In 1943, at the age of eight, Joe Foster won an 80 yards sprint race in his home town of Bolton and was given a dictionary as a prize.
Fifteen years later, looking in that same dictionary, he found the word reebok, meaning a small gazelle, and his new sports shoe brand was born.
Reebok is now a huge name in trainers, with sales of around £1.5billion in 2019. Singers Ariana Grande and Rita Ora, and model Gigi Hadid are among the big names seen in their classic sports shoes.
In his new book, Shoemaker, Joe tells the story of how a small family firm became a global giant. Towards the end of the 19th century my grandad, also Joe Foster, became a purveyor of invention almost by accident.
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