The Accidental Foreign Correspondent

Chasing Gadaffi round the Sahara Desert, chance meetings with the Pope and Castro, a kick in the head from a Ukrainian pole dancer, shot at in a Belfast cemetery, searching for Ludwig Wittgenstein's chickens - it's all here.

Kieran Cooke, a foreign correspondent for the BBC, Financial Times and Independent, reflects on more than 40 years of reporting from around the world - the highs, the lows and the downright bizarre.

From the Introduction: Forced to look for a job locally, I produced some yellowing old articles written as a student and bluffed my way into working as a reporter for the local government-controlled radio station. All of a sudden, I was a journalist. A haphazard career unfolded, much of it reflected in these tales. Many of the pieces in this book are light in tone. This is not to suggest a reporter's job is full of fun. Far from it. There have been dark times and a few close shaves. What I hope these pages illustrate is the often bizarre and random nature of events, and the humour that sometimes accompanies them - even in the most dire circumstances.