Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    This Sporting Life
    This Sporting Life
    This Sporting Life
    Audiobook (abridged)2 hours

    This Sporting Life

    Written by David Storey

    Narrated by Stephen McGann

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In post war Britiain a new writing style emerged from the bleak times. It was commonly known as "kitchen sink drama". That sounds a little disrespectful now, perhaps, but these stories brought realism and raw emotion to their readers. David Storey's This Sporting Life, set in the industrial north, brilliantly conveys 21-year-old steelworker Arthur Machin's love of his rugby league, his success on the field, and his feelings towards his widowed landlady, as well as his bouts of doubt and anxiety. Stephen McGann perfectly captures the mood and the character in his reading.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe Copyright Group
    Release dateJan 1, 2014
    ISBN9781780002460
    This Sporting Life
    Author

    David Storey

    David Storey was born in 1933 in Yorkshire, England, and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art. His novels won many prizes, including the Macmillan Fiction Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and the Man Booker Prize. He also wrote fifteen plays and was a fellow of University College London. Storey passed away in 2017 at the age of eighty-three.

    Related to This Sporting Life

    Related audiobooks

    Classics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Sunken White Elephant

      Jan 21, 2020

      THERE’S a brilliant documentary by Werner Herzog, called Encounters at the End of the World. This beautifully filmed expedition essentially explores not only Antarctica, but also the people who live and work there. They’re a fascinating bunch of pers

      3 min read

    • Article

      A View Of Mount Suribachi

      Feb 20, 2020

      A View Of Mount Suribachi
      3 min read

    • Article

      No 10 Is Marching Through Cultural Institutions – And Making A Battleground Of The Arts | Charlotte Higgins

      Nov 8, 2021

      When the chair of the National Maritime Museum, Charles Dunstone, wrote to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to extend Dr Aminul Hoque’s trusteeship into a second four-year term, it was just a formality. The letter, written

      5 min read

    • Article

      100 Greatest Grounds In Britain

      Sep 22, 2021

      The perfect ground does not exist. Pubs and good patter can be traded off against handy road access or proximity to a station, while one fan’s trash is another’s beloved treasure (it’s called ‘charm’ – Ed.). But some things grab us all: that feeling

      24 min read

    • Article

      Good Riddance to the Roman Empire

      Jan 23, 2020

      WALTER SCHEIDEL MAKES a dramatic claim in Escape From Rome: The collapse of the Roman Empire made the modern world possible. The release from imperial governance, he argues, had an outcome in Europe that was not replicated elsewhere. That in turn exp

      5 min read

    • Article

      Roger’s PROFANISAURUS

      Sep 9, 2021

      profanisaurus@viz.co.uk ace in the hole 1. phr. In an argument, a decisive or overwhelming fact that is kept in reserve until needed. 2. phr. Encomium in praise of a skilled sexual partner. ‘Say what you like about the vicar, but he’s ace in the hole

      7 min read

    • Article

      Central Intelligence

      Apr 13, 2023

      Exactly where and what is central Europe? In his new book, Martyn Rady takes a fluid, pragmatic approach to this subject, wandering many byways around the core area of the Holy Roman Empire and neighbouring territories. He aims to show the region’s d

      2 min read

    • Article

      Now For The World

      Jun 22, 2023

      Now For The World
      15 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Oct 12, 2022

      by Caroline Scott (£16.99, HB, Simon & Schuster) Calling all food lovers! This colourful read about a 1930s British food writer was made for you. Stella Douglas is having a bit of a rough time of it – her mother just passed away, her book isn’t sell

      2 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Jan 27, 2022

      Reviews
      6 min read

    • Article

      Pick Of The Paperbacks

      Nov 25, 2022

      by MA Kuzniar This reimagining of the beloved story of The Nutcracker moves the action to Nottingham at the turn of the 20th century, and tells how a young girl's soon to be buried dream to become a ballerina is realised thanks toamysterious toymaker

      2 min read

    • Article

      Keeping The Home Fires Burning

      May 3, 2022

      Keeping The Home Fires Burning
      1 min read

    • Article

      Cross Of Iron

      Sep 7, 2023

      Cross Of Iron
      2 min read

    • Article

      It’s Showtime!

