Far Horizons: Unusual Journeys and Strange Encounters from a Travelling Life

448 pages

Tearless

‘Name the Country and I’ll tell you about it’. Thus, as unfledged Midshipmen we would sit mesmerised, like the boys in the painting of The Boyhood of Raleigh, while some seemingly ancient and weather-wizened ‘Fifth or Sixth Five Chief’ would regale us with Tales of Palm Trees and Dusky Maidens. And then, 30 years on, it would be our turn. Except that, of course, for most of us, our Runs Ashore could, in reality, only describe visits to a barber, a bar and a post-card shop.

Not so for Frank Gardner; Arab-speaker and now the BBC’s Security Correspondent.

Here are some of the countries or regions which he visited both before and after the attempted assassination upon his life in 2004 (when he became wheel-chair bound) – Finland, Greece, the Philippines, Indonesia (Sumatra), Eastern Europe, Romania (Transylvania), Turkey (Istanbul), the former USSR, Honduras, Guatemala, Japan (Tokyo), Jordan, Ecuador, Djibouti, Botswana, Colombia, Oman, Yemen (Socotra), Thailand, the US (Washington), Egypt, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Colombia (again) and Cambodia.

So not for him a haircut, a drink, and a souvenir.

His travels were super-Exped. A sort of ‘Super-Booty’; not unlike the SAS’s Bear Grylls. Thick jungles, snowy peaks, slippery rocks, foul weather, humidity, snakes, ants, fleas and wild animals. Far, far away from the tourist traps, with simply the local indigenous people and their food and customs. Accompanied usually by a series of like-minded chums or by a girlfriend, the second of whom became his wife. The chapter about his paraplegic Outward Bounding on Exmoor is profoundly moving.

The book is only Put-Downable because the reader needs time to contemplate and to recover from all these Herculean hazards because it is written with all the skills and experience of a consummate journalist.

And for my usual page 59? A ghost! Or try Michael Palin’s ‘Introduction’.

We should remember that some of our NR members are wounded, some grievously: The Falklands; Gulf Wars; Afghanistan. So for them this book would be especially inspiring.

A good book to read too if you are thinking about joining the Royal Marines (it would impress the Interview Panel), or are already ‘Once a Marine; Always a Marine’ or, even if in a Blue Suit, to whet your appetite for a more adventurous Run Ashore next time. Then you could, with justification, say ‘Name the Country and I’ll tell you about it’.