Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #438150 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-09
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Contemporary Review
Beeston's experience covered some of the greatest conflicts of the last
century, from the Belgian Congo to Vietnam.

Synopsis
"Looking for Trouble" is a vivid account of 35 years in journalism by a former foreign correspondent and bureau chief of "The Daily Telegraph". It recounts an extraordinary and eventful period in the years before instant communication and mass TV coverage and provides a riveting first-hand record of history unfurling during many of the world's most dramatic events of the Cold War era. Richard Beeston describes what the restless, nomadic life of a foreign correspondent is like, providing colourful and lively portrayals of daily life in "Fleet Street" and communist Moscow; of his years with a radio station for MI6 in the Middle East; and of his acquaintance with the notorious Soviet agent, Kim Philby. Richard Beeston led a truly extraordinary life, superbly captured in this acclaimed memoir - now published in paperback for the first time.

Customer Reviews

Entertaining from A to Zed!
I am surprised that Richard Beeston's "Looking For Trouble", published, 1994, in England, and 1997 in the US, is not more widely available (judging by the fact that there are only a few copies listed on the U.S. Amazon Marketplace). Fast paced and more exciting than any novel, "Looking for Trouble," presents a journalist's-eye view of some of the most thrilling (and dangerous) events in the 25 years that followed World War II. From Afghanistan to Zanzibar (but in reverse order), Beeston, a foreign correspondent for London's "Daily Telegraph," witnessed the crumbling of the British Empire, the disintegration of the French Colonial system, and many other pivotal events of which we are still feeling the repercussions. Beeston also chronicles the rise of nationalism in what are still the hot spots of the world (e.g. Lebanon and Iraq), and the reactions to these movements on the part of the major world powers. In other words, in a style that is both entertaining and witty, Beeston's memoir explains how we arrived "here," historically, from "there."

Beeston's hazardous adventures begin during the EOKA crisis in Cyprus, where he is broadcasting on a SIS-run radio station; then, as a foreign correspondent, he takes us with him to Jordan (and the perilous beginnings of the reign of the young King Hussein), to Lebanon (where he and his family used to go on picnics with fellow-journalist--and Soviet spy--Kim Philby), to the Congo (where his pre-Telegraph London Newspaper folds in the midst of a bloody revolution, leaving him jobless), to Aden (where he finds himself in the midst of another bloody revolution), and to Baghdad (ditto). Then after a stint in London, where he joins the "Daily Telegraph," he takes us to Yemen (guerilla warfare and gas attacks), East Africa (more revolutions), to Vietnam (no need for explanation), back to Lebanon (civil war), and then on to Washington (Watergate), and to Moscow (where he accidentally meets his old friend Philby at the Bolshoi opera, after which encounter the Beeston family's problems in finding an apartment are suddenly solved), and finally to Afghanistan (where his career as a foreign correspondent almost ends in a Mujehedin ambush during the Soviet-Afghan war).

The narrow escape in Afghanistan is only one of Beeston's brushes with death, all of which he relates in an entertaining manner that allows the reader to experience the dangers along with him. The book is appropriately named, for Richard Beeston's journalistic career not only had him looking for trouble, but also finding it!