Being Eddie Waring, by Tony Hannan

Admired ambassador for rugby league or prat in a hat? Few sports commentators have polarised opinion as starkly as Eddie Waring did during his 45 years of broadcasting for the BBC, and while Tony Hannan airs the case against him fairly, he is firmly in the pro-Waring camp, arguing that his mainly northern critics did not appreciate his remit to popularise the game to the country as a whole. Hannan's impressively researched biography paints a picture of a complex man, who began as a go-ahead, innovative administrator at his local club, Dewsbury, moved on to journalism and became a national treasure while always maintaining a private side. Tellingly, few players have a bad word to say about The Talking Trilby, instead relating many unsung acts of kindness. His unique vowels were last heard at a match in 1981, by which time the effect of Alzheimer's was already sadly evident, and he died in 1986. This book rightly rehabilitates him as far more of a pioneer than a mere musical-hall act.

Published by Mainstream in hardback, £14.99