Author(s): Alan Tyers

Sport

In this weird and wonderful museum catalogue, the optician's prescription for the 1966 World Cup Russian linesman appears next to a news report of an ear-biting scandal in the Roman Gladiatorial arena, and an advert for Roger Bannister's four-minute egg timer is featured alongside Andrew Flintoff's bar bill from the 2005 Ashes celebrations. Tutenkhamen's Tracksuit ransacks the dusty lockers and forgotten corners of the world's dressing-rooms to present a unique collection of subverted reality. Satirical, surreal and completely invented, fans of every sport will enjoy this knowing and mischievous hijacking of the defining moments of popular sporting culture. The book illuminates the most famous moments, lives, personalities and controversies in sport with a unique collection of found (i.e. made-up!) objects drawn from throughout history. From match-fixing in Ancient Egypt to Twittering kiss-and-tells, no sporting stone is left unturned. The hundred objects are presented as a unique collection of sporting ephemera curated by Gideon Rupert, Acting Director of the National Museum for Sport and Fishing, Orkney. From spoof diaries, school reports, news articles and intercepted emails to postcards, seating plans, tactical diagrams and cave paintings, each tells the story of a well-known sporting event or personality in a completely irreverent way, alongside curator's notes and spurious academic references. After reading Tutenkhamen's Tracksuit, you'll never look at a museum catalogue in the same way again.