Fever Pitch (sometimes titled in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as
Fever Pitch: A Fan's Life) is the title of a 1992 autobiographical book by
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
author
Nick HornbyNick Hornby is an English novelist and essayist. 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, sports, and the both aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists.-Life and career:Hornby was born in...
. The book is the basis for two films of the same name: a
British filmFever Pitch is a 1997 film starring Colin Firth based loosely on the book of the same name by Nick Hornby.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 protagonist's romantic...
was released in 1997, and an American remake in 2005.
Fever Pitch was first published in 1992, and was Hornby's first book. It tells the story of the author's relationship with
footballAssociation football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...
and with
Arsenal Football ClubArsenal Football Club are an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London...
in particular.
Fever Pitch (sometimes titled in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as
Fever Pitch: A Fan's Life) is the title of a 1992 autobiographical book by
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
author
Nick HornbyNick Hornby is an English novelist and essayist. 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, sports, and the both aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists.-Life and career:Hornby was born in...
. The book is the basis for two films of the same name: a
British filmFever Pitch is a 1997 film starring Colin Firth based loosely on the book of the same name by Nick Hornby.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 protagonist's romantic...
was released in 1997, and an American remake in 2005.
Book
Fever Pitch was first published in 1992, and was Hornby's first book. It tells the story of the author's relationship with
footballAssociation football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...
and with
Arsenal Football ClubArsenal Football Club are an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London...
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 BradyLiam "Chippy" Brady is a former Irish football player, who is now the assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland senior team. Brady is also head of Youth Development at Arsenal, and was a frequent television pundit with RTÉ Sport before assuming his new managerial role...
, and the fate of infamous failures such as
Gus CaesarAugustus 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 KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. It won the
William Hill Sports Book of the YearThe William Hill Sports Book of the Year is an annual book award given by the British bookmakers William Hill. It is dedicated to rewarding excellence in sports writing and was first awarded in 1989.-Previous winners:-External links:**...
in 1992. It was also reprinted with a new cover and made available as part of the 2005-06
Arsenal F.C.Arsenal Football Club are an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London...
membership pack as part of the "Final Salute" to
HighburyArsenal 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 DivisionThe First Division was the top division of The Football League between 1892 and 1992 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the FA Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Coca Cola Championship.-History:The Football...
championship-winning season in
1988-89The 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 saw 94 people killed and more than 300 injured. A 95th Liverpool supporter died in hospital...
and its effect on the protagonist's romantic relationship.
Colin FirthColin Andrew Firth is an English film, television, and stage actor. Firth first gained wide public attention, especially in England, for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the highly acclaimed 1995 television adaption of 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 GemmellRuth Gemmell is a British actress. She trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. After graduating, she has played a variety of roles mainly in theatres and TV dramas...
), a new teacher who joins Ashworth's school. The film culminates with Arsenal's match against title rivals
LiverpoolLiverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club plays in the Premier League, and has won more trophies than any other English club...
in the
final game of the seasonThe 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 BrothersThe Farrelly brothers, Peter and Bobby , are screenwriters and directors of ten comedy films, including There's Something About Mary; Dumb and Dumber; Kingpin; Me, Myself & Irene; Shallow Hal; Stuck on You; Osmosis Jones; Fever Pitch and The Heartbreak...
with Hornby as an executive producer, starred
Jimmy FallonJames Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, musician, and talk show host known for his work on Saturday Night Live...
and
Drew BarrymoreDrew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film producer and film director. She is the youngest member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was eleven 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 is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
to
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
, the focus of the protagonist's obsession is shifted from soccer to
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal 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 square, or diamond...
, and the story centers on the 2004
Boston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox are a member of the Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Since , the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park. The "Red Sox" name originates from the iconic uniform feature....
season, which culminated with the team's first
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
World SeriesThe World Series has been the annual championship series of the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada since 1903, concluding the postseason of Major League Baseball...
victoryThe 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 ParkFenway 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...
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 FilmsFlower 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 Club
World 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