Fever Pitch

First edition
Author	Nick Hornby
Language	English
Genre	Autobiography
Publisher	Gollancz
Publication date	1992
Publication place	United Kingdom
Pages	247
ISBN	0-575-05315-1
OCLC	27897737

Fever Pitch: A Fan's Life is a 1992autobiographical essay by British authorNick Hornby. The book is the basis for two films:Fever Pitch (1997, UK) andFever Pitch (2005, US). The first edition was subtitled "A Fan's Life", but later paperback editions were not.

Fever Pitch, first published in 1992, is a memoir and Hornby's second book. It tells the story of the author's relationship withfootball, and withArsenal Football Club in particular.^[1] It consists of several chapters in chronological order, from the time the author first became a football fan as a child until his early thirties. Each chapter is about a football match that he remembers watching, most but not all atArsenal Stadium, Highbury, and how it related to the events that were going on with his life. As well as recounting Arsenal's highs and lows, Hornby talks about other football clubs that play in London, and his interest in the contrasting surroundings ofCambridge United andCambridge City, whose matches he attends while at university.

Fever Pitch sold over a million copies in the United Kingdom. It won theWilliam Hill Sports Book of the Year in 1992 and was reprinted with a new cover and made available as part of the 2005–06Arsenal F.C. membership pack as part of the "Final Salute" to Highbury Stadium. The book was made aPenguin Modern Classic in August 2012.^[2]

A 1997 film version ofFever Pitch, with a screenplay adapted by Hornby, fictionalised the story, concentrating on Arsenal'sFirst Division championship-winning season in1988–89 and its effect on the protagonist's romantic relationship. Paul Ashworth, played byColin Firth, the character based on Hornby, a teacher at a school in North London and his burgeoning romance with Sarah Hughes (Ruth Gemmell), a new teacher who joins Ashworth's school. The film culminates with Arsenal playing title rivalsLiverpool in thefinal game of the season on 26 May 1989, in which a last minuteMichael Thomas goal gives Arsenal the 2–0 win they need to win the title.Fever Pitch compares Hornby's life at Arsenal and other football clubs.

A 2005 film remake ofFever Pitch, directed by theFarrelly Brothers with Hornby as an executive producer, starredJimmy Fallon andDrew Barrymore. In this adaptation (based on the 1997 film, not the 1992 book), the action is moved fromLondon toBoston, the focus of the protagonist's obsession is shifted fromfootball tobaseball and the story is based on the 2004Boston Red Sox season, which culminated with the team's firstMajor League BaseballWorld Seriesvictory in 86 years. This championship was entirely coincidental; the 2005 version was being filmed during the 2004 regular season, including scenes filmed atFenway Park during actual games. As the Red Sox continued to progress through the playoffs, the Farrellys rewrote the script to include the historic moment. The movie was renamedThe Perfect Catch outside North America to avoid confusion with the 1997 film.^[3]

• Bentley, Nick. (2008). "Nick Hornby,Fever Pitch".Contemporary British Fiction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 117–24.ISBN 978-0-7486-2420-1.

Wikiquote has quotations related toFever Pitch.

• Nick Hornby discussesFever Pitch on the BBCWorld Book Club

• 1992 non-fiction books
• Works by Nick Hornby
• Arsenal F.C. mass media
• Association football books
• Autobiographies adapted into films
• British autobiographies
• Victor Gollancz Ltd books
• William Hill Sports Book of the Year–winning works

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