Chance Witness: An Outsider's Life in Politics - Tapa dura

Though best known now as a political humorist, Matthew Parris's route from the African bush where he started life, to his perch in the Commons Press Gallery, has been anything but direct. Now peering down at the third prime minister and fourth leader of the opposition he has lampooned for The Times, Parris reflects on an extraordinary life. Often from the sidelines but sometimes from the scrum, Parris has enjoyed observer status at some of the bigger events in recent history. But there is another story, about family, friends, expeditions to the ends of the earth - and being gay. Matthew Parris has done a lot and seen a lot. He writes about it for the first time as a personal story.

Matthew Parris was born in Johannesburg in 1949. For seven years a Conservative MP, he quit to present LWT's Weekend World, after which he became a regular parliamentary sketchwriter for The Times. His books include READ MY LIPS and SCORN WITH ADDEDVITRIOL (both available in Penguin), and INCA-KOLA, about his travels in Peru. He has also made a number of television documentaries, including most recently an account of his sojourn on a remote sub-Antartic island.