Latest News: Posts Tagged ‘surf sweat and tears’

New exhibition celebrating the life of SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS protagonist Ted Deerhurst to open at Croome Court in Worcestershire in June 2022

Wednesday, February 9th, 2022

In the early 1970s, Ted Deerhurst, the only son of the 11th Earl of Coventry of Croome, seemed to have everything in his grasp: the prospect of an earldom and living a country life in Worcestershire.

Ted rejected this traditional aristocratic life, however, and decided to pursue his dream of surfing. It was his greatest passion and he spent years on the amateur circuit before becoming the UK’s first professional surfer.

Ted graced the biggest waves around the world, making a name for himself not just in competitions but also in surfboard design and through his charitable work. Ted eventually settled in Hawaii, but met a tragic end at only 40 years old in 1997.

In partnership with the Croome Heritage Trust and Ted’s friends and family, this new exhibition will explore his epic life, the struggles that he encountered and his incredible achievements through personal objects, surfing memorabilia from around the world and stories from those who knew and loved him.”

Read more about the exhibition here.

“An excellent biography” — SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS featured in Wavelength

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2021

“Andy Martin uncovers compelling evidence that [Lord] Ted may have in fact been murdered by local heavies after falling in love with the wrong woman.”

Read the full article here.

In Cold Blood meets Hawaii Five-0” — SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS reviewed in the Scotsman

Tuesday, January 26th, 2021

“In his biography of British surfer Ted Deerhurst, Andy Martin paints a heartbreaking portrait of a journeyman competitor who never quite made it, and creates a convincing narrative around his puzzling demise.”

Read the review here.

“Big Waves, Exotic Dancers, The Life Of UK’s First Pro Surfer, Viscount Deerhurst” — SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS author Andy Martin interviewed for the Sportsman

Monday, November 30th, 2020
The Sportsman spoke to Andy Martin, journalist and writer of ‘Surf, Sweat and Tears’ about Lord Ted’s career.

Read the interview here.

SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS longlisted for the 2020 William Hill Sports Book of the Year

Tuesday, September 29th, 2020

Read the announcement here.

“Following in the footsteps of Viscount Edward George William Omar Deerhurst” — SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS author Andy Martin writes for TripFiction

Wednesday, August 5th, 2020
I first met Ted in France, in the late 1980s. He was competing at the Quiksilver Pro surf contest in Lacanau, on the wild Atlantic coast of France, north of Bordeaux, and I was a surfing correspondent. The last time I saw him, nearly ten years later, was in Hawaii, where he was still in search of the perfect wave and, in his phrase, “the perfect woman” – and where he died too young, on the North Shore of Oahu, aged 40.But how did he die exactly? I wrote his obituary for The Independent, but it was another 20 years before I could cut through the typically Hawaiian mix of myth, omertà, and mystification, and get close to the truth. To solve the mystery of his death I needed to reconstruct his life. To do that I had to retrace Ted’s steps around the world.

See the article here.

“Was the rebellious son of an earl murdered by the mob?” — SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS author Andy Martin writes for the Daily Express

Wednesday, May 13th, 2020

The tragic search for the truth behind gruesome death of lovelorn aristocrat who wanted to rule the waves.

When you get a 3am call it’s usually bad news, even if it’s from Hawaii. Even more so if the caller reverses the charges, as Ted did, back in the 1990s. I thought it must be some emergency, so I accepted the call.

Read the full piece here.

SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS author Andy Martin interviewed on the Crest podcast

Monday, May 11th, 2020

“New Book Claims Britain’s First Pro Surfer ‘Lord Ted’ Was Murdered in Hawaii” – SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS author Andy Martin interviewed on Wavelength magazine’s It’s Not the Length podcast

Monday, May 4th, 2020

It’s Not The Length – Surf Podcast · In Conversation with Andy Martin, author of ‘Surf Sweat & Tears’

“Excalibur. Everyone knows it, no one believes it, except for poets, novelists, and Walt Disney. And Ted.” — SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS excerpt published in CARVE Surfing Magazine

