The Kindness of Strangers: The Autobiography

by Kate Adie

Kate Adie has courageously reported from all over the world since she joined the BBC in 1969. These memoirs encompass her reporting from, inter alia, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Tiananmen Square and, of course, the Gulf War of 1991. From the siege at the Iranian embassy which shot her to public acclaim, to an alarming encounter with a drunken Libyan army commander who shot her at point-blank range, from the chaos and mayhem of desert warfare to Gracie Field's bizarre funeral, Kate has cooly kept us in touch through her reasoned and level reporting. Although an intensely private person, Kate Adie also divulges how, despite being sent to outlandish places at a moment's notice, she's maintained her interest in sailing, singing, and theatre, and what it's like to be a woman in a man's world.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Travel, Journalism, Memoir, War

438 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2002

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kate Adie is a past master at telling a real story and making it not only real to the reader, but also very funny in parts.

This was the kind of book where every now and again a quick giggle is inevitable and the desire to read out snippets to those poor schmucks that share the same space with you is almost insurmountable.

It is a book of anecdotes, into which Kate's life seems to naturally crumble. She moves from local radio to national TV and flits between Lybia, the Gulf War, Bosnia, The Falklands (nearly), on tour with the royals and at the local flower show or pub asking spontanious and often inappropriate questions, quite frequently in a state of some inebriation. There are times when I thought it would be great to be able to live her life, but most of the time I was very glad I don't have to.

I really enjoyed this book. It helped me see quite another side to life and to a variety of conflicts and lightened my mood at the same time.

[Lizbeth Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

i found this book to be a fascinating insight into what happened the other side of the camera of those famous news reports we can all remember from the 70s and 80tys such as The Iranian embassy seige,Tianenmen square and the conflict in Northern Ireland. Interesting too the moral dilemma she faced when stepping too close to human misery for the sake of getting the best news report on air, the fastest, before rival broadcasting comanys .This is brought home starkly when entering the house of a freshly murdered catholic Kate finds a small child standing over his body telling her..'me daddy,me daddy wont get up'...Whatever motivated Kate to drive herself to the often perilous front row of unfolding world history i dont know but i cant help admire her adventurous spirit and grit that got her there.I wouldnt say this book is an autobiography rather a group of memories of a womans impressive, world view influencing career

[Alison Brodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A riveting book from British journalist, Kate Adie. You don't need to leave your armchair to be taken on a Hercules into battle, or hang out of a helicopter as an SAS soldier uses your shoulder to steady is machine gun. All very gripping, informative, absorbing but more than that, it is hilarious! I give this book 5-plus stars!

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate not finishing books I start. I don't know why that is. But that first title, God Is Not That Great, was just soooo boring, that when I came across a free book pile that had books that I was actually interested in reading, I had to swap it. So I swapped it for The Kindness of Strangers, which greatly disappointed me because it wasn't that much better! I think it was a little too out of date for me to relate to, which is why I didn't like it. It was about this journalist from the Beeb and how she started out and worked her way up. I couldn't relate not because it was British but because of how things work. This women just stumbled through life and ended university like when the BBC was just starting its affiliates outside of London and they were like taking anyone who was interested and today it sooo doesn't work like that. The story ended before 9/11 and the end of the book was just like all complaining about how things are done today with like international journalism, which does suck that it's getting all condensed and stuff, but that is just the future. Companies can't afford to have like reporters in every city just waiting for something to happen. They have to use the local media from that city to get their details. And boohoo, online is making everything go quicker! Get with the times! This book was kind of a disappointment which I had such high hopes for the topic.

Grade: D+

[Patrick Neylan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Adie's autobiography is an interesting though unsurprising walk through her career, but she keeps her life at arm's length. She leaves you with the impression of a talented, focused journalist (which we knew already) with a sharp mind and rigorous principles.

So far, so admirable. But Kate as a person? We don't even get close. Relationships? She lets on that she has had some but nothing more. It's almost chilling the way we learn about how she met her real mother at last. The emotions all come out for a page or two; then they are switched off completely and the woman and her family are never mentioned again. Her emotional control almost never slips.

This isn't an autobiography but more a memoir. Adie shows us round her career, but we walk behind her, not beside her. Adie the journalist is revealed in wonderful detail. Kate the woman is as much a stranger when you've finished the book as when you started.

