LOOKING FOR TROUBLE: Life and Times of a Foreign Correspondent

by Richard Beeston

This is an account of Richard Beeston's life as a foreign correspondent through 35 years covering many of the world's most dramatic events during the days of the Cold War. It recounts a period starting in the 1950s, before the era of instant communication and mass TV coverage, and provides a first-hand account of history unfurling in the Middle East, Africa, Vietnam, Moscow and Washington. The book describes what the restless, nomadic life of a correspondent is like - to be living abroad with a growing family and responding to every twist of international affairs or the whims of a foreign editor. The author began his career abroad with an MI6-controlled Arab radio station. He joined the "News Chronicle" as their Middle East correspondent, and then worked for the "Daily Telegraph" in Beirut and Nairobi, and was their bureau chief in Moscow and Washington. The book contains descriptions and anecdotes of life in the offices and pubs of Fleet Street before the exodus, and recounts what it feels like to receive a phone call, when covering the crisis in the Congo, to be told that your paper has just folded. The time he worked for an Arab radio station provides insights into the workings of the British Secret Intelligence Service in the Middle East. The author describes his acquaintance with Kim Philby, the KGB agent, when they were both newspaper correspondents in Beirut, and his subsequent meeting with Philby at the Bolshoi in Moscow. Richard Beeston's son, Richard, has followed in his father's footsteps, and is currently "The Times" Bureau Chief in Moscow.

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1997

Reviews

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pacy and charismatic personal account of the adventures of a foreign correspondent in the pre-digital age, and giving an interesting historical perspective in his glimpses of diverse foreign wars and diplomatic stand-offs of the mid-20th century.