1944, Italy. As bombs fall around them, two strangers meet in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa & share an extraordinary
...Peppered with bouncers, expletives, & even the odd diplomatic incident, this is a rip-roaring journey through over a century of Ashes history. For a list of every Ashes century & five-wicket haul, try Wisden, but if you want to know which England batsman was a martyr to syphilis & which Australian fast bowler reckoned the Queen had 'nice legs for an old Sheila', then read on... Stiff Upper Lips & Baggy Green Caps exposes the seamy side of Ashes cricket. It gives the inside story behind controversies from the Bodyline series of 1932-33 & the Lillee & Thomson blitzkrieg of 1974-75, right up to the unseemly modern spats that ensure that this biannual frenzy of backbiting, finger-pointing & dubious facial hair remains one of the great events of the sporting calendar.