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Ebury has acquired a biography of five-time cycling world champion Reg Harris in a pre-emptive deal.
Deputy publisher Andrew Goodfellow bought world rights through Humfrey Hunter at Hunter Profiles in the title, Reg Harris: The Rise and Fall of Britain's Greatest Cyclist, written by Daily Telegraph journalist Robert Dineen. Ebury will publish in July 2012, coinciding with next year's London Olympics.
Harris was born a working-class boy in the Depression, first working in Lancashire mills and factories, before becoming a world champion cyclist five times between 1949 and 1954, performing at the London Olympics in 1954. A bronze statue of him overlooks the national cycling velodrome in Manchester. Harris also had a turbulent personal life, with a penchant for wine, fast cars and women.
Goodfellow said: "Reg's life was always an epic, lying somewhere between Tommy Simpson and George Best, but Robert has uncovered and penned an even more amazing story than anyone really knew. It will create the kind of historical sporting biography that the likes of Duncan Hamilton and William Fotheringham have made such a success of in recent years.
"The interest in cycling just gets bigger and bigger and the book will be published in the white heat of 2012 where so many of our Olympic medal hopes will be played out in the new velodrome."