Sir John Leslie's Memoirs - Never A Dull Moment

As New Hardcover in green cloth covers. First Edition 2006.
Sir John Leslie, born a New Yorker in 1916, came to Ireland at the tender age of three This is the story of his adventures across two continents. The son of an Irish Nationalist and a bright American beauty, John's maternal grandfather was the American diplomat Henry Clay Ide who counted the Vanderbilts and Roosevelts among his friends. Grandpa Ide was Governor General of the Philippines, and consequently, his daughters grew up in the South Pacific

Yet, it was his father's side of the family, the Leslies, also related to the Spencers, Wellingtons, and Churchills, that would influence John's life more profoundly. Young John Leslie grew up dreaming of becoming Viceroy of India, in an era when that would have been a lofty. but plausible ambition for a young man from his background. However, history intervened, and so John's whirlwind social sphere of debutante balls and country house parties was interrupted by World War II, and five years spent in German P.O.W. camps.

After his release John traveled to America where he made the rounds of New York society. before taking off to hitch-hike his way across the country. Returning to Europe, John took up residence in the old part of Rome, where he restored 16th Century houses, and the Badia di San Sebastiano di Alatri, which is now thought to be the oldest surviving Monastery in Europe. At the ripe young age of 78 he returned to live year-round in his family home, Castle Leslie, situated on the banks of Glaslough, County Monaghan, Ireland. Where, just to keep things interesting, he took up night clubbing, to 'shake up his liver', even going to Ibiza for his 85th birthday

Here in Glaslough his face was flashed across the world-wide media when he unwittingly made that wonderful on-camera comment about the planned wedding of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, "it's on Tuesday, but it's a secret".

Never A Dull Moment' is Sir John Leslie's extremely delightful account of his ninety young years on this earth, written in his own words, and illustrated from his scrap books.