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Post by Macmoish on Dec 3, 2010 18:55:34 GMT
Standard
City Spy: Battered Bernie Ecclestone is back fighting with a spoiler
03.12.10 Bernie Ecclestone is back to throwing metaphorical punches rather than receiving real ones. The Formula One boss, and bearer of a black eye after a mugging outside F1 headquarters in London last week, is the next target of Tom Bower, the author of incendiary biographies of Conrad Black and the late Robert Maxwell.
When Ecclestone discovered Bower had started digging up information on him, unusually Bower received access to Ecclestone's friends and trips on his private plane. So, according to City Spy's mole, rather than a brutal exposé, Bower's book is a kinder portrayal than the rest of his work. On Amazon, it is being plugged as “revealing how Ecclestone graduated from selling second-hand cars to become the major player he is today”. Flattering or not, Ecclestone has conjured up a spoiler anyway. Susan Watkins, the historical biographies author best known to motor racing fans as the wife of F1's former chief medic Sid, has been scribbling away for the past nine years about her close friend Ecclestone. She tells City Spy she has finally been given permission to publish her book, which will be out next Friday. Because she has been researching it for so long, Watkins has had access to additional sources, including Ecclestone's younger sister the late Marian Tingey. www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23903834-city-spy-battered-bernie-ecclestone-is-back-fighting-with-a-spoiler.do
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Post by Macmoish on Dec 4, 2010 12:11:56 GMT
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Post by Macmoish on Dec 4, 2010 12:19:15 GMT
Pittpass Ecclestone biography out next week 04/12/2010 The story of Bernie Ecclestone's biography is almost as long in the tooth as the man himself but it will reach a head on Friday next week with the launch of the first book written with the assistance of the F1 supremo himself. The saga began in 2004 when a journalist named Terry Lovell launched the first biography about Ecclestone despite threats the F1 boss reportedly made against him for approaching his family members. The book, called Bernie's Game, is an impressive tome but is obviously lacking on content covering the events of the past decade. It also lacked endorsement from Ecclestone and this opened the door for something more official. In 2001 Susan Watkins, wife of F1's former medical delegate Sid Watkins, approached Ecclestone about writing his biography and once he agreed she got to work. However, as time passed Ecclestone changed his mind. He paid Watkins off, put the book on hold and in April last year explained his reason for doing this. "I don't want a biography," he said. However, in the end, he didn't have much choice about it. In September last year author Tom Bower reportedly began investigating Ecclestone to write a book about the F1 boss. When Ecclestone found this out he took an unusual course of action and he had good reason to do so. Tycoons tremble at Bower's name since his books are renowned for unravelling complex businesses and unearthing secrets. His targets have ranged from jailed Tory peer Conrad Black and the late Robert Maxwell to Sir Richard Branson and Gordon Brown. His investigations have landed him in court and last year Bower won a libel case brought by Ecclestone's friend the publisher Richard Desmond. Discovering that Bower was investigating him triggered a classic Ecclestone response. It is often said that he likes to keep his enemies close and therefore Ecclestone offered Bower access to his friends and confidantes. Bower spent six months flying in Ecclestone's private plane, standing by as the F1 boss played backgammon with drivers and listening in to his business negotiations. Ecclestone got what he wanted from this strategy as the usually hard-nosed Bower warmed to him. Instead of writing an expose, the book, which is due out in March next year, promises to tell Ecclestone's life story. Writing a walk-through of Ecclestone's life led by the man himself could be a big risk for Bower's reputation. It might not be what his readers are expecting and it certainly isn't the style he has become renowned for. However, this is not the biggest challenge Bower may face. As with almost everything that happens off-track in F1, the key to success is knowing Ecclestone well enough to ensure that he wont put something in place which could obstruct. Ironically, although Bower is writing a biography of Ecclestone, he doesn't seem to have this point covered. The promotional blurb for Bower's book claims that "Ecclestone has never before revealed how he graduated from selling second-hand cars in London's notorious Warren Street to become the major player he is today." At least, that is what Bower may have thought. A report in the Evening