Preface; Chapter 1 Last pasha at the Golden Hotel; Chapter 2 Hobo on the run; Chapter 3 Bad tempers in the Hoggar; Chapter 4 The feminine battle of Algiers; Chapter 5 Sharing salt in Saudi Arabia; Chapter 6 Oh Arabia – my new-found-land; Chapter 7 Saudi Arabia – the gloamings; Chapter 8 A noisy night in Beirut; Chapter 9 Chewing over affairs of state; Chapter 10 Through the singing valleys of Yemen; Chapter 11 Beirut’s death ring tightens; Chapter 12 Entering the tempest; Chapter 13 The tidy wives of the Gulf; Chapter 14 A belle époque in crumbling Cairo; Chapter 15 Shoot-out on the beach; Chapter 16 No riots, please, we’re British;