Product Description

It seemed a simple enough idea at the outset: to assemble a team of eleven men to play cricket on each of the seven continents of the globe. Except - hold on a minute - that's not a simple idea at all. And when you throw in incompetent airline officials, amorous Argentine Colonels' wives, cunning Bajan drug dealers, gay Australian waiters, overzealous American anti-terrorist police, idiot Welshmen dressed as Santa Claus, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and whole armies of pitch-invading Antarctic penguins, you quickly arrive at a whole lot more than you bargained for. Harry Thompson's hilarious book tells the story of one of those great idiotic enterprises that only an Englishman could have dreamed up, and only a bunch of Englishmen could possibly have wished to carry out.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60787 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
'A comic gem' -- Ultratravel Praise for Harry Thompson and Penguins Stopped Play: -- . 'Actually completely brilliant' -- Ian Hislop 'Hilarious' -- Sunday Telegraph 'A real gold standard sense of humour' -- David Baddiel 'Rare, clever, creative ! a maverick, pushing boundaries with outrageous jokes' -- Guardian 'The first chapter deserves to be anthologised alongside the funniest passages of cricket writing in the game's rich literary history, and what follows is crammed with sharp observation, comic and cruel characterisation and a great many very good jokes...It is a gloriously funny and life-affirming book, and if you know anyone who plays cricket and can read you should buy it for them' - Andrew Baker -- Daily Telegraph 20060413 'Surely the funniest book ever written about the English addiction to cricket...a beautiful tale of classic British humour, self-deprecation, great courage and one of the best accounts ever of the obsessive appeal of our summer game to those whose lives revolve around it' - Tom Rosenthal -- Daily Mail 20060414 'Engaging and full of humour, though it ends with an abrupt shift in tone when Thompson discovers that he has inoperable lung cancer' - Ludovic Hunter-Tilney -- FT magazine 20060415 'As funny as you would expect from the (sadly deceased) writer of Have I Got News For You' -- Daily Express 20060414 'A hilarious, eccentically English memoir.' -- Sainsbury's Magazine 20060501 'In the whirl of hangovers, jetlag, sleeplessness and general unreliability, humour was the saviour.' -- The Week 20060422 'Delicious...This book is the perfect tribute to his greatest enthusiasm: a delivery which spins delicately past the straight bat of our expectations' - Pete Clark -- Evening Standard 20060410 'Funny and inspiring...Thompson writes with a novelist's sympathy about a wonderfully mixed bunch of characters' - Hugh Massingberd -- Literary Review 20060410 'Let's get one thing clear from the off - I don't get cricket...The fact that I loved Penguins Stopped Play" can only be testament to Harry Thompson's brilliant writing, sardonic humour and English love of farce' - Lizzie Matthews -- Wanderlust (Book of the Month) 20060410 'An eccentic, funny and very English story' -- Traveller 20060410 'Part travelogue, part tale of the sporting underdog, and with its combination of frustration and wit, this is a book British cricket lovers will adore this summer' -- Waterstone's Books Quarterly 20060410 'Hilarious' -- The Bookseller 20060410 'The writing is crisper than a Gower cover drive and as witty as any of the Tales from the Long Room.' -- Wisden Cricketer 20060601 '[Thompson] writes with wit, verve, and a genuine love of the use of language shines through! superb observational comedy writing.' -- AND Magazine 20060501 "Rarely has there been a funnier cricket book" -- Yorkshire Evening Post 20060429 'This will make you laugh out loud as you enjoy the "best of British", while lamenting the passing of this coming genius.' -- The Resident 20060501 '[Thompson] excels as a travel writer.' -- South China Morning Post, Alex Price 20060611 'This will make you laugh out loud while lamenting the passing of this comic genius.' -- Rise, Robert Gwyn Palmer 20060501 'Thompson's prose is vividly conversational! very funny.' -- Guardian: Tim de Lisle 20060617 'Very funny it is too ...he fills his warm-hearted book with a satisfying selection of tales' -- Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times 20060514 'A highly entertaining account of one man's sporting obsession' -- Father's Quarterly 20060531 'This is a beautiful tale of classic British humour, self-deprecation, great courage and one of the best accounts ever of the obsessive appeal of our summer game to those whose lives revolve around it' -- Daily Mail 20060401 'Even people who despise cricket will adore Penguins Stopped Play.' -- Times 20060701 'Thompson! maintains a witty narrative! Despite his cynical eye, Thompson is never afraid to show his love of the game' -- Observer / Sports Monthly 20060701 'Harry Thompson wrote with such verve and wit that he could have made a trip round a multi-storey car park into an adventure' -- Celia Brayfield, The Times 20060701 'A very funny, peculiarly British travel book' -- Markus Berkman, Daily Mail 20060701

Telegraph
'Gloriously funny and life affirming. Crammed with sharp observation, comic characterisation and a great many very good jokes'

Daily Mail
‘Surely the funniest book ever written about the English addiction to cricket ... classic British humour, self-deprecation, great courage’

Customer Reviews

A hilarious read
This is a great book. From start to finish it holds the reader's thrall. It is well written and engaging whether you like the game of cricket or not, it is a funny account of the experiences of a less than professional cricket XI as they attempt to play the game on evry continent in the world over a limited time. It is worth mentioning however that although it offers much to the general reader, the most satisfaction and enjoyment will be had by those with an appreciation and an understanding of the little nuances, subtleties and terms inherent in the game of cricket, after all "tickling it down to fine leg" and "firing it in just short of a length" is not in everyone's natural parlance!

Cricket
Penguins Stopped Play is a remarkable account of the infamous Captain Scott XI which has already featured in 'Rain Men' & 'Zimmer Men' by Marcus Berkmann.
This time the focus is on the over seas tours the team embarked upon and the hilarious, embarrassing and awful situations that followed them around the globe. (I particularly enjoyed the withering attack on BA).
If you enjoy Cricket & travel then this book is a must. It is constantly laugh out loud funny with great stories on travel, sport & friendship. Well written and observant not only on foreign lands & cricket but also on the people that participate and play this silly game.
The books conclusion is particularly moving and poignant with the author facing the challenges of a terminal illness, which is met with much bravery and a straight bat. Penguins Stopped Play is a great book and Harry Thompson will be missed even by those who didn't know him! Thanks Harry!

A beautiful read
'Penguins Stopped Play' is an utterly eccentric but delightful tale, filled with humour and pathos. If you want to undertand the mind of an Englishman, this is the book for you.

Driven to make the journey of a lifetime, Harry Thompson and his team conquer the world in pursuit of cricket. There's good chunks of travel writing here, some brilliant characterisation, and a good many jokes. It's a refreshing read, which you'll polish off in a session. The book's haunting ending will remain with you for a long, long time.