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Strange Places, Questionable People [Unabridged] (Paperback)

by John Simpson (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Frequently Bought Together

Strange Places, Questionable People + A Mad World, My Masters: Tales from a Traveller's Life + Twenty Tales from the War Zone: The Best of John Simpson (Quick Reads)
Price For All Three: £14.37

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Product details

  • Paperback: 566 pages
  • Publisher: Pan Books; Unabridged edition (8 Oct 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 033035566X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0330355667
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.2 x 3.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 49,876 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #13 in  Books > Biography > Film, Television & Music > Radio Performers
    #13 in  Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Radio > Biographies

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
John Simpson has had an extraordinary professional life: he has been to 101 countries, interviewed 120 rulers of various persuasions, and witnessed 29 wars and uprisings. He had an ill-fated spell reading the Nine O'Clock News, and was also the BBC political correspondent (which he loathed). He emerges fairly unscathed; he can appear arrogant and over-bearing, but he maintains a healthy degree of self-deprecation, and to survive the macho world in which he works one would need the skin of a rhinoceros.

He has become a household name (though he still gets mistaken for presenter John Humphrys), and his stories, some oft-repeated, are fascinating, the tone as dry as his reportage. The disquieting effect they have is to show the fragile arbitrariness of power and the people who crave it, and it is this indigestible feeling of vulnerability that one is left with when the gung-ho spirit has faded.

But what of the man? Curiously he chose to live with his father when his parents' marriage split up. He loves books, as he constantly reminds us, and would love to be known for his writing. He is sensitive about his appearance, referring more than once to his girth, and he is now married for the second time. Beyond this, he reveals little extraneous detail. This is a pity, but should be no surprise. The story is the thing, after all, and his is a journalistic honesty, which makes for compelling, if two-dimensional, reading. --David Vincent --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Jonathan Mirsky, Spectator
'So vivid I could feel my heart beating'

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Strange Places, Questionable People
78% buy the item featured on this page:
Strange Places, Questionable People 4.4 out of 5 stars (25)
£6.39
A Mad World, My Masters: Tales from a Traveller's Life
7% buy
A Mad World, My Masters: Tales from a Traveller's Life 4.4 out of 5 stars (29)
£5.99
Twenty Tales from the War Zone: The Best of John Simpson (Quick Reads)
6% buy
Twenty Tales from the War Zone: The Best of John Simpson (Quick Reads) 3.7 out of 5 stars (6)
£1.99
Not Quite World's End: A Traveller's Tales
5% buy
Not Quite World's End: A Traveller's Tales 2.7 out of 5 stars (6)
£4.79
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Customer Reviews

25 Reviews
5 star:
 (17)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Memoir of a complex life lived at the centre of world events, 27 Mar 2001
By A Customer
This gripping volume is a must-read for two sorts of people. Its instant attraction for those who want an adventure story which takes place over thirty years and at the epicentre of world events is obvious - Simpson is a self-confessed adventurer, and in one of his best moments of self-realisation, he admits to being "a bit of a chancer" too. And as an adventure story you couldn't ask for better. Simpson's been shot at in Sarajevo, threatened in Dublin, bombed in Bagdhad and nearly arrested by secret policemen in Kabul. He's got on the nerves of the KGB during the Cold War, gone down the Amazon in trepidation of finding a parasitic fish which makes its home in the most intimate of areas and he stood in Tiananmen Square as the tanks rolled in. According to these pages he's got a short temper and, just for added spice, a bad habit of losing it at risky moments. But the real joy of this book is in the slow revelation of the man's character and the dissipation of the one-dimensional image and set preconceptions we may have of him. Simpson appears to me to be both honest and generous with his life. He is prepared to show himself in a bad light and even admits to using the pages to settle a few old scores along the way. He shows the grimmest aspects of his profession as well as the glamorous side and yes, he does glamorise it a little. But that appears to be because he genuinely regards it as the best job in the world. In the final pages he writes one of the best manifestoes for the work of ournalism and of public-service broadcasters I have read. This saw me through two flights, a holiday, an airport delay and two weeks of commuting to work. Recommended - it'll thrill you but make you think as well. Who could resist that?
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding - a must-read, 17 April 2001
By A Customer
I confess I used to think of Mr Simpson as a being a little smug, with polished measured reports either in the studio or from various foreign parts. Nothing could be further from the truth, the risks that John Simpson and his colleagues take on a daily basis belie the measured quality of his reports. This book covers a very wide range of the major foreign events of the past few decades, and brings them to life better than any history book. Strongly recommended.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Better than a History book, 10 Feb 2001
By A Customer
John Simpson is one of those people I thought I knew a little about but what a revelation this book is. Throughly readable and enjoyable as well as historically informative. You also get the impression that Mr Simpson is one of those rare people that you could not help but like. A Must read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars World events are not important, but John Simpson is... Apparently
I hated this. I read it to learn more about the Middle East, particularly the conflicts since the Iran/Iraq war and the Islamic Revolution, and I did so without any... Read more
Published 12 months ago by M. Leyshon

4.0 out of 5 stars An insight into the world of news reporting
Okay, let's get the confusing bit out the way. John Simpson actually seems to have at least three autobiographies... Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2005 by Darren Simons

4.0 out of 5 stars Experience is Things You'd Rather Not Have Seen
This book, using quite a lot of the same material as A Mad World, My Masters, is a better read. Simpson seems sort-of at home in odd places, perhaps a by-product of his own... Read more
Published on 13 Mar 2005 by ianrmillard

1.0 out of 5 stars Always at the centre of the story
Please, anyone who wants to read real old-fashioned journalism, get some James Cameron or even the early John Pilger. Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2004 by Mrad

5.0 out of 5 stars Simpson at his best
Strange Places is highly readable account of adventures at the Beeb during its glory days. John Simpson has come of an age that looking back. Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2003 by fields21

5.0 out of 5 stars I want to come back as John Simpson
I have to declare an interest. I have operated on the fringes of Simpson's world. He was booked to call in at the media agency where I was working in Peshawar, Pakistan, on his... Read more
Published on 18 Jun 2003 by C. Nation

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Journalistic Bio
There is no doubt that John Simpson's gripping biography is one of the best that is out there. Simpson captivates the reader from beginning to end, with his excellent tales of... Read more
Published on 8 April 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must read
John Simpson is one of those people I thought I knew a little about but what a revelation this book is. Throughly readable and enjoyable as well as historically informative. Read more
Published on 2 April 2003 by djenkins3

4.0 out of 5 stars Why does he do it?
This is a good read. We're used to seeing John Simpson on tv reporting from dangerous places but the book reveals what you don't see and the great lengths he goes to to get his... Read more
Published on 19 Mar 2003 by Ange

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Tales, Well Written
Simpson has lived a truly amazing life. It seems that he has been present at every major political event of the last 20 years or so. Read more
Published on 24 Feb 2003 by Bill Quigley

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