Twice Around the World

Book excerpt: John Colvin's career as one of Her Majesty's Representatives in Foreign Parts never scaled the greatest heights of the ambassadorial ladder, but it did lead to two unusual postings, which he describes in this book. In 1966 he was sent to Hanoi at a time when the Vietnam War began to assume its full rigour, and his verdict on the American involvement, contrary to the widely-held view, is that they did not leave Indo-China without credit or achievement. His next posting was as Ambassador to the People's Republic of Mongolia. His memories of that remote but lovely country, which dwell as much upon topographical as political aspects, provide an insight into life in what was then a Russian satellite state, far removed from the centre of world affairs.