Richie: The Man Behind the Legend

Following Richie Benaud's death in April 2015, two of Australia's finest sports writers, Norman Tasker and Ian Heads, set off on a search for the real Richie: a man who graced the lives of many for more than six decades - first as an outstanding all-rounder and great captain, and then as cricket's greatest TV commentator. Tasker and Heads cast a wide net, seeking fresh material from the people who knew Richie best. The result is an intimate tribute that gets to the heart of Richie Benaud, the man. Contributors include members of Richie's family and childhood friends; cricket greats such as Sir Garfield Sobers, Ted Dexter, Neil Harvey, Alan Davidson, Steve Waugh and Shane Warne; acclaimed journalists such as John Woodcock, David Frith, Gideon Haigh and Tony Cozier; fellow commentators such as Ian Chappell, Mike Atherton, Mark Nicholas and Mark Taylor; and friends, colleagues and business associates from Australia, England, France, India and the Caribbean. The book begins with a revealing foreword by Richie's brother John, himself a former Test cricketer and prominent journalist. It ends with a moving postscript by Richie's second son Jeff.

Norman Tasker first interviewed Richie Benaud in 1960, as a teenage sports journalist for the Sydney Daily Telegraph when Richie was the Australian captain. He's covered cricket and rugby tours, was sports editor at The Sun. He is the author of a number of bestselling books. Ian Heads has covered sport for more than half a century, for newspapers and magazines and as author of more than 40 books. In 2014, Ian and Richie Benaud were among the inaugural inductees into the Sydney Cricket Ground's Media Hall of Honour.