Trans/GlobalCitizen

For a life this involved the autobiography required two volumes, TransAtlantic Man (800 pages) and Global Citizen (500 pages) plus dozens of original photographs of Sir Eldon with world leaders.

Sir Eldon's TransAtlantic journey began as an international journalist including Foreign Editor of Time and Newsweek. TransAtlantic Man is rich in personal recollections of leaders on both sides of the Atlantic, from Churchill to Blair, from Nixon and Kennedy to George W Bush.

Starting with a young man exposured to Hitler's death camps, Sir Eldon shares his experiences as a prisoner of the Russians in Budapest and at the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba and regales us with anecdotes about the parliamentary district, Bury St Edmunds from which the US launched its air strike on Libya.

Among the highlights are meetings with De Gaulle, Castro, Pinochet, Nelson Mandela, Reagan, Gorbachev and 'glamour girls' from Elizabeth Taylor to Princess Diana plus a few movies with Irving Allen to walking 'Fearless Fagen,' the famous MGM lion on the beach at Santa Monica.

In Global Citizen, we find the "MP for Orange County" as he was fondly called, commuting across the Atlantic while serving as Regents Professor at the University of California and founding the School of International Business at Chapman University. Reaching out to southern California's Koreans, Iranians and Vietnamese, he records the dawning of the Pacific century during extended visits to Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Sumatra. Especially revealing are the never before told tales of India, Iran and Australia, and of the author's love affair with freighters and container vessels. Here is history, politics, diplomacy, culture and comedy, all told in a fast paced narrative about the events and people who helped transform America - and much of the world besides - over the past 25 years.

Serving as a member of the British Parliament for 30 years, Sir Eldon wrote speeches for both Margaret Thatcher and John Major. His twice weekly articles in the Orange County Register were a highlight of the newspaper.

Since coming to the United States 20 years ago, Sir Eldon has been the President of the World Affairs Council of Orange County and is now Chairman of the Board of the same national organization.