“What a scandalosity!” for an outraged sense of decorum prevailed over his use of sane English.

England disappeared so quickly. Soon there was nothing but sea. […] I sat down to watch the spot where my country dissolved. It was there, etched on to my eyes like an afterview of the sun.

In 1975, China was emerging from the Cultural Revolution, its government’s effort to purify and revitalize society. Communist officials had set up indoctrination programs, broadcast propaganda over omnipresent loudspeakers, and sought to stamp out any evidence of China’s ancient history.

He has great endurance: he ran a marathon and then cycled home.