A Load of Old Balls: The QI History of Sport

by James Harkin, Anna Ptaszynski

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?

A Load of Old Balls 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 A Fish -show us sport as we've never seen it before.


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Published in hardback as Everything to Play For.


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For more from the team behind QI's hit TV show, check out the QI FACTS series of books, @qikipedia, their weekly podcast at nosuchthingasafish.com or visit qi.com.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Sports, Audiobook, Humor, Science

386 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[Sophie Crane]

This rather Amusing Book was Mentioned in the Spectator books of the year as the best sports book & That's Good Enough for Me!

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out]

Having almost no interest in the subject of sports, I put off reading a book for the Nonfiction Reader Challenge category as long as I could. I had drawn up a small shortlist of titles but, as a fan of the informative and hilarious British trivia panel television show, QI, when I spotted Everything To Play For as a new release in a library catalogue, I immediately snapped it up.

Authored by two of the show’s ‘elves’ (aka researchers), Everything To Play For reflects the spirit of the program. Exploring the weird and wonderful wide world of sports, from the disputed origins of golf, to the tactics of tug-of-war, from the invention of the anti-orgasm bicycle seat, to the psychology of teamwork, and much more, the anecdotes embrace the idea that participating in, or watching, sport is about more than just the game, it is an integral part of the human experience with implications for individuals, society, politics, and technology.

Almost in spite of myself I found this book to be intriguing, surprising and entertaining. I had thought I might end up skimming parts, but I even read the extensive footnotes. I feel I learned a lot of fascinating, if perhaps ultimately useless, trivia. I don’t need to know that the football huddle originated with a Gallaudet University quarterback, Paul Dillingham Hubbard, who needed to communicate with his team, or that the invention of plastic was due to the pursuit of cheaper billiard balls, or even that see-sawing was once a Roman spectator sport, but I’m weirdly glad I do.

Written in a personable tone, and with plenty of humour, this book can be read straight through, or dipped into as desired. Ideal for sports fans and trivia buffs, Everything To Play For is all fun and games.

[Olivia Swindler]

This book fell in the perfect center of my Venn Diagram—sports and fun facts! If you’re looking for something lighthearted but still interesting, I recommend this one. My favorite fact was that Pickleball was named after the inventor’s dog!

[Meg]

i really enjoyed this book, especially the bonus chapter at the end of the audiobook. Just thoroughly entertaining all around.

[James Pappas]

Sport has been in our DNA since the beginning. As far back as any documents, cave paintings, or hieroglyphics show, humans have made a game out of something.

The book dives into the many facets sports, such as cheating in sports, strange and bizarre games, sports having a political effect, etc. it was a very light-hearted and even humorous read. Some fun tidbits include why a round of golf is 18 holes ; King Henry VIII had the first (documented) pair of soccer boots; in the early days of baseball a home run was a bad thing because immediately outside the stadium there was water, and they couldn’t get the ball back. I recommend this book to anyone who likes sports

[Phil Italiano]

Good read. Full of interesting stories and facts about sports that no one knows about. The authors pull content through the course of history and develop a work that highlights how sports and mankind have always been intertwined. You learn about things like how sporting rules evolve, the evolution of teamwork and the sports themselves, the history of ball making, the presence of steroids, cheating, the role of fans, significant sporting feats made by forgotten athletes, the existence of novel and unknown sports all around the world and even why tennis balls are yellow.

4/5 stars.

[Max]

I think I have lower standards of non-fiction than I do fiction, then again, I also think I read a lot of great non-fiction, like this

[Lydia McPherson]

Love you Anna and James

[Kirsty]

I was sceptical that I'd like this book as I don't particularly read sports stuff at all, but the history behind a lot of different aspects was so interesting! The only reason I didn't give 5 stars was I felt some parts dragged a little (may be the lack of sporty enthusiasm from me, though). But I did really enjoy it, especially since I also love Anna and James from NSTAF.

[Caleb]

3.5. It's interesting but it feels like if a podcast was a book

[Suzanne Fournier]

I'm not a sports person, there are few sports I enjoy doing and even fewer I enjoy watching; but I do love No Such Thing As A Fish and knew I would enjoy this book. It's funny, interesting, and full of unusual facts, sports and people.

[Josh]

I'm now vaguely familiar with every sport !

[Jerry Smith]

As a lover of sport in general, this is a book that is likely to appeal to me and it does, even though I have become somewhat disenchanted with professional sports over the last few years as money increasingly corrupts it. This is the sort of read I tend to throw in between book club reads and/or heavier texts because it is easy to read and not too taxing!

