They do all the great Got, Not Got series
and plenty of other retro sports titles.
His Own Man is the story of an unjustly forgotten athlete, who ascended the heights, fell from grace under the Nazis, then achieved redemption coaching street children in India.
Born with the twentieth century, Otto Peltzer overcame a lonely childhood, beset by illness, to gain a doctorate in sociology and multiple world records on the running track. In 1920s Germany he became an international celebrity, rival to Paavo Nurmi, the 'Flying Finn'. He competed in two Olympics, but his outspokenness made him persona non grata to the Nazis. His homosexuality was the pretext for a trial which resulted in his being sent for 're-education' in Mauthausen concentration camp.
After the war, having survived four years of brutal treatment and lost his home and family to the Red Army, Peltzer was blocked from competing or coaching by his 'denazified' pre-war enemies. He found salvation in India, where, as national coach, he followed up a surprise victory over an all-conquering German team by training street urchins to Olympic level. Chronically ill as a result of his camp experiences, he died of heart failure in 1970.
His Own Man is not simply a sporting biography, but the story of an era: 20th-century Germany:
About the Authors
Co-written by Tim Johnston and Donald Macgregor, former GB Olympians.
A Cambridge-educated solicitor, Tim has worked for many years as draftsman/translator/editor with a number of international organisations. A former holder of UK national and world records on the track, he finished eighth in the marathon at the 1968 high-altitude Mexico Olympics. He has written two novels.
Donald taught and lectured in French and German at Madras College, St Andrews, and is currently a Fife county councillor. He acts as translator for the Journal of Olympic History and published his autobiography Running My Life in 2010. He finished seventh in the marathon at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Click here for more information, or to read a sample from His Own Man.