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Tottenham

Ian Hamilton

‘Gascoigne’s move to Tottenham had made him rich.’

World Cup Hero

Ian Hamilton

‘The antitheses had been there all along but in July 1990, after Gascoigne’s World Cup triumph, they were given a new formulation.’

Don’t Cry for Gazza

Ian Hamilton

‘‘Who is Gazza?’ asked Mr Justice Harman in the High Court in September 1990.’

Actively Portly

Ian Hamilton

‘When Ian Rush was asked to explain his failure to score goals for Juventus he replied that being in Italy was like being in a foreign country.’

Finally Fit

Ian Hamilton

‘By eight-thirty, the rain was sheeting down, and the thunder and lightning seemed to be directly overhead. The police dogs around the track began to bark. Were lions whelping in the street? Had Gazza been too saucy with the gods?’

Il Commento Gastrico

Ian Hamilton

‘In the old days, when a British star went to Italy, he disappeared.’

Portly Again?

Ian Hamilton

‘English football’s most precocious and precious talent is evaporating into the skies over Italy like the fading flares of a half-spent Roman candle.’

Fourteen and After

Nick Hornby

‘We were fourteen and had recently discovered irony.’

The Highway of Brotherhood and Unity

Michael Ignatieff

‘Back in 1989, we thought the new world opened up by the breaching of the Berlin Wall would be ruled by philosopher kings, dissident heroes and shipyard electricians.’

The Bank Manager

Charles Glass

‘In the south of France, at the edge of a cove that cannot be reached by road, lives an old woman from England.’

L,U,C,I,E

Nadine Gordimer

‘I correct the spelling because I’m a lawyer and I’m accustomed to precision in language; in legal documents the displacement of a comma can change the intention expressed in a sentence and lead to new litigation.’

Dancing in Cambodia

Amitav Ghosh

‘The only person I ever met who knew both Princess Soumphady and King Sisowath was a dancer named Chea Samy. She was said to be one of the Cambodia’s greatest dancers, a national treasure. She was also Pol Pot’s sister-in-law.’

Listed for Trial

Tibor Fischer

‘He didn't like attending County Hall.‘

Lessons in Inhaling

Esther Freud

‘Lisa was meeting her father for supper.‘