John Simpson, the BBC’s World Affairs Editor, is a household name and considered by his peers and public as the most distinguished foreign correspondent of the age. A veteran broadcaster and accomplished author, John has covered most of the major world news events from the 1960s to the present day.
 

The suggested title for John’s Conversation is “A Mad World, My Masters.” It is based on the masterly satire of the seventeenth century wit Thomas Middleton, and John has used it to illustrate his own unique and often crazy tales from a traveller’s life.
 

John’s conversation will largely be about the considerable troubles he’s seen and also the adventures he’s had in so many weird as well as wonderful places across the globe over the years, right up to today. He will describe his encounters with a clutch of compelling characters on the world stage ranging from the world leaders — among them American and French Presidents, German Chancellors, U.K. Prime Ministers, Chinese Premiers — to dictators and war lords, gangsters, rogues and vagabonds with a smattering of African and European Royals including the British Royal Family.
 

John will sprinkle a light dusting of dark humour on these topics too: Individuals like Pablo Escobar, Robert Mugabe and Osama bin-Laden have given him plenty of hair-raising moments rated right up there with statesmen like Nelson Mandela and strongmen like Vladimir Putin. And it’s not going to be all about the blokes, his relationships (professional of course) with ladies like Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir and Benazir Bhutto will be included too. A hugely gifted story-teller, John will have lots of great ones to tell, as much about the past as the present.