An epic flight into shattered Sarajevo. A stand-off with Miss Piggy. A world scoop as the Cold War ends. A seal hunt at the North Pole – and why you should never trust cats.

It’s all here in Bloody Adjectives, as Peter Rhodes, former chief feature writer with England’s biggest evening newspaper, the Express & Star at Wolverhampton, looks back on half a century in journalism and recalls some great assignments, from royal weddings to wars, natural disasters, “death knocks” and the sillier side of life.

Rhodes mixed with princes and paupers, legendary actors and leading politicians and military heroes. He chronicled some of the greatest events of our age and now shares a host of memories and some award-winning dispatches.

En route he encounters a pink poodle, a fried frog, a wounded Home Secretary and the End of Empire. And he also lifts the lid on Princess Anne’s “fairy grotto” loo …