Barbed Wire and Cucumber Sandwiches is the compelling story of a cricket tour framed in a landscape of turbulent social history. Cricket, England's gentle summer game, was shaken to its core by demonstrations, strikes, arrests and violence amid growing global disgust at apartheid, ahead of South Africa's planned 1970 tour. The battle to stop and then to save the tour split the nation, drove a wedge between the generations and destroyed friendships in an uncanny foreshadowing of Brexit. Fifty years on, acclaimed author and social historian Dr Colin Shindler has delved deep into the MCC archives for new information and gained exclusive interviews with key players of the time. Alongside the views of cricketers Mike Brearley and Ray Illingworth are the opinions of Labour politician Peter Hain, who was chairman of the Stop The Seventy Tour campaign. Barbed Wire and Cucumber Sandwiches brings you the full untold story of one of cricket's biggest controversies - the significance of which reaches far beyond the realm of sport.

About the Author
Dr Colin Shindler is best known for his William Hill-nominated childhood memoir Manchester United Ruined My Life. He has written numerous books on sport and history as well as biographies of footballer Mike Summerbee and cricketer Bob Barber. He has been a contributor to Wisden, The Cricketer, Wisden Cricket Monthly, the Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Times. He has lectured on modern history at Cambridge University for 20 years.


Book Information
ISBN 9781785316340
Author Colin Shindler
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Pitch Publishing Ltd
Publisher Pitch Publishing Ltd
Weight(grams) 574g