Matthew Parris Volgorde van de boeken

Matthew Parris, presenter of Great Lives on BBC Radio 4, explores the surprising connection between trauma and greatness through vivid case histories.

A totally up-to-date compendium of the sharpest, wittiest and downright rudest insults in human history

With a First from Cambridge and the possibility of working for the Foreign Office, the author decided instead to apply to be an apprentice diesel-fitter with London Transport. He was rejected and so turned to a life in politics. This title offers an account of a young life already well lived.

Heard the one about the Spanish Ambassador who arrived in the scorching Saharan desert fully suited and with a mysteriously enormous suitcase? Or the horse they gave Prime Minister John Major in Turkmenistan - which hapless embassy officials had to rescue from the clutches of the Moscow railway? This title deals with these questions.

Walking in the Pyrenees one spring morning the author stumbled upon a magnificent ruined mansion standing on edge of a line of huge cliffs. This title chronicles the original discovery, the attempts to discover its history, and then the years trying to bring it back to life in the face of scepticism from family, friends and Spanish neighbours.

Drawn from the National Archives and from Freedom of Information requests these dispatches make up another volume of entertaining and illuminating stories from the diplomatic bag

When leaving a foreign posting, Britain's ambassadors were encouraged to write a valedictory despatch until the practice was abolished in 2006. This title includes reports from foreign posts that are indiscreet and funny.

Zábavné a poutavé líčení autorovy čtvrté cesty do Peru, během které se dostal mezi lupiče, prostitutky a obyčejné rolníky a dokonce zde zažil přepadení. On a jeho tři společníci jako by přitahovali mrzutosti. Popisuje zvláštnosti, divy i nepříjemnosti, se kterými se setkali, s humorem a s nadhledem zkušeného cestovatele.

A frank autobiography by "The Times" columnist and ex-politician Matthew Parris. His childhood was spent on a variety of different countries as his engineer father moved jobs; Rhodesia, Cyprus, the Middle East and Jamaica. After Cambridge and Yale, he joined the Conservative central office at roughly the same time (aged 26) he discovered he was gay. He worked for Michael Dobbs, Chris Patten, and Mrs Thatcher (who famously fired him), before entering parliament himself. Part participant, part bystander, Matthew Parris describes what it was like to be so close to the centre and remain an outsider.

In this highly revealing, entertaining and salutary expedition into the moral swamps of British politics, award-winning columnist and broadcaster Matthew Parris presents the low side of high office.