Right From the Start

Right from the Start is the autobiography of Lord Roberts from his birth in 1930 up to the year 2000, told against the backdrop of his time and its leading personalities. Lord Roberts was the second son of a Nonconformist Minister and he rose from humble beginnings to become a life peer. His life was transformed by winning a scholarship to Harrow from where he entered National Service, receiving a posting to Vienna as a member of the Intelligence Corps during the Cold War.

Following a history scholarship at Oxford, Lord Roberts trained as a newspaper reporter and then entered the world of 1950s and 1960s television, bringing him into contact with leading personalities from the literary world, show-business and politics. He entered politics in 1970 as a Conservative MP, starting a career in the House of Commons lasting 27 years, rising through the ranks to a Shadow front-bench post under the Heath administration, remaining on the Conservative front bench until his retirement in 1994.