Confessions

About the book

'Thoughtful, witty, occasionally comic, often effortlessly profound - not a conventional journalistic memoir.' Sunday Times

'If you value the perspective and judgment of one who has covered, often from the frontline, the major events of the past four decades, then snap up a copy.' Mail on Sunday

'A book brimming with surprises and insight.' - Nicholas Coleridge

*Updated for paperback to include new 'postscript' chapter from the author*

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Edward Stourton was born into a life of privilege.

The son of expat parents in colonial Nigeria, Ed was sent back to Britain to be educated by Benedictine monks at Ampleforth, at the time when, it was latter revealed, the school and monastery were the setting for serial abuse cases. He then went up to Cambridge, where his life as an undergraduate gave him access to a network of future ministers, judges and newspaper editors. As a young journalist, he reported first from party conferences and picket lines and then from war zones, witnessing the events making international headlines, from Haiti to Hong Kong, before returning home to join the infighting on BBC Radio 4's Today.

During this time, the Empire has given way to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, men-only clubs have been replaced by Me Too, and instead of a choice selection of voices on a handful of radio and television channels, we have millions of voices on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok.

The world has changed, and so has Ed. Brought face to face with the author of his obituary and his own inevitable mortality, Ed is prompted to reflect on the life he has led and the events that have shaped him.

In Confessions, he describes this remarkable journey with candour, humour and the insight that only forty years' experience of writing and reporting can provide.

'A searingly honest insight into the life of one of our great journalists. Hugely entertaining too.' John Humphrys