Standard, written by Pitpass' business editor Chris Sylt, reveals that Ecclestone has snatched the lead from Bower by resurrecting Watkins' biography. The book has been brought bang up to date and proofread by Sylt. "Bernie has finally said please publish the book," Watkins told Sylt, adding that "finally, after nine years - and endless updates - it will see the light of day." Watkins' book, simply entitled 'Bernie: The biography of Bernie Ecclestone' will be released on 10 December just in time for the Christmas shopping rush. Watkins is a journalist by trade and has authored numerous books including biographies of Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots and Jane Austen. Crucially, through her husband, she has known Ecclestone for 30 years so there probably isn't a more appropriate person to author his biography. Sylt has assured Pitpass that her book contains some truly incredible and entertaining insights into Ecclestone's life as well as a great deal of news. "My favourite chapters in the book have to do with his early years, particularly Warren Street," says Watkins. When the book was announced Ecclestone said that Watkins "has interviewed many people who have known me throughout most of my life and they have given her material that will complete the picture - past and present." It is no exaggeration. Not only has Ecclestone revealed to her how he progressed from being a used-car dealer to running F1, but she also spoke to his early associates, including his first business partner Fred Compton who ran a dealership in Bexleyheath with him when Ecclestone was aged only 18. Ecclestone has divulged his innermost secrets to Watkins and told her "I want the book to be open and honest." It picks over all his key deals, his marriages and celebrity friends, his brief career on-track in F1, his management of the disasters which befell the sport, the truth behind the £1m donation he famously gave to Labour and even how he once had a penchant for casinos. One wonders whether Bower may want to change the nature of his book since it will be the third Ecclestone biography and will be published three months later than Watkins' version. Presumably punters won't want to buy yet another book telling the same life story. At the very least, it seems that the promotional blurb for Bower's book will need to be modified since, by the time Watkins' book is released, it doesn't look like it will be true to say that it has "never before" been revealed how Bernie graduated from selling second-hand cars to running F1. Indeed, the years Watkins spent working on the book have given it content which Bower may struggle to match. Amongst the extensive list of people Watkins has interviewed are Sir Jackie Stewart, Flavio Briatore, Max Mosley, Frank Williams (who has written the foreword for the book) and even Ecclestone's younger sister Marian Tingey, who died years before Bower began working on his book. It could be just the inside track Watkins needs to keep her biography in the lead. www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=42681 |
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Post by Macmoish on Dec 10, 2010 17:28:03 GMT
Almost a promotional! Crashnet - » Get to know the most fascinating figure in F1! Bernie Ecclestone is Mr F1 and if you want to know how he got to be in that position then you need to read Susan Watkins' new biography. If you read only one book on motorsport this year, make sure it is Susan Watkins' explosive new biography about F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, which promises to be the most intimate story about his life ever published. Recently-turned octogenarian Ecclestone is best-known as the architect and figurehead of modern-day F1, but he has been a constant and often controversial presence in both the sport and British public life in general since the 1970s. In this exhaustive and insightful biography – initially written in close collaboration with Bernie – Susan Watkins analyses in detail his rise to prominence from his early entrepreneurial days as a schoolboy to his position today as a peerless businessman and multi-billionaire in his capacity as chief executive of commercial rights-holding organisation, Formula One Management (FOM). All aspects of his business and racing exploits are examined, and contrasted with incisive insights into his personal life. A foreword is provided by Sir Frank Williams. www.grandprixlegends.com/books-and-dvds/biographies/view-all-surname-a-f/bernie-the-biography-of-bernie-ecclestone.html?afc=CRASHNwww.crash.net/f1/News/165481/1/get_to_know_the_most_fascinating_figure_in_f1.html |
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Post by Macmoish on Dec 10, 2010 17:30:46 GMT
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Post by londonranger on Dec 10, 2010 17:32:12 GMT
How much will a signed autographed first edition cost us fans.? wonder what hell have to say about his close friends, that we know?.
