REVIEW QUOTES

"Out of the blue to warm the cockles comes one of Stephen Chalke's striking originals. Drawn to Sport is a life of Ken Taylor, talented old pro thrice blessed - at cricket (Yorkshire and England), soccer (Huddersfield Town and, but for Billy Wright, probably England), as well as the full works at art (the Slade).

Jack Russell and Martin Speight are recent first-class cricketers more than competent to make a living at the easel, but maestro Ken (70 last year) was at the charcoal, oils and crayons long before they were born. Another champion job by Chalke makes for an unputdownable study of period, person and place, Taylor's big times caught with skill and delight in text and (literally) "pen portraits"." 

Frank Keating, The Guardian

"Stephen Chalke, who seems incapable of writing an inelegant sentence, does his subject full justice; the book fizzes with life, as Fred Trueman, Geoff Boycott, Bill Shankly, Denis Law, Peter O'Toole and many others tumble through the pages, which are adorned with copious examples of Taylor's art."

Book of the Week, The Independent on Sunday

"The story of how two Yorkshire lads born into a working-class family in Primrose Hill, one of the many villages which make up the town of Huddersfield, managed to forge successful careers in sport and the arts is superbly told by Stephen Chalke in his new book.

Chalke is a cricket writer but his rare ability to bring more to his work than matches, statistics and flannel first came to notice with an award-winning biography of Bob Appleyard, recently nominated as President of Yorkshire and one of the greatest cricketers in the history of the county club.

Ken Taylor is the subject of his latest work - "It's a happy book, full of memories and anecdotes," says Taylor, at 70 the younger of the two brothers by five years - but to chronicle the three careers of the one, without relating the journey of the other, would have been to miss a wonderful opportunity to recall days which passed by not so long ago but were, indeed, of another time."

Bill Bridge, Yorkshire Post

"A quiet, unassuming Yorkshireman, Ken Taylor prefers the solitude of his detached house in the remote, wriggling back lanes of North Norfolk. One senses he would go out of his way to avoid a film premiere, and be horrified by "At home with Ken Taylor" in Hello! magazine. 

But he has some extraordinary stories to tell. Perhaps it is the reluctance to impart them, or to revel in past glories in the graceless way of so many retired sporting stars, that makes Ken Taylor's recollections so appealing. For you know that they come free of embellishment - and will never have the salacious twist that remarkably coincides with the launch of the latest mustn't have autobiography. 

The Taylor tales have been teased out in an intriguing book by Stephen Chalke, called Ken Taylor - Drawn to Sport."

Steve Downes, Eastern Daily Press

"This magnificent book, richly illustrated with many of Taylor's fine works of art, bubbles with tales of his fellow athletes, from Bill Shankly to Denis Law, from Fred Trueman to Geoffrey Boycott. But it also rings with the sensitive, thoughtful and hopeful reflections of a working-class youngster who grew up during the Second World War and revelled in the opportunities of the hard-won peace.

This is Chalke's latest book to paint the post-war world through the eyes of its quiet sporting heroes. It respects their achievements, but is not sentimental about the times they lived through."

John Booth, Tribune

A hugely enjoyable book, what one could unreservedly call a ‘happy book’. It contains nothing salacious but nonetheless plenty of interest, especially from an anecdotal perspective.                                                                                         

The Cricket Statistician

A great book. The three strands of Ken Taylor’s life unfold in a style that keeps one turning the pages.                                       

A review for distribution in football programmes

A memorable book and a sumptuous production. Taylor’s drawings alone are worth more than the cover price.                                             

Derek Hodgson, Yorkshire CCC handbook