Fever Pitch
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
author Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby is an English novelist, essayist and screenwriter. He is best known for the novels High Fidelity, About a Boy, and for the football memoir Fever Pitch. His work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists.-Life and career:Hornby was...
. The book is the basis for two films: Fever Pitch
Fever Pitch (1997 film)
Fever Pitch is a 1997 film starring Colin Firth based loosely on the book of the same name by Nick Hornby.-Synopsis:Hornby adapted the book for the screen and fictionalized the story, concentrating on Arsenal's First Division championship-winning season in 1988-89 and its effect on the...
(UK) was released in 1997, and Fever Pitch (US) in 2005. The first edition included the sub-title "A Fan's Life" but later paperback editions did not.
Book
Fever Pitch was first published in 1992, and was Hornby's first book. It tells the story of the author's relationship with footballFootball (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
and with Arsenal Football Club
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
in particular. It consists of a large number of short essays, each focused on a single match between 1968 and 1992. As well as recounting Arsenal's highs and lows, Hornby relates them to his own personal life, musing both on his worship of Arsenal heroes such as Liam Brady
Liam Brady
Liam Brady is a former Irish association football player, and former assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team....
, and the fate of infamous failures such as Gus Caesar
Gus Caesar
Pogus Cassius "Gus" Caesar is an English former football player.-Youth and career at Arsenal:Born in Tottenham, London, Caesar joined Arsenal in August 1982, turning professional in February 1984...
.
Fever Pitch sold over a million copies in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year
William Hill Sports Book of the Year
The William Hill Sports Book of the Year is an annual British literary award sponsored by bookmakers William Hill. It claims to be "the world's richest sports book prize" at £22,000...
in 1992. It was also reprinted with a new cover and made available as part of the 2005-06 Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
membership pack as part of the "Final Salute" to Highbury
Arsenal Stadium
Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, North London, which was the home ground of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006...
Stadium.
1997 film
A 1997 film version of Fever Pitch, with a screenplay adapted by Hornby himself, fictionalised the story, concentrating on Arsenal's First DivisionFootball League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
championship-winning season in 1988-89
1988-89 in English football
The 1988–89 season was the 109th season of competitive football in England.-Hillsborough disaster:On 15 April, a crowd crush at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough killed 94 people and injured more than 300. A 95th Liverpool supporter died in hospital...
and its effect on the protagonist's romantic relationship. Colin Firth
Colin Firth
SirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...
played Paul Ashworth, the character based on Hornby, a teacher at a school in North London, and his burgeoning romance with Sarah Hughes (Ruth Gemmell
Ruth Gemmell
-Early life:Ruth Gemmell was born in Darlington, Durham, England. She has three brothers. She attended an all girls school in Darlington called Polam Hall.Her parents divorced when she was a child and she moved with her mother to Darlington from Barnard Castle....
), a new teacher who joins Ashworth's school. The film culminates with Arsenal's match against title rivals Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
in the final game of the season
Liverpool 0–2 Arsenal (26 May 1989)
The final match of the 1988–89 English Football League season was contested on 26 May 1989, between Liverpool and Arsenal, at Liverpool's Anfield ground. By sheer coincidence, it was the match between the top two teams in the First Division and the teams were close enough on points for the match to...
on 26 May 1989, a Michael Thomas goal giving Arsenal the 2–0 win they needed to win the title.
2005 film
A 2005 film remake of Fever Pitch, directed by the Farrelly BrothersFarrelly brothers
Peter John Farrelly and Robert Leo "Bobby" Farrelly, Jr. , professionally known as the Farrelly Brothers are screenwriters and directors of ten comedy films, including There's Something About Mary; Dumb and Dumber; Kingpin; Hall Pass; Me, Myself & Irene; Shallow Hal; Stuck on You; Osmosis Jones;...
with Hornby as an executive producer, starred Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon
James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC...
and Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film director, screenwriter, producer and model. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered...
. In this adaptation (based on the 1997 film, not the 1992 book), the action is moved from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, the focus of the protagonist's obsession is shifted from football to baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, and the story centers on the 2004 Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
season, which culminated with the team's first Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
victory
2004 World Series
The 2004 World Series was the Major League Baseball championship series for the 2004 season. It was the 100th World Series and featured the American League champions, the Boston Red Sox, against the National League champions, the St. Louis Cardinals...
in 86 years. This championship was entirely coincidental; the filming of the 2005 version was being done during the 2004 regular season, including scenes filmed at Fenway Park
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is one of two "classic"...
during actual games. As the Red Sox continued to progress through the playoffs, the Farrellys had to rewrite the script to include the historic moment. Fever Pitch was produced by ELC Productions Ltd., Fox 2000 Pictures, Wildgaze Films, Alan Greenspan Productions, and Flower Films
Flower Films
Flower Films is a commercial film production company founded by Drew Barrymore in 1995 with Nancy Juvonen. Flower Films has produced ten movies and several television shows to date...
.
The movie was renamed The Perfect Catch outside North America to avoid confusion with the 1997 film.
External links
- Nick Hornby discusses Fever Pitch on the BBC World Book ClubWorld Book ClubWorld Book Club is a radio programme on the BBC World Service. Each edition of the programme, which is broadcast on the first Saturday of the month with repeats into the following Monday, features a famous author discussing one of his or her books, often the most well-known one, with the public...
- Discussion of the book in The Observer