BOY ON A BICYCLE : A MANDARIN'S MEMOIR

Our image of the civil servant has been implanted indelibly in our minds by Sir Humphrey in Yes, Minister.

But as this fascinating and important memoir tells us, the real life of the mandarin is very different.

With disarming candour, delightful humour and impressive memory, Hayden Phillips describes the career of a man who from his earliest days was connected to events that are now part of the history of British politics in the second half of the 20th century. Educated at Cambridge and Yale, Phillips became a civil servant in 1967 as an Assistant Principal in the Administrative class.

His extraordinarily varied career was defined by working for Roy Jenkins when he was Home Secretary and later President of the European Commissioner in Brussels, IRA bombings, the Iranian Embassy siege, sending police to Zimbabwe to oversee the election, training civil servants, a stint as Deputy Secretary in the Treasury, the creation of the National Lottery for John Major, the Windsor Castle fire, the of Tate Modern, the Millennium Dome, press regulation, Princess Diana's funeral.

There can be few mandarins who have taken to the boards as Sir Humphrey or had a role in a James Bond film.

No surprise that, in retirement Hayden Phillips was Chairman of the National Theatre. This is a life of variety, excitement and drama that defies all the cliched ideas about those who run the country and what they do.

Phillips tells an important story filled with pen portraits of politicians and others with whom he worked on a daily basis that shows us what life at the centre of power is like.

It is also the picture of a talented, charming, dedicated and fortunate man who has contributed so much to our national life.