Funny, Serious and Just Plain Stupid

For fifteen years, Ian Court was appointed British Honorary Consul to San Juan, Puerto Rico. As governmental diplomatic roles go, this somewhat anachronistic position seems to exist in a political no-man's land-they represent the interests of their native country, yet receive no salary and have little clout. However, this somewhat prosaic description of the position belies the fact that the experiences Court had during his tenure were anything but-for in this series of vignettes there is humour, danger, bureaucratic baloney and more than a few situations that beggar belief-even if they are more A Shot in the Dark than Dr No. From half-naked American colonels at poolside cocktail parties, through a farcical game of 'musical planes' with the Queen's Flight, to baronial strip-clubs and a modern-day Marie Celeste mystery-even a moving tale of a fragmented family reunited after more than three decades-these stories prove that although the role of Honorary Consul is unpaid, it is, anecdotally, worth its weight in gold.