Royal Challenge Accepted

Sometimes knowing too much about a book or an author can really taint your reading. It's one the reasons I usually read prefaces or reviews, after I have read the actual book. So, when I picked up 1960s Royal Challenge Accepted by Alistair Boyd, I knew nothing about it or him. 

Published in 1962, it's a travelogue from Alistair Boyd, who had recently  graduated from Oxford University and was inspired by some words from the then Duke of Edinburgh. "What I would like every University student or graduate to be able to do is first of all to work his way around the world on 5 pounds..." (about NZ$314 today in case you're wondering). 

Alistair accepts the challenge and writes to airlines and shipping companies to see if he can work his way to South America. These were obviously the days before student travel had become a business. And eventually he gets a reply and works his way over to South America, up the Amazon, over the Andes, across to Russia and Asia. All the while working different jobs and meeting new people. He sleeps in hammocks, sees piranha fish devour a pig's head and meets some missionaries with a nice line in cookies. It's a wonderful travel book of its time with plenty of black and white images too.

Alistair was a new graduate when he embarked on this journey. Full of enthusiasm and energy and the resulting book is charming.  Later in life, he lived in Spain for many years (and wrote books about it), married one of Kingsley Amis' ex-wives, took up his place in the House of Lords after his father died passing on the title, and was also a member of the then Social Democrat Party. Apparently Kingsley Amis at one point described him as 'an upper class fool'. But by all accounts he was a genuinely nice person. He died in 2009. 

I read his bio after I finished his book. It kind of put a new perspective on the packing of a 'tropical linen suit' for his journey and the ease with which he seemed to mix with consuls and other local dignitaries. But reading the book not knowing any of that probably added to my enjoyment of it.