High-Ho To London: With Frank Clune

Clune set out on New Year's Day, 1947, on what he calls a Marco Polo marathon, modern style. In his own breezy fashion he tells how he took the long journey from Sydney to London by air, but in easy stages - stopping long enough in each of the countries he visited to discover something of interest about it. His trip took him into 31 countries: Indonesia, Singapore, Malaya, Burma, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Balochistan, Bahrain Protctorate, Iraq, Iran, Trans-Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Malta, Sicily, Corsica and France, just to name a few. Clune took black coffee - very strong and bitter - with the Shaikh of Bahrein; and when he was invited to a sumptuous repast (without knives or forks) in Afghanistan, he complimented his generous host in the for mally correct manner by belching loudly. In Afghanistan, he taught the tribesmen to sing Waltzing Matilda and in Singapore, visited the prisoner-of-war camps, attended the war-trials, and even visited the prisons where he saw the Japanese officers who were condemned to die. Illustrated with maps and black and white photographs.