Note: Make sure you look up the word 'diffident' before you start reading. It's Adie's favourite word and she likes to use it. A lot.

[Paquita Lamacraft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate Adie has a wit and an earthiness to her BBC reporting that appeals to many. Here she tells candidly the reality of BBC radio before political correctness, laws to protect everyone from everything and when you could have a load of fun with irreverent people and still get the job done.

Kate was at crisis points we can pinpoint as a war correspondent and gives us the other side of those events: the innocence and festivity that so often markes the beginning of the demonstrations that change history - the danger of soldiers who do not even know in what country they are fighting to bring their form of democracy, right or wrong, nor why.

A terrific read.

[Pete Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biog was a real surprise. Those whose exposure to Kate as a war reporter will be pleasantly surprised to find out that she not only has a great sense of humour, but a side that I would have imagined. It reveals the human and shockingly, that Kate was sometimes a very naughty girl!

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kathryn (Kate) Adie (geboren am 19 September 1945) ist eine englische Journalistin. Von 1989 bis 2003 war sie die Chefberichterstatterin der BBC und berichtete hauptsächlich aus den Kriegsschauplätzen der Welt. Bekannt wurde sie durch ihren Bericht über die Operation Eagle, den sie live aus Teheran, hinter einer Autotür versteckt machte. Danach wurde sie regelmäßig in die Konfliktgebiete der Welt geschickt, um daraus zu berichten.

Von diesen Reisen erzählt Katie Adie nur wenig, aber das ist auch nicht nötig, denn das kann man sich in den Archiven der BBC immer wieder ansehen. sie erzählt von einem Mädchen, das schon früh die Dinge zu hinterfragen begann und sich gegen alles auflehnte, was ihre Freiheit einengte. Die als junge Frau fast durch Zufall zur BBC kam und sich dort erst behaupten musste.

Als Frau traute man Kate Adie zuerst nur Berichte Backwettbewerbe, Agrarshows und Frauenkränzchen zu. Die Vorsicht schien berechtigt, denn Kate machte zahlreiche Fehler und blamierte sich mehr als einmal live in Funk und Fernsehen. Aus dieser Zeit erzählt sie ohne Bitterkeit, aber ich kann mir vorstellen dass es ihr nicht leichtgefallen ist. Auf der anderen Seite hatte sie auch das Glück, zur rechten Zeit vielleicht nicht unbedingt am rechten Ort zu sein, aber schnell dorthin zu gelangen.

In ihrem Buch stehen stets die Menschen im Vordergrund. Ob sie über eine Totenwache in Nordirland berichtet bei der sie sich fast schämte, davon zu berichten, oder über die Ereignisse am Tiananmenplatz, wo die Menschen sie immer wieder gebeten haben, ihre Erzählungen aufzunehmen und sie flüchten musste, um diese Aufnahmen zu retten: ich habe immer gespürt, wie wichtig ihr die Menschen waren, über die sie berichtet.

Fazit: The kindness of strangers ist der Bericht einer Frau, die sich der Wichtigkeit ihrer Arbeit bewusst ist. Aber sie ist sich auch dessen bewusst, dass sie selbst nicht wichtig ist. Das lässt sie sehr symphytisch und auch authentisch wirken.

[Archie Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly disappointed with this, while she had a huge fund of interesting stories to tell most were just skimmed over in little asides. But still a fascinating read

[Stewart Cotterill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate Adie. You knew that if you heard her reporting from some far flung he’ll hole that it was worth listening to. Memories of conflicts from when I was an older child are brought back to life-Belfast, Libya, Sarajevo, Kuwait, Beirut, Tiananmen Square.

