Hugh McIlvanney

Once described as 'the greatest sportswriter in the English-speaking world', Hugh McIlvanney is garlanded with awards and held in as high regard by those he has written about as by his readers.

He remains perceptive and passionate after six decades of travelling the globe to chronicle landmark sporting events, including 11 World Cups and 10 Olympic Games, in a career that has spanned generations of celebrated sporting figures – a veritable A–Z encompassing everyone from Ali to Zidane.

In what is sure to be lively conversation with Graham Spiers, McIlvanney shares, with his characteristic sharp insight, wry wit and pithy observations, the experiences of his remarkable career, prominent among them his friendships with the immortal managers Busby, Shankly, Stein and Ferguson, the troubled genius of players such as George Best and Jimmy Johnstone and the many magical days spent in the company of the incomparable Muhammad Ali.

He talks, too, of the times great sporting occasions were darkened by horror and tragedy, when his background as a news reporter helped him to cope, and of the changes he has seen in the business of sports journalism.