FRANK GARDNER Blood & Sand ***

There are three elements to this autobiography.

[1] There's the story of the young man who studies Arabic at university (Exeter - like Rachel and me), falls in love with the Arab world and gets to use his language skills first as a banker then as a BBC journalist. That's moderately interesting.

[2] Then there's the expert's analysis of Al-Qaeda and the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's very interesting.

[3] Finally, it's the story of a man who gets cold-bloodedly shot and left for dead, his gruelling time in hospital, and his attempts to come to terms with his paraplegia. I found that gripping.