Stanley I Presume - Hardcover

Johnson, Stanley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 000729672X ISBN 13: 9780007296729

Publisher: Fourth Estate Classic House, 2009

Synopsis

The rip-roaring and hilarious memoir from Stanley Johnson—the father of London mayor Boris Johnson—begins with a loud bang when Stanley's father, an RAF pilot in World War II, crash-lands a Wellington bomber on a Devon airfield. A few years later Stanley's parents buy a sheep farm on nearby Exmoor, where Stanley does much of his growing up. Stanley would keep his links with this much-loved rural idyll throughout his life—while going on to become an explorer, author, occasional politician, and also one of the world's first environmentalists. A sparkling raconteur and experienced thriller writer, in Stanley tells great stories in great style. On leaving school in 1958 Stanley traveled alone through South America—hitching rides across the jungle on Brazilian Air Force planes—and shortly afterwards he rode a motorcycle 4,000 miles from London to Afghanistan, tracing the route of Marco Polo with two friends. After winning Oxford University's poetry prize with a love poem—written following a hilltop tryst in the West Country—Stanley went on to do various adventurous jobs, before working for the billionaire John D. Rockefeller III, the World Bank, the United Nations, and the European Union. Stanley married and started a family young—Boris was born in New York when his father was 23—and while Boris would go on to become big news, the family's forbears also provide quite a story, as Stanley finds out. For the Johnson family's roots are not just in the West Country, but in Turkey too—where, as Stanley discovers, his politician grandfather Ali Kemal was torn to pieces by an angry mob. Stanley visits a Turkish village where the locals are blonde—later he learns that he and Boris are direct descendants of George II.

About this title

About the Author:

Stanley Johnson is an author, environmentalist, and politician. Stanley's career has seen him write successful thrillers, confront seal-clubbers on ice-floes, and be hailed for his work by Greenpeace.

Review:

"A hilarious memoir" - THE SUNDAY TIMES ***** (FIVE STARS) "Laugh out loud funny - once you've read it you'll understand a lot more about what makes Boris tick" - NEWS OF THE WORLD **** (FOUR STARS) "This is a very funny book - Stanley devotes most of his autobiography to telling jokes at his own expense" - THE DAILY TELEGRAPH "A wonderful jaw-dropping account of a rollercoaster life. Johnson senior does not disappoint... the book is a triumph" - ANNE ROBINSON "Poet, explorer, irresistibly funny... This lovely book reflects its author's delightful personality" - ESTHER RANTZEN "There's no-one I'd rather go into the jungle with" - JOAN BAKEWELL "From the early days of running across a mat of spring flowers at the stadium at Olympia, to a standing ovation at the Berlin Film Festival, via the politics and people of his time, Stanley Johnson's life sparkles with a joy of living. He writes with the wit and humour of a true raconteur. Stanley, I Presume, is a fascinating read of a fascinating life" - ZOE WANAMAKER

About this edition

• Publisher: Fourth Estate Classic House
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 000729672X
• ISBN 13: 9780007296729
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304