Brian Viner

Brian Viner swapped London for the Herefordshire countryside, and his column ‘Country Life’ documents his attempts to chase the rural idyll. Chiefly a sports writer, he pens a weekly sports column and interview for the paper. He is the author of Ali, Pele, Lillee and Me: A Personal Odyssey Through the Sporting Seventies.

Brian Viner: Unexpected frictions follow Ferguson's fall

TheLast Word

Recently by Brian Viner

Brian Viner: Great sporting events are woven into our culture

Friday, 13 November 2009

Great sporting events are part of the fabric of our nation. Even those who loathe every aspect of sport would have to concede that the FA Cup final, Wimbledon, the Ashes and the Grand National are woven into our culture, and the accessibility or otherwise of such events on television is an emotive matter for millions of people.

Brian Viner: 'Why would my children collect sticks when they could be on Facebook?'

Thursday, 12 November 2009

The time has come when I can no longer send my children into our little wood to collect kindling. This is partly because they are no longer the obliging creatures they used to be, and why would anyone want to be picking up twigs when they could be on Facebook, and partly because it's November, and even after a mostly dry autumn the twigs are damp.

Brian Viner: Pietersen has style of original Brylcreem Boy

Saturday, 7 November 2009

The Last Word: Andrew Strauss tells us that the South African origins of himself, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior and Jonathan Trott are "a non-issue" for England's cricketers.

Brian Viner: 'Much as it pains me to say it, Yorkshire is the best source of unusual words'

Thursday, 5 November 2009

My friend Ian, who has lived all his 50-odd years in a village on the Herefordshire-Shropshire border, introduced us some years ago to an expression so localised that nobody I've tried it on in Leominster, eight miles down the road, understands what I'm on about.