Lancaster couple’s new book tells story of Olympic athlete’s struggles with dyslexia

Neil Eckersley and Anita Chamberlain’s new book Judoka in a Parka tells Neil’s story from struggling at school to becoming an Olympic medallist and now an Olympic artist.

The book’s title was inspired by Neil’s childhood memories of being labelled a slow reader at school owing to the dyslexia which wasn’t officially diagnosed until he was studying at

university, aged 24.

“When I was a child, I used to wear a green parka all the time. I used to hide behind the hood, zipping it up as a kind of shield,” said Neil, 60.

When he mentioned this to Anita, who is an artist, it inspired her to create Neil’s character illustrated in the book.

“I loved the idea of the parka as, growing up in the Seventies, I remember kids at the time wearing them, so it was like going down memory lane,” said Anita.

The self-published book has been 18 months in the making as Neil said he would rather walk across hot coals than tackle written work.

However, technology has helped as Neil used speech recognition to tell his story, a tool not available when he was struggling at school in Salford where he was brought up.

“It was difficult to relive my school days for this book but when I reached 60 last year, I wanted to do an autobiography to record my sporting career and how I became an artist,” said Neil.

“It shows how someone who struggled in early life could go on to achieve and hopefully it will inspire young people.”

Taking up judo as a nine-year-old was life-changing for Neil, who went on to become Britain’s leading extra-lightweight judo player.

He won a bronze medal at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984 and was also team captain at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

His Olympic connections have continued over four decades as last year, one of his artworks was displayed at the International Judo Federation’s gala during the Paris games.

Judoka in a Parka is Neil’s third book. He wrote Olympians last year and a book about the war in Ukraine with Anita.