Chris Tarrant

This is the book of the TV series, and as such is more of a travelogue than any sort of book specifically for enthusiasts, although many enthusiasts will find much to entertain them in its pages. The bulk of the journeys were through various distant parts of the world, where "extreme" is taken to mean "difficult"; only a few journeys, such as in Japan or Australia, use a different definition where "extreme" refers to some superlative or other. The text is essentially Chris Tarrant talking about the making of the first fourteen films of the series. It is his own voice, and he comes over as quite genuine and interested in what he is seeing and the people he meets. It does branch off into autobiography at one point when Tarrant suffers a stroke on the way back to the UK from Myanmar; this is not relevant to the railway stories but is quite important in its own right. Again, it is a good illustration of Tarrant the man.

The choice of photographs might disappoint many enthusiasts; perhaps there are a few too many of Chris looking at some natural feature or other; some of the things he describes in the book are left to the reader's memories of the tv show when they would have made interesting photographs. Still, the book as a whole is a useful aide-memoire of the tv programmes themselves, but be aware that proof-reading and sub-editing seems to be pretty much absent.

That comparatively minor quibble apart, this is a nicely-produced coffee-table book that would act as a useful starting point for anyone interested in looking for more information or even visiting some of the countries mentioned.… (mehr)