The Little Wonder: The Untold Story of Alfred Shrubb - World Champion Runner

by Rob Hadgraft

To see our full range of athletics books, click on "Kindle Store" and search for DESERT ISLAND ATHLETICS HISTORIES or DESERT ISLAND SPORT.British author Rob Hadgraft specialises in biographies of marathon and ultra-distance runners. All are available worldwide on Amazon Kindle. His five subjects to date The Little The Untold Story of Alfred Shrubb - World Champion Runner ( B00608AT02).2. Beer and The Making of Walter George - Athletics' First Superstar ( B0061SEXV2).3. Athletics' Noble Savage - From Indian Reservation to Champion of the World ( B005KBC7VO).4. Tea with Mr 100,000 Miles - The Longest Protest March in History ( B0061C3HBU).5. Plimsolls On, Eyeballs The Rise and Horrendous Fall of Marathon Legend Jim Peters ( B005YNKK9Y). He was small and wiry and ran like a startled deer. In his first big race, in 1900, astonished onlookers labelled him ‘The Little Wonder’ – a nickname the press latched on to and which stuck. Within a few years Alfred Shrubb’s fame had spread worldwide and he laid claim to being athletics’ first international superstar.Yet it was not long before his many achievements were little more than fading numbers in dusty record books. He had become largely a forgotten hero of British sport.This – the first biography of a truly remarkable athlete and adventurer – puts matters right. Shrubb’s memory is resurrected, exactly 100 years after he shattered numerous world records.Shrubb was a quiet, working class lad from rural Sussex. His talent was ‘discovered’ one night when, in his working boots, he raced a fire engine. Within a short time he had become county, national and international champion, and was soon amassing titles, trophies and world records. Some of his 1904 times remained unbeaten for almost half a century. His adventures around the world, his solo victories against teams of relay runners, and his disputes with the authorities, make his a truly unique story. Banned for life for breaking amateurism’s strict code, he turned to professional racing in North America. His subsequent exploits beggar belief. In some cases his opponents were not even human.Shrubb was a one-off whose story demanded to be told. This book details the colourful tales of a man who truly deserved the soubriquet ‘The Little Wonder’.In his day he was the talk of the land. He was so famous that in 1912 his name entered the English language. In his novel The Lost World, Arthur Conan Doyle described ‘a perfect Shrubb’, and his readers knew exactly who that was and what it meant. Alfred Shrubb was simply the greatest runner the world had ever seen.On Guy Fawkes’ Night, November 5th, 1904, ‘The Little Wonder’ had shattered seven more world records to add to his collection. He was so fast, he even raced horses. But posterity has not been kind to his memory. Shrubb is today all but forgotten. This book will change that.

Paperback

First published November 29, 2012

About the author

Born in Luton, England, in 1955, Rob Hadgraft spent 16 years working in regional newspapers as a news and sports reporter and sub-editor, before a spell in public relations in London. He turned freelance in the year 2000, and by 2015 there were 19 sports books published in his name, 14 of them focussing on football club history, plus a series of five acclaimed biographies of famous runners of yesteryear.
His study of Arthur Newton ('Tea With Mr Newton') was long-listed in the William Hill Sports Book of the Year awards in 2010, and his books have twice won the same competition's jacket design prize. Most of his books are also available as e-books for kindle.
Hadgraft, nowadays based in North Essex, is a club runner himself, having completed more than 1,000 road and cross-country races in roughly 30 years (at the last count!). This has inevitably taken a toll on various key joints, leading to the launch of a blog called 'Diary of a Clapped-Out Runner' in 2012 (www.clappedoutrunner.blogspot.com). More info on Rob's books can be found at: www.robhadgraft.com