The Boys on the Bongo Bus : Media and Travelling Diplomacy

This is an eye-witness account of what happens when Britain's Foreign Secretary climbs aboard his plane and sets off to talk to statesmen round the world: the clashes and confrontations, the dramas and the comic moments amid the tensions, the protocol of the Foreign Office and the manoeuvres of the media.

The author, John Dickie, covered all the Foreign Secretaries in their travels for the "Daily Mail" throughout three decades - the only journalist to do so continuously over the entire period.

The book provides a detailed account of travelling diplomacy and the interaction of the media upon it, the tribulations of the flying Foreign Office conducting Britain's affairs, as the RAF VC Ten circled the world and the trials of the journalists trying to keep pace with it.

The disclosures include the inside story of George Brown on the night train to Moscow believing the KGB had stolen his wallet, how Lord Home gave an interview astride a camel and how James Callaghan rescued a British lecturer from Idi Amin's firing squad.