BOOK REVIEW

THE MAKING OF : 555 Alan Thatcher explains the reasoning behind his book with Rod Gilmour about one of the most famous unbeaten runs in sport Jahangir Khan: the name means ‘The Conqueror’. It would fi t comfortably into the modern era, where every top player (second left) and Jahangir Khan at the launch of Jahangir Khan: 555 needs the gimmick of a nickname. with authors Alan Thatcher (far left) and Rod Gilmour Very few of today’s professionals were born a practice hit because of the different noise It was a totally transformational era, with when Jahangir was at his peak in the 1980s the ball made. tournaments moving from the confi nes and ’s implosion as a major squash of traditional plaster courts and on to We tracked down the records of fi tness force since then has further reduced aware- see-through courts erected on stage in tests that Jahangir underwent and the ness of the phenomenal accomplishments theatres, sports halls, nightclubs and results left the scientists gasping with of an extraordinary family who brought glory TV studios. There were also changes in astonishment as they compared his to a newly-fl edged nation. scoring and experiments with different endurance power to that of a marathon balls to make the game more appealing Co-author Rod Gilmour and I felt that the runner. to television. story needed re-telling, especially as Coaches and sports science experts would November 2016 was the 30th anniversary It all seems a long time ago and when be aghast at the stories we also uncovered of the end of Jahangir’s famous unbeaten legendary players are reduced to names of the late Australian, Kevin Shawcross, a run that lasted fi ve years and eight months. in the history books and modern players world top 10 player and a legendary party stop talking about them, we decided we New Zealander Ross Norman was the man animal who literally drank himself to death. wanted to bring Jahangir’s incredible who terminated that sequence, in Toulouse For me, it was a wonderful trip down story back to life. in 1986, and he became world champion in memory lane. Digging for information on the process. During the book launch at Wimbledon, the longest match in history, when JK beat one day short of the 30th anniversary of Ross was a constant source of amazing Gamal Awad 3/1 in two hours 46 minutes his epic victory in Toulouse, Ross said material as Rod and I researched the book, on stage at the Chichester Festival Theatre Jahangir had moved the game forward Jahangir Khan: 555. For both of us, it was in 1983, I uncovered a treasure trove of by at least 20 per cent. a richly rewarding experience talking to yellowing documents. Jahangir’s contemporaries, including We set out to help new generations uncover I had kept an old notepad with shorthand Ross, , , Ricki the story of the man who won the British notes of every point in the match, plus Hill, Maqsood Ahmed, Phil Kenyon, Ian Open 10 years in a row. newspaper cuttings, the tournament Robinson and Gawain Briars, plus the programme, carbon copies of reports and We could fi nd no offi cial records to verify leading referee of that era, Graham Dixon. a copy of the marking sheet, which I got the accuracy of the claim that his unbeaten Rahmat Khan revealed how he had fi lled signed by both players. Amazingly, all this run lasted 555 matches. It could be more; the huge gap left by the sudden death of stuff had survived three house moves. it could be less. We simply don’t know. But Jahangir’s brother, Torsam, and developed nothing can undermine his phenomenal As a former editor of this publication, I also a partnership that was to turn the squash achievements. dug out hundreds of old photographs from world upside down. that era, when hair was long, shorts were We wanted to make sure that the name of And Hiddy Jahan was at his side nearly all short and rackets were in the process Jahangir Khan will echo down the decades the way, having predicted the success that of being transformed from tiny wooden as the greatest squash player in history. Jahangir would achieve after training with weapons into the massive graphite beasts Jahangir Khan: 555 the 14-year-old prodigy. being used today. 555 is published by Pitch Publications They all agreed that Jahangir had super- In the end, photographer Steve Line Authors: Rod Gilmour and Alan Thatcher. human powers of fi tness and hit the ball delivered a brilliant selection of images Price £12.99p harder than anyone else. The players all that captured magical moments from claimed you could tell when he was having Jahangir’s career.

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