John Rigg was born and raised in Leeds, Yorkshire. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a First Class degree in Economics, later completing a Ph.D. He has worked as an economic consultant in London and in the Senior Civil Service in Scotland.His sporting career principally comprised playing rugby league at primary school, rugby union at secondary school and college and cricket to a reasonable club standard.John's first book on sport - 'An Ordinary Spectator: 50 Years of Watching Sport' - was published by SilverWood Books in 2012. This was followed by 'Still An Ordinary Spectator: Five More Years of Watching Sport' in 2017. He has also written sport-related articles for Backpass, Backspin, The Nightwatchman: Wisden Cricket Quarterly, The Rugby League Journal, Forty-20 and (co-authored with Richard Lewney) The International Review of the Sociology of Sport.John's non-sporting articles have included those on economics/statistics for the Scottish Economic Bulletin and Scottish Economic Statistics. He has also written articles on family history for the Cleveland Family History Journal and his book - 'The Line of 16: Searching for my children's great, great grandparents' - will be published in 2023.John's fiction is written under the name of JR Alexander. The novels - 'Shouting at the Window' (2020) and 'On the Carousel' (2021) - are published by High Ridge Publishing and available on Kindle and other online platforms. 'Long Forgotten Events' will be published in 2024.He is married with two children and lives in Scotland.Find out more about John and his writing at: www.anordinaryspectator.com and www.jralexanderauthor.com.