When Peterhouse School opened in 1955, the British Empire in Africa was still intact and the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland had just come into being. It was a boarding school founded on the British model, but with the intention that it would 'adapt all that is best in the Public School tradition to African conditions'. The story of Peterhouse is not only about work and sport, music and drama, chapel and syllabus changes. It is set in the context of educational development and political changes in a Southern Africa country. The school became a pioneering multi-racial institution in 'white Rhodesia'; shared the sufferings of the country during the 'bush war'; expanded greatly in the new Zimbabwe, survived the contradictions of a black 'Marxist' government, and has kept its firm commitment to being a 'Church School'. Despite the uncertainties and challenges of the new century, this is a story of faith and vision.

This is a biography of Sir Humphrey Gibbs, an upper-class Englishman who settled in Southern Rhodesia soon after it became a self-governing colony. He was a leading farmer and churchman, an MP, and eventually Governor of the country. In 1964 the Rhodesian Front declared UDI, but he remained at his post in Government House for a further five years, and was a conduit for negotiations between the British Government and the rebel regime.