Adam Sisman and Geoffrey Streatfeild

Biographer Adam Sisman talks about the letters of the great travel writer and war hero Patrick Leigh Fermor and actor Geoffrey Streatfeild reads some extracts in the character of Fermor.

Sisman has edited two collections of Fermor’s letters, Dashing for the Post and More Dashing. The letters span almost 70 years and his correspondents include Deborah Devonshire, Ann Fleming, Nancy Mitford, Lawrence Durrell, Diana Cooper and his lifelong companion, Joan Rayner. They reveal many of the key characteristics of the man including his zest for life, his curiosity, his lyrical writing style and his tendency to get into scrapes. Above all, they make an entertaining read.

Sisman has written biographies of John Le Carré, Hugh Trevor-Roper, Wordsworth and Coleridge. Streatfeild is an actor on stage and in film and television. His credits include Spooks and The Thick of It.