On Thursday 25 September, the legendary Tim Crooks, rowing Olympian and author of the brand-new book Driven by Demons: Bipolar Olympian visited Leander Club to talk about his book. The talk was well attended by almost 70 people. All those who attended enjoyed a delicious finger buffet in the beautiful revamped dining room at Leander Club overlooking the River Thames.
Tim Crooks is a true sporting hero and legend, who appears on the crew shields in Leander Club at least nine times. He rowed in the Munich Olympics in 1972 and won a Silver Medal in the eight at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. He also won Henley Royal Regatta and the Wingfield Sculls numerous times and Silver at the 1974 World Rowing Championships! Not only was he a very successful rower, following his rowing career, he won Superstars. He was an incredibly driven individual, however, throughout his life felt harrowed by mood disturbances which were diagnosed as bipolar disorder when he was 44 years old.
Tim started writing his book seven years ago and had initially written pages and pages of anecdotes, but hadn’t felt like it was coming together. Ssparring with a friend led to him understand that his story would be the story about how his mental illness had driven him in his life and rowing career. While writing the book, Tim came to understand himself better and he felt that the whole process was a cathartic experience. Tim hopes that the book will help others understand their mental struggles and that it will become a book that mental health professionals will read to understand how bipolar disorder affects top sports people.
Among the guests of the book talk were three members from the GB Munich Olympic eight, Tim (centre), Lenny Robertson (left) and Dick Lester (right). Tim’s two crew mates had many stories themselves to tell about Tim. Tim’s old housemaster at Radley College attended and told us stories about Tim at school. Tim’s great friend Charlie Wiggin, who he rowed with on many occasions, was in the audience as well. All-in-all, the evening felt like Tim Crooks regaling the audience with a Technicolor version of the book with extras on the side.
This book talk was part of Series 4 of the Leander Library Rowing Book Talks in aid of the Leander Trust, a registered charity (No. 284631) to advance the lives of young people through rowing. The charity has created opportunities for young people to fulfil their rowing potential. It is truly making a difference in the lives of young people. The Rowing Book Talks have now raised more than £8500 for the charity. During this book talk, 19 copies of the book were sold, the full proceeds of which were kindly donated by Tim Crooks to the Leander Trust as well to help even more young people through rowing.
The next talk in Series 4 is on 19 November 2025 and is the postponed talk with Cath Bishop about her book The Long Win. Tickets are available for sale by clicking here. Cath Bishop is a Trustee of the British Rowing charity Love Rowing and the proceeds of her talk will be shared equally between the two charities. The Leander Trust and Love Rowing share the objective of helping young people through rowing!
The Rowing Book Talks are open to all and run in aid of the Leander Trust; the ticket price includes a finger buffet in the beautiful dining room at Leander Club overlooking the River Thames.
For more information email librarian@leandertrust.org
