On the Fringes of Europe: Student Years 1956-1963

This second volume of Martin Nicholson's projected four volume autobiography takes the author through his student years between 1956 and 1963, during the Cold War. Martin did his National Service in the Royal Navy learning Russian. He took his degree in Russian and Spanish at Cambridge University and spent a year at Moscow State University under the auspices of the British Council. It was 1961, when the Russians were celebrating their success in the space race, while also trying to come to terms with the legacy of Stalin's dictatorship. Martin observed all this at first hand, a unique preparation for his later career as an analyst of the Soviet Union in the British Diplomatic Service.