On the Road
Around the world with Maggie Former Telegraph editor Charles Moore toured the globe to write his epic Margaret Thatcher biography. By Louise Flind
Is there anything you can’t leave home without? A book and a pen. Is there something you really miss? The right cup of tea. I know how to make the tea I want at home. I don’t like tea bags. Do you travel light? I’ve got better. I used to be terrible. What are your earliest childhood holiday memories? My father was against holidays in Britain – so very early he introduced us to Continental holidays. In his view, a holiday was eating well and doing a lot of culture – quite a tiring combination. He would take you into a church or a castle and give you a long talk about the history when you were seven. Is it a relief no longer having the Thatcher biography in your life? Yes, it is. What did you think of her? Luckily, she’s a fascinating biographical subject. It’s very interesting to examine somebody who’s so unusual and who never examined herself. Where did you travel to for the Thatcher biography? Mainly the US, the archives in Paris and round England. I interviewed 600 people. What do you miss most about not being the Daily Telegraph editor any more? The camaraderie and skulduggery of journalism. What’s more enjoyable – being an editor or being a writer? I couldn’t have been a writer if I hadn’t been an editor. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to write a book without learning how the big world works by being in it.
Are you glad not to commute from Etchingham in East Sussex to London any more? Very. What’s your favourite hunting country? I’ve hunted with about 40 packs and probably the best hunting nowadays is in the West Country. And your favourite part of Sussex? East Sussex: Weald, not Downs, because it’s more obscure. Has Sussex changed much since you were a boy? Ten miles in each direction from us has not been dramatically altered. How badly were you affected by the Sussex storms last winter? Very badly. My mother, who’s seven miles away, was out of heat and light for five days and of water for one day – no good when you’re disabled and 90. Where do you go abroad? Now, because of grandchildren, dogs and time, France, Italy or Portugal. I once did a lovely, rather dangerous riding safari with Tristan Voorspuy, who was later murdered [in Kenya in 2017]. I’m always keen for the Telegraph to send me to a tricky country for journalistic reasons. What is your favourite room in the House of Lords? The chamber. Do you mind your Lord Snooty nickname? No [he says with a giggle]. What was your maiden speech in the House of Lords this year about? An election bill, which was about trying to tighten up on election fraud. As a Catholic convert, do you go
to church regularly? Every Sunday. Mass in foreign countries is an added pleasure of travel. Where did you go on your honeymoon? Umbria, in September – truffles. Do you stay in a hotel or an apartment? I like good hotels – not grand hotels. Are you brave with different food abroad? My wife and I are both very keen on good food, especially what others used to call ‘foreign muck’. Strangest thing you’ve ever eaten? Donkey, which I ate by mistake in Bologna. Actually, it was extremely nice. Do you have a go at the local language? I’m bad but, having done Latin, I taught myself some Italian and Spanish. I can read a newspaper in Italian and talk to a waiter –and speak schoolboy French. What is the strangest place you’ve ever slept in – while being away? Getting out of Iraq during the war, I hitched a lift on a military plane. In total darkness near the airport, our driver panicked, thinking he might get shot, and started weaving all over the place. Luckily, the photographer was experienced, jumped out and shouted, ‘Western media.’ Then we could discern a whole load of guns pointing at us. It was the American forces, who thought we were a car bomb. I slept on the ground in the airport with the US Cavalry. Do you like coming home? Yes. You see your home in a different way each time. What are your top travelling tips? Footwear is the most important thing, and headwear if it’s very hot or very wet, and earplugs. Charles Moore’s Margaret Thatcher: Herself Alone (Penguin) is out now The Oldie August 2022 85
