Out of Time: 1966 and the End of Old-Fashioned Britain(Wisden Sports Writing)

A vibrant and captivating portrait of the summer of 1966 – as a man, a team and a country all teetered on the cusp of momentous change 'This joyous book, a memoir of late adolescence laced with social and football history, is also a catalogue of both the untidiness and the limits of change' Financial Times 'Out of Time is a gentle and affectionate portrait of the capital's gradual awakening to the charm of pop culture at that time.' Economist London, July 1966. Peter Chapman, a naïve 18-year-old from Islington, is on the brink of adulthood. Everything is changing: having failed his A-levels and recently discovered he will not be fulfilling his dream of becoming a professional footballer at Leyton Orient, he is just about to enter the world of work. The world around him is changing too: Britain is trying to adjust to the beat of the Swinging Sixties – though many ears remain deaf to it, still hoping to re-establish a sense of stability in a time of social, political and cultural flux. And under the watchful gaze of the wider world, England is about to play host to the football World Cup and have one of the most significant sporting successes in its history. Focused around that World Cup victory, Peter Chapman's wryly evocative memoir Out of Time captures the spirit of that year and paints a vivid portrait of a young man, a football team and a whole country all trying to find their new place in the world.

About the Author :
Peter Chapman was brought up in Islington, north London. In the mid-1960s, he played in goal for Leyton Orient junior and colts teams. He was a correspondent for the BBC, Guardian and Observer in Central America and Mexico from 1981 to 1986. He covered two World Cups –­ Mexico 1986 and Italy 1990 – for ITV and is now a reporter, feature writer and editor at the Financial Times, where he plays five- and six-a-side football. He lives in south London, in West Norwood, where the stolen World Cup trophy was found in March 1966 by a local dog, Pickles, out for his evening walk.

Review :
It is a book to read avidly from cover to cover Excellent Very enjoyable Out of Time describes with charm and self-deprecating humour the attractions of sexual fumbling, holidays abroad, the London music scene, Chinese food and much else. But this joyous book, a memoir of late adolescence laced with social and football history, is also a catalogue of both the untidiness and the limits of change, and a reminder that even in London opportunities were circumscribed and aspirations often throttled. I loved it ... brings the year vividly alive Out of Time is a gentle and affectionate portrait of the capital's gradual awakening to the charm of pop culture at that time. The most enjoyable of these books Chapman is as good on the background - a post-war childhood and adolescence, with bomb sites all around - as he is on the football. An exuberantly brilliant memoir. There's a way we football fans have of clapping with our hands above our heads. There are many passages in Peter Chapman's book – even single sentences – that make me want to do just that in sheer admir­ation. For good measure, perhaps I'd throw in a cheer and an expletive of delight too. Peter Chapman's exercise in nostalgia Out of Time reminds us of a year when for England, almost anything seemed possible, on and off the pitch, 1966