In spite of fashion and a smoking band the ‘brotherhood of the briar’ proves largely unflappable
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‘It was as though, after a period of wariness, my pipe had warmed to me.’
In spite of fashion and a smoking band the ‘brotherhood of the briar’ proves largely unflappable
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‘Feelings can be very obscure but numbers never lie.’
Kevin Brazil on metrics, obsession and fitness.
‘An intense workout is an ecstasy of punishment packaged as self-improvement.’
Mary Wellesley on exercise, ritual and Barry’s Bootcamp.
‘I was not good at sports because I would not do sports because I did not have the body for sports because I would not do sports.’
Saba Sams on girlhood, embodiment and avoiding sports.
‘Following United rarely brings me any great joy and most often it depresses me. If I could disengage, I would.’
Jonny Thakkar on Manchester United.
‘I deployed my body against an opponent like a blunt and effective instrument.’
John Patrick McHugh on playing Gaelic football.
Andrew Martin is a freelance writer living in London. He is the author of nine detective novels and four non-fiction books including, Ghoul Britannia, Notes on a Haunted Island, Underground, Overground: A Passenger's History of the Tube and most recently, Flight by Elephant, World War II's most Daring Jungle Mission. ‘The Rollercoaster Champion of the World’ appeared in Granta 79.
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Maartje Scheltens on Steve Reich, repetition and discomfort.
‘At the entrance to the gynaecology clinic, I ring the bell.’
Fiction by Agnes Chew.
‘If Sawada can transform herself without limit, maybe I can too.’ Sayaka Murata introduces Tomoko Sawada’s photographs, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori.
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