Muhammad Ali: A Memoir: A fresh and personal account of a boxing champion

In the following pages I try to understand and put into perspective the man, opposite whom I sat on four separate occasions, who thrilled, infuriated and bewildered me, but who never let me get close enough to see what really made him tick, or explain the forces that shaped him.

Sir Michael Parkinson interviewed Muhammad Ali four times and in this memoir you are given a ringside seat, blow by blow.

Muhammad Ali was a gift to any interviewer, particularly one as adept as Parkinson. Funny, articulate, outspoken, with a fascinating life story, unparalleled talent and controversial views.

These four interviews span Ali's life, revealing significant phases and charting the rise and fall of this most chameleon-like of men. In Muhammad Ali: A Memoir Sir Michael Parkinson brings his award-winning journalistic talents to bear on the life of this extraordinary man, mixing personal recollections of the times they met with selected transcripts of the famous and, in the case of the 1974 meeting, infamous interviews.

To this Parkinson delivers an account contextualised by a sober and honest assessment of the life and times of a figure that, it is certain, we will never see the like of again. Muhammad Ali: A Memoir is a fresh, revealing and personal account of the life of one of the most important and enduring cultural figures of our age.