Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire

Simon Winchester is one of my most favorite authors: his books never fail to entertain and instruct, and always makes me want to go visit the places he's talking about, if I haven't already been. Or even if I have, because he always seems to find a different perspective or something missed or overlooked. The once great British Empire, as the title says, is much smaller today than at its most powerful in the early 1800s, yet still reaches far out into the wide world, to places with wonderful names like Tristan da Cunha - can you find it on a map? - or an easier one, Ascension? This book is a travelogue, a sailor's log, mixed with history and Mr. Winchester's reflections. Anyone interested in travel, wether real or armchair, I'm sure will be drawn to this book; also people who enjoy history will definitely appreciate this and the other books by Simon Winchester for his research and thoroughness.

In 1914, the globe was spanned by the British Empire, on which the sun truly never set. As a boy, I collected stamps, and I was in awe of the number of faraway and exotic places that featured the likeness of the British monarch on their issues. It was, perhaps, these colorful bits of paper, along with the tales of Robin Hood, Richard the Lionheart, and King Arthur that engendered in me a lasting love for and fascination with Great Britain. I've visited the mother island on more than a dozen occasions; I long to be there now. Simon Winchester's OUTPOSTS took me in a different direction - outward to the last vestiges of Empire. British Indian Ocean Territory, Tristan da Cunha, Gibraltar, Ascension Island, St. Helena, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Montserrat, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, and the Pitcairn Islands. These, minus Hong Kong - OUTPOSTS was published in 1985 - are now all that are left of the once proud imperial possessions. Simon visited them over a three year period, except the inaccessible Pitcairn, and tells us about his odyssey in this sterling travel narrative. Winchester, a Brit himself, is ambiguous about the Empire. On one hand, he apparently feels that the Crown's dominions, protectorates, trustee states, mandated territories and colonies were better left to go their separate ways, if only for the sake of political correctness. On the other hand, he maintains that, of all the European colonial empires, Britain's was the one administered with the greatest degree of good intentions. And, Simon isn't above becoming sentimental, as on Tristan da Cunha, a dependency of St. Helena, during a visit by the Colonial Governor: "A bugle was blown, a banner was raised, a salute was made, an anthem was played - and the Colonial Governor of St. Helena was formally welcomed on to the tiniest and loneliest dependency in the remanent British Empire. I found I was watching it through a strange golden haze, which cleared if I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand: the children looked so proud, so eager to please, so keen to touch the hand from England, from the wellspring of their official existence." The volume contains a rudimentary map of each colony visited, but no photographs - a deplorable deficiency in any travel essay, I think. I had to go onto the Web to satisfy my curiosity for visuals; the Tristan de Cunha, St.Helena, and Falkland Islands websites are particularly helpful in this regard. OUTPOSTS is, of course, dated; Hong Kong has long since reverted to the mandarins in Beijing. Luckily, I was able to visit the place in 1994 when it was still a jewel in the British crown. Oddly, the chapter on HK is surprisingly short considering the size and importance of the place at the time the book was written. Winchester didn't even mention one of the best E-rides in the world, the short Star Ferry trip from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. One of the best reasons to read OUTPOST

Having visited some of the far-flung places mentioned in Outposts, I was really floored by Winchester's style and prose: he really brings these remote islands alive, and tells a very readable, factual yet humorous tale of the inhabitants of Britain's remaining colonies, their lives and the daily issues they face. Brilliantly written and extremely captivating, even those without an apparent interest in the subject would be moved by this book. I think it would at least further their curiosity in these remote patriots and their daily trials on such remote outcrops. Harry Ritchie writes on a similar line in his book The Last Pink Bits, yet his research is noticeably less than Winchester's, by far. His tone at the start even appears one of mild annoyance at having to travel the world on the subject (surely his own idea?!) to the extent that I actually wondered why he bothered. New-found UK celebrity Ben Fogle also attempts a work entitled The Teatime Islands, and although a brave attempt at starting his writing career, I think he should stick to presenting daytime television. Outposts is an extremely well-leafed book in my collection, which I keep revisiting. I cannot recommend it highly enough for those interested in travel, days of empire and island life.

A humorous account of the author's travels circa 1983 to the remaining possessions of the British Empire, almost all of which are isolated islands. Several of the tiffs with British bureaucrats read like episodes of British sitcoms. My only complaint is that the bibliography at the end was not updated for the re-issue and is composed entirely of books which are more than 20 years old.

If you like history and travel literature, then this is the book for you. Simon Winchester travels to some of the smallest and most obscure places on the earth, and gives fresh insight other more well known places such as Hong Kong. And you will learn some really interesting stuff, like that there are some islands (well rocks in the pacific really), that are classified by the British government as Navel ships, and are named as such. You will definately want to grab an atlas after reading this.

This book simply is an excellent read, a book you cannot put down once you start reading it.It will make you want to pack your bags and travel to the distant ends of the earth!