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Post by Macmoish on Dec 16, 2010 8:21:35 GMT
By the author in the Express FAST LIFE OF BILLIONAIRE BERNIE ECCLESTONE
Thursday December 16,2010
By Susan Watkins
Few could make a joke out of being beaten up but a new book by one of Bernie Ecclestone’s close friends reveals the mischievous streak behind the Formula One boss’s success LAST week the luxury Swiss watchmaker Hublot, an official sponsor of Formula One, ran an advert featuring the battered face of the sport’s supremo Bernie Ecclestone. “See what people will do for a Hublot,” the tagline read. This referred to the incident on November 24 when 80-year-old Bernie, who is just 5ft 3in, was mugged with his Brazilian girlfriend Fabiana Fosi outside the London offices of Formula One Holdings, where he has an “above the shop” penthouse overlooking Hyde Park. The four assailants kicked him unconscious then snatched Bernie’s Hublot watch and Fabiana’s jewellery. WIN A LUXURY CRUISE TRIP FOR TWO WORTH £2,500! Using the shocking picture to sell products might seem poor taste on the watchmaker’s part – had it not been Bernie’s own idea. He sent the company the iPhone image and suggested it could be used for advertising. For he, more than anyone, understands the power of packaging images. It’s the basis of his billions, gleaned as he led the transformation of Formula One from the focus of a few thousand enthusiasts into a global enterprise. He also wanted to show he wasn’t cowed by the incident. In fact he was in remarkably good humour when I asked him about it. “I’ve taken a kicking but I’m all right,” he told me. “It’s hard to eat because of the stitches – but that’s good for losing weight.” Courage and the potential for making money have always gone hand-in-hand for this ultimate risk-taker. Born in rural Suffolk in 1930, he moved as a child to Dartford in Kent where his father, a former fisherman, had found work as a crane driver. Nearly blind in one eye because of a congenital eye defect, he was bullied by schoolmates for his tiny stature. But he was fearless as long as he was in control. When Germany launched its nightly blitz in 1940, his home was in the area known as “bomb alley” and the family would often spend the night in an Anderson shelter in the garden. In the morning Bernie would collect exploded fragments and shells. He earned money digging potatoes and one day in 1944 a “doodlebug” rocket came down the field towards him. “I ran like hell,” he recalled. “It sure helped to get the potatoes up.” His first venture in wheeling and dealing was selling cakes to his schoolmates. He bought them from a shop – the baker apparently ignored rationing – and sold them at break-time. By the age of 14 he was buying fountain pens in bulk and selling them for a profit in London’s Petticoat Lane. Leaving school at 15, he got a job in Dartford gasworks. He started competing in motorcycle races shortly afterwards, which led to his next entrepreneurial project: procuring bikes for a ready market of buyers whom he met on the circuit. At 18 he was managing a motorbike showroom and within 18 months he had started up his own dealership on the forecourt of a second-hand car garage. With his own turnover soaring, he bought out his partner in 1955. Married to his first wife Ivy and with a young daughter, Deborah, he bought a five-bedroom house. He acquired a Mercedes dealership and an MG showroom and while still in his 20s, he became a regular in Warren Street, London’s famously tough cauldron of used-car sales. His technique earned him the respect of the shrewdest dealers, along with the nickname “the Whippet” – as in sleek, slim and very fast – and even the hard-bitten traders were scared of him. By the time of the Swinging Sixties, he was mixing with the fast set and selling cars to the likes of Shirley Bassey and Adam Faith. H e had long had a connection with racing cars. As a young man he raced – he was better known for his accidents than his wins – and then managed a close friend and rising star, Stuart Lewis-Evans, until the latter’s death at the Moroccan Grand Prix in 1958. He then managed Austrian driver Jochen Rindt, who died in a crash at Monza in 1970. Both losses took a deep emotional toll. Nevertheless Bernie decided to buy a Formula One team and in 1971 he paid £100,000 for the organisation originally set up by Australian driver Jack Brabham. Giving up his other businesses, he signed top drivers including Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet and over the next two decades the team won 22 Grands Prix and two World Championships. His interest was developing in another direction. “I realised the sport’s administration left a lot to be desired so I became more involved in that,” he told me. “But you can’t run a team part-time. When the administrative side became so time-consuming, I knew I had to give up the team.” He was already chief executive of the Formula One Constructors Association and was gradually taking control of the sport by pioneering the sale of TV rights. By combining his mastery of negotiation and political manoeuvre with his love of motor-racing, he had shaped Formula One into the world’s richest sport and made himself into one of Britain’s richest men, at one point worth an estimated £2.4 billion. Along the way he attained remarkable improvements in safety. He invited neurosurgeon Professor Sid Watkins – now my husband – to improve medical facilities at the worldwide circuits. He backed him all the way, threatening to cancel races if Sid’s recommendations weren’t followed. It was Bernie, along with Max Mosley, the president of motorsport’s