Four Lions: The Lives and Times of Four Captains of England

By Colin Shindler

FOUR LIONS explores the changing landscape of postwar England through the careers of four iconic England football captains: Billy Wright, Bobby Moore, Gary Lineker and David Beckham. Between Wright, who fought in World War II, and Beckham, whose battles against Germany were played out on the football field, huge shifts in English society were mirrored by seismic changes to the national game as television transformed the way in which it is financed and consumed.

In England, more than any other nation, the man with the captain's armband has symbolic significance: he embodies the nation. And these four lions embody half a century of change: Wright smoked a pipe and had a side parting; Moore, hero of '66, exuded the cool of his era but never found a role beyond football; the savvy, telegenic Lineker hung up his boots to become the face of BBC football; while in the tattooed body of Beckham can be read the impact of commercialisation, corporate sponsorship and the cult of celebrity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: May 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781784082727

Colin Shindler

Colin Shindler is a social and cultural historian, lecturing at Cambridge University. Among the dozen books he has written are the bestselling memoir Manchester United Ruined My Life and National Service, a social history of conscription 1946–62.

Reviews for Four Lions

[aadyer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good, really readable and quite succinct look at four captains of the England football team and how intially they were representatives of Rnglish society, and how over time, they become structured, created and shaped by English society. With some cultural and political history this does also take into accounts subjects like football funding, the various Holliday related disasters of the 1980's and how Britian has changed in this time. For the more discerning, ploictically active thinking football fan.

[atticusfinch1048 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Four Lions – Four England CaptainsNow that Euro 2016 is over and the usual dissection of how badly England did continues, it is time to forget for most England fans. Four Lions takes the lives of four former England captains, all from different times and examines the game along with giving a social and cultural history.Colin Shindler has written an excellent book that examines the world that these four former captains lived and worked in. Billy Wright, England captain after the war and one of the first players to reach 100 caps for England. How the Second World War influenced the time and the austerity around England at the time. How during his time, the people who had come through the war looked at football as the golden age, against the backdrop of make do and mend.The choice of the four captains, Billy Wright, Bobby Moore, Gary Lineker and David Beckham, and how they reflected the nation at the time of their captaincy and the hopes and fears of the country. That, even though if you were to look at the captains individually you would think they had nothing in common. What we see through this excellent book is how they reflected us the country and everything about the country.This is an absolutely fascinating book and uses a wide range of source material to illustrate this book, which is all the better for it. I think this also happens to be an excellent way to introduce social and cultural history to a wide audience through the medium of football. This is an excellent read for the general reader as well as the football fan and cannot recommend this book highly enough.

[theyodamom · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My family are diehard Manchester United fans, they are the best you know. Okay now that we have got that over with you can understand how this book about 4 great English football/soccer captains would grab my attention. Who wouldn't want to understand these great icons ? As an American I have not ever read or heard of much of the stories told here, and they fascinated me. Why couldn't school history have been so interesting ?It's not all about football it's about the force of the war, the economy, the country's mood and the profits. I read each page mesmerized by the amount of thought and effort that went into recovery that centered around this sport. I was floored I had no idea, history lovers you have to read this. The choice of captain is well thought out. The captain has a huge role to play and is held to a high standard. It is a wonder that they hold up so well with all the expectations, which change with times.I really stepped out of my comfort zone by reading this book and I so glad I did. I have plans to reads more from this author. I enjoyed his style very much.Thank you NetGalley for the chance to review this.