In the summer of 1974 the British and Irish Lions rugby team did something that no other side had ever done before. They returned from a twenty-two-match, four-Test tour to the southern hemisphere unbeaten. Not only did they destroy the mythical might of South Africa's Springboks, but they did so against a backdrop of political turmoil, controversy and ostracism at home, as battle lines were drawn against apartheid.
Condemned off the pitch, physically assaulted on it, they were vilified and their feats dismissed. Incredibly, they emerged triumphant, bonded together like no other side in Lions history and with a record that will never be matched.
Yet difficult questions have dogged them over the decades. Should they have gone at all? How does history view them? And how do they view themselves?
For the first time, Rhodri Davies charts the full journey of the '74 Lions, from the epic on-field clashes and the legendary '99' call to the moral dilemmas and the ever-present comparisons with their celebrated predecessors.
Here are "The Greatest Lions" - in their own words.
