The Boy

Stirling Moss: A Life in 60 Laps

Richard Williams

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN:
  9781471198465
• Print ISBN:
  9781471198472

'Captures the bold, engaging spirit of one of Britain’s best-loved sporting heroes' Sunday Times
'A fascinating read and sure to be the definitive account of his life' Mark Knopfler
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SPORTS WRITING BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

Even in the midst of a global pandemic, the death of Stirling Moss on 12 April 2020 at the age of 90 made headlines, almost 60 years after he retired from Formula One. In The Boy, Richard Williams assesses what made him such an iconic figure.

Told in 60 brief chapters, Williams builds a fascinating and revealing portrait of a driver who was a hero to millions. As the long years of war began to recede, sport in Britain was getting moving again and there was a need for heroes. Denis Compton and Stanley Matthews were in their pomp, playing to packed houses. But Stirling Moss was a fresh face, just 17 years old when he first emerged in 1947. Too young to have served and been scarred by the war, he was soon revealed to possess not only an unearthly degree of skill but the qualities of courage and resolution noted in the generation that fought in the air and on land and sea. Their youth had been stolen; his was new and unspoiled.

The Boy explains how and why he came to occupy such a unique place in the esteem and the affections of the nation. Why him, rather than some of his contemporaries, such as Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins, who shared a role in the rise of Britain as a power in international motor racing? Moss may never have been world champion, but he created a remarkable and enduring legacy, and Williams brilliantly shows just how he did it.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Chapter 1: The Last Trophy
• Chapter 2: Unspoilt
• Chapter 3: Hamish Moses
• Chapter 4: The White Helmet
• Chapter 5: The 500 Club
• Chapter 6: Voyage to Italy
• Chapter 7: Royal Silverstone
• Chapter 8: Team Leader
• Chapter 9: Life Lessons
• Chapter 10: Tourist Trophy
• Chapter 11: Seven
• Chapter 12: Around the Clock
• Chapter 13: Cover Boy
• Chapter 14: The Manager
• Chapter 15: The Snub
• Chapter 16: Sound and Fury
• Chapter 17: Crumpet
• Chapter 18: Misfiring
• Chapter 19: National Service
• Chapter 20: Salesman
• Chapter 21: The Mechanic
• Chapter 22: Sebring
• Chapter 23: The Green Maserati
• Chapter 24: The Drift
• Chapter 25: Versatile
• Chapter 26: Three-Pointed Star
• Chapter 27: Fangio’s Pills
• Chapter 28: Le Mans
• Chapter 29: Mopeds & Minis
• Chapter 30: Triple Test
• Chapter 31: Nassau
• Chapter 32: The Wild Ones
• Chapter 33: Maestro
• Chapter 34: Katie
• Chapter 35: Made in Acton
• Chapter 36: Salt Flats
• Chapter 37: Kidnap in Havana
• Chapter 38: The Ice Cream Car
• Chapter 39: A Game of Bluff
• Chapter 40: The Teammate
• Chapter 41: Chivalry
• Chapter 42: Melbourne
• Chapter 43: ‘This Is Your Life’
• Chapter 44: The Pad
• Chapter 45: Dark Blue
• Chapter 46: The Price
• Chapter 47: ‘Face to Face’
• Chapter 48: Shunt
• Chapter 49: Radio On
• Chapter 50: Masterclass
• Chapter 51: Industrial Action
• Chapter 52: Four by Four
• Chapter 53: Lunch at the Cavallino
• Chapter 54: Easter Monday
• Chapter 55: A Toy Story
• Chapter 56: Being Stirling
• Chapter 57: Politically Incorrect
• Chapter 58: The Wave
• Chapter 59: Hero
• Chapter 60: Lap of Honour
• Acknowledgements
• Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright