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Virgin signs Motty

27.06.08 Alison Flood

Virgin Books has won an auction for football commentator John Motson’s autobiography.

The deal was struck by editorial director Ed Faulkner with Jane Morgan at JMM. The as-yet-untitled autobiography will be published in August 2009.

Motson’s career as a football pundit spans over 40 years and 2,000 matches, including six World Cup finals. Virgin promises “unforgettable anecdotes”, including his BBC years, the football legends he has met, and the “darker times” of “Hillsborough, Heysel and hooliganism”.

Faulkner said: “For every fan who has grown up with the iconic ‘Motty’, this will be an essential read.” Motson said he would start work on the memoir straight after the final of Euro 2008.

Virgin has also paid a “good” five-figure sum for a cookery book by Gizzi Erskine, one of the presenters of Channel 4’s “Cook Yourself Thin”. Carolyn Thorne at Virgin bought rights at auction from Sheila Crowley at A P Watt, and will publish Erskine’s As Easy As Pie in September 2009.

The book, which will be aimed at “the average person who is interested in improving their technique but intimidated by a Larousse Gastronomique”, will form part of a new cookery list that Virgin is creating.

Media Rights deal Virgin Books Ed Faulkner Alison Flood John Motson

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