Above Head Height / James Brown

FESTIVAL OF WORDS
PERFORMANCE TIME: 6pm
TICKETS:  £8

James Brown has been playing football since growing up in the backstreets of Leeds. The sudden death of one of his long-standing team mates made James ponder the unique bond between men who meet each other once a week for years, but don’t know any personal details beyond pitch prowess.

Five-a-side football is where you play the beautiful game for love, not money. You play it for life and you play it everywhere. Your kit is damp and your legs are a leopard’s back of bruises. Shirts are often tight around the belly, with your hero’s name plastered across your shoulder blades. The showers are too cold in winter and too hot in summer.

Five-a-side is sporting Karaoke – a time and place to live out dreams.

Above Head Height is a book for all five-a-side fans – school mates, work colleagues, total strangers – bonded by the desire to blast one into the net from two feet away.

James Brown worked on the NME, founded Loaded magazine and was Editor-in-Chief of British GQ. He is a media entrepreneur, journalist and hosts a weekly show on talkSPORT. Interviewing James will be advocate and Festival of Words committee member Richard Pedley.