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Pride & Glory: The Forgotten Story of Great Britain's Greatest Olympic Team
More than 75 years have passed but still there is no British Olympic triumph to match it. You might think that you’ve heard all about Britain’s great Olympic heroes but this tale overshadows them all.
In 1936, Great Britain became not only the first team to defeat Canada in Olympic ice hockey, but they also became the European, World and Olympic champions too.
The Brits were rank outsiders for a medal and, even though the team was cobbled together at the last moment, they sensationally rose to the occasion.
In their seven games they managed to stay undefeated and cause an upset which reverberated around the world.
Rob Jovanovic has spent five years tracing the families of the GB team and constructing the players’ stories.
His research has taken him from leafy southern England to 19th-Century Glasgow, across the Atlantic to the great plains of Canada and back to the Nazi Germany of the 1930s, before an unlikely ending in Nottingham.
This is the classic story of a group of men winning against all the odds. A group who didn’t want the fame or the riches that came with success, the winning was enough. This is the story of their Pride & Glory.
In 1936, Great Britain became not only the first team to defeat Canada in Olympic ice hockey, but they also became the European, World and Olympic champions too.
The Brits were rank outsiders for a medal and, even though the team was cobbled together at the last moment, they sensationally rose to the occasion.
In their seven games they managed to stay undefeated and cause an upset which reverberated around the world.
Rob Jovanovic has spent five years tracing the families of the GB team and constructing the players’ stories.
His research has taken him from leafy southern England to 19th-Century Glasgow, across the Atlantic to the great plains of Canada and back to the Nazi Germany of the 1930s, before an unlikely ending in Nottingham.
This is the classic story of a group of men winning against all the odds. A group who didn’t want the fame or the riches that came with success, the winning was enough. This is the story of their Pride & Glory.
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First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 26, 2019
This Book to me was very interesting and I think the Author did a very good job in getting all the information with His Research. The only Problem for me was when the Book was delivered to me in the United States from Pineapple Books Inc in the UK the Physical Condition of the Book was not Good with some of the Pages falling out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 21, 2012
This is a frustrating book to read. It lacks structural coherence and focus, a story plan, and is riddled with typographical and spelling errors, suggesting the manuscript has never had the benefit of a competent editor to review it before it went to press. Surprisingly, and incredibly annoyingly for a book of this type, it has no page numbers, which makes it very tedious to try and follow the various strands presented within the text. It sorely needs an index. Unless you are the kind of person who only reads a book from first page to last, strictly sequentially and never cross-referring to other pages, you will quickly find this an irksome account of what should have been a better story to tell.
There's plenty of material to interest the hockey fan, but it's a shame it has not been better marshalled and presented. Ignore the bit about one hockey player's game pass bearing Hitler's signature being used to prove the notorious Hitler Diaries were fakes. It's not true. Like much of the book, that's just breathless licence and flimsy research on the author's part. The author also promotes the 1936 Gold Medal win as a triumph for British ice hockey, but that's a debatable conclusion, since by and large, the British team only had a birth qualification, their hockey training and playing was Canadian.
I have doubts that anyone will want to re-read this book once read, and that's the author's fault, for this should have been a reference book for its topic, where the reader could re-trace one of the many strands that are told within the main story of the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Games. Instead, like my copy, it will languish untouched, and be given away to leave shelf space for something better. Disappointing.
There's plenty of material to interest the hockey fan, but it's a shame it has not been better marshalled and presented. Ignore the bit about one hockey player's game pass bearing Hitler's signature being used to prove the notorious Hitler Diaries were fakes. It's not true. Like much of the book, that's just breathless licence and flimsy research on the author's part. The author also promotes the 1936 Gold Medal win as a triumph for British ice hockey, but that's a debatable conclusion, since by and large, the British team only had a birth qualification, their hockey training and playing was Canadian.
I have doubts that anyone will want to re-read this book once read, and that's the author's fault, for this should have been a reference book for its topic, where the reader could re-trace one of the many strands that are told within the main story of the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Games. Instead, like my copy, it will languish untouched, and be given away to leave shelf space for something better. Disappointing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews