Norman Giller

Norman Giller (born 18 April 1940 Stepney, East End, London) is a prolific English author, a sports historian and television scriptwriter.

With 94 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 93rd book – Sir Henry Cooper A Hero for All Time was published in June 2012, and before that he self-published Tottenham, The Glory-Glory Game, which he has written with members of the Spurs Writers' Club, which he formed in 2011.

Book No 94 followed in December 2012. It is called Bobby Moore The Master, and tells the story of the former England football captain's remarkable life on and off the pitch. All profits for the book are going to the Bobby Moore Cancer Fund and has been published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Moore's death from bowel cancer in February 2013.

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 93rd book, a personalized tribute to boxing legend Henry Cooper was published in July 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

Giller's 82nd book was The Lane of Dreams, 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 and The Golden Double, '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 (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 , 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 . 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.