The natives were friendly, so we stayed the night

by Noel Barber

Book Overview

Noel Barber became known as Foreign Correspondent for the "Daily Mail". He was the first Briton to reach the South Pole after Scott, he was stabbed five times covering the wars in Morocco and shot in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0333225589
• ISBN13: 9780333225585
• Release Date: January 1977
• Publisher: Macmillan
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A most engaging and entertaining read

While his work as a reporter and journalist were legendary, Noel Barber's books never quite reached the same heights as his published feature articles. Sadly this means that much of his best work is `lost' within long forgotten issues of magazines and newspapers. This book is a biography (most of which covers the period from the end of World War II to the early 1970's) and gives some idea into just how rich and varied his output as a journalist would have been. The globe-trotting Barber gives wonderful and evocative details about everything from life in Paris after the war, having lunch aboard the Christina, through to his experiences in the South Pacific with Tom Neale who's book ('An Island to Oneself') he ghost-wrote. But it is his dealings and encounters with the rich and famous which are most fascinating. Barber seems to have met (and often became friends with) almost every mover and shaker from the mid 20th century - Churchill, Onassis, Gable, the Aga Khan, Picasso, Hillary, Chagall, royalty, famous models, film stars, presidents... Though a serial name-dropper, one never feels that that Barber is doing this just to impress and his insights into some of these characters are truly fascinating. To some extent his does come across as a bit of a rogue (his drinking & partying are proudly described, his sexual exploits only hinted at), but he writes in such an entertaining manner that you cannot help but like him and wonder what a pleasure it would have been to enjoy a drink or two in his company. Recommended.