Book to raise money for charity on 20th anniversary of Bobby Moore's death

by Roy Greenslade 2 months ago

Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the death of Bobby Moore, captain of England's World Cup-winning football team, captain of West Ham and national icon.

To mark the anniversary, a journalist who became Moore's life-long friend, Norman Giller, has written and published a book, Bobby Moore The Master.

All the profits from the sale of the book will go to the Bobby Moore Fund, a cancer charity run in conjunction with Cancer Research UK. Moore died of bowel cancer on 24 February 1993.

According to Giller's blurb, although there have been previous books on Moore, "none will match the intimacy and information" in this one. Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?

But Giller is certainly the man in the know because he enjoyed a long and close relationship with the player. He was sports editor of the Stratford Express at the time when 16-year-old Moore was taken on as a West Ham apprentice.

They struck up a friendship which sustained throughout Moore's rise to fame with England and beyond. There is also one particular revelatory anecdote in the book that shows just how close they were, and how different newspapers were back in the day.

Giller was one of a handful of Fleet Street reporters who suppressed the news that Moore had had a testicle removed due to testicular cancer. He tells me: "Those were the days when cancer was whispered as 'the Big C' and it wasn't discussed publicly. Today, quite rightly, I would get the sack for that cover-up."

I'm not so certain about that. Anyway, if you want a copy of the book it's only available on Giller's website (in order to cut out the middle man and maximise the take from the charity). Go here to read about the book and order a copy. I've just ordered mine.