Product Description

Welcomed with open arms, derided as a pig-ignorant tourist and occasionally mocked mercilessly for his trouble, Ben Fogle visited the last flag-flying outposts of the British Empire. With caution, dignity and a spare pair of pants thrown to the wind, he set out to discover just exactly who would choose to live on islands as remote as these and - more importantly - tried to figure out exactly why. Landing himself on islands so isolated, wind-swept, barren and just damned peculiar that they might have Robinson Crusoe thinking twice, Fogle: almost becomes lunch on the appropriately named Carcass Island; gets deported from Pitcairn for being both a spy and a smuggler; uncovers the story of the tyrant who became St Helena's most unwilling and least popular guest; and witnesses a shark attack from a respectable distance. Why he went, what he did when he got there and how exactly he got back in one piece makes for an eye-opening but affectionate look into life in these unique, peculiar places.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #114045 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Synopsis
Welcomed with open arms, derided as a pig-ignorant tourist and occasionally mocked mercilessly for his trouble, Ben Fogle visited the last flag-flying outposts of the British Empire. With caution, dignity and a spare pair of pants thrown to the wind, he set out to discover just exactly who would choose to live on islands as remote as these and - more importantly - tried to figure out exactly why. Landing himself on islands so isolated, wind-swept, barren and just damned peculiar that they might have Robinson Crusoe thinking twice, Fogle: almost becomes lunch on the appropriately named Carcass Island; gets deported from Pitcairn for being both a spy and a smuggler; uncovers the story of the tyrant who became St Helena's most unwilling and least popular guest; and witnesses a shark attack from a respectable distance. Why he went, what he did when he got there and how exactly he got back in one piece makes for an eye-opening but affectionate look into life in these unique, peculiar places.

About the Author
Ben Fogle was the star of the BBC's hit series Castaway 2000. Now presenting Country File, The Teatime Islands is Ben's first book. He lives in London.

Customer Reviews

A fair effort.
I bought this book because of its subject matter and I must admit that Ben is an engagng travel companion. However I found that his his writing style got on my nerves. There seems to be a school of thought, particularly in travel writing that states that you should find a simile for everything and I found some that Ben used particularly laboured. This grated on my nerves but did not spoil the book for me. The book is clearly an attempt to cash in on Ben's post castaway celebrity status and that is fine. However the book would have been much better with some decent editing. Ben makes a genial presenter but sadly he is writing leaves a bit to be desired is endearng in some respects as it is like an enthusiastic teenage boy's holiday diary and you can't help liking Ben. He seems to get on with the people he meets and his disappointment is palpable when he is refused landing on Pitcairn ( by a "sort of official looking man"). It makes a change from Simon Winchester's book Outposts which is beautifully written but comes across as aloof and contemptious a lot of the time

An easy read
This is an easy, undemanding book about those few islands that only travel writers, the military or extremely rich people can visit. It's certainly well written, but "fantastic", "amazing" and the superlative used by other reviewers, it ain't. For many of the chapters you would probably find no greater insight than it could be gained from looking up this information on the web. Fogle is good narrator, but he describes places 'on the suface', so you gain the same insight as if you looked through a photo album of these remote islands. There are cameo descriptions of individuals propping up from time, but these are very brief and Fogle lacks the experience, or the time, to delve deeply into their personalities. The best chapter by far is the one on Pitcairn. This is odd, because Pitcairn is the only island Fogle does not manage to visit, but his deep sense of let down, his anger and depression, lead him to analyze the social background of this island with true passion, managing to reveal far more of this place than of any of the other islands previouosly described. A light book to while away a wintry weekend, but nothing more perceptive than that.

Bloomin' Brilliant!
I loved this book - Ben's style of writing and his choice of subject not only makes this a fascinating read, but his self-depreciating wit ensures the reader laughs out loud every few pages. I can't wait for the next book - Offshore - which is published in 2006.