Ricky Ellcock: Balls to Fly – An Autobiography - Part of Autumn Derby Book Festival

Description

As documented in his hard-hitting autobiography, Ricky Ellcock's story is as dramatic as it is inspiring. He has spent a lifetime overcoming biases and prejudice, not to mention being saved from death by receiving four life-saving brain operations in the space of eight weeks. 

A Barbadian schoolboy who left his family behind to follow his sporting dreams, he became one of the fastest bowlers in England, but his hopes of playing Test cricket were cruelly thwarted by injury. Plunged into depression and forced to pursue another career, a childhood interest in aviation was his salvation. Ellcock relocated to the USA and qualified as a commercial airline pilot, becoming the first black captain with Virgin Atlantic.