90 Minutes from Europe tells the story of how an innovative British Airways advertising slogan foretold Walsall's greatest ever cup run; an adventure that saw the club defeat Arsenal, stun Liverpool and come closer to reaching Europe than anyone would have dared imagine. It's a tale so implausible that you just couldn't make it up.
Sixteen Walsall legends share their treasured memories of giant-killings and hard-won promotions. Alan Buckley tells of the conquering of Manchester United, while Peter Hart, Craig Shakespeare, Chris Marsh and Adi Viveash recall the humbling of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. Match of My Life is a joy for Saddlers fans of all ages.
The book delves into the complex dynamics of identity reconstruction within a Tanzanian refugee camp, focusing on the role of humanitarian agencies like UNHCR. It examines how Burundian Hutu refugees navigate their perceived victimhood in the aftermath of the 1993 massacres and the Rwandan genocide. Various groups employ distinct strategies to cope with their circumstances, revealing the ambiguous nature of innocence and victimhood. The narrative highlights the struggles of young men to reclaim their masculinity and political identity amidst these challenges.
Imagine a world in which Scotland win the World Cup, Derby County are champions of Europe and 1966 isn't the only year that England win anything. This isn't some far-fetched dream but a reality that could have been, had events turned out a little differently. If Only takes you to this world and celebrates the teams that almost became immortal.
A man walks into a Birmingham bookshop, buys a volume of poetry, and steps out into the road, where a jazz musician seems momentarily to bring the whole city together. In the second poem in Playing the Changes, the same thing happens, only half the words are redacted. Then the experience is retold as a Petrarchan sonnet; a children's skipping rhyme; an Acknowledgements page; a pastiche of Tristram Shandy... Drawing on the traditions of jazz improvisation and Oulipo, a literary movement where writing arises from extreme formal restriction, Playing the Changes sees Simon Turner decomposing and recomposing one of his own poems in a variety of forms and styles. The result is a hymn to the pleasures of music, reading, writing, and city life, humming with a joyous experimental energy. In Turner's linguistic hall of mirrors, the English language is always at serious, delirious play.
Today's football tournaments seem to have been with us forever. They are the survivors - the bright ideas that quickly caught on. Tinpot recalls the strange and forgotten competitions that sparked into life before shuffling off their mortal coil. It tells their stories, giving them the spotlight they deserve.