Born into a poor, mixed-race, working-class family, David Sarley's journey takes him from a childhood of outside toilets and misplaced silver spoons to the corridors of global power. Along the way he encounters Queen Elizabeth II, President Obama, Bill Gates, Laurence Olivier and - through one degree of separation -Margaret Thatcher, Nikita Khrushchev, Terence Stamp, Saddam Hussein, and Kevin Bacon among plenty of other dropped names.

This is not a rags-to-riches story, though that happens. It's a tale of unlikely connections, outrageous good luck balancing life's challenges. It features opened doors, chance encounters, and the communities that carried one neurodivergent boy further than his ten exam failures should have allowed. Sarley is blessed with a determined single-parent intent on ensuring her kids survived and thrived, and a local authority whose social policies lifted his family out of poverty and provided him educational and self-growth opportunities.

Sarley depicts snapshots of his life with honesty, sweeping geo-political commentary, and an abundance of good humor. A book for anyone interested in family, history, and the colour in everyday lives, that shows how even the toughest obstacles do not need to block our paths.