Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

'''INTRODUCTION''' Having read all of Danny Wallace's books and been amused if slightly appalled at his childish challenges, I was recommended the works of Tony Hawks by Ms Larsbaby. It seems that Mr Hawks is also famed for his silly challenges and could be seen as something of an inspiration for people like Wallace & Dave Gorman who also like to indulge their egos in ostensibly pointless bets. Moldova was a part of the Soviet Union and has been ...
...Eastern Europe located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south. With little previous experience to go on I was keen to find out more about the country and the author. '''ROLL OVER MOLDOVA''' I was always intrigued by the title of this book, having no idea at all what it was about until I read it. It turns out that our protagonist ends up trying to play tennis (one at a time of course) with the entire Moldovan football ...

larsbaby 06.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

Tony Hawks is a funny guy. After all, he is a comedian, and comedians tend to have to be funny. But in recent years, he’s progressed from being “funny ha-ha” to being possibly a little bit strange. It’s not his fault, I guess. He just can’t resist a challenge. So when he got drunk one night and was bet that he couldn’t hitch hike around Ireland with a fridge in tow, he did, and then promptly wrote a book, the hilarious, if not terribly imaginatively ...
...also a funny guy. He’s a friend of Tony Hawks and has starred alongside him on the comedy circuit and on “Red Dwarf”. He’s also pretty fond of telling Tony he’s not very good at tennis, which upsets Tony because Tony thinks he’s actually rather good at the game. And so it is that one night, whilst watching England beat Moldova 4-0 and after quite a few drinks have been consumed, a bet is made. The bet is as so; that Tony can’t beat the entire Moldovan ...

Soho_Black 19.08.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

...But when hubby began reading Playing The Moldovans At Tennis, I found my linguistic services were needed. Moldova is a former Soviet republic between Romania and the Ukraine, so names mentioned were either Romanian or Russian in origin. I had studied Russian at University (just before Moldova gained its independence in 1991) and being a fan of East European gymnastics, I knew a small amount of Romanian too. From this tiny beginning, my interest was ...
...MAN ON A MISSION Playing The Moldovans At Tennis should give you an idea as to what this book is about. The Moldovan national football team were over in England playing a World Cup qualifying match. The names of the eleven footballers were printed in a page of the newspaper. Comedian Arthur Smith bets Tony Hawks that he cannot play them at tennis and beat them all. The forfeit for the loser will be to parade naked in an area of London, whilst singing ...

KarenUK 03.01.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

...upon the crazy idea of playing a game of tennis against each member of the Moldovan football team, reckoning that he would be able to beat them all. The idea arose while he was watching the England football team play the Moldovan national side. Hawkes and a friend were discussing whether being a good sportsman is an innate thing – if you can play one sport well, you should be able to have a reasonable stab at others. Tony believed that this is not ...
...sport paid dividends and cited his own background of tennis training as an example. As a youngster he had taken tennis lessons and risen to quite a high level within his local area. He said that he thought he would have a strong chance of beating any of the players on the football pitch in a game of tennis. And so the seed grew; spurred on by his friend’s disbelief, Tony picked up the gauntlet and set about planning just how he would beat every member ...

fizzytom 12.01.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

Tony Hawks thinks he's quite good at tennis: he even won the Equity tennis tournament a few years ago. His mate, Arthur Smith, isn't so sure. Tony reckons that because he had coaching when he was younger, he has been given a good grounding in the basic skills of the game. Arthur, however, claims that anyone with just a bit of natural sporting ability could play a decent game of tennis. In order to test his theory, Arthur suggests that Tony should ...
...a game of tennis. If Tony beats every one of them, Arthur will stand naked on Balham High Road and sing the Moldovan national anthem. If you are already familiar with Tony Hawks, you will know that Tony is not a man to turn down a challenge. Well, certainly not a challege so easy that all you have to do is travel to eastern Europe and play a quick game of tennis with eleven footballers. Of course Tony finds that it's not that easy. To start with ...

dazzman 27.01.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

...the basics requires ridiculous patience. Playing 6 games of tennis with its countries footballers involves going beyond polite requests to do so. Once Hawks finds this out he does what any desperate man would do in the situation, he lies. Passing himself off as a BBC documentary maker he manages to breech the inner sanctum of the Moldovan Football Association. A long list of empty promises and an unfeasibly long neck eventually gets Hawks places, ...
...thick and fast as Hawks runs several bemused Moldovan footballers ragged on the court. The players generall turn out to be pretty awful at holding a racket and swinging it in a way that would return the small ball at an angle that clears the net. Hawks milks the scene where one hapless footballer takes aim and fires a volley only to see it crash unsympathetically on his own head. Throughout his stay in Moldova Hawks is given a room in the home of ...

indiecater 10.10.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

They say that truth is stranger than fiction, and this is certainly the case here. Even the most bizarre and twisted of imaginations would struggle to come up with the premise for Tony Hawks' second autobiographical escapade. The premise is simple - Tony must play and beat each member of the Moldovan football team at tennis. The difficulty is that Tony does not know where Moldova is, what language they speak, or which clubs the aforementionned players ...
...torn from a newspaper after the recent England - Moldova football match. Tony's enthusiasm for the task at hand is remarkable. Despite the major difficulties facing him, all added to by his doubting friends, he determines that no task is too great for anyone just so long as they remain permanently optimistic under all possible circumstances. This relentless optimism is put to it's sternest test by the Moldovans themselves, who by all accounts are ...

bphester99 16.07.2001 (17.07.2001) · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

I was recently lent this book by a mate of mine who did tell me that it was a superb read - having read the synopsis on the back cover, I was somewhat dubious though, probably because the basic premise of the book is quite an odd one. To explain: Tony Hawks (a pretty well-known comedian and TV personality) is watching England play Moldova in a World Cup qualifying game with his good mate Arthur Smith (also a person you have probably seen or heard ...
...Hawks muses on his sporting ability, more specifically on his tennis skills, and Smith cuts in with the comment that at least one of the Moldovan team is probably a good enough all-round sportsman to defeat Hawks on the tennis court. This discussion develops into a bet over a few beers down the pub, the upshot of which is that Tony Hawks agrees to meet the entire Moldovan starting XI from that match, wherever they may be, and beat them at tennis. ...

