
The Beast, the Emperor and the Milkman
A Bone-Shaking Tour Through Cycling’s Flemish Heartlands
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Narrated by:
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Harry Pearson
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By:
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Harry Pearson
About this listen
Bloomsbury presents The Beast, the Emperor and the Milkman written and read by Harry Pearson.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2020 – CYCLING BOOK OF THE YEAR
LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019
'A joy.' – Ned Boulting
Every nation shapes sport to test the character traits it most admires.
In The Beast, the Emperor and the Milkman, committed Belgophile and road cycling obsessive Harry Pearson takes you on a journey across Flanders, through the lumpy horizontal rain, up the elbow juddering cobbled inclines, past the fans dressed as chickens and the shop window displays of constipation medicines, as he follows races big, small and even smaller through one glorious, muddy spring.
Ranging over 500 years of Flemish and European history, across windswept polders, along back roads and through an awful lot of beer cafes, Pearson examines the characters, the myths and rivalries that make Flanders a place where cycling is a religion and the riders its lycra-clad priests.
A must listen for a fan of the classics.
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HP IN BELGIUM
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Fantastic Book
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Unsurpassably moving and authentic
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Excellent book on a niche topic
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The writer narrates his own wonderfully dull experiences of traveling round Belgium to spectate the classics, but also spectating on life and people. His musings are delivered in a perfect northern monotone, that just sets the ambience for me. It's like watching the 1974 world cup with that crackly commentary sent via a telephone line or something worse.
If you are into cycling, and its history, this is a lovely way to pass an afternoon. Harry Pearson is just great; i will look out his other work
love it
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Flanders cyclists hardmen and fun
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The research is detailed and delves into some of the most obscure parts of Flemish cycling - so many cycling books tend to be rehashes of the same stories, people and anecdotes but this really turns over people, facts and stories that are relatively unknown.
It's more rambling and wayward than any cycling race route. Chapters start in one place and divert by decades into long-forgotten riders and their triumphs or failures before suddenly crossing back into the present. The author reads the book and his delivery is not always the best but it certainly adds passion and authenticity.
If you love the classics and you admire the Flandrian spirit this book will definitely appeal.
Great, but one for the aficionados
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So much interesting & entertaining information and stories. All told in a very dead pan manner (by the author), which suited it perfectly.
My only regret was that it didn’t go on longer.
I will definitely listen to this again.
A very entertaining listen.
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Enjoyable and informative read for the niche cyclist
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