Thursday, April 23rd, 2020

Excalibur

There were clearly defined periods in Ted’s life. Each had a name, a brand. The Lightning Bolt era gave way to Sabre; Sabre gave way to Excalibur. Which gave way to Lola.
In a way, Excalibur had always been there.
Everyone remembers the legend of Excalibur – the magic sword that Merlin places in the stone (or anvil), and which can only be removed by the true King. All the young wannabes, the pretenders, troop up and confidently grasp the hilt but are unable to take possession of the sword, no matter how hard they try. Only young Arthur, quite unexpectedly, but effortlessly, can grasp the sword and make it his own. Thus he is the One, divinely appointed and sole heir to Uther Pendragon. “Whoso pulleth Out this Sword of this Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of all England” (Thomas Malory). Some say that the sword in the stone and Excalibur are two different swords, some say they are one and the same, but either way, Excalibur is a magic sword. That sword is like a crown, bejewelled and engraved with mystic messages. If you own it, you rule. A weapon of immense power, but also an instrument of peace. Even the scabbard in which the sword rests is itself magical and can heal the wounded. In the end, as Arthur lays dying, and is spirited away downriver on a transcendent barge, he commands one of his attendants to cast the sword into the water, where a mysterious hand – belonging to the Lady in the Lake – rises up to receive it and from whom, one fine day, it is destined to be reclaimed by a descendant of Arthur, who will recreate the Round Table and the wonderful land of Camelot. Recovered from the water. From the hand of the Lady of the Lake. A second coming. On a par with the Holy Grail.
Excalibur. Everyone knows it, no one believes it, except for poets, novelists, and Walt Disney.
And Ted.

Read the full excerpt here.

“Trouble in paradise: Lord Ted gets a visit from the local heavies” — Part II of SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS excerpt published in the Independent

Monday, April 13th, 2020

In an extract from his book, Andy Martin recounts the story of our errant knight falling in love with night-club dancer Lola  – the trouble was she belonged to someone else

We were sitting at one of those benches in front of the Coffee Gallery in Haleiwa. We were supposed to be talking about surfing. It was what I was getting paid for, being a “surfing correspondent” at the time. I was not a girlfriend correspondent or anything like it. But Ted reckoned the key to becoming the Perfect Surfer was to have a Perfect Surfer Girl right alongside you. “Show me the perfect guy and I will show you the perfect woman,” I said, slamming down my glass of iced latte.

Being Ted, he didn’t see that as an irony-laced rhetorical challenge, he thought I really wanted to know what a perfect guy would look like. “I guess he would be something like a combination of Kelly Slater and Winston Churchill,” he said. Slater had not only won the first US Excalibur contest in 1986 but had risen, in the 1990s, to become the hottest young surfer in the world. Churchill was synonymous (in Ted’s mind) with Ted himself.

Read the full excerpt here.

“The epic life and mysterious death of Lord Ted Deerhurst” — Part I of SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS excerpt published in the Independent

Monday, April 13th, 2020

The English viscount turned his back on green pastures for a surfboard and Hawaiian waves. But his untimely death at 40 shocked his family. In the first of a two-part exclusive, Andy Martin, friend and fellow surfer, sets off to see if he can find out what had happened to the golden boy of North Shore

I met Ted for the first time in the summer of 1989 on the southwest coast of France. I was a surfing correspondent and he was a would-be world surfing champion. Lacanau, colonised by Quiksilver, populated by marquees and stages and pennants and music, had the feel of some medieval jousting tournament. Ted – Edward George William Omar Deerhurst, Viscount – riding a board with the distinctive Excalibur design, his trusty sword carving through the surf, long blond locks glinting in the sun like a radiant helmet, fitted right in there. He was like a knight errant on a quest for the elusive holy grail.A former amateur who had represented Great Britain in South Africa, he was in search of points to climb up the ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals) ladder. It had been a bit of a struggle hitherto, over a number of years, but he was hopeful that this summer would be the breakthrough for him. He struck a brave, optimistic note. Mingled with a degree of melancholy yearning.But there was one other British surfer who was competing in the French Triple Crown. His name was Martin Potter, aka “Pottz”. He was semi-invincible. Pottz won at Biarritz, scooped the Triple Crown, and was in pole position to take the world title, thus becoming my passport to the giant waves of Hawaii. But I was rooting for the underdog, the longshot, the loner, the unsung hero. Ted.

Read the full excerpt here.

New Video: SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS by Andy Martin

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020

Coming Soon: SURF, SWEAT AND TEARS by Andy Martin

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