Beckham kick-starts his book sales

England captain David Beckham was launching his revealing autobiography, My Side, today.

The former Manchester United midfielder was holding a press conference at a plush hotel in the Spanish capital, home of his new team Real Madrid.

Parts of the book have already been serialised in the The Sun newspaper, in which Beckham sensationally revealed his explosive relationship with United manager Alex Ferguson.

Beckham also lifted the lid on his fairytale romance with his pop star wife Victoria.

The footballing superstar was due to be joined at the launch with Victoria Barnsley, the chief executive of publishers HarperCollins, which paid £1.5m (€2.1m) for the book.

Bookstores in the UK were expecting a brisk trade this morning, with Waterstone’s opening 31 of its branches early.

A spokeswoman for Waterstone’s said: “We are opening some of our stores early to cope with an expected demand of the book.”