Outposts (47 page)

For anyone fortunate enough to be able to contemplate a journey to these last specks of the British Empire there are, sad to say, rather few relevant books that are worth taking. I have ploughed through scores of works that linger over the stately decline of the Empire and any number of papers that suggest fates for those islands that, for one reason or another, escaped the great retreat. But most are a little dull; I would be loath to advise any friend bound for Montserrat or Tristan; for instance, to lug along
The Cambridge History of the British Empire
, or Mr D. J. Morgan’s
Guidance Towards Self-Government in British Colonies
1941–1971, invaluable though they were for me. So I have omitted that kind of book, meaning no disrespect to the authors. Those few I have mentioned below are books that in my view are best suited for the traveller, in that they combine accuracy and interest with a sense of the atmosphere of the places they seek to describe. They are books both to be of use as sources of information and, in all cases, to enjoy. But I was only too well aware, after reading through all the others available—and there are many—that had these islands been more important places, a greater range of authors might have tried their hands, and this list of suggestions would have been rather easier to compile.

DIEGO GARCIA

Robert Scott,
Limuria
, Oxford University Press, 1961

John Madeley,
Diego Garcia
, Minority Rights Group, London, 1985

TRISTAN DA CUNHA

Derrick Booy,
Rock of Exile
, Dent, 1957

Peter Munch,
Crisis in Utopia
, Longman, 1971

GIBRALTAR

John D. Stewart,
Gibraltar the Keystone
, John Murray, 1967

George Hills,
Rock of Contention
, Hale, 1974

ASCENSION ISLAND

John Packer,
The Ascension Handbook

Lawrence G. Green,
South African Beachcomber
, Timmins, Cape Town, 1958

ST HELENA

E. L. Jackson,
St Helena the Historic Island
, Ward Lock, 1903

Tony Cross,
St Helena
, David and Charles, 1980

Lawrence G. Green,
There’s A Secret Hid Away
, Timmins, Cape Town, 1956

HONG KONG

Richard Hughes,
Hong Kong—Borrowed Place, Borrowed Time
, Deutsch, 1968

David Bonavia,
Hong Kong 1997
, Columbus Books, 1983

Maggie Keswick,
The Thistle and the Jade
, Mandarin Publishers, 1982

BERMUDA

Henry Wilkinson,
Bermuda in the Old Empire
, Oxford University Press, 1950

THE BRITISH WEST INDIES

There are many brief accounts of the five island groups that still belong to Britain, though most appear to have been written more for academic interest than literary pleasure. I would refer the reader to just two volumes. The first does not specifically cover any of the five colonial possessions, but wanders gently across islands and seas belonging to a variety of foreign owners; the second is, I think, the very best guidebook available about anywhere in the world, and it deals at very respectable length with all of Britain’s West Indian territories.

Patrick Leigh Fermor,
The Traveller’s Tree
, John Murray, 1950

John Brooks,
The South American Handbook
, Trade and Travel Publications, updated annually

THE FALKLAND ISLANDS

Michael Mainwaring,
From the Falklands to Patagonia
, Allison and Busby, 1983

Ian Strange,
The Falkland Islands
, David and Charles, 1972

Natalie Goodall,
Tierra del Fuego
, Ushuaia, 1979

John Brooks,
The South American Handbook
, Trade and Travel Publications, updated annually

THE FALKLAND ISLANDS DEPENDENCIES AND
BRITISH ANTARCTIC TERRITORY

Robert Fox,
Antarctica and the South Atlantic
, BBC, 1985

THE PITCAIRN ISLANDS

Robert Nicolson,
The Pitcaimers
, Angus and Robertson, 1966

AND IN GENERAL

George Woodcock,
Who Killed the British Empire?
Jonathan Cape, 1974

Colin Cross,
The Fall of the British Empire
, Hodder and Stoughton, 1968

James Morris,
Farewell the Trumpets
, Faber, 1978

If there is room for just a single volume, pack the last.