Postcards from the Observer, 1976-83.
Written with a riveting mix of wit, humour, satire and above all, penetrating observation, here we have the triumvirate of fact, imagination and eloquence which does for the mind what a jumbo jet does for the body.
Following Mrs Thatcher around China, dazzling a posse of Russian hotel maids with his ability to say, with the help of a phrase book, "The bath illuminations have been destroyed", rocking in the slipstream of Washington's joggers, he is a sympathetic traveller and a shred pin pointer of the funny, frightening, surreal or otherwise significant detail.
