame has not been as kind to Il Grande Torino, the tactical pioneers of the beautiful game, who were tragically killed on their way back from playing a testimonial in Portugal. 

Amongst the fallen was their manager and coach Erno Egri Erbstein who survived the persecution of European Jews with outstanding courage and some nifty footwork of his own. This biography by Dominic Bliss goes under the slightly cumbersome title of "Erbstein: The triumph and tragedy of football's forgotten pioneer" and brings this era of football to life in a way that is just as relevant to sport, war and politics today. Plus... despite the blow by blow sequence of football scores... it's a rattling good yarn about community teamwork and the galvanising role of individual leadership, determination and flair.

The publisher is Blizzard Books who have a quarterly digital/print magazine specialising in football commentary and esoterica that amply shows football fans can be as erudite and interesting as any pub companion and probably have better jokes than most. The only thing that lets this publication down is the dreadful lack of proofreading that has led to so many typos and words running into each which can be distracting to pedants like me. I know one or two copy editors that are very reasonable cheap if you're interested.

From Rock Bottom to a Knight at the Comicopera

Authorised biographies are compromises - between the writer and the subject, between image and perception, between falsehood and reality. Fortunately Robert Wyatt has been found, and had his beans spilled by, a sympathetic but unsentimental fan (Grasscut man Marcus O'Dair) who is equally interested in the musician, the political observer and the human being. 

It is Robert's pure mischievous childlike originality and his melancholic vulnerability that come across so strongly in this book and, perhaps overdue, the creative symbiosis he has enjoyed with his partner Alfreda Benge. In some ways I would have liked the book to be have named after both of them and included Alfie's childhood and more of her work. Robert is a collaborator who gives generously and it is the musical 'Guest Spot' obscurities in the discography that delight over and above the phenomenal solo work and his key role in Soft Machine and Matching Mole - go stream!

That this unique productive life could have been prematurely interrupted many times is a salutary lesson to us all to value the people who dare to do different. I'm not going to use the phrase national treasure because Wyatt is completely international and stubbornly flawed ...and that is what makes his singular voice so authentic and precious.