| Norman Giller | |
|---|---|
| Born | Norman Giller 18 April 1940 Stepney, London, England |
| Occupation | Journalist, writer |
| Spouse(s) | Eileen Giller (1936-2006) |
| Children | Lisa and Michael |
| Ethnicity | English |
| Notable credit(s) | 90 books TV series Journalist See the main article for an extensive list. |
Norman Giller (born 18 April 1940 Stepney, East End, London) is a prolific English author, a sports historian and television scriptwriter.
With 92 books to his name, Norman Giller is a prolific author who served his writing apprenticeship as a notable Fleet Street journalist. He was chief football reporter with the Daily Express in London (1964–74), and has been a freelance writer since leaving Fleet Street in 1974. He was 14 years a member of the This Is Your Life scriptwriting team, and has devised several television series including Who's the Greatest? (ITV, 1980s), The Games of 48 and Over the Moon, Brian (ITV 1990s), Petrolheads (BBC2 2006); he co-produced 63 editions of Stand and Deliver (Sky TV, 1990s), and has been scriptwriter and co-producer with Top Gear director Brian Klein of more than 50 sports-based videos/DVDs, featuring celebrities such as Gordon Ramsay, Ray Winstone, Alan Hansen, John Motson, Dickie Bird, Frank Bruno, Frankie Dettori, Lawrence Dallaglio, Harry Carpenter, and Jimmy Greaves. His output has also included crosswords and puzzle games with The Times, Daily and Sunday Express, The Sun, Sunday Telegraph and London Evening News. He has compiled the annual Times Sports Jumbo Crossword for 28 consecutive years, his 2011 100-clue challenge being Olympic themed.
His 92nd book – Sir Henry Cooper A Hero for All Time will be published in June 2012, and before that he will be self-publishing Tottenham, The Glory-Glory Game, which he has written with members of the Spurs Writers' Club, which he formed in 2011.
Giller was the argument-settling Judge of The Sun for ten years, and he and his sports statistician son Michael set the 2,000 questions for the DVD version of Football Trivial Pursuit. With his then partner Peter Lorenzo and associate Malcolm Rowley, Giller created one of the first major pub quiz competitions in 1974. It was called What's Yours? and had 64 competing pubs in a series sponsored by the Charrington's chain in south-east England.
In the Autumn of 2011, Giller had his 90th book published: Tottenham, the Managing Game, written with the help of his Facebook and Twitter friends. His 91st book, a personalized tribute to boxing legend Sir Henry Cooper will be published in 2012.
His 81st book was a collaboration with Pelé and Gordon Banks and in partnership with their UK agent Terry Baker, a limited edition featuring an in-depth look at their careers and, in particular, the famous Banks save against Pelé for England against Brazil in the 1970 World Cup finals. Giller has a regular Fleet Street nostalgia blog at the Sports Journalists' Association website [1]
Giller's 82nd book was The Lane of Dreams,[2], a complete history of the Tottenham Hotspur ground at White Hart Lane before the bulldozers move in. The book is introduced by two Spurs legends, Jimmy Greaves and Steve Perryman. It is a self published book by Giller, who experimented by having the second-half written on line by Tottenham supporters. Giller provided the facts; the fans provided the feelings. He had six books published in 2010, written in collaboration with his sports statistician son, Michael Giller, and leading sports agent Terry Baker: Jimmy Greaves At Seventy [1] and The Golden Double [2], 'the story of Tottenham's historic League and FA Cup triumph in 1960-61, Greavsie's Greatest (The 50 greatest post-war British strikers, selected by Jimmy Greaves), World Cup 2010 [3] (a day to day diary of the tournament), Chopper's Chelsea in collaboration with former Stamford Bridge captain Ron Harris, and Hammers-80, the story of West Ham United's FA Cup success of 1979-80, introduced by Sir Trevor Brooking. His 88th book is a powerful novel about corruption in football, The Glory and the Greed [4], which has been produced ahead of traditional publication as an e-Book for reading on screen.
Giller, whose 50-year writing career started with a typewriter and carbon paper, has set up his own website as he attempts to keep a toehold in the modern world [5]. He is a keen Wikipedian, a disciple of the Jimmy Wale creed of Free Information for All, and is dedicated to the first Wikipedia commandment of Accuracy At All Times.
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Giller was born in London's East End in the first year of the Second World War, and was evacuated with his mother and three brothers to a Devonshire farm. Educated at Raine's Foundation Grammar School in Stepney, he left at 15 to become a copyboy with the London Evening News. He started his reporting career with the Stratford Express in West Ham (1957), and arrived at the Daily Express after employment as a sports sub-editor with Boxing News, the London Evening Standard and the Daily Herald.
Giller has worked extensively in PR and for ten years represented former boxing world champions Frank Bruno, John H Stracey, Jim Watt, Maurice Hope (all managed by his best friend Terry Lawless), and (for his European fights) Muhammad Ali ("He needed a PR like Einstein needed a calculator", says Giller). He wrote regular newspaper and magazine columns in harness with Eric Morecambe for nine years, and also had collaborations with comedians Benny Hill and Tommy Cooper. Giller was commissioned to write six Carry On novels, sequels to the popular films. He also scripted an adult pantomime for EastEnders co-stars Mike Reid and Barbara Windsor, and was chief scriptwriter for the Laureus World Sports Awards when they were staged in Monte Carlo.
He was married for 45 years to Eileen, who passed on in 2006. Giller has two grown children, Lisa and Michael and four grandchildren, his favourite being Kate. When Eileen died following renal failure, Giller raised more than £15,000 for the Dorset Kidney Fund by building a Wall of Love on the internet.[3]
Hoping to reach 100 books before he leaves this mortal coil, Giller is currently based in Dorset where he runs a sports facts, figures and research service with his son, Michael. They organize themed quiz nights. Giller and his partner, Jackie Wright, specialise in Powerpoint-supported presentations on such themes as the life and music of Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwin brothers and Frank Sinatra; also the Footballing Fifties and Sixties, and the life and times of Billy Wright and Denis Compton, plus an illustrated lecture for literary associations and clubs entitled 'If You Can Write A Postcard, You Can Write A Book'. Giller was webmaster for the recently disbanded Wessex branch of the Frank Sinatra Music Society.
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