Justin Marozzi

Another good man in Africa

issue 02 November 2002

INSIDE SAHARA
by Basil Pao
Weidenfeld, £25, pp. 200, ISBN 0297843044

Michael Palin is a decent chap, I thought, after bumping into him for a nanosecond at the Hatchards Authors of the Year party a few months ago. It was just long enough for the briefest exchange of desert tales before he was mobbed by growing numbers of the Palin Fan Club, at which point he faded from view and I was left wishing I had cornered him for longer.

That was back in May, and this being October, it is time for the latest Palin tome to land in bookstores the length and breadth of Britain, for what could be a nicer Christmas present than this sleek volume from the man who brought us Around the World in Eighty Days, Pole to Pole, Full Circle and Hemingway Adventure?

Although this is not a BBC book, it’s still a spin-off from the series now showing on BBC1.

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