A Traveller’s Life

A Traveller’s Life
Eric Newby

A chronicle of travels, some homely some exotic, from the man who can make a schoolboy holiday in Swanage as colourful as a walk in the Hindu Kush.Eric Newby's life of travel began in 1919, on pram-ride adventures with his mother into the dark streets of Barnes and the chaotic jungles of Harrods, and progressed to solo, school-bound adventures around the slums of darkest Hammersmith. His interest piqued, Newby's wanderlust snowballed, and his adventures multiplied, as he navigated the London sewer system, bicycled to Italy and meandered the wilds of New York's Broadway. Whether travelling abroad as a high-fashion buyer for a British department store or for pure adventure as a travel writer, even when reluctantly participating in a tiger shoot in India, Newby chronicles his adventures with verve, humour and infectious enthusiasm.After nine years as the travel editor for the Observer, Newby reluctantly gave up the post, eschewing the new form of human-as-freight travel. However, this change was certainly no pity for his readers, as the latter-day Newby continued on his unwavering quest for fascinating detail and adventure wherever he roamed, whether on two feet or two wheels. ‘A Traveller's Life’ chronicles the incredible adventures of one of the best-loved tour guides in the history of travel writing.

ERIC NEWBY

A Traveller’s Life

Dedication (#ulink_0887d995-632b-5f13-b698-28ec822d33c2)

ToMy Fellow Traveller

Contents

Cover (#u8442a82d-d74e-5d8d-a756-1cf95a51204c)

Title Page (#u63267c38-af0d-501b-bb14-f0ac26d8e1ae)

Dedication (#u2b9e9ca4-b790-5ed1-8c44-732935ec3e77)

List of Illustrations (#u705552f7-17b7-563d-843a-11a51882fada)

Introduction (#u5dc72884-8993-52dd-9fb5-26869d36ec32)

1. Birth of a Traveller (1919) (#u025456f4-1183-539d-95f7-f663364c968f)

2. The Baby as a Traveller (#u987ec444-cc04-5569-9c64-359538fa6cbf)

3. Rings Around the Tombs in SW13 (1923) (#u75422449-c51d-5304-a923-fc43722a6563)

4. Travels in Harrods (#u2b32f183-77b7-5a82-bff6-1ab35ee648f8)

5. Westward Ho! (1925) (#u1236fd88-09e7-528a-b6ae-03ca4fe3c167)

6. A Walk in the Sun (1925) (#u1b694a2d-b7df-5fcf-98a6-c742c750f099)

7. Journeys Through Darkest Hammersmith (1928–36) (#u0f77574e-388c-5c1a-9162-938741ff87ea)

8. Lands and Peoples (#u1211bfda-d129-58f1-b1ed-6cc0181e73c5)

9. Mystery Tour (1927) (#litres_trial_promo)

10. Something in West One (1936–8) (#litres_trial_promo)

11. I Go to Sea (1938) (#litres_trial_promo)

12. Snakes and Ladders (1939–42) (#litres_trial_promo)

13. Love Among the Ruins (1942) (#litres_trial_promo)

14. A Trip to Italy (1942) (#litres_trial_promo)

15. Conducted Tours with the Third Reich (1944) (#litres_trial_promo)

16. Götterdämmerung (1944–5) (#litres_trial_promo)

17. Commercial Traveller (1946–54) (#litres_trial_promo)

18. Travels in My Imagination (1947) (#litres_trial_promo)

19. When Did You Last Cross the Oxus? (1956) (#litres_trial_promo)

20. The Most Unforgettable Character I Never Met (1958) (#litres_trial_promo)

21. A Visitor from Lhasa (1958) (#litres_trial_promo)

22. MG Buyer (1960–3) (#litres_trial_promo)

23. Down the Drain (1963) (#litres_trial_promo)

24. A Princely Shoot (1963) (#litres_trial_promo)

25. Lonely Islands (1964) (#litres_trial_promo)

26. New York (1965) (#litres_trial_promo)

27. A Walk on Broadway (1965) (#litres_trial_promo)

28. Lawrence’s Jordan (1967) (#litres_trial_promo)

29. Treetops, East Africa (1967) (#litres_trial_promo)

30. Orient Express (1969) (#litres_trial_promo)

31. The Pera Palace Hotel (1969) (#litres_trial_promo)

32. A Journey in the Wilderness (1971) (#litres_trial_promo)

33. Wimbledon to Italy by Bicycle (1971) (#litres_trial_promo)

34. Port-au-Prince (1972) (#litres_trial_promo)

35. Leaving The Observer (1973) (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise (#litres_trial_promo)