Bigger than ME

by Peter Henderson

Peter Henderson has led a remarkable life. As a frontline TV news cameraman, he covered the brutal civil conflict in South Africa during the apartheid era, the Middle East flashpoints, the Bosnia-Herzegovina civil war as well as both invasions of Iraq. In doing so, not only were he and his team almost always first on the scene, Henderson radically transformed cumbersome television news-gathering into highly mobile units that could broadcast live from anywhere in the world. His company was the first to transmit on-the-spot coverage of the Rwandan genocide to a shocked world in 1994. It is also thanks to his digitalisation of satellite news feeds that global audiences watched America’s “shock and awe” bombing of Saddam Hussein's Iraq in real-time. Not only a frontline journalist, he is also a true adventurer-entrepreneur, coming within a heartbeat of starting the first civilian airline in Iraq after the 2002 invasion (he was dubbed the ‘Branson of Baghdad’) as well as establishing a cellphone network for a charismatic guerrilla leader in the jungles of war-torn South Sudan.His life has been a rollercoaster ride of adrenaline-fuelled adventure; from being thrown into a South Sudanese jail and shot at on the disputed Kashmiri border, to audaciously hiring former Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s private jet while filming the breakup of the Soviet Union.This fascinating memoir, told from a ringside seat of history, provides an intimate record of the dying decades of last century, the birth of the current one, and the extraordinary challenges of the present. The Rory Peck Trust The RPT does incredible work for courageous freelance journalists who bring us stories from some of the world's most challenging places. I am honoured to be able to donate all proceeds from this book to support their safety and wellbeing through the Trust. I've been lucky to survive my years of international news gathering, and in my small way I would like to give something back to help my colleagues who are less fortunate.

397 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 23, 2020

About the author

1822-1890

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Jacquie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride!

This is the most amazing story of vision and courage. It’s not a literary classic but it is the inspiring memoir of a remarkable man who never takes no for an answer. You simply will not believe what he gets done and you won’t put the book down because you’ll want to know what happened next. Loved it!

[Russell Hogg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastically entertaining

One amazing story after another. A lesson in what you can achieve if you are open to new experiences and new ideas. From cameraman in some of the world’s hottest hotspots to serial entrepreneur it’s a fantastic read. Highly recommended.