Strolling along the promenade at Copacabana one could easily believe that the citizens of Rio are the luckiest in the world. But sunshine, music and the beach are the only blessings Rio hands out with fairness. The chance to eat well and die healthy is the privilege of the few and the envy of the many. The poor living on their wits in the favelas, can only trust the voodoo gods to see them through. And if that means sacrificing the odd chicken, so be it Clive James is made welcome by rich and poor alike. While the cariocas live in their own worlds, making contact only when a servant is paid or a millionaire is mugged, the outsider can meet them all.

Chicago is America's best-kept secret. Clive James discovers there's more to it than memories of Al Capone and Mayor Daley. The architecture is unique and the music is sensational. The people are surprisingly forthright about the problems of living in a city where millions of dollars change hands at the board of trade, but little is done to solve the problems of gang violence in the housing projects where shootings are a daily event.

In the 1960s, as a young expatriate Australian writer, Clive James discovered Paris, which was his spiritual home. Twenty-five years ago he sat alone in the Left Bank cafes, wondering how to meet the women of Paris. This time he meets them: the writers, the models and the actresses who were part of a different world in his youth. He also meets the unchanging archenemy of any visitor - the Paris taxi driver.