18th August 2023
The third book in the “An Ordinary Spectator” series was published last month by SilverWood Books to the same high standard as the first two volumes.
I am pleased to report that I was subsequent invited by Helen Hart, the Publishing Director of SilverWood Books, to be in the spotlight for the regular “Meet the Author” Social Media Feature on its Facebook site (https://www.facebook.com/silverwoodbooks).
The Feature makes use of a short questionnaire on the author’s background and writing.
Name/Pen name
John Rigg
Where are you from/where are you based?
I was born and brought up in Leeds, Yorkshire. However, I have lived in Milngavie, just to the north of Glasgow, for over 30 years.
Do you write full time or do you have a ‘day job’?
I am a retired civil servant. I do not write full time and, therefore, I have the luxury of choosing when to research/write and fit it in around other activities.
How has your other work influenced your writing?
During the latter stages of my career, I visited many interesting places in Scotland and Europe. I am interested in local histories and cultures and, I hope, this is evident in some of my writing on sports spectating: shinty in the Scottish Highlands, Gaelic Football in County Mayo, rugby league in Castleford, and so on.
What is your favourite book?
I read Headingley by John Marshall in my teenage years. It is a history of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club (up to 1969) – simply written, but with some evocative (and sometimes moving) descriptions of players and matches – and I readily identified with this illustrious sporting institution. Recent events at the Club – and the accompanying media frenzy – have saddened me greatly.
Did this book inspire any aspects of your book? If so, how?
At the very least, I am keen that my sports writing should be interesting to the reader – even if he/she is not a fan of a particular sport per se – so as to encourage further reading. The great writers on sport – for example, Paul Gallico on boxing and golf in the New York in the 1930s and CLR James on West Indian cricket and culture – succeeded in placing their specific interests within the broader context of the societies around them.
Where is your writing space?
Technically, the study, where I have a laptop and desktop. However, much of the content of the essays in my most recent book – An Ordinary Spectator Returns: Watching Sport Again – was formulated in my head during or immediately after watching a sports event. I always take a notepad to jot down fleeting ideas. I find that I can write the initial draft quite quickly, after which I like to take my time on the fine-tuning.
Are you currently working on anything new?
I am currently working on the family histories on both my side and my wife’s. I like the research – which we have used as reasons to visit Ireland, Malta and Germany, as well as various parts of the UK. Hopefully, it is one for a future SilverWood publication list. I am also writing another novel (under my JR Alexander persona), but the family history volume will come first.
How does it feel to be a published author?
There is an obvious pride in seeing a project completed and produced to a high standard and this has not diminished with the three An Ordinary Spectator books. There is also gratitude to family and friends for their encouragement and support. And, not least, a sense of satisfaction when someone – often a complete stranger – contacts me to say how my reminiscences of watching sport in the past have prompted their own recollections of watching an event in their own youth, perhaps with a father or uncle.
An Ordinary Spectator 