A collection of writing from Britain's best-loved travel writer, ‘A Merry Dance around the World’ is the culmination of a lifetime of adventure.A collection of writing from eleven books by Britain's best-loved travel writer, A Merry Dance around the World is the culmination of a lifetime's adventures, from the birth of Eric Newby in 1919 at the 'ghastly hour' of 3.45am, to Herculean cycling escapades in his seventies through the wiles of the Irish winter. An astonishing catalogue of disasters and misunderstandings, Newby's compassionate grace and sharp wit ensure that every adventure is as charming, hilarious and wild as his last.Including extracts from his masterpiece of love and courage in wartime, Love and War in the Apennines, travelling epiphanies against the breathtaking backdrop of A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush and the memorable excursions of the long-suffering and truly heroic Wanda Newby on bikes, in boats and planning daring prison escapes. A brilliant introduction for any Newby newcomer, or handy collection for the intrepid Newby veteran traveller, A Merry Dance around the World is a whirlwind tour around the globe, guided by the forefather of the modern comic travel book.
Оглавление
Eric Newby. A Merry Dance Around the World With Eric Newby
A MERRY DANCE. AROUND THE WORLD
Contents
First Steps
WESTWARD HO!
LANDS AND PEOPLES
In and Out of Advertising
Around the World in a Four-masted Barque
‘GOD JUL’
A Short History of the Second World War
OPERATION WHYNOT
A PRISONER IN ITALY
ESCAPE
IN THE MOUNTAINS
TO THE PIAN DEL SOTTO
LIFE AT THE PIAN DEL SOTTO
A CAVE OF ONE’S OWN
Rag Trade
WILD CALEDONIA
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
Birth of an Explorer
Ganga Ma: Mother Ganges
THE FIRST SIGHT OF THE RIVER
DOWN THE GANGES
THE GANGES AT ALLAHABAD
THE DAY OF MAKARA SANKRANTI
ARRIVAL AT CALCUTTA
Around the Mediterranean. AN EVENING IN VENICE
IN AND OUT OF A PYRAMID
VIEW FROM A HILL – FEZ
A NIGHT IN MONTENEGRO
On and Off the Trans-Siberian Railway. NEW YEAR’S NIGHT ON THE RED ARROW
THE BIG RED TRAIN RIDE
THE FLOWERY STEPPE OF ISHIM
AMURKABEL
NIGHT TRAIN TO THE GREAT OCEAN
A Long Bike Ride in Ireland. BICYCLES
A STAY IN BALLYVAUGHAN. or. ROUND THE BURREN
TO THE FAIR AT SPANCIL HILL
At the Foot of the Apuan Alps
Plates
Index
About the Author
Also by the Author
Copyright
About the Publisher
Отрывок из книги
THE BEST OF
Eric Newby
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At St Paul’s I became a Scout in order to avoid being drafted into the Officers’ Training Corps, the OTC, which would have meant wearing an insufferably itchy uniform that was blanket thick. As a Scout I learned to light a fire with one match and to use a felling axe without dismembering myself. On Saturdays we engaged in bloody night battles with other troops of Scouts in the swamps of Wimbledon Common. In the holidays we went camping in the beautiful parks of gentlemen’s country seats. Because I got on with Jews – I still do, I think they find my lack of subtlety restful – I was given command of a Jewish patrol. One of them, who was as prickly as a present-day Israeli, refused to wear Scout uniform and appeared at our open-air meetings wearing a double-breasted overcoat, a bowler hat and carrying a rolled umbrella. Another, who used to charge his mother half a crown to kiss him good night, was always loaded down with silver. On one occasion, when there was a danger of our losing one of the outdoor games known as ‘wide games’ (which necessitated covering large tracts of ground on foot) another member of my patrol whose family owned a huge limousine in which he used to arrive at wherever was the meeting place, summoned the chauffeur who was parked round the corner, and six scouts whirred away in it to certain victory.
In the spring of 1936, when I was sixteen years old, my father announced that, as it appeared unlikely I would pass the School Certificate Examination (the then equivalent of O-levels), in mathematics, a subject in which it was obligatory to pass, he had decided to take me away from St Paul’s at the end of the summer term and ‘put me into business’. I did fail. I was sorry about this decision. I was good at English, History, even Divinity, and I had dreamed of reading History at Oxford.
