Brian Viner

Recently by Brian Viner

Brian Viner: How theatre replaced drama of cricket for captain Coney

Saturday, 29 November 2008

The Last Word

Brian Viner: What's not to like? Plenty that I hear

Friday, 28 November 2008

We all seem to have words and phrases we can't stand

Brian Viner: 'Over here, haggling is not quite cricket; over there, it makes the world go round'

Thursday, 27 November 2008

Home And Away

Nicole Cooke: 'I wear the rainbow jersey next year. It will be fantastic'

Monday, 24 November 2008

As the woman who started Britain's Beijing gold rush and achieved a feat unique in cycling, Nicole Cooke has a compelling claim to greater public recognition

Brian Viner: Shearer's messiah complex based on simple arrogance

Saturday, 22 November 2008

The Last Word

Brian Viner: How do you kill three hours in Walsall? It's not as hard as it sounds

Thursday, 20 November 2008

Home And Away

Darren Anderton: 'I never thought I'd end up in League Two but they all try to play football'

Monday, 17 November 2008

One of the stars of Euro 96, Darren Anderton was once known as 'Sicknote' because of his injury record but is still playing – for Bournemouth – at the age of 36

Brian Viner: Calzaghe should learn ropes about quitting while ahead

Saturday, 15 November 2008

The Last Word

Brian Viner: 'They just wanted to pick up the rabbit – and avoid a fourth 60-mile trip'

Thursday, 13 November 2008

Home And Away

Bradley Wiggins: 'I wonder if I'll be more important than a dead horse this time around'

Monday, 10 November 2008

After winning two golds in Beijing, Bradley Wiggins remains hopeful he will be more in the limelight at the 2008 BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards

Brian Viner: Will Gayle honour the house that England built?

Saturday, 8 November 2008

My 6ft 6in colleague Angus Fraser and his 6ft 5in counterpart on The Daily Telegraph, Derek Pringle, dropped in – in more ways than one, since, to the wonderment of our children, they both had to duck to get into our kitchen – for an early supper on Thursday.

Brian Viner: I share Fay Weldon's bafflement

Friday, 7 November 2008

Is the literary analysis industry made out of blancmange?

Home And Away: 'Like Obama, I used a new puppy to help my children move home'

Thursday, 6 November 2008

Brian Viner: 'Malia and Sasha won't be the ones who have to clean up behind the dog in the White House

Brian Viner: The first law of interviewing is listen, don't talk

Tuesday, 4 November 2008

What a shame it is that Studs Terkel's batteries gave out just before Election Day in the United States. The great oral historian, whose tape recorder chronicled a nation's evolution, died on Friday, aged 96. A lifelong Democrat, he would doubtless have been thrilled to see Barack Obama as President-elect but probably not surprised if the America he knew so well found itself, at the last, unable to appoint a black man to its highest office.

Brian Viner: For my money, Harrington is Europe's best on merit

Saturday, 1 November 2008

The Last Word

Home And Away: Jane assures me that table-manner dogmatism like mine is a dad thing

Thursday, 30 October 2008

For my birthday last Saturday, Jane bought me A Butler's Guide to Table Manners, written by a fellow called Nicholas Clayton, a member of the Guild of Professional English Butlers. Her inscription was " ...because even an expert needs a handbook", the affectionate but slightly waspish joke being that I have always been something of a sergeant major where our children's table manners are concerned.

Brian Viner: Cap'n Bob's table manners paved way for billionaires

Saturday, 25 October 2008

The Last Word

Brian Viner: 'The generation gap has contracted since 1977, but it is still a chasm'

Thursday, 23 October 2008

Home And Away: 'My daughter knows I'm a tourist in the world of MSN, and that I will swallow any old tommyrot'

Brian Viner: What to do when family duty calls

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Barack Obama's staff are reportedly fretting about their man's decision to suspend campaigning for a couple of days this week while he goes to visit his sick granny, 86-year-old Madelyn Dunham, in Hawaii. But in discharging his duty as a grandson, the candidate will surely gain more electoral momentum than he loses.

Brian Viner: Heroes denied a sporting chance in the game of life

Saturday, 18 October 2008

The Last Word

Home And Away: 'The trouble with visitors' books? Negative remarks are there for posterity'

Thursday, 16 October 2008

A couple of months ago, Jane and I finally got round to putting visitors' books in our two holiday cottages, inviting "comments and suggestions".

Brian Viner: Greatness thrust upon two of Ireland's football giants

Saturday, 11 October 2008

The title of a football book published last week might raise the odd eyebrow. It is called 'Charlie Hurley – The Greatest Centre Half The World Has Ever Seen' and there will be those who might justifiably wonder why, if Hurley is the finest there has ever been on this planet, they have never heard of him.

Home And Away: 'You don't have to be barking to be British – but it helps if your pet is'

Thursday, 9 October 2008

We run two holiday cottages out here in Herefordshire, which offers a marvellous insight into the psyche of the Great British Public, not least as it concerns pets. We decided from day one that we would accept dogs, which was an unwittingly shrewd commercial move; we'd lose about 40 per cent of our business if we didn't.

Brian Viner: Walking the walk is secret weapon of all-time greats

Saturday, 4 October 2008

It is almost 10 years since I started weekly interviews of illustrious sporting figures in these pages, and I am often asked to name my favourite interviewees. The old-timers, is the usual answer. On the whole they have more time, better stories, and greater generosity of spirit. I refer to people such as Sir Bobby Robson, Sir Tom Finney, Sir Stirling Moss, Sir Peter O'Sullevan, Arnold Palmer, Richie Benaud and Cliff Morgan. An hour or more in the company of men like that feels far more like a privilege than a job.

Home And Away: 'Perfumed chickens are fine for us, but ferrets would be a step too far'

Thursday, 2 October 2008

The Malvern Autumn Garden and Country Show at the vast Three Counties Showground; all human life is there. It is five years since we last went, and I remember my 10-year-old daughter Eleanor looking around in wonderment and saying, "It's like a town." It was, too, and still is. More than 60,000 went last weekend, which is roughly double the population of Malvern itself. The show even has its own gyratory system, and just like a medium-sized town, there's a right and wrong side of the tracks. There was a very dodgy-looking chap hanging out by the portable lavatories.

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