Strange Places, Questionable People

He has become a household name (though he still gets mistaken for presenter John Humphrys), and his stories, some oft-repeated, are fascinating, the tone as dry as his reportage. The disquieting effect they have is to show the fragile arbitrariness of power and the people who crave it, and it is this indigestible feeling of vulnerability that one is left with when the gung-ho spirit has faded.

But what of the man? Curiously he chose to live with his father when his parents' marriage split up. He loves books, as he constantly reminds us, and would love to be known for his writing. He is sensitive about his appearance, referring more than once to his girth, and he is now married for the second time. Beyond this, he reveals little extraneous detail. This is a pity, but should be no surprise. The story is the thing, after all, and his is a journalistic honesty, which makes for compelling, if two-dimensional, reading. --David Vincent

In this book, Simpson recounts his life, his route to get to the BBC, his early life at the BBC in the radio news office, and how he progressed to be foreign correspondent amongst many other roles within the BBC, for which he is of course now famous.

As an autobiography I suppose I have to say there's nothing particularly interesting about Simpson's childhood or route into the BBC. However, the two aspects I very much enjoyed reading about were Simpson's views on the BBC, and his stories from foreign lands all in the name of reporting events.

His reporting of flying to Iran with Ayatollah Khomeini, and his recollection of the vast events of 1989 were my highlights, and although he presents himself as a bit of a larger-than-life self-obsessed ego, I was impressed by how very honest he seemed to be with his reporting. I was also quite interested by his comments on how different news operations work, how they sometimes work together and how they sometimes try to stop each other from working.

Definitely an interesting read, and not a bad high readable history lesson on the fall of Communism.


Experience is Things You'd Rather Not Have Seen   March 13, 2005
This book, using quite a lot of the same material as A Mad World, My Masters, is a better read. Simpson seems sort-of at home in odd places, perhaps a by-product of his own unusual family background, which he described elsewhere as "Wandering Jew Meets Flying Dutchman". He has seen things most of us hqve not or would not wish upon ourselves: Chinese soldiers burned alive by a mob, the aftermath of the massacre of Muslim civilians by the Israeli-paid "Christian" militia in Beirut, a Securitate agent beaten to death in the (as he points out) stage-managed "revolution" in Bucharest. Sad events and times such as the old man collecting wood for other old folks in Sarajevo, killed by a sniper for the hell of it.

Oft-times, his sense of objectivity is uncomfortable for more partisan journalists and others, as in Bosnia, where the Americans, in particular, were uncomfortable with the true and complex picture of a three-sided conflict without obvious good guys; they preferred a view showing a two way split, with the Bosnian Muslims called "Bosnians" (good guys) and the Bosnian Serbs called "Serbs" and very definitely bad guys.

Even in Southern Africa, while having been very anti-apartheid and fairly pro-ANC as a reporter there, Simpson does not shrink from showing the better side of the Afrikaaners, nor from exposing the mess into which South Africa under Mandela was sliding at the time this book was published nearly a decade ago (and which continues...).

Simpson can come across as rather smug, he who has seen all, though far less so in this book than in A Mad World...or on TV (he still appears on satellite TV on occasion. You will not find solutions to world problems here, but this book IS a damn good read.


Always at the centre of the story   March 20, 2004
 2 out of 21 found this review helpful

Please, anyone who wants to read real old-fashioned journalism, get some James Cameron or even the early John Pilger. Simpson is a show business star, with himself always on camera and, in his books, at the centre of the story. File alongside books by the cast of Eastenders and Coronation Street.


Simpson at his best   August 28, 2003
 7 out of 11 found this review helpful

Strange Places is highly readable account of adventures at the Beeb during its glory days. John Simpson has come of an age that looking back. The second Chapter, which describes life in 1966 in a slightly sentimental way proves that John Simpson can write. His stories of how he got in- and out of the mess called news reporting, his fall from grace and are frank, entertaining and never over the top. His gratitude to cameramen, soundmen, editors and producers shows the true character of the gentle man.

Strange Places is a frank reportage on how mr. Simpson stumbled his way through the BBC, whilst doing some great reporting. It does leave you a bit longing for the good old days when reporting meant something. There’s enough humour in it (and some frank admissions of failures) to make it a lively read. In short, Mr. Simpson is much more personal

In my opinion, when compared to ‘Mad World’ this book is the better one. It shows much more of the man behind the stories, as well as a nice account of the mad world called BBC & new reporting. (Perhaps the titles ought to be switched) This book comes much closer to an autobiography than “Mad World”, which sometimes becomes a bit of a adventurous tale/ travelogue- interviewing ruthless dictators, reporting yet another revolution, ending up in yet another mess. Once you’ve read “Strange Places”, ‘Mad World”- though thoroughly enjoyable in its own right – becomes a bit of a deja vu. The stories themselves are great ones – but where’s John Simpson. What makes him move, shake or rattle? This you’ll find much more in “Strange Places”.

Nevertheless you can’t go wrong on both books - but don’t read the one after the other