This autobiography was definitely written by Kate Adie, no ghostwriter for her. Her snappy, straight to the point reporting informs her way of writing a book. Very interesting recollections of what occurred in those places from a time when reporters could be counted on to give you the news, not what they think about the news.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative, interesting and readable, sometimes humorous, insight into the life of a BBC correspondent in the second half of the twentieth century, working up from small beginnings to Chief Correspondent. More than that, it tracks some of the major changes in life during that time both in the the UK and across the globe, and particularly highlights changing attitudes to women, simply by describing how things were. The author has been a trailblazer in challenging attitudes in her life and work and this is clear in the book, without being didactic or heavy.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2260380.html[return][return]This is a gratifyingly entertaining book, starting with a chapter on student visits to Germany and Sweden in the late 1960s, and then going through Adie's career as a BBC journalist who ended up specialising in conflict zones. The chapters on 1970s Northern Ireland and wartime Bosnia rang very true to me; the chapter on Libya was horrifying, especially given what has happened since; the chapter on Tian-an-Men Square moved me to tears. Adie has an eye for the telling detail in he writing as well as in her broadcast reportage. [return][return]I did wonder a bit about the ideology of reporting. Adie claims firmly to aspire to be partly a conduit conveying what is happening on the ground to the viewer, and also a first emotional responder as it were, giving the viewers her own reaction. Yet that's a little to modest; her emotional response inevitably shapes the viewer's response, it's not that they have a range of different options to choose from; and the stories that she finds, or is allowed to find, shape the popular narrative for the events that she is describing. I would have liked a little reflection on the role of the journalist as creator rather than mere reporter. [return][return]But basically the sheer thrill and horror of experiencing these events, be it desperate attempts to find anything reportable in the Durham countryside or flight through the back streets of Beijing under live fire, makes for a very readable book.

[MargeryK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't finish this mainly due to time constraints - it was from a library reading group set and needed to be returned.

It was oddly structured. The first chapter consists of a gentle moan at the change in culture at the BBC - from a slightly laissez-faire attitude when she first started working for the corporation to the current mode of professionalism and accountability. Post-Saville, one thinks 'Thank Goodness" and cringes slightly. If this were republished today, I'd certainly make sure this wasn't the opening chapter.

Don't bother reading this if you want to find out about Ms Adie's personal life. I did find it interesting for fleshing-out the news stories that were on the telly as I was growing up, in particular Northern Ireland and the Falklands War.

It's an extended 'From our Own Correspondent', really, the Correspondent being Kate Adie, and she's reporting on the Japes that she experienced in her rather exciting and privileged life.

My parents joked that I would be 'The Next Kate Adie", so I did approach this with some guilt and feelings of inadequacy. But then again, it wasn't as though KA had pursued her career, she generally 'fell into' situations and one thing followed another. Lucky lady.

[Pesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

(June 8th)
if i had space for a sixth star, i would give it. being a journalist, looking into the life of one of the great ones inspired in me even more strength to "hack on". she was in a different line than i am, but all the same, the sincere way in which she tells her story teaches me alot about this addiction in which we put so much yet the world seems to think we get out so little. but it's an addiction--that's how they be. these are lessons i wont find in any self-help crap.



(earlier)
this, i wish i owned. but my sister does, and she's been so good as to lend it to me--at a time which i think would never have been more appropriate. in a few days i move on, to another section of the press--radio journalism to be specific (i started out in print). what better time to read the story of a woman who started out as a radio reporter and became an accomplished, all-round journalist? the most famous part of her career was as a BBC war correspendent. so am digging into her story with clean, strong hands. i want to savour the juciest parts of it, and still examine the bones. am hoping for an educative read!

[Bryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written, fascinating book, Kate Adie shares some of her life, and personal adventures and insights that came as part of her work as a news reporter. There's much humour and humanity in the writing, and it captures a period of journalistic, and world history. She's been caught up in some of the major events of the late twentieth century, and, no longer in front of the camera, is able to talk in a lot more detail and at a lot more length about personal experience of these.

It also made me think a great deal about the relationship between events and reporting, how much the telling of the story shapes what follows, how journalists can never be seperate from the action, or just observers, no matter how they try.

Highly readable, very interesting, and very much recommended.

[Louis Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

its seldom seen...that English un-fussed calm in the face of danger...presented in such an un-assumed way...is yet glorious in its understatement...we get loads of "Cardigan"" [esk] vainglorious...packaged ''rightly'' but few of those... who...gave it all... insisted...on doing the job...got shot...more than once...[do you have a word for that.]...and...did the news...this woman lives and breathe her life...i hope she is catching up on the missed out sex...but
inevitably it was just an intuition and am amiable nature [it seems,] that drove her... what else is there for a human being

[Dorinda Balchin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I have been intending to read for a long time, and I'm glad I eventually got round to it.
Ms Adie has given us a view from the other side of the camera where, although not sentimental, she reveals the emotional impact that reporting from a war zone can have on the reporter and her crew. Through a series of anecdotes, told with gentle humour, the reader is able to appreciate the hardships that reporters face in bringing the news to our cozy, sanitized living rooms.
For anyone interested in news, reporting, or journalism, this is a must read.

