Departures and Arrivals

Eric Newby was born in London in 1919. In 1938, he joined the four-masted Finnish barque Moshulu as an apprentice and sailed in the last Grain Race from Australia to Europe, by way of Cape Horn. During World War II, he served in the Black Watch and the Special Boat Section. In 1942, he was captured and remained a prisoner-of-war until 1945. He subsequently married the girl who helped him to escape, and for the next fifty years, his wife Wanda was at his side on many adventures. After the war, he worked in the fashion business and book publishing but always travelled on a grand scale, sometimes as the Travel Editor for the Observer. He was made CBE in 1994 and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the British Guild of Travel Writers in 2001. Eric Newby died in 2006.

'Wit, charm and effortless storytelling ability' Time Out'[Newby's] eye as sharp as ever, he remains the King of Wry, and this quiver of 19 stories from a travelling life a delicious entertainment in the understated tradition. . . . Newby is a true comrade in tenuous and uncomfortable places and plainly a good man to be with when you are down to the last bottle of rough peasant red' Trevor Fishlock, Daily Telegraph'Wherever he is, he writes with an eye for strange details and with a strong conviction that whatever else it is, travel should be fun' Sunday Times Travel'A kind of pointillist memoir, a series of charming snapshots from a fascinating life. Newby is one of the funniest English writers … fans will find in this collection of pieces all the hallmarks that have made him one of our best-loved writers: the gentle humour, the unpretentious modesty and the self-deprecating charm' William Dalrymple, Mail on Sunday'With Newby in charge, you are guaranteed a memorable moment every step of the way. No other writer engages his readers more wholeheartedly in his adventures, or views the world through fresher eyes … Newby is a travelling companion sans pareil' Christopher Matthew, Daily Mail'Newby conveys the quirks of his histories and the contours of his landscapes and cultures with infectious enthusiasm and a gentlemanly scholarship' Andrew Mackenzie, Scotland on Sunday'This book is like a suitcase into which Newby has stuffed colourful oddments from his life … A writer with a painter's eye' Clare Colvin, Sunday Express