Not Quite World's End: A Traveller's Tales

by John Cody Fidler-Simpson

In "Not Quite World's End," Simpson offers a lively and upbeat look at the challenges and the changes the world has gone through in his life and long career. In it, he looks at the world and takes the perhaps surprising view that it's actually not nor will be the end of the world. His vivid prose, his clear-sightedness and the wonderful anecdotes about the many strange people and places he has come across - from emperors to movie stars, from Chelsea to China - all add up to a richly satisfying read. And with his long experience and his remarkable ability to explain what's really going on out there, he offers us all a crumb of comfort in desperate times.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Journalism, Autobiography, Biography, Politics, History

496 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

John Cody Fidler-Simpson CBE is an English foreign correspondent. He is world affairs editor of BBC News, the world's biggest broadcast news service. One of the most travelled reporters ever, he has spent all his working life at the corporation. He has reported from more than 120 countries, including thirty war zones, and has interviewed numerous world leaders.

Simpson was born in Cleveleys, Lancashire; his family later moved to Dunwich, Suffolk. His great grandfather was Samuel Franklin Cowdery (later known as Samuel Franklin Cody), an American showman in the style of Buffalo Bill Cody, who became a British citizen and was an early pioneer of manned flight in the UK. Simpson reveals in his autobiography that his father was an anarchist. That didn't prevent him from getting a top-notch education: he was sent to Dulwich College Preparatory School and St Paul's, and read English at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was editor of Granta magazine. In 1965 he was a member of the Magdalene University Challenge team. A year later Simpson started as a trainee sub-editor at BBC radio news.

Simpson became a BBC reporter in 1970. He describes in his autobiography how on his very first day the then prime minister Harold Wilson, angered by the sudden and impudent, as he saw it, appearance of the novice's microphone, punched him in the stomach.

Simpson was the BBC's political editor from 1980 till 1981. He presented the Nine O'Clock News from 1981 till 1982 and became diplomatic editor in 1982. He had also served as a correspondent in South Africa, Brussels and Dublin. He became BBC world affairs editor in 1988.

Reviews

[thereadytraveller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a sucker for war journalist autobiographies and they don’t come much better than the BBC’s John Simpson’s. Writing on some of the most war-torn countries in his forty plus years of reporting, this book is sure to fascinate anyone remotely interested in geopolitics as well as leaving you wondering how he’s still alive.

[Fionnuala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely love things like this: a whole lot of interesting stories, the kind you wouldn't even be mad to have to listen to if somebody pulled up a chair at the pub and started regaling you. It's very evident that Simpson has lived an utterly fascinating life, but there's a conversational tone to this book that avoids the kind of smug or bragging tone that some people might adopt. In fact, he's very self-aware of the fact he has a tendency to go on a bit, or namedrop -- self-awareness is always hilarious in such situations but at the same time one can hardly blame him for name-dropping, considering the stories he's telling and the job he does. In fact, I think this is one of the places where you might actually expect it.

Simpson is very much an "old boy" of the English style, though from what I can tell he's aged into the modern world much better than some. Even so, it's still rather funny to see some of the places where he's not quite sure of himself. (His tendency to point out, connected to nothing, that the clubs he's a member of allows women, honest!, for example.) He really manages to paint a picture of an utterly different world, and a good mix of theme and style in the stories. All in all it's a perfect book if you're very nosy, and Simpson's engaging and descriptive style makes this book feel like a much shorter read than it is. Very glad to see he's written more!

[Sarah Caudrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a journalist he seems to lack the ability to describe women as anything other than “attractive”, not even a synonym, if a woman is described then she is described as attractive. Also his views on Afrikaans are pretty controversial. His stories are good because he’s been to interesting places but the book is also peppered with stories of meeting in literal old boy’s clubs which makes it disjointed and somewhat off-tone. The last chapter was good, and meaningful in pandemic times, but otherwise I was disappointed in the book and in the author.

[Matthew Coombes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book, but a lot of mentions of women’s looks…

[Richard O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable journalistic view of world affairs from over the last 40 years, although it does tend to jump from tale to tale quite randomly.

John Simpson has been in the middle of some the most hostile conflicts & in the company of some of the worlds most notorious figures from recent history. His encounters with Mugabe were insightful with view to the current situation in Zimbabwe. I also felt the passages on Hillbrow, Johannesburg to be intriguing, as it was the place of my birth.

I did feel reassured that our perspective of our world isn't just a case of ongoing degradation, and that there are good people trying to make a difference to our future, and the fact we do live with a constant 'panic' is exacerbated through present circumstances throughout the world.

I'll definitely invest in another John Simpson book.

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Simpson has been a journalist and a world traveller for forty years. He recognises that although the ills of the modern world, crime, terrorism, disease and natural disasters threaten to overwhelm us the world has not come to a stop. Simpson gives a surprisingly positive picture of where we are.

[Christine Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating insight into current affairs. John Simpson has travelled the world whilst working as a journalist for the BBC. This book includes reports on Iraq, Cuba and South Africa to name but a few. John has an engaging candid writing style and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in global affairs.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s hard to express how much I enjoyed this book, it was superbly written and gives a completely different angle of foreign affairs, far removed from political ‘spin’. Some of the events described were both chilling and worrying. He is a brave man and lucky to be alive. Well worth a read.

[Nigel McFarlane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating anecdotes about John Simpson's encounters around the world. Occasionally goes on for too long, but it's a cocktail of tragedy, anger and laugh-out-loud funny. An anecdote about Joshua Nkomo and a journalist named Ian Smith is a highlight.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book not particularly well written but very interesting man and book

[Jon Hawes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating insight into the world of current affairs journalism, as well as being a balanced description of the state of global society.

[Arsine Khatchaturians · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just like his honest journalism

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one of his best. Although it certainly had some very entertaining snippets. Look out for the 'cigarette smugglers' in Serbia for instance, that tale is vintage John Simpson!

[Emma Docherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit up and down - some very interesting anecdotes, but the chapter at the end in particular I found very long winded. Fascinating to learn more about the war in Iraq.

[Trevor Kew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superbly written autobiographical wander through the career of John Simpson, BBC reporter. He's been at almost every big event in the last...40 years?