HE HAS worked alongside some of the biggest names in sporting history to help them tell their life stories.

His book collaborations with stars have included stints working with former boxing world champions Muhammad Ali and Henry Cooper, ex-football manager Brian Clough and former England striker Jimmy Greaves, as well as comedian Eric Morecambe.

But following a burglary at his Andover property, former broadcaster and chief football reporter at the Daily Express Norman Giller, has had his own life story stolen.

Norman, 74, had been working on his autobiography, which is his 100th book, penning a series of anecdotes that he had collected during decades of working alongside a host of high-profile celebrities and sportsmen.

Now those precious stories and photographs, which he had spent months putting together, have been stolen from his Swallowfields home.

Thieves struck at the property in Lark Close on the night of Tuesday, December 9, as Norman slept upstairs.

The burglars made off with £5,000 worth of goods, but it is the loss of his Apple MacBook laptop and its priceless contents that have left Norman devastated.

He told the Andover Advertiser: “The insurance company have already given me a new laptop, but I’d gladly swap it for my old one.

“It’s useless to them, but it means everything to me. I just want it back.

“The computer is password locked anyway, but it has lots of images on it that I just can’t get back.”

A spokesperson for Hampshire police confirmed that they are investigating the incident, but at the time the Advertiser went to press no arrests had been made.

Anyone with information is asked to contact PC David Catchpole at Basingstoke Police Station on 101, quoting crime reference number 44140440392.