Editor

'Much excellent gossip, some of it wildly indiscreet . . . Hastings is a brilliant reporter' - Sunday Telegraph 'The acuity of his insights make this book a wholly compelling read' - Observer In 1985 Max Hastings was offered the editorship of a nearly bankrupt national institution - the Daily Telegraph - in a surprise move by its owners. This candid and entertaining memoir tells the story of what happened next both to him and to the newspaper he revived. It is all here: the rows with prime ministers, the coverage world events, the daily office dramas. Max describes his complex relationship with proprietor Conrad Black and offers an extraordinary perspective on the fall of Margaret Thatcher, decline of John Major and rise of Tony Blair. From the troubles of the Royal Family to the difficulties of dealing with lawyers, celebrities and statesmen, Editor is a compelling and vivid account of a turbulent ten years by the man with the inside scoop. 'I doubt any book captures so well the romance and thrill of running a great newspaper' - Nicholas Shakespeare, Evening Standard

Max Hastings is the author of thirty books, most about conflict, including Bomber Command, Armageddon, Das Reich, The Korean War, The Battle for the Falklands, Vietnam, Operation Pedestal and Abyss, and editor of two anthologies. He worked as a reporter for BBC television and British newspapers, covering eleven wars, including Vietnam, the 1973 Yom Kippur war and the Falklands war. Between 1986 and 2002 he served as editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph, then editor of the Evening Standard. He has won many prizes for both journalism and his books. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, an Honorary Fellow of King's College, London, and was knighted in 2002. He has two grown-up children, Charlotte and Harry, and lives with his wife Penny in West Berkshire, where they garden enthusiastically.

Section - i: List of Illustrations Section - ii: Foreward Chapter - 1: Wild Card Chapter - 2: Baptism of Fire Chapter - 3: Politics and Policy Chapter - 4: Gleam of Light Chapter - 5: Covering the World Chapter - 6: Knight's Move Chapter - 7: The Fall of Thatcher Chapter - 8: Social Diversions Chapter - 9: The Gulf War Chapter - 10: Conrad Chapter - 11: Alarums and Excursions Chapter - 12: The Tory Eclipse Chapter - 13: Royals and Reptiles Chapter - 14: Battling with Murdoch Chapter - 15: Going Section - iii: Afterword Index - iv: Index