31 JULY 1976, page 24

Holy Smoke

Benny Green The First Modern Olympics Richard D. Mandell (University of California Press £7.00) The Baron Pierre de Coubertin is perhaps the most improbable figure in the......

Bumbling

Nick Totton The Fight Norman Mailer (Hart-Davis, MacGibbon £3.95) The latest instalment of Norman Mailer's ongoing autobiography is cast as an account of the Ali-Foreman world......