Letters from a Diplomat (BBC Radio Collection)

Douglas Hurd looks back over his career in the Foreign Office, from young diplomat to Foreign Secretary. Some of the readings are recordings from Radio 4's "Recess" slot, and an additional three parts have been recorded specially for the cassettes. Hurd began as a junior diplomat in 1952, when he learned the niceties of Whitehall etiquette, such as the correct way of tying a file with a pink ribbon and the importance of never knocking on a superior's door. In the five parts which were broadcast, he discusses the arcane traditions of the Foreign Office, and gives an account of his postings to communist China and, later, to New York during the Suez crisis.