governing body, who sought further means to improve conditions which led to the formation of the Institute for Motor Sport Safety in 2004. As a result the sport is safer than anyone in the Fifties would have thought possible. The changes Bernie has brought to Formula One have also cast him upon the world stage as a leading figure. He befriends kings and heads of state – and occasionally keeps prime ministers waiting. For 26 years he was married to Croatian beauty Slavica Malic, 28 years his junior and about nine inches taller than he is. When they met Slavica spoke only a few words of English. They had two daughters Tamara and Petra, who added to the glamorous Ecclestone image. A s he flits about the paddock on any Grand Prix weekend, he will be photographed hundreds of times before he returns to his travelling office, a motorhome equipped with advanced communications systems. Now that he is 80 his Beatle-bob has turned grey, his spectacles are more conservative and his face is lined. In a sombre mood his face is as cold as the effigies chiselled into Mount Rushmore – and as hard. Then in an instant his eyes sparkle – dense with treasure like a schoolboy’s pockets – and he is once more the mischievous Dartford lad. To order Bernie: The Biography Of Bernie Ecclestone by Susan Watkins, £19.99, send a cheque payable to Express Bookshop to Ecclestone Offer, PO Box 200, Falmouth TR11 4WJ, call 0871 988 8367 or visit www.expressbookshop.comRead more: www.express.co.uk/posts/view/217716/Fast-life-of-billionaire-Bernie-EcclestoneFast-life-of-billionaire-Bernie-Ecclestone#ixzz18GEn34Jxwww.express.co.uk/posts/view/217716/Fast-life-of-billionaire-Bernie-Ecclestone |
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Post by Macmoish on Dec 22, 2010 9:51:43 GMT
I'll have to wait! No Bernie bios for ChristmasBy John Maher | Monday, December 20, 2010, www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/racing/entries/2010/12/20/bernie_bio.html?cxntfid=blogs_formula_austinIf you’re still looking for a Christmas present for Susan Combs or commenter sarum12 you may be out of luck. The biography of controversial Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, which was released in the UK a few days ago, apparently won’t be in bookstores here until early 2011. A quick check at northwest locations for Borders and Barnes & Noble showed that neither had “Bernie: The biography of Bernie Ecclestone,” in stock. Barnes & Noble said the book would be available in February and Borders said January. Neither appeared to have the book on order. The publisher is Haynes, but a quick check with the American arm of that company, in California, brought this response: “We just do repair manuals.” This Bernie bio is written by Susan Watkins, who apparently has known Ecclestone for three decades. The book, which was originally going to be an authorized bio, has been held up for five years. Now it’s “unauthorized,” but may not be as critical as one coming a little later. Tom Bower’s “No angel: The secret life of Bernie Ecclestone,” will soon be coming. Faber & Faber will be publishing that tome. www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/racing/entries/2010/12/20/bernie_bio.html?cxntfid=blogs_formula_austin
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Post by Macmoish on Jan 2, 2011 11:57:37 GMT
Independent - Reviews
Bernie, by Susan WatkinsSunday, 2 January 2011 The author, the wife of Formula One's medical chief Professor Sid Watkins and a close friend of Bernie Ecclestone for 30 years, began writing this biography of the sport's diminutive supremo nine years ago with Ecclestone's blessing. Then he changed his mind and blocked publication for several years before suddenly relenting. It has been suggested that his change of heart arose from a desire to upstage the publication of another biography, due out in February and written by Tom Bower, the author of critical biographies of a number of tycoons. So much for the background; what about the book itself? It's big in every sense: 432 pages, packed with anecdotes and quotes, not least from Ecclestone himself. Watkins traces his rise from a modest background to immense wealth – he and his family are reckoned to be worth more than £2.5 billion – with a sure hand. He showed an early entrepreneurial streak and was running a lucrative car dealership in Bexleyheath by his early 20s. His love of racing, first motorbikes, then cars, eventually led him to buy the Brabham team, and it was then that he recognised F1's untapped commercial potential. Not everybody is happy at the way he set about realising that potential. One team owner, Sir Frank Williams, says: "He is a great deal more fun than people imagine... a loyal friend." But Ron Dennis of McLaren claims: "When you reflect on a deal with Bernie, you feel that he's managed to squeeze that extra five per cent out of you... you never feel that warmth of a fair deal... Bernie effectively stole Formula One from us." Watkins guides us so expertly through the deals that brought Ecclestone to power that one wonders if there is anything new left for Bower to write about. Which is probably just how Bernie likes it. Published by hardback by Haynes, £19.99 www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/bernie-by-susan-watkins-2174101.html
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Post by Macmoish on Jan 3, 2011 9:08:40 GMT
