John Lidstone

• If it’s just unbridled lust, then go away for a dirty weekend and get it out of your system

  The Vicar of Grantchester

• The most diabolical game ever devised by man!

  Harold Macmillan speaking to John about Winston Churchill's aversion to golf

• You will drive with me to the station, it will save me having to pay your expenses.

  Paul Getty

• I only wish John Lidstone's book had been available to me many years ago. It would have saved me the myriad boobs I have made over the years.

  John Harvey-Jones

• You don't learn to sail on a smooth sea. You don't learn to ride on a lazy horse. You don't learn to sell with a popular product.

  Kemmons Wilson (Founder of Holiday Inns)

• Thank God you never became an MP!

  Primrose Lidstone

“How do you know all these people?” was a golf course retort from a retired army General in response to the author telling him that Sir Paul Girolami, chairman of Glaxo, had written the foreword to his latest book.  It is a tiny glimpse into the fascinating array of influential business and society leaders, politicians and celebrities that John Lidstone has met and worked with over the course of his life.

JOHN LIDSTONE’S FASCINATING MEMOIR OF HIS EVENTFUL LIFE IN BUSINESS & PUBLIC SERVICE - BUY HERE

John’s life has been an eventful one -  outlined in brief in About the Author>>.  His memoirs - How Did You Know All These People? is a collection of some of the many anecdotes and notable events in his life, often populated by a variety of famous, powerful and colourful characters.

It is a mixture of stories, published letters and material such as the Churchill Christmas Lecture about the reform of the Honours System, which led to John’s two appearances as an expert witness to the Commons Select Committee Inquiry.

From his boyhood introduction to golf and celebrity, to his ‘Dad’s Army’ wartime experiences; his early career in education and industry, to a burgeoning political life and a remarkable career that has taken him across the world and into the paths of so many notable names.

John recalls meetings with Alec Douglas-Home, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dirk Bogarde and Bill Deedes.  Harold Macmillan told him of Winston Churchill’s aversion to the game of golf; John recalls dubious advice delivered by church leaders, assessing Bunny Girls for the opening of the Playboy Club and getting money-saving tips from Paul Getty and Frankie Howerd; amongst many, many others.  

How Did You Know All These People? is an amusing and fascinating glimpse into not only John’s long life, but the lives of the many wonderful characters he has met along the way.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

“Terrific.  Thank you so much.  So proud to see Dinwiddie gracing the front cover.  Your book is excellent!”

Lucinda Lambton

Broadcaster, Writer & Journalist

“Thank you for writing such a brilliant and fascinating account of the world in which we, being the same age from 1929 to 2013, were born, schooled, worked, travelled and grown old.  You have brought back incredible and wide-ranging memories.”

Dr William Maclay

Formely a career consultant in the Royal Medical Corps

BUY THE BOOK

Price, including P&P

UK : £10.00

Europe: £12.00

Rest of the World: £15.00

Title : How Did You Know All These People?

Author : John Lidstone

Published : August 2013

ISBN : 978-0-9576196-0-9