Wednesday 2 November 2011
Ivan Marks, The People’s Champion. Book Review.
Where to start? I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of this eagerly awaited book for my Birthday.
Being of a certain age I have many memories of anglers that I used to look up to in my early years of fishing, and one of those anglers was Ivan Marks.
The 70′s was Ivan’s era when he and his Leicester AS team (The Likely Lads) ruled the roost. From 1972 Ivan had a weekly column in the Angling Times that I used to avidly read every Wednesday as soon as the paper was published, and it’s from those columns that the contents of the book are taken. The book kicks off with a brief run down of Ivan’s life and career followed by tributes from David Hall, Peter Drennan, Tommy Pickering and Keith Arthur by way of an introduction.
Over 330 pages are divided up into chapters with the following headings ………
Being of a certain age I have many memories of anglers that I used to look up to in my early years of fishing, and one of those anglers was Ivan Marks.
The 70′s was Ivan’s era when he and his Leicester AS team (The Likely Lads) ruled the roost. From 1972 Ivan had a weekly column in the Angling Times that I used to avidly read every Wednesday as soon as the paper was published, and it’s from those columns that the contents of the book are taken. The book kicks off with a brief run down of Ivan’s life and career followed by tributes from David Hall, Peter Drennan, Tommy Pickering and Keith Arthur by way of an introduction.
Over 330 pages are divided up into chapters with the following headings ………
- Match Fishing.
- Fishing for England
- Tackle.
- Tactics.
- Bait.
- Ireland.
- Everything Else.
These are accompanied with 16 pages of photos, some of which are previously unpublished.
The chapters contain some of those columns published in the Angling Times over an eight year period, and offer a fascinating insight into Match Fishing during that era, but more importantly it offers an insight into the mind of the man who many (myself included) regard as the greatest match angler of his time and one of the all time greats.
For those of us who fished in that era it provides a nostalgic trip back to earlier times, while younger readers should still find plenty to enjoy and probably be amazed at the differences between then and now, when carp were a rarity, poles were almost unheard of, commercials didn’t exist and ‘Ton’ bags of fish were only dreamt of. Throughout the book there are nuggets of information tucked away in the text that are as relevant to angling today as they were 4 decades ago, it’s just up to the reader to take them in if they choose to.
I must admit that I couldn’t put it down, but it’s also one of those books that I know I’ll be returning to time and again, just to dip in and out of, which all adds to the appeal of this book.
The chapters contain some of those columns published in the Angling Times over an eight year period, and offer a fascinating insight into Match Fishing during that era, but more importantly it offers an insight into the mind of the man who many (myself included) regard as the greatest match angler of his time and one of the all time greats.
For those of us who fished in that era it provides a nostalgic trip back to earlier times, while younger readers should still find plenty to enjoy and probably be amazed at the differences between then and now, when carp were a rarity, poles were almost unheard of, commercials didn’t exist and ‘Ton’ bags of fish were only dreamt of. Throughout the book there are nuggets of information tucked away in the text that are as relevant to angling today as they were 4 decades ago, it’s just up to the reader to take them in if they choose to.
I must admit that I couldn’t put it down, but it’s also one of those books that I know I’ll be returning to time and again, just to dip in and out of, which all adds to the appeal of this book.
A superb addition to any anglers library, I can do nothing other than heartily recommend this book. It can be purchased direct from Calm Productions along with some other excellent angling books.
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