      Aug 21, 2022

      It’s Showtime!
      1 min read

    • Article

      Also On The Shelf

      Apr 26, 2022

      Brigades of Antietam: The Union and Confederate Brigades at the Battle of Antietam, Bradley M. Gottfried, editor, 2021, Antietam Institute Press, $37.64 Fifteen experts on the Battle of Antietam contribute to this volume chronicling the activities of

      1 min read

    • Article

      Ghost Town

      Jan 4, 2024

      Ghost Town
      2 min read

    • Article

      Television

      Aug 17, 2021

      “You’ve got a national treasure on your hands, apparently,” jokes Kathy Burke amid Money Talks (All4), her follow-up to 2019’s All Woman. Hard not to agree: this two-part documentary highlights Burke’s ability to empathise with interviewees on either

      1 min read

    • Article

      On The Bookshelf

      Dec 17, 2021

      HARDBACK BOOK OF THE MONTH by Simon Beckett Published by Trapeze Price £14.99 Pages 368 ISBN 9781398706903 Firearms police officer Jonah Colley gets a midnight call for help from an old friend. It leads him to Slaughter Quay where, in abandoned wareh

      5 min read

    • Article

      Books That Shook!

      Dec 18, 2023

      Books That Shook!
      2 min read

    • Article

      Pele, Qatar And Mike Bassett Mep

      Sep 27, 2019

      WHAT’S YOUR BEST MEMORY FROM FILMING? Martin Bashir, journalist: “There are few privileges greater than meeting Pele, and interviewing him about England’s prospects under Mike Bassett was special. He played along brilliantly, naming a few nations l

      2 min read

    • Article

      It’s Showtime!

      Feb 14, 2021

      Stan Walker has already shared his painful and powerful story with a moving autobiography and a documentary about his cancer surgery, but this series shows us the fun and laughter that fill the lives of the beloved Kiwi singer and his hugely entertai

      2 min read

    • Article

      Oh Miriam!

      Nov 15, 2023

      John Murray, 323pp,£25 It's fair to say self-defined ‘national trinket’ Miriam Margoyles is critical Marmite. According to the blurbs on her second volume of memoirs, some in fluorescent pink, the actress and chat-show-guest embarrasser is‘wonderful’

      1 min read

    • Article

      Books ...

      Jan 7, 2021

      In 1938, British rookie reporter Georgie Young is posted to Germany. As the power of the Nazi party rises, she realises she needs to act even if it means putting her own life at risk. A beautiful and heartbreaking tale for historical fiction lovers.

      1 min read

    • Article

      Treat Your Shelf

      Mar 25, 2024

      by Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion When Hannah lands a job in a psychiatric ward, she is challenged every day. Figuring out her new role is tough, but finding herself in the process is an even bigger task. OUTWED. by Louise Milligan Journalist Kat

      1 min read

    • Article

      Back To The Present

      Feb 10, 2022

      ONSCREEN, Sam Heughan is used to living in uncertain times. After all, the 41-year-old actor leads Starz’s hit series Outlander, on which he plays an 18th-century Scottish warrior who falls in love with a 20th-century time traveler (Caitriona Balfe).

      1 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for This Sporting Life

    3.5/5

    31 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      autumn-2013, radio-4, published-1960, sport, under-500-ratingsRead from September 01 to 02, 2013BBC BLURB: As part of Radio 4's celebration of British New Wave film and cinema, Johnny Vegas directs a feature-length radio reversioning of This Sporting Life - marking the 50th anniversary of the classic Lindsay Anderson film which starred the young Richard Harris.This new version is adapted by Andrew Lynch, directly from David Storey's novel. A surprisingly beautiful, yet repressed, northern drama, it contrasts the deep wants and needs of protagonist Arthur Machin with the stark aggression of the rugby pitch.The sounds are rich - the rugby scrum, the atmosphere of the match, the changing rooms, the dancehall, struggles in the bedroom, arguments by the kitchen hearth.James Purefoy plays Arthur Machin and Emily Watson is Mrs Hammond, accompanied on the touchline by an ensemble cast including John Thomson, Julia Davis, Sheridan Smith and Philip Jackson.Commentary for the Rugby League game-play is provided by commentator Ray French, who witnessed some of the filming of the 1963 film with Richard Harris.Dramatised from David Storey's original novel by Andrew LynchProducer: Sally Harrison Director: Johnny VegasA Woolyback production for BBC Radio 4.'There are three types of athlete: the nervous, the scientific, and the animal.'Original Coronation Street Theme Tune3 likes