Everything to Play For : Faber & Faber : 9780571372539 : 0571372538 : 12 Oct 2023 : SHORTLISTED FOR THE CHARLES TYRWHITT SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 'Top Bins! A personal best, a lap record and a hole in one for when rain has stopped play.' ALAN DAVIES 'The trivia book of the season . . . magnificent.' SPECTATOR Did you know that Henry VIII owned the first pair of football boots? Or that David Attenborough is responsible for yellow tennis balls? Everything to Play For is the curious story of us and sport. It's about our mind-blowingly determined attempts to be the fastest, the strongest, the most skilful. In this endlessly entertaining tale of play and belonging, astonishing violence and jaw-dropping cheating, we learn what led ancient Egyptian athletes to have their spleens removed and discover why Michael Palin was disqualified from a conker tournament. Crossing millennia, continents and cultures, Harkin and Ptaszynski - the brainy researchers for BBC's QI and co-hosts of No Such Thing As