Jon Snow - Shooting History - A Personal Journey

COPYRIGHT Copyright Praise Dedication List of Illustrations Prologue 1. Home Thoughts 2. Africa, Revolution and Despair 3. Of Drugs and Spooks 4. Tea with the Tyrant 5. First Brick Out of the Wall 6. Of Oil, Islam and Moscow 7. Uncle Sam’s Backyard 8. Potomac Fever 9. Talking with the Enemy 10. The Whole Lot Comes Down 11. Hey, We Never Expected to Win! 12. Shooting at the Messenger and Coming Full Circle Picture Section Index Acknowledgements P.S. Insights, Interviews & More … About the author About the book Read on About the Publisher

William Collins

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This edition published by Harper Perennial 2005

First published by HarperCollins Publishers 2004

Copyright © Jon Snow 2004

PS section copyright © Louise Tucker 2005, except ‘Signposting History’ by Jon Snow

© Jon Snow 2005

PS™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Jon Snow asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Lines from ‘On the Pulse of Morning’ by Maya Angelou reproduced by permission of Time Warner Book Group UK

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Source ISBN: 9780007171859

Ebook Edition © MAY 2017 ISBN: 9780008258047

Version: 2017-05-04

PRAISE FOR SHOOTING HISTORY Praise Dedication List of Illustrations Prologue 1. Home Thoughts 2. Africa, Revolution and Despair 3. Of Drugs and Spooks 4. Tea with the Tyrant 5. First Brick Out of the Wall 6. Of Oil, Islam and Moscow 7. Uncle Sam’s Backyard 8. Potomac Fever 9. Talking with the Enemy 10. The Whole Lot Comes Down 11. Hey, We Never Expected to Win! 12. Shooting at the Messenger and Coming Full Circle Picture Section Index Acknowledgements P.S. Insights, Interviews & More … About the author About the book Read on About the Publisher

From the reviews of Shooting History:

‘Snow is the closest we have to a modern-day George Orwell … A vivid, accurate, honest guide to the key world events from 1975’

Independent

‘Pacy, candid and anecdote-laden, Snow’s account of a childhood spent in awe of his father … is a delight’

Daily Mail

‘Shooting History is among my favourite memoirs this year. Snow is a thinker and a generous writer who has done incredible things and has views on them’

MATTHEW PARRIS, The Times, Books of the Year

‘Snow charts his own growth with self-deprecation and a lightness of touch … A fascinating insight into a world in flux’

Time Out

‘Will inspire anyone who wants to know what television is like at the uncomfortable end of the camera when the bullets are flying’

Guardian

‘[Snow is a] witty, mildly eccentric and utterly engaging writer … He cleverly uses his own personal experiences and insights gained while being present at some of the major events in modern world history to argue a particular point … His anecdotes on the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Idi Amin are spot on’

Birmingham Post

‘Opinionated, eloquent … As one man’s take on the history of the past 30 years this is an impressive piece of work. Snow is good at teasing out the often terrible ironies of our times … A well-written, engrossing and surprisingly passionate piece of work’

Sunday Herald

‘Hugely entertaining … and makes you think’

Manchester Evening News

‘Fascinating … this book puts history into startling clarity’

Irish Examiner

DEDICATION Dedication List of Illustrations Prologue 1. Home Thoughts 2. Africa, Revolution and Despair 3. Of Drugs and Spooks 4. Tea with the Tyrant 5. First Brick Out of the Wall 6. Of Oil, Islam and Moscow 7. Uncle Sam’s Backyard 8. Potomac Fever 9. Talking with the Enemy 10. The Whole Lot Comes Down 11. Hey, We Never Expected to Win! 12. Shooting at the Messenger and Coming Full Circle Picture Section Index Acknowledgements P.S. Insights, Interviews & More … About the author About the book Read on About the Publisher

To Madeleine, Leila and Freya

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise

Dedication

List of Illustrations

Prologue

1. Home Thoughts

2. Africa, Revolution and Despair

3. Of Drugs and Spooks

4. Tea with the Tyrant

5. First Brick Out of the Wall

6. Of Oil, Islam and Moscow

7. Uncle Sam’s Backyard

8. Potomac Fever

9. Talking with the Enemy

10. The Whole Lot Comes Down

11. Hey, We Never Expected to Win!

12. Shooting at the Messenger and Coming Full Circle

Picture Section

Index

Acknowledgements

P.S. Insights, Interviews & More …

About the author

About the book

Read on

About the Publisher

ILLUSTRATIONS

(Photographs are from the author’s collection)

General Tom, my twice-knighted grandfather, who hung above the mantel and seemed to have inspected every boiled egg I ever ate.

War wedding. My father and mother met and married in a matter of weeks.

My father’s Hudson Terraplane Eight configured as a wartime fire-tender.

The damage caused by a Second World War bomb on the lawns of Charterhouse School; my father’s one moment of ‘action’.

A sunny Sussex childhood. Growing up in the aftermath of war.

No particular talent. Following childhood encounters with Harold Macmillan, my earliest ambition was to be a Tory MP.

My father with Macmillan at Ardingly. ‘Do you know what a Prime Minister is?’ he asked me. ‘Are you married to the Queen?’ I responded.

With Tom and Nick in the Terraplane; a happy contrast to the dining-table warfare.

The Queen visiting Ardingly. My mother had been to Harrods to buy a pair of Crown Derby cups and saucers from which the royal lips could sip their afternoon tea.

As a chorister at Winchester Cathedral in 1958.

My father, every inch a Bishop – eight feet tall in his mitre.

Back from Uganda. VSO had radicalised me, and one reason I wanted to become a journalist was in order to return there.