Sandy Balfour awarded Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship
July 1, 2010
Sandy Balfour, author of the 'witty and ingenious' PRETTY GIRL IN CRIMSON ROSE (8), has been awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship, to fund the travel and research in Russia for his next book, following in the steps of the 18th century explorer Vitus Bering. Balfour will set off later this month to retrace the route Vitus Bering took across Russia when he was commissioned by Peter the Great to explore what is now the far east of Russia. The journey will take Sandy from St Petersburg, across the Urals and then across Siberia. He will mostly - like Bering - travel by river. On the last stage of the journey he will travel to the remote Kamchatka region and from there to Alaska, in effect circumnavigating the globe.Balfour's latest book WHAT I LOVE ABOUT CRICKET, which Michael Simkins (author of FATTY BATTER) described as 'delightful stuff - funny and poignant - the perfect hors d'oeuvre to the cricket season' is now out in paperback from Ebury.
Sandy Balfour is an award-winning television producer, author and social activist. His trilogy of memoirs - PRETTY GIRL IN CRIMSON ROSE (8), about love and crosswords, VULNERABLE IN HEARTS, about his father and the game of bridge, and WHAT I LOVE ABOUT CRICKET, about the game of cricket and being a father to a teenage daughter - have been published to critical and popular acclaim. He has written travel articles and other features for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including Condé Nast Traveller. For three years he wrote the 'X-Philes' column in the Guardian for which he has also been crossword editor, and the columns were collected in I SAY NOTHING (3). He is also the author of A CLUE OUR LIVES, tracing eighty years of the Guardian cryptic crossword. He is executive chairman of Divine Chocolate Ltd. and a trustee of the Moscow School for the Social and Economic Sciences.
Praise for Sandy Balfour:
'We spent the 1990s wondering how to be the next Nick Hornby. Now some of us have the new ambition to be the next Sandy Balfour.' -- Roland White, The Sunday Times
Praise for WHAT I LOVE ABOUT CRICKET:
'Hilarious … one of those entertaining paeans to cricket and its role in life, the universe and everything.' The Guardian
'An affectionate memoir…Sandy Balfour is a man skilled in the ways of spinning tales of beguiling charm from the events of his life…Balfour's love for his daughter is expressed beautifully and without syrupy sentiment. His regard for cricket is equally heartfelt.' -- Richard Whitehead, Wisden Cricketer
'A well-told, witty tale of life, love and leather on willow.' -- Giles Richards, Observer Sport Monthly
'While there is lots of good stuff about cricket in WHAT I LOVE ABOUT CRICKET, the book might as well be called 'What I Love About My Daughter'…Balfour interleaves his feelings about his daughter with his feelings about cricket - which sounds rather unlikely, but he makes a very good job of it…As for the cricket, I know quite a bit about the subject and can testify that Balfour knows more than quite a bit. Not only does he seem to be able to play the game pretty well, he writes so well about it that you can just about say that no prior knowledge or even love of the game is necessary to enjoy the book.' -- Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian
Praise for VULNERABLE IN HEARTS:
'Instructive, entertaining (very) and at times quite poignant.' -- Antonia Fraser, The Times
'Poignant, elegantly written…diverting.' -- David Flusfeder, Sunday Telegraph
'Once again, I approach a Sandy Balfour book with an almost total ignorance of the subject matter, and once again I am drawn in, beguiled, intrigued…Like the first book, this is aimed at the general reader. Balfour avoids lengthy technical explanations and writes very entertainingly…He humanises the game…Balfour also writes very movingly about his family.' -- Marcus Berkmann, Daily Mail
'Original, unusual and surprisingly moving.' -- Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post
Praise for PRETTY GIRL IN CRIMSON ROSE (8):
'Witty and ingenious.' -- Doris Lessing
'Like a great crossword clue - I couldn't put it down until I'd worked it out.' -- Clive James
'You don't have to be a crossword nut to appreciate Sandy Balfour's tremendously beguiling PRETTY GIRL IN CRIMSON ROSE.' -- John Walsh, The Independent
'In this little gem of a "memoir" Sandy Balfour describes how he became a crossword addict. This should not deter readers indifferent to crosswords as this is a book about solving cryptic crosswords in the same way that ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE was a book about fixing motorcycles…For Balfour is interested in journeys - from South African to Englishman, from single man to family man, from 20-year-old to 40-year-old and from crossword ignoramus to crossword aficionado. He takes these journeys and weaves them into an intriguing tale in which he dissects the nature of "Englishness" and how it relates to the quiet but addictive pastime of crossword-solving and the imperceptible growth of love…The writing is spare but imbued with passion for his subjects…The book adds up to more than the sum of its parts and lingers in the memory long after the final page has been read.' -- Val Gilbert, The Sunday Telegraph
'There is no need to be a crossword enthusiast to enjoy this quick-witted book…Crosswords seem to unite strangers, regardless of their geographical location, and Balfour provides engaging examples. During his wandering he manages to link elderly colonials in Nairobi with Guardian readers in London, aid workers in Chad, Congolese rebels, and a state archivist in Moscow…In prose as delicate and humorous as the clues guiding his text. Balfour has written a poignant memoir and demonstrates how language can unlock one's true identity. It seems apt that 'Sly fun abroad' is one anagram of this impressive new author's name.' --Davina Langdale, Literary Review
'Mr Balfour's book is its own category: autobiographical sketches dropped into a glass of dry champagne and stirred well. It fizzes back and forth between experiences and crosswords, and manages to convince us they are akin.' -- Richard Eder, The New York Times