Shot and a Ghost: A Year in the Brutal World of Professional Squash

Englishman James Willstrop is one of the world's leading squash players and one of the sport's most complex and cerebral characters. Brought up in Pontefract, he is anything but the archetypal Yorkshireman - a poetry-loving vegetarian with a love of musicals, Morrissey, Oscar Wilde and Philip Larkin. He became world No 1 in January 2012 despite being accused by many of being `too nice' to be a winner. James, 28, has just written his first book - a diary account from January 2010 to February 2011. He writes with candid honesty about the issues that affect him, using flashbacks to earlier periods in his life. As critical of himself as of others, he talks openly about his close relationship with his father and coach, Malcolm; the devastating death of his mother, Lesley, and his fierce and often acrimonious rivalry with fellow Yorkshireman and former world No 1 Nick Matthew.