Coastwise Lights

<p><b>''To describe Alan Ross as a polymath does scant justice to the eclecticism of an extraordinary man . . . Ross was a war hero, poet, bon viveur, travel writer, incorrigible gossip, racehorse owner and brilliant magazine editor.'' Richard Whitehead, <i>Observer</i></b><br><br>This, the second volume of Alan Ross''s autobiography, deals with his postwar life as cricket correspondent, publisher, man of letters and racehorse owner. The narrative is richly peopled: Johnny Minton, Keith Vaughan, Agatha Christie, Gavin Maxwell, Wilfred Thesiger, Cyril Connolly, T. C. Worsley , William Plomer, Terence Rattigan, William Sansom are just some who are memorably characterized. <br><br>William Boyd has written of Alan Ross, ''He was the opposite of parochial, his interests were wide and not elitist, his enthusiasms were carefully hedonistic. He was a very fine writer of prose - his two volumes of memoirs are small classics - and his poetry is limpid and evocative.'' As a beguiling bonus, each chapter of Coastwise Lights is eked out with a small and apt selection of his poems.<br><br>The first autobiographical volume, <b><i>Blindfold Games</i></b>, is also available in Faber Finds as will be many other of his titles.<br><br>''A true celebration of friendship and talent as well as the sports - football, cricket, horse-racing - which have engaged him in the last four decades.'' Philip Oakes, <i>New Statesman<br></i><br>''His obvious affection for the friends who flit through this beautifully written sketchbook is masked by a writer''s curiosity and detached amusement.'' Euan Cameron, <i>Independent<br></i><br>''A fascinating history of metropolitan literary life from the end of the war.'' Chris Peachment, <i>The Times</i></p>