Running Free

Robin Knox Johnston

Simon & Schuster 

£20

‘There cannot be anything quite like it again,’ is Sir Robin’s reflection on the 1968 Golden Globe and that’s also true of the world in which he grew up. The opening chapters of this autobiography portray the tough, character-building environment of the British merchant navy pre-containerisation. It was an environment in which he thrived, though his decision to take time out to sail Suhaili home from India, even at the cost of his marriage, suggests he was already too strong an individual to remain in the service for ever. The merchant navy was commercial and opportunistic, competitive and pragmatic, all qualities which Sir Robin has displayed in an astounding number of subsequent ventures. There won’t be anyone quite like him again.