Book excerpt: A truly extraordinary and intimate personal memoire of an equally extraordinary man. A story that carries the reader from a childhood in colonial Africa to the inside of the arms trade encompassing the glitter of Monte Carlo and the oligarchs of modern day Russia. A gripping account of a trader who has grasped every opportunity that has come his way - from frozen potatoes to mineral water, armaments to airlines, UN representative to intelligence agent - to name but a few. The author's life story moves the reader seamlessly from continent to continent across almost 65 years encompassing his participation in some of the most extraordinary military, social and political events of that time span.