This is the story of three young westerners--a Briton, an American and a German--who in 1960 set out to penetrate a land that few westerners had set eyes on. Unable to rely on maps and with little information on what would confront them, they were guided step by precarious step into the unknown world previously immortalized by Kipling's The Man Who Would be King. This is the contemporary record--now published for the first time--of an extraordinary journey.

Nicholas Barrington began his dramatic diplomatic career with a post in Afghanistan at a time the country was barely known to the world's headline writers. The narrative of his 37 year career in the British Foreign Office is woven with compelling insights on the countries to which he was posted and which are focal points of international attention: Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt and Pakistan. Serving in Iran during the political storm of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he had to navigate his way through the drama of a new political order, while his time in Cairo coincided with the assassination of...

Nicholas Meets Barrington tells the story of a mid 20th century young life that blossoms into diplomacy at the tail end of Imperial Britain. Coming from a conventional middle class family, Nicholas Barrington made his mark as a diplomat in a series of postings ending as High Commissioner in Pakistan. In these fascinating memoirs, Barrington describes his childhood during World War II, his family background, his education at Repton School, his two years doing National Service in the army and his time at Cambridge where he earned a first in Law. Readers are introduced to a vast array of...