Bill Beaumont - Bill Beaumont - The Autobiography

COPYRIGHT Copyright Dedication Foreword by Clive Woodward Prologue One Childhood, school and family life Two Remember you’re a donkey Three Your country needs you Four Lion cub Five A slam at last Six Leader of the pride Seven A brain discovered … and damaged! Eight Banished Nine Battle stations Ten A Question of Sport Eleven The World Cup Twelve The future Thirteen Nothing but the best Fourteen On top of the World Career Record Acknowledgements About the Publisher

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain in 2003

Copyright © Bill Beaumont 2003, 2004

Geoff Green asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780007156702

Ebook Edition © JULY 2017 ISBN: 9780008271114

Version: 2017-07-18

DEDICATION Dedication Foreword by Clive Woodward Prologue One Childhood, school and family life Two Remember you’re a donkey Three Your country needs you Four Lion cub Five A slam at last Six Leader of the pride Seven A brain discovered … and damaged! Eight Banished Nine Battle stations Ten A Question of Sport Eleven The World Cup Twelve The future Thirteen Nothing but the best Fourteen On top of the World Career Record Acknowledgements About the Publisher

To my wife Hilary and our sons Daniel, Sam and Josh .

Thank you for your support and encouragement and

for selflessly providing me with the opportunity to do a lot

of things I wouldn’t, otherwise, have been able to do .

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright COPYRIGHT Copyright Dedication Foreword by Clive Woodward Prologue One Childhood, school and family life Two Remember you’re a donkey Three Your country needs you Four Lion cub Five A slam at last Six Leader of the pride Seven A brain discovered … and damaged! Eight Banished Nine Battle stations Ten A Question of Sport Eleven The World Cup Twelve The future Thirteen Nothing but the best Fourteen On top of the World Career Record Acknowledgements About the Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain in 2003 Copyright © Bill Beaumont 2003, 2004 Geoff Green asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication Source ISBN: 9780007156702 Ebook Edition © JULY 2017 ISBN: 9780008271114 Version: 2017-07-18

Dedication DEDICATION Dedication Foreword by Clive Woodward Prologue One Childhood, school and family life Two Remember you’re a donkey Three Your country needs you Four Lion cub Five A slam at last Six Leader of the pride Seven A brain discovered … and damaged! Eight Banished Nine Battle stations Ten A Question of Sport Eleven The World Cup Twelve The future Thirteen Nothing but the best Fourteen On top of the World Career Record Acknowledgements About the Publisher To my wife Hilary and our sons Daniel, Sam and Josh . Thank you for your support and encouragement and for selflessly providing me with the opportunity to do a lot of things I wouldn’t, otherwise, have been able to do .

Foreword by Clive Woodward FOREWORD Clive Woodward I was delighted to accept Bill’s invitation to write the foreword for his autobiography. Bill had a huge influence on my international career. He was captain when I made my debut for England against Ireland in January 1980, the same year he led England so brilliantly to the Grand Slam, England’s first for 23 years. On the day I replaced Tony Bond, who was very unfortunate to break his leg on what was an otherwise enjoyable afternoon. To win your first cap, as Tony and Bill would testify, is a great feeling and one of Bill’s strengths as captain was to make the new caps feel welcome. I was fortunate to play in the remaining three games of the 1980 Grand Slam and they are memories that will always stay with me. Bill captained England a further 11 times with me in the side and his influence on the team was huge. He was inspirational and a very good leader. To survive the slaughtering he received from his team-mates, including me, when he was ignored during his half-time team talk against Australia, while we were all distracted by a young lady called Erica Roe running across the sacred turf of Twickenham, showed his true mettle! In total Bill played 34 times for England, 33 of them consecutively and on seven occasions for the British Lions on two tours to New Zealand and South Africa, the latter as captain. He stayed loyal to his club Fylde and retired prematurely at the age of 29 when surely further honours would have followed. Once a player retires, it’s often difficult to make the move from sport to business but Bill has made the transition effortlessly. Bill’s achievements on the field of play have been matched off it. An OBE in 1982, a successful career in broadcasting, notably A Question of Sport , and running a profitable textiles business, endorse his versatility and commerce skills. Bill has also remained dedicated to rugby. He is one of two RFU representatives on the International Rugby Board and earlier this year he was made Chairman of the British and Irish Lions Committee, underlining the worldwide respect for a man who has given so much to the game. Enjoy the book, it contains the life of an extraordinary man and one whom I’m proud to call a friend. Clive WoodwardEngland May 2003

Prologue

One Childhood, school and family life

Two Remember you’re a donkey

Three Your country needs you

Four Lion cub