Malcolm Muggeridge: A Biography, by Gregory Wolle (Hodder & Stoughton, £9.99 in UK)

Muggeridge was very much a man and journalist of his time, though since he was long lived, active and vocal, that time lasted…

Muggeridge was very much a man and journalist of his time, though since he was long lived, active and vocal, that time lasted several decades. He had an "international" career, including a spell in India and a lengthy visit to Moscow, where he saw Stalinism at first hand and warned gullible intellectuals back home that the Soviet Union was no futurist paradise. He wrote for the Manchester Guardian in its great days and was always a versatile, productive professional, but it was radio and television which made him a household name in postwar Britain. Muggeridge was something of a philanderer in private life, yet he stuck to his wife Kitty to the end, and even embraced religion in old age. A lively read, provided you have sufficient interest in the subject.