The Teatime Islands

by Ben Fogle

Union Jacks and red post boxes can still be found in some of the most remote, inaccessible places on the planet - the far-flung islands still governed by Britain. Ben Fogle, pursuing a childhood dream, has travelled to meet the inhabitants of these wild places with evocative names like Tristan da Cunha, Ascension, Diego Garcia and Pitcairn. Because of his own unique experience on "Castaway" he's been welcomed by these isolated, patriotic communities. And along the way he's been threatened by elephant seals, chased by the Royal Navy and deported for spying.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Adventure, Autobiography

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2003

About the author

Ben Fogle is a presenter, writer and adventurer. His achievements include racing 160 miles across the Sahara desert in the notorious Marathon Des Sables.

He has rowed the Atlantic Ocean in 49 days and crossed Antarctica in a foot race to the South Pole.
He has presented numerous programmes including BBC’s Animal Park, Wild In Africa, Countryfile, Crufts, One Man and His Dog and Extreme Dreams.

He writes regularly for the Sunday Telegraph and the Independent and has written four bestselling books. Ben’s latest book, The Accidental Adventurer will be published by Transworld in 2011.

He is an ambassador for WWF, Medecins Sans Frontier and Tusk, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the President of the Campaign for National Parks.

Ben is a special correspondent for NBC News in the United States, reporting from all over the world for Today, Dateline and MSNBC Nightly News.

http://www.benfogle.com/biography

Reviews

[Caroline Southgate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get into it so gave up

[Craig Rowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Teatime Islands: Journeys to Britain’s Faraway Outposts by Ben Fogle chronicles the author’s visits to six overseas territories: Tristan da Cunha, British Indian Ocean Territory, St. Helena, the Falkland Islands, Pitcairn Island and Ascension. When this book was published in 2003 Fogle had already finished shooting the reality series Castaway 2000, where he was one of three dozen people intentionally marooned on the Scottish island of Taransay. Thus as an island lover himself his mission was:

“There is a very definite island mentality, and I wanted to compare my own experience of it to some of the most remote island communities in the world, to find out why the Teatime Islanders choose to live in such abject isolation, many miles from the services of a modern society. I wanted to find out whether an islander must always live on an island. And to discover whether or not a Londoner like me could ever consider myself a real islander or whether I’m just a wannabe.”

While on his travels he was recognized from the show, which surprised him that people in such remote locations had been able to see it. I liked how he incorporated each island’s history and current situation into the stories and thus fleshed them out with more than just his personal experiences. But I must say there were a couple instances where he seemed a tad full of himself, letting his handsome “star” status go to his head.

His adventures on Tristan da Cunha occupied the first chapter. I was struck by Fogle’s inaccuracies about the island. These are simple facts that could be verified without even setting foot on the island. For example, Tristan da Cunha has a demonym: it is Tristanian. I found it annoying that Fogle used three such demonyms for citizens of the island, using the standard term only about half the time. On all other occasions he used the irritating Tristanites or, once, the awkward Tristan da Cunhans. On one instance, on page 36, he used Tristanite (which sounds as if it could be a hypothetical mineral indigenous to the island) at the top of the page and then Tristanian at the bottom. He also never got the formal name of the island’s settlement correct, calling it Edinburgh on the Seven Seas instead of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. He alternated the spellings of Anne Dakin with Ann and misspelled the name of the South African research vessel as Agullas instead of Agulhas. (On my first visit to Tristan I sailed upon the Agulhas II.) All these mistakes were found in the chapter about the only island within his book that I myself had been to. I wonder what else was incorrect in the following five chapters about the other islands.

I had a riot of a laugh as I read about the air taxi, the term used to carry passengers to and from ships during trips to St. Helena:

“The air taxi, I hasten to add, is not the smart sea plane I had at first imagined. In fact, it is a specially designed crate for passengers with walking difficulties. Passengers sit in the DIY crate which is then lowered over the side of the ship and on to the wharf, thereby avoiding the hazardous obstacle course of ladders and slippery steps endured by most. It was a truly comical sight, half a dozen purple-rinsed perms blowing in the breeze, walking-sticks propped against the side, as the box of geriatrics was hoisted over the side of the RMS. It reminded me of a box of Quality Street.”

I have ridden in the same sort of “vehicle”, which Tristanians call the box:

Luckily for me when I rode in it the crane operator had a steady hand.

During his times ashore Fogle explored the islands and hung out with the locals. While on the Falklands he quickly learned never to refer to the 1982 war as the islanders are so thoroughly sick of dealing with the subject. Yet he does ask himself the question: if it wasn’t for the war, the few tourists that do venture out there might very well have never heard of the place and there wouldn’t be a tourist industry at all.

While preparing to leave for the Falklands, he remarked:

“The RAF rather euphemistically call their passengers ‘walking cargo’. The load on my flight could be broadly divided into two camps, the happy and the utterly miserable. The former tended to be dominated by returning islanders and visitors like me, while the latter seemed to be made up entirely of soldiers weeping into their cans of Coke at the prospect of a Falklands winter.”