There is plenty of interest here although it jumps around from the history of mainstream sports as well as covering more obscure sporting endeavors from various countries and cultures. Much of it I knew but there are always interesting and amusing anecdotes in such books and this is no different. Overall it is quite easy and non-taxing to read although I am not a fan of the footnotes approach that it takes. As well as already being disjointed as befits its nature (covering widely different sports and historical events) virtually every page has at least one, and sometimes up to three footnotes explaining in even greater detail, a point mentioned in the narrative.

This is OK in moderation but here, to my taste anyway, it is greatly overdone so one finds oneself dropping to the bottom of the page then back up on a couple of occasions each page which disrupts the flow greatly. I am not sure this approach is strictly necessary as when there are so many such notes, surely they would be better placed in the paragraphs they reference?

Still, an enjoyable read that obviously won't be groundbreaking but is nonetheless worthy of picking up if you have an interest in sport generally.

[Kirsti]

Appealing history of sports all over the world. I didn't know that from 1941 to 1979, it was illegal for women to play soccer in Brazil. The authors try to include U.S. sports, but they have trouble with accuracy. For example, they assume that Puerto Rico is its own country, when the truth is that Puerto Ricans are American citizens. They also make smaller errors, such as repeatedly referring to the ground on which American football is played as a pitch (it's a field) and pronouncing Toledo, Ohio, like the city in Spain.

[Angus]

Fascinating and amusing in equal measure. Anyone with a modicum of interest in sport - and quite probably those with no interest at all - will thoroughly enjoy this book.

Rather than simply being a list of quirky or quite interesting facts - and there are certainly plenty of those - each chapter has a well thought out and intelligent theme, encompassing everything that makes sport so captivating to the average human under performer, like me.

[Ian]

James and Anna bring their familiar entertaining style from No Such Thing As A Fish to the audiobook version of their book. I'm no sports fan, but I love to learn trivial facts, so I was in my element listening to this. And at the end there was a very nice bonus, which took me by surprise. I can't fault this audio presentation; no notes.

[Cathy Moore]

I’m not a sports fan. I do watch some sport; the Olympics, Wimbledon, some international football. I say this as my lack of serious interest in sport in no way diminished my enjoyment of this book.
As you would expect from two QI elves, this is jam-packed with fascinating facts and silly stories. Easy and enjoyable reading from start to finish.

[Stuart Shiffman]

I give it four stars based upon the incredible amount of meaningless sports trivia that a sports nut such as myself can file away. I will mention just one, Osama Bin Laden while studying in England became an avid Arsenal fan. The book covers sports as diverse as tug of war to football, American and European. A perfect vacation read.

[John]

Honestly, all the footnotes drove me nuts. Most of them could have easily been incorporated right into the story being told. Also...found a couple of mistakes in US sports, most notably the Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Team would never.play the St Louis Blues Hockey team! The St Louis Cardinals play baseball

[Hans Geurts]

A funny and heartwarming look at (the history of) sports in all its glory. Some anecdotes are more or less familiar, some are very obscure, but they're always entertaining. And even fierljeppen gets an honourable mention, which makes me - a Dutchman - proud (although I have never played it myself)

[Ed Thomas]

A far as non-fiction goes you can’t get much better. Going over stories rather than stats, the authors cover a huge range of sports, countries and time frames, creating an interesting collection of the building blocks that have shaped sport and society

[Alec S Hurley]

Absolutely brilliant work! Could not have been more pleased to have received this as a gift and cannot recommend highly enough. The authors are witty, informative, and weave together a compelling narrative.

[Joe Walker]

Excellent facts related to sports. Well structured chapters each with their own theme

[Cameron Avery Roberts]

Absolutely fantastic! In the classic QI way, blending facts with funnies in perfect bite size pieces, I’ll be full for fun facts for sure

[Andy]

A fun ride through the history of (some) sports... I learned a few things and was eneretained!...

[Tom Smith]

As someone uninterested in sports this book held my attention well

[Saren Jelonek]

Lovely written, full of trivia, had a ton of fun reading it !

[Varda]

Absolutely adored this! Anna and James are fantastic and this felt like an extra long episode of No Such Thing As A Fish (minus Andy and Dan). Full of brilliant facts!

[Richard Howard]

I love NSTaaF and this book reads like an extended episode of that show with all the sparkling wit and love of obscure facts that make it so enjoyable.

[Debra]

Such a fun book. I think any lovers of history, sports, or trivia would love this book!