Description

‘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

——————————————————————-

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During this time, the Empire has given way to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, men-only clubs have been replaced by Me Too, and instead of a choice selection of voices on a handful of radio and television channels, we have millions of voices on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok.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

Publisher Review

A model of its kind. Calmly, bravely written, infused by his Catholic upbringing, and intriguingly haunted by the posh question ... filled with qualities that are the marks of a good life: candour and courage, deployed with generosity and modesty, all of them here in spades. -- Adam Nicolson A clear-eyed and compelling account of a life, told with honesty and much wry humour. -- Luke Jennings A book brimming with surprises and insight. I have known Edward Stourton for fifty years, but there have been adventures in his life of which I knew nothing whatever until I read this fascinating memoir. He has led a Life in Full - and has the brainpower to analyse it all with wit and perspective. -- Nicholas Coleridge I have worked with many journalists during my sixty years in the trade and Edward is among the very best. He is untainted by the cynicism that infects so many of us, deeply thoughtful and committed to telling the truth. This important book reflects all that. And it's great fun too. Short version: A searingly honest insight into the life of one of our great journalists. Hugely entertaining too. -- John Humphrys Fascinating. Much more than a series of swashbuckling journalistic yarns, Confessions also describes the "awokening", as Stourton puts it, of someone born to privilege who has come increasingly to question the assumptions of his caste. He retains a kind of shaken, chastened faith, and a moral passion which he has, on the right occasions, allowed to break through the mask of journalistic impartiality. -- Harry Eyres