Fogle was not permitted to visit Pitcairn, although he did set foot on the island. The local authorities, dealing with the sex abuse scandal at the time which had yet to become an international horror story, were wary of Fogle’s credentials as a TV presenter and banished him back to the yacht he had sailed upon. They may have feared he would break the story as journalists were personae non gratae on the island. Fogle didn’t know about this scandal at the time and wondered why, after obtaining permission to visit, he suddenly was turned away. He had managed to find passage to Pitcairn via Mangareva in French Polynesia yet I don’t know where he got his figures from, since the distance from Mangareva to Pitcairn Island is a lot further than the 150 miles he claims.

His final destination was Ascension, where I was surprised to find out used to have much of its mail mistakenly delivered to Paraguay–via Asunción–before the island was assigned its own postal code. I had a laugh at the island’s version of a morning rooster crowing:

“The next morning I was hauled from my sleep by what sounded like someone being murdered outside my front door. My body had been thrown into confusion by the extreme change in climate and I had been kept awake most of the night by a persistent mosquito that I thought I’d squashed about a dozen times.”

The sound of “someone being murdered” was in fact that of the island’s wild donkeys. I have read numerous travelogues about Ascension, and Fogle made the island sound attractive and appealing, instead of the desolate burnt wasteland visitors often paint it as. He portrayed the local population, none of whom are native to the island, as fond of the place.

I enjoyed Fogle’s travelogues, even though he got some facts wrong about my beloved Tristan da Cunha. His colour photo inserts were a treat and I recognized a number of the Tristanians. It is a shame his only photos of Pitcairn were from the yacht. I used his bibliography to research more titles, and ended up buying two books about Ascension.

[Tim Corke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of Ben Fogle - loved him on Castaway and his associated book, love his Lives in the Wild series. I can add this to the list. This is a great read - it’s a proper exploration and following a dream to explore some of the remotest and smallest island communities around the world.

I’ve always wanted to visit the Falklands and this just makes me want to visit it even more. It’s more than a travel book - it’s about being brave to follow your dream, it’s about being curious to explore different cultures and not accepting the norm. This epitomises Ben Fogle’s exploits and he’s made a great career from jt. I probably won’t ever get to the Falklands but it is exciting to hear about someone who was also excited about going.

[Lisa Cramb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book full of charming characters

Loved this book. It was full of character & place detail that made the islands come alive. So well written that I really felt the author's dismay upon the refusal to allow him on to Pitcairn as well as his varying emotions once disembarked & exploring the other isles. I wish I could visit those islands too now!

[Cathy Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not sure what I had expected from this book, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed. As other reviewers have stated, it didn’t really contain the level of detail or interest I was looking for. These are really fascinating places and this was only a really light touch. It was nice to read and Ben is a really likeable guy, but I was left wanting more.

[Sara Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Ben Fogle has an impish sense of humor. He really brought the islands to life and I enjoyed the little history bits as well. Not sure Britain should be entirely proud of its behavior with some of these territories but book is a nice bit of escapism. I will be booking my ticket to Tristan Da Cunha post haste!

[Jacques Richer · Rating 2 out of 5]

These are short narratives. The stories vary in quality from good to somewhat dull. None were great. Bf was building on his experience on castaway trying to extend his experience. he does not quite succeed.

[Anna Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book for day dreamers

A fascinating book giving a glimpse into life in the far flung oceans of the world. Perfect for helping to dream up future adventures

[MR DANIEL FOREMAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing epic.

[Breige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben Fogle decides to visit some of harder to reach British Outposts, going to 6 islands in one year: Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena, British Indian Ocean Territory, Pitcairn Island, Falkland Islands and Ascension Island. I did enjoy this book, it’s a great start to a short introduction to these islands and the life on them, it’s left me curious and has had me Googling various things about the islands so no doubt it’ll stick in my mind for a while. The one major downside is how dated it is by now, a good decade has past and I’d love to know more about what it’s like on these islands. A pleasant, light travel read.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I think Ben Fogle writes really well and keeps the descriptions interesting, not dry which I think can happen with travel writing pretty fast. I also liked the way that he didn't seem to feel he had to criticise everyone he met, or paint vicious portraits, which can also happen. A few times it just seemed a word or two would do, when necessary.

Who is the girlfriend mentioned in the epilogue? I must get on to wikipedia and see if she became the Mrs Fogle that I know exists. (I'm so nosy!)

[Michelle Butler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a light introduction to some of the smallest British Oversees Territories and I now know a bit more about places like Ascension, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. The Falklands chapter however was not great and didn't really give a true flavour of the place I am living in today. This may be because a lot has happened in the 12 years since this book was written or may be because Ben Fogle isn't a particularly good travel writer! In summary, interesting but very basic.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ben Fogle is lovely but I have to admit I found him intensely annoying by the time I'd finished this! It could be an intersting travelogue about various islands around the world that were once aprt of the British Empire, but Fogle's nicey nicey atitude and lack of any edge makes this just too soft.

[Jae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this over many months, an island at a time, was a good read but not a page turner! Very interesting to read about all those little islands, some I'd not heard of. Have passed it on to my boyfriend.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad collection of pieces - Ben got a raw deal re: Pitcairn, but the other locals seemed to really take to him.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good read and very funny in places. Ben Fogle comes across as very natural person and I like his enthusiasm for life!

[Kate Millin]

He writes as well as he looks good! A fascinating insight into life on a number of remote islands in the British empire, with a lot of references to his time on Taransay.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic insight into living in the most remote islands in the world especially on Tristan de Cuhna, the most remote island in the world. Remarkable how civilised these remote areas are!

[Peter]

Genteel writing: problematic.