The Last Human Cannonball: And Other Small Journeys in Search of Great Men

Byron Rogers' latest collection of travel pieces follows the winning formula of his previous book, An Audience with an Elephant, as he goes in search of a remarkable array of quirky, whimsical, and singular individuals. But in addition to meeting a pensioner on a holiday who decided to swim across the Amazon, this book sees Rogers meeting a number of undeniably famous people. But as one might expect, Rogers' encounters with celebrity have their own unexpected outcomes. Burt Lancaster rants to him about transsexuality, Rita Hayworth is most worried about her neighbor's TV aerial, and a retired star of the silent screen turns out to live in Henley-on-Thames.