When the first lockdown came, finding himself without cricket for the first time in his
life, Geoffrey Boycott sat down and began to write a retrospective warts-and-all diary of each of his Test
match appearances. It is illuminating and unsparing, characterised by Boycott’s astonishing memory,
famous forthrightness and unvarnished, sometimes lacerating, honesty. That 100,000 word document
forms the basis for Being Geoffrey Boycott, a device that takes the reader inside Geoffrey’s head and back
through cricket history, presenting a unique portrait of the internal and external forces that compelled
him from a pit village in Yorkshire to the pinnacle of the world game.
Now 81 and still one of the most recognisable cricketers England has ever produced, Boycott has teamed
up with award-winning author Jon Hotten in this catalogue of his tumultuous time with the national
side. Dropped for scoring a slow double hundred, making himself unavailable to play for England for
several years, captain for eight seasons of a group of strong, stroppy and extremely talented players
at Yorkshire, bringing up his hundredth hundred at Headingley against the Old Enemy, seeing David
Gower and Ian Botham emerge as future greats, playing under Mike Brearley in the 1981 Ashes, in
this enlightening book Boycott reveals a host of never-before-heard details regarding his peers and his
playing days.