Wrestling with Rhinos: The Adventures of a Glasgow Vet in Kenya – Jerry Haigh (d 59)

Imagine it’s 1965, and you’ve just fulfilled a boyhood ambition and graduated from the vet college in Glasgow, Scotland. The very next week you find yourself in Kenya, treating wild animals. This is what happened to Dr. Jerry Haigh, who in Wrestling with Rhinos takes us deep into the post-independence Kenya of 1965, and shows … Read more

Utterly Immoral: Robert Keable and his scandalous novel – Simon Keable-Elliott (g 79)

When Robert Keable’s First World War novel Simon Called Peter was published, critics called it ‘offensive’, ‘a libel’ and reeking of ‘drink and lust’. Scott Fitzgerald suggested it was ‘utterly immoral’ and referenced it in The Great Gatsby. The novel became a huge international best-seller, a Broadway play and the sequel made into a Hollywood movie. And it … Read more

Eye on The World: A Life in International Service – Anthony Quainton (d 52)

In Eye on the World, volume #72 in the Diplomats and Diplomacy Series, Ambassador Anthony “Tony” Quainton offers an engaging account of the competing visions, dilemmas, and messiness of the diplomatic process, along with the candid, often self-critical story of his long and storied career in eleven countries on six continents in a diversity of … Read more

Playing Under the Piano: From Downton to Darkest Peru – Hugh Bonneville (née Williams) (d 81)

Playing Under the Piano: From Downton to Darkest Peru by Hugh Bonneville (née Williams) (d 81) The glittering acting career of the Downton Abbey and Paddington star recounted with immense wit and warmth as Hugh Bonneville regales the reader with fascinating and hilarious anecdotes featuring a host of famous actors. Hugh Bonneville is one of … Read more