A cautionary tale?'Bernie stole F1 from us' - Ron DennisESPNF1 Staff en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/36834.html?CMP=OTC-RSSDecember 21, 2010 « BBC recognises Williams' achievements | McLaren chairman Ron Dennis has accused Bernie Ecclestone of stealing Formula One's commercial rights from the teams. His comments appear in the new Ecclestone biography Bernie by Susan Watkins which was published last week. "Bernie effectively stole F1 from us," Dennis is quoted as saying, referring to the transfer of the sport's lucrative commercial rights from the team-led Formula One Constructors' Association to Ecclestone's company in the 90s. "He used this commercial benefit to persuade the teams to accept a contract that eliminated them from the passing of rights as had previously existed." McLaren - as well as Williams - contested the transaction, claiming that some of the profits of the rights' subsequent sale belonged to them. The British teams also sued the law firms that represented them for giving bad advice, but Ecclestone insists they simply regretted not making a wiser decision. "It's only when things started to look good and I invested the money and it started to work that they thought maybe they should have done it," Ecclestone countered. en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/36834.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
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Post by Macmoish on Jan 3, 2011 9:14:35 GMT
The second Ecclestone Book comes out near the end of February. Will they be sold in the QPR Store?www.faber.co.uk/work/no-angel/9780571269297/Tom Bower "No Angel: The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone" Synopsis: Private, mysterious and some say sinister, 79 year-old Bernie Ecclestone criss-crosses the globe in his private jet mixing with celebrities, statesmen and sporting heroes. Ecclestone’s success has not just been to create a multi-billion pound global business but to resist repeated attempts to snatch the glittering prize from his control. Ecclestone has never before revealed how he graduated from selling second-hand cars in London’s notorious Warren Street to become the major player he is today. He has finally decided to reveal his secrets: the deals, the marriages, the disasters and the successes on race tracks, in Downing Street, in casinos, on yachts and in the air. Surprisingly, he is telling his life’s story to Tom Bower, described by Ecclestone as ‘The Undertaker’ – the man who buries reputations - and has given him access to all his friends and enemies. All have been told by Ecclestone, 'Tell him the truth, good or bad.' The result is a unique story of a simple, driven man who unlike shady tycoons offers an intriguing insight into the sport, business and, above all, the human spirit. ‘I’ll accept your facilities,’ Bower told Ecclestone, ‘but if I find evidence of wrongdoing or hear any criticism, it will all be published.’ After a brief moment, Ecclestone replied, ‘Tom, I’m no angel.’ 
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Post by Macmoish on Jan 6, 2011 8:51:59 GMT
And "look inside the book" www.haynes.co.uk/bernie/Key features of the book * Within the Formula 1 world, friends, colleagues, associates and enemies alike have had their say: respectful, amusing, exasperated. * In Bernie: The Biography of Bernie Ecclestone, Susan Watkins gives her insider's view of the whole panoply of his astonishing multi-billion dollar world. * Her husband, Formula 1's on-track medical supremo Professor Sid Watkins, has supplied Susan with countless anecdotes of his close relationship with Bernie and their working together on and off the circuit. * Members of Bernie's family, including Bernie's late sister, have contributed their unique knowledge about Bernie's youth. * Bernie's early professional life is recorded through interviews with his friends and colleagues from Bexleyheath. * From Warren Street, memories of Bernie as the used-car dealer: but for Bernie: The Biography of Bernie Ecclestone many of these unique stories would be lost as several of the contributors have passed on. * Even his tailor offers a view of the indomitable Mr Ecclestone – and his inate sense of style. * Sir Frank Williams provides an insightful Foreword. What they say about Bernie 'He has rather a tough image, but he is a great deal more fun than people imagine... He is a man with a big heart, a loyal friend, and a doting father.' Sir Frank Williams 'Bernie is a most remarkable man and has an astonishing brain... He probably has an extra lobe, like Einstein was thought to have.' Professor Sid Watkins 'Personal relationships are important to Bernie... Bernie's the softest-hearted person I know.' Max Mosley About the author Susan Watkins is an experienced author who has written acclaimed biographies of Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I and Jane Austen. She has lectured internationally on historical subjects, contributed to television documentaries and children's television, and has recently written a stage play and screenplay on 'The Guinea Pig Club' and Sir Archibald McIndoe, the maverick Second World War plastic surgeon. She is married to Professor Sid Watkins, the celebrated neurosurgeon and former 'official' Formula 1 medical officer and, of course, Bernie Ecclestone's choice for the position of FOCA surgeon. Sid has been responsible, with Bernie, for raising the medical support standards at Formula 1 circuits to the maximum level possible and equal to the facilities in the highest-grade trauma centres. As a close friend and confidant of Bernie, his contributions to this book have been extensive. Buy from HaynesOnline £19.99 Introduction by Frank Williams - www.haynes.co.uk/bernie/PDFs/H5033_intro.pdfForeword - www.haynes.co.uk/bernie/PDFs/H5033_foreword.pdf |
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