The liveliest, most accurate picture of diplomatic life is naturally one painted by diplomats themselves, especially when writing of activity behind the scenes, or speaking candidly - even off the record. That is exactly what Sir John Ure, himself a distinguished diplomat, has provided here. Diplomatic Bag contains a varied collection of incidents, reflections and asides, drawn from the widest possible range of time and place. Some deal with the public face of diplomacy, others with the secret, even the embarrassing. Sir John quotes dispatches, memoirs, letters, interviews and anecdotes from the age of Ivan the Terrible to that of Saddam Hussein. The reader is presented with Metternich outflanking Napoleon, Conolly and Stoddart in their dungeon in Bokhara, Geoffrey Jackson being kidnapped in Uruguay, Lord Curzon dressing up in hired medals to impress an Emir, Dr Kissinger involved in ping-pong diplomacy with Chou En-lai, and Khruschev in footwear diplomacy with the UN. Coups and disasters are covered, as are - among much else - danger, spying, relations with the Foreign Office, pomp and circumstance, diplomatic wives (and husbands), and the occasionally absurd gaffes of protocol. Sir John seasons his material with his own experience, which has often found him in the right place at the right time.