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BOY ON A BICYCLE - A MANDARIN'S MEMOIR (Hardcover)
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BOY ON A BICYCLE - A MANDARIN'S MEMOIR (Hardcover)
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Our image of the civil servant has been implanted indelibly in our
minds by Sir Humphrey in Yes, Minister. But as this fascinating and
important memoir tells us, the real life of the mandarin is very
different. With disarming candour, delightful humour and impressive
memory, Hayden Phillips describes the career of a man who from his
earliest days was connected to events that are now part of the
history of British politics in the second half of the 20th century.
Educated at Cambridge and Yale, Phillips became a civil servant in
1967 as an Assistant Principal in the Administrative class. His
extraordinarily varied career was defined by working for Roy
Jenkins when he was Home Secretary and later President of the
European Commissioner in Brussels, IRA bombings, the Iranian
Embassy siege, sending police to Zimbabwe to oversee the election,
training civil servants, a stint as Deputy Secretary in the
Treasury, the creation of the National Lottery for John Major, the
Windsor Castle fire, the of Tate Modern, the Millennium Dome, press
regulation, Princess Diana's funeral. There can be few mandarins
who have taken to the boards as Sir Humphrey or had a role in a
James Bond film. No surprise that, in retirement Hayden Phillips
was Chairman of the National Theatre. This is a life of variety,
excitement and drama that defies all the cliched ideas about those
who run the country and what they do. Phillips tells an important
story filled with pen portraits of politicians and others with whom
he worked on a daily basis that shows us what life at the centre of
power is like. It is also the picture of a talented, charming,
dedicated and fortunate man who has contributed so much to our
national life.
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