Arranged under subject headings, Bamboo introduces us to articles and memoirs dealing with the author´s childhood in Africa, his life at boarding school, the beginnings of his career as a writer, the travails of a decade-long law suit against his French publisher, his time spent as a TV critic, as well as essays on literature, art and film. The collection provides a compelling, and often surprising, gallery of characters and subjects, ranging from Charlie Chaplin to the Duke and Duchess of WIndsor, from Pablo Picasso to the abiding allure of British caff.