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a witty, sophisticated, and heart-felt memoire of a journalist who may not have received as much attention in the United States as in the United Kingdom. A journalist before many women took to the occupation, she has lived a life of adventure and, in its own way, intrigue. What can you say about a life story? It is best to read it for yourself and learn what another's experience can teach us. Further comments may be found on my blog at: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.

[Misty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, I know GoodReads says I'm reading Fiasco, but that's an intense book. I read it in fits and starts. In the meantime, I've read this little ditty, which I quite enjoyed. She is (was?) a reporter for the BBC and has unbelievable stories from Sarejevo, Tianenmen Square, Kuwait, etc. Her writing is a bit too informal at times (i.e., hard to follow), but it's a pleasurable read - It's a great airplane book.

[Glenn Myers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't finish this book because it was a bit vebose and cold and I got annoyed by Kate Adie using Initial Capitals By Way of Expressing Humour. She's surely a fine journalist who has lived a fascinating life. But she's coy about revealing anything of herself, like the photographer who refuses to stand in front of the lens. My wife loved it but What Kate Did Next wasn't quite enough to get me to turn the pages. So many books, you can't hang around.

[Eve · Rating 1 out of 5]

A huge disappointment, I was really looking forward to reading this, however it read like a series of detached snapshots gathered together in a book. There was absolutely nothing of Adie's personality, thoughts, feelings or fears in the book, and it felt as though I had joined a conversation between two friends who were not going to fill me in on the details of their history. Oh well, definitely promised more than it delivered.

[martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

[review from 2004] I absolutely adored this book, which shocked me 'cause I almost never read nonfiction. It's the autobiography of BBC reporter Kate Adie, alternately hilarious and fascinating. It covers her experiences in Northern Ireland, Tiananmen Square, Bosnia, Iraq and all over the rest of the world, as well as her roots reporting in England. A really enjoyable read and it made me want her job very badly. Highly recommended.

[Northern Light · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having lived through the time when it seemed Kate Adie was always at the scene of the latest war or disaster I really enjoyed reading this book from her viewpoint.

It read as if she was having a converstion with you alone and helped me understand what it was like for reporters in difficult places. Also the change in reporting methods as technology changed was quite an insight.

Would have been good to learn more about her personally but didn't detract from the book.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - to the point that it made me laugh out loud several times on public transport. Kate Adie is a brilliant writer & it was fascinating to read about her life in her own words. What a wonderful person.

The only downside being that I tended to fall asleep while reading it - I like to think it's because the book helped me to relax though rather than any negative connotations.


Definitely worth a read!

[Shirley Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was times that I felt as though I was reading some thrilling adventure story, but this wasn't fiction it was real. The Tiananmen square protest was a fascinating part, I felt as though I was living every moment with her, and the determination of making sure that her report was heard by the rest of the world.
Kate Adie's determination and strength of character shines through every page of this book.

[Sissi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not saying that Kate isn't interesting, because many of the things she has done, places she has been, we can only dream of. But I just found her writing to be on the slow and uninspiring side of things for me. That was a surprise, but there you are. Still worth a read, but not to be repeated for me.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting insight on several levels: Kate Adie's early life, the running of the BBC, life in early local radio as well as both sides (funny and scary)of being a correspondent for television. It did get bogged down occasionally with who-said/did-what, so some of the descriptions were a bit lengthy, but I thoroughly enjoyed the read.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally like biographies, but read this as part of mu on-line book group. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was left with an overriding respect for Kate Adie and the way she has lived her life. A unique and brave woman with great tales to tell from the front lines (literally) of recent history.

[Patrick Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this out of the "exchange" shelf at work and although the media world has changed since Kate joined it I found her down to earth approach to reporting interesting. Her career did have a certain randomness about its development but then the interesting ones tend to have that. I have a fond spot for her ever since the joke that a war couldn't start until she'd turned up!

[Des Bladet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gossipy oral history of the BBC, with plenty of attention for her start in local radio and her stint as royal correspondent (the royals come off as dull as paint, but madder); emphasizes the importance of poorly-informed reporters reporting breathlessly in battle-armour from next to piles of rubble in warzones.