Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

$0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Everything to Play For cover art

Everything to Play For

By: James Harkin, Anna Ptaszynski
Narrated by: Anna Ptaszynski, James Harkin
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £21.99

Buy Now for £21.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

222 QI Answers to Your Quite Ingenious Questions cover art
Alan Partridge: Big Beacon cover art
Glutton cover art
Rambling Man cover art
The Audiobook of the Year cover art
Funny You Should Ask... cover art
The Audiobook of the Year 2019 cover art
The Audiobook of the Year (2018) cover art
This Is the Life cover art
Total Olympics cover art
The News Quiz: Through the Years cover art
The Conspiracy Tourist cover art
Great Australian Cricket Achievers and Characters cover art
The News Quiz 2015: Sandi Toksvig's Final Shows cover art
The Making of the Women's World Cup cover art
The Beautiful Game cover art

Summary

Hop, skip and jump into this wonderfully curious grand tour of the world of sports, brought to you by QI Elves James Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski.

From sport's weirdest rules to its most unlikely heroes, via comically large cricket bats, pole-vaulting priests, creative football chants and exploding billiard balls, each chapter of Everything to Play For is brimming with surprising facts and intriguing stories.

Even if you've never asked yourself what David Attenborough has to do with yellow tennis balls, why Victorian doctors feared the outbreak of 'bicycle face' or what led ancient Egyptian athletes to have their spleens removed, this book will give you the astonishing answers - and plenty more besides.

©2023 James Harkin (P)2023 Faber & Faber

Critic reviews

'Top Bins! A personal best, a lap record and a hole in one for when rain has stopped play.' ALAN DAVIES

Love Books? You'll Love Audible.

Transform your day

Transform your day

Replace endless scrolling with endless listening. Chores can be fun.

Listen everywhere

Listen everywhere

You can’t turn pages while you drive—but you can press play.

Carry your entire Library

Carry your entire Library

Your stories go where you go. Audiobooks don’t weigh a thing.

Listen and learn

Listen and learn

Discover stories that can change your mind, your well-being, and your life.

Reach your reading goals

Reach your reading goals

Download titles to listen offline, wherever you are in the world.

Find your niche

Find your niche

WIth thousands of titles to explore, there’s something for everyone.

Try for £0.00 £7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

What listeners say about Everything to Play For

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    27
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    28
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    25
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another funny book of randomness

Once again the guys behind QI come up with a funny and informative book of things you didn’t know you wanted to know!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen

Was never really too bothered by sports or sport related stories but after completing this book I will view sport in a completely new light. Thanks to QI for that opportunity. Loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Quite interesting! ;)

Overall I have loved this book so far (I’m about 3/4 of the way through). James and Anna’s voices are deeply calming and easy to listen to! The facts are clearly well researched and neither too broad nor too pointed which, in my eyes, makes it quite interesting. I’m not really a big sports fan but I have found myself thoroughly enjoying learning about it.

My only criticism is that it is very much “global north” focused with only a handful of exceptions. That said! I am only 3/4 of the way through and the ending might surprise me still.

Would still highly recommend to everyone!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Sports

The extra bit at the end was pretty cool. Could do with the music though. Sports history is fun.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

quite interesting

even for non sports fans thos is a quite interesting collection of sporting facts by two of the elves behind QI.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Quite interesting and so much more

As per usual Anna and James (I'm on a first name basis because I listen to the No Such Thing as a Fish podcast) are quite interesting, funny, thought provoking and charming.

I loved listening to the audio book while getting on with all my boring housework. It made the time fly by while I gain historical and multicultural perspectives.

I bought two hardback copies as Christmas presents for my brothers in law and they both loved it too.

It's a very good present for anyone with even a mild interest in sport or like myself a love of QI (on BBC iplayer) and Club Fish.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!