We've all been there: that make-it-or-break-it moment of our careers
- on the brink of a deal, poised at the starting gate, under
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Len Deighton's skill as a novelist is used to show how the human factor influenced every twist & turn of this close-fought battle. His encyclopedic knowledge of technology makes clear how machines played a vital role in the fight for Britain's survival. Here is the intensely vivid story of the men who developed radar, designed the high-speed monoplanes, fought each other in the skies & those who simply engaged in vicious vendetta. ...

Few sports polarise public opinion as boxing does. Some contend that it is repugnant & barbaric while others counter that it is a legitimate & regulated contest of skill, strength & will-power. What cannot be denied is that the fight game has produced some of sport's greatest icons. The few at the very top can make fortunes. Many more are content to earn a decent living or at least supplement their income from the ring.FIGHTING CHANCE gets to close quarters with those involved in every day British boxing. It goes behind the scenes at shows & into gyms to meet starry-eyed young men dreaming of world titles, hard-nosed pros surviving another pay day & veteran trainers who have seen it all & sometimes wish they hadn't. They say this brutal trade provides them with an escape from a life of crime & drugs & an opportunity to find self-respect. All recognise the possible cost but maintain it is a risk worth taking. Some never rid themselves of the demons & reveal all here. Michael Gomez was hailed as a future world champion before being charged with murder sent him off the rails, plunging his private life into turmoil & leaving his career on the brink. Martin Jolley attempted suicide in his darkest hour but survived & sought a kind of refuge as a journeyman boxer, taking fights at short notice & then returning to his day job as a printer. Michael Jennings' brother was killed by an addiction to drugs & is convinced the sport has spared him the same tragic fate. Brian Hughes, one of the best-known trainers in the country, admits his love of boxing has been eroded by the realisation that it is a 'stinking business'. Often shocking, sometimes humorous, always compelling, FIGHTING CHANCE offers a candid insight into the boxing trade & the many interesting characters within it. ...

On a spring morning in 1903, Major-General Sir Hector Macdonald, one of Britain's greatest military heroes, took his life in a hotel room in Paris. A few days later he was buried hastily in an Edinburgh cemetary as his fellow countrymen tried to come to terms with the fact that one of Scotland's most famous soldiers had ended his life rather than face charges against his character. The suicide & its aftermath created a national scandal & one which still reverberates long after those dramatic events
- it is now clear that the official files dealing with his case, the papers of the Judge Advocate have been destroyed. Macdonald or ' Fighting Mac' as he was known to an adoring public, was no ordinary soldier. A crofter's son who had risen from the ranks in the Victorian army, he covered himself with glory during a long & successful military career & in 1898 was widely acknowledged as the true hero of the Battle of Omdurman, which cemented British Imperial rule in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Everything lay at his feet
- a knighthood, honours, the respect of fellow generals such as Roberts & Kitchener
- but Macdonald's career came to a shocking full stop when he stood accused of homosexuality & was ordered to face a court martial. Unable to come to terms with the disgrace, he committed suicide. That should have been the end of his story but so powerful was the myth created by Fighting Mac that people refused to believe he was dead. Soon rumours were circulating that Macdonald had faked his death & had adopted the persona of a prominent Prussian officer, the future Field Marshal August con Mackensen, one of Germany's great leaders during the First World War. FIGHTING MAC tells the true story behind his disgrace & sheds new light on the myths....


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Keep it clean, fellas.
Fair fight.
Okay.
Do it.
Don't go down.
If you go down, get up.
The bell, the fists,





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