Sunday, July 27, 2003		Books

A rollercoaster ride around the world 
with John Simpson
Deepika Gurdev

Strange Places, Questionable People
by John Simpson. Pan Macmillan, London. Pages 548. £ 8.

EACH war has its heroes and in the present wired age, these heroes include not just the soldiers on the battlefield but also those who tell the story as it unfolds. The recently concluded US-led ‘shock and awe’ campaign in Iraq saw the emergence of a new breed of news broadcasters. Replacing Peter Arnett, formerly from CNN, were the likes of Nick Robertson. From the BBC it was Rageh Omar who made waves as a war reporter. As they narrated events from the frontlines, they gave the viewers lasting images and sounds of the war. These ranged from shots of Saddam Hussein’s statue being toppled, to stories of untold sufferings inflicted on Iraqi people, to sight of mass graves being unearthed.

For me the one unforgettable image of the war was that of an injured John Simpson of the BBC reporting a friendly fire incident gone wrong. Anyone who heard the report would have found it hard to tell that the voice on the phone was that of a man hit by shrapnel in the ear. He later covered that incident in Simpson’s World. The enduring quality of that report was the sincerity with which the story was told.

Few people have the chance of witnessing history as it unfolds. Among those blessed, or some would say unfortunate, few is Simpson. Die-hard BBC watchers would certainly remember him speak about the ‘liberation’ of Afghanistan when coalition forces entered the capital Kabul and also the apology that followed soon. Still others would recall other achievements of his extraordinary professional life, from reporting the massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989, to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communism throughout Eastern Europe and only weeks later, to the release of Nelson Mandela.

For those of you who have missed watching all of that on the BBC, Strange Places, Questionable People will not only tell you about the momentous events of our time, but also how John Simpson was punched in the stomach by Harold Wilson on one of his first days as a reporter and how he escaped summary execution in Beirut. That’s only the beginning, he managed to fly into Teheran with the returning Ayatollah Khomeini, and narrowly avoided entrapment by a beautiful Czech secret agent.

True, he’s had an astonishingly eventful career, but it had its rough patches. There were times when he was completely sidelined, an ill-fated spell of reading the Nine O’Clock News followed by another forgettable experience as the BBC’s political correspondent. Simpson admits the mistakes he has made: "`85with hindsight it was a terrible mistake. Travelling the world and reporting foreign news had become my life, and I would now have to give it all up and restrict myself to British affairs. It wasn’t going to be easy. I had never set foot in the Houses of Parliament before, and had no first-hand knowledge of any domestic political issue except Northern Ireland and our membership of the European Community."

But his credo in life — never give up — has seen him weather many professional storms. He managed to create opportunities where others felt none existed and has lived to tell many memorable tales.

He has visited over 100 countries, interviewed leaders, politicians and newsmakers of various persuasions and reported wars and uprisings in different parts of the world. His stories are fascinating and as he tells us he was born to be a reporter.

For those of you who have worked in newsrooms and for others who haven’t, he provides hilarious insights into the types of journalists: "One type of journalist is precise, accurate, undemonstrative and inclined to be resentful; the other is brash, noisy, disrespectful, careless, quick-witted and impatient. The first sub-species is composed essentially of sub-editors: careful, unadventurous people who wear cardigans, work at desks. Sub-editors are the people who ring reporters with complaints. Reporters relish the feeling that by tomorrow morning they could be in Rio de Janeiro; sub-editors like to check their shift patterns and see if they will be working on Christmas Day next year. I was born to be a reporter. I was not born to be a sub-editor."

On a more serious note, he tells us more about people in the spotlight. On former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, he has this to say: "She was part Elizabeth Tudor, part monster, part housewife with a small, suburban attitude to life. But she certainly had something; and I’m glad I was there to see it."

Despite all the years of broadcasting behind him, Simpson is not only a television man. He loves books, loves to write for print and on more than one occasion reminds the reader that he’d rather be remembered for his writing.

For those of you who are wondering about the person beyond the persona, there are some rare insights into that as well. He admits his weaknesses with ease and speaks with rare honesty about some of his mistakes.

Strange Places, Questionable People reveals what goes on behind-the-scenes and the great lengths Simpson goes to get his stories. The work that goes into getting stories is told with a honesty that makes the book ‘unputdownable’. The stories he narrates are the edge-of-the-seat kind. Even those who not too interested in global affairs will find Simpson’s book compelling reading.