Reginald Teague-Jones (1889–1988)

When this book came out in 1988, the 98-year-old author was the oldest man ever to have a first book published. When he died the next year, his obituary revealed that his real name was Reginald Teague-Jones, a British spy who had organised supply lines in Central Asia during the first world war and had been in hiding from the Russians ever since (for 70 years!).

This book is an account of a trip that Sinclair made in 1926, when he was hired by a British company to report back on trade conditions in Persia. He started from Beirut, where he bought a car and joined a convoy travelling across the desert to Baghdad. In the 1920s cars were a lot less reliable than they are now and Bedouin tribesmen often attacked lone travellers, so it was forbidden to do the trip alone. Official convoys were organised by the company that had the mail contract, and all the cars were inspected by the police before being allowed to join the convoy, to ensure that the car and driver were suitable and well-prepared for the desert conditions. At Baghdad he hired a Persian assistant to travel with him, and they set off alone. During the next months, they braved crumbling mountain roads, non-existent desert roads, blocked roads and other road-users as they visited various Persian towns, usually staying with the local bank manager or consul while Sinclair met local businessmen and assessed the trading conditions.… (més)