JVL 20.09.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

...denoument, Tony nearly resorts to playing the footballers at Playstation tennis, avoids falling down manholes in Moldova (the government melted them down for scrap iron and switched off all the streetlights to save electricity), and manages to play lots of tennis. His chances aren't helped by the officious attitudes of the Moldovan manager - who comes across like Stalin in a tracksuit, and the fact that he has to chase the Moldovan football team ...
...of a Moldovan family. At one point Tony embarrasses himself by having to explain having food poisoning to their fourteen year old daughter in sign language, in order to excuse himself from their lavish hospitality. You read this book coming away with real insights into a little known culture. Overall, this is a light read, full of enjoyment. Its only drawback is that it follows the same plot as all of Tony Hawks's other books, but it is still very ...

drewish 30.11.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

I saw "Playing the Moldovans at Tennis" at the airport and I had seen a report on it on Grandstand or some other such sports show and I tohught it looked quite funny. I bought it and proceede to read it an I must say it really is very funny. The scenario is incredible when you stop and think about it. Two guys(who both happen to be fairly famous comedians) are sitting and watching England v. Moldova and since England are cruising to an easy victory ...
...Hawks can beat them all at tennis. He argues he can and his friend Arthur Smith argues he can't. Arthur Smith then bets Tony Hawks he can't do it and Tony sets out torove him wrong, with the loser having to strip off naked and sing the moldovan national anthem on the high street. This is the whole premise and the book charts Tony Hawks journey around Europe to play all the Moldovan team at Tennis. Who one? well you'll have to buy it to find that ...

jmagill 10.09.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

Having read Tony Hawks first entry into the world of writing "Round Ireland with a Fridge" I was very keen to read this, his second book. Although definitely not a sequel it does take on the same form as the previous: how Hawks goes about trying to win the most obscure of bets. In this book Hawks sets out to play and beat the first 11 of the Moldavian football team. Ludicrous as it may seem the book does provide a very down-to-earth story of one ...
...the story and pulls this of with as much success as its predecessor, and as with that book, the story is as much of the wonderful characters met along the way as with the narrative line of the book. Don’t worry if you’re not a fan of tennis, that becomes very much a humorous aside to the business of arranging to meet each of the players, and the struggles involved. “Playing the Moldovan’s at Tennis” pulls the reader ...

goddzee 09.01.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

Tony Hawks is a funny guy. This is an undeniable fact if you read this book (or Around Ireland with a Fridge - see review). Tony Hawks also appears to have a lot of time on his hands This book is a travel/humour/take on life written in the first person by comedian/actor/author/sometime musician Tony Hawks. He takes a bet from his friend Arthur that he could beat the Moldova Soccer Team at a game of tennis - one at a time of course. Clearly, ...
...making and accepting such a ridiculous bet. But Tony is not to be denied. He packs his bags and manages to set off on his ridiculous voyage. What then happens is an outstanding tale of the struggles of countries after communism, what their hopes and fears are, where they want to go, and how they view the Western world. Some tennis is also played. Tony manages to go to quite a few places around Europe in his quest and he meets some real characters. ...

simon_hinds 10.05.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

...keen to avoid. Playing the Moldovans at Tennis was written as the result of an extremely drunken bet, made with his friend, Arthur Smith after watching the England Vs Moldova World Cup qualifier. Arthur thinks he is bound to win because out of 11 footballers at least 1 must be some good. Tony, who was a talented amateur tennis player, bet his friend that he could beat the entire Moldovan football team at tennis and the ensuing story is about how ...
...names of the footballers you would think it easy to find the team and then play them but this does not turn out to be the case. To begin with it is doubt-full that Tony will even get to Moldova because in order to visit the country you need an invitation from a citizen. Fortunately he finds someone to issue an invitation and a host family to stay with during his trip. The rest of the trip is similarly plagued with problems both bureaucratic and practical ...

Azurel 10.04.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

Tony Hawks is the type of guy you see on TV but never really catch his name, and then he turns up on something else. He is a very dry and has a witty and intelligant sense of humour. In this book he bets his flatmate that he can play and beat all of the Moldovan soccer squad at tennis - although he is only a bit of a tennis player, the bet commences. He starts in Liverpool and heads out to eastern Europe and the bet goes on. Tghis then leads to brushes ...
...pursuit of footballers. A very funny book, a great idea and the story is told with a sarcastic and very funny view on the experience as a whole. A great read and definetely one for those beach holidays. Available at all good bookshops and bad ones to at an avaerage price of £6.99 ...

liammartin 15.02.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

Playing The Moldvans At Tennis may not be as funny as Tony Hawks’ previous book (Round Ireland With A Fridge) – possibly because of the lack of visits to pubs – but it is certainly as good to read. This all came about after one of his friends, Arthur Smith, bet Hawks that he could not beat the whole Moldovan football team at tennis, the loser having to sing the Moldovan national anthem on Balham High Road – naked! All of this ...
...Moldova and even less about their languages – Romanian and Russian. He ends up visiting Moldova, Transnistria, Northern Ireland and Israel just to get 11 footballers to play him at tennis. A brilliant read for anyone – especially those who enjoyed Round Ireland With A Fridge – not only funny but showing us that life in Moldova is totally different to life in England. ...

Carrow_Road_Canary 08.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks