Nothing to Declare: A Memoir

by Taki and Taki Theodoracopulos

Book Overview

World-class athlete, playboy, war correspondent, and heir to a Greek shipping fortune, Taki has over the last three decades moved among the rich, the powerful, the titled and the celebrated in London, New York, Gstaad, the Riviera-wherever fun or stimulation was to be had. But in 1984, while passing through Heathrow Airport, Taki was arrested for possession of cocaine and summarily sent to jail. Nothing to Declare is the hilarious and surprisingly...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0871134349
• ISBN13: 9780871134349
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Her Majesty requests your presence at dinner...promptly...for a period to be determined by the Court

Not Reading Gaol. This is a wonderful book about Taki's period as a guest of Her Majesty. For those looking for prison memoirs, read "Nothing to Declare" and Jim Goad's "S**t Magnet" for contrasting tales told with amusement and panache. Throw in "manchild in the Promised Land" in you want another colourful voice. Reading Taki is like a good tennis game with an attractive partner, a warm summer afternoon in beautiful surroundings, and a perfect cocktail answer to the slur of Eurotrash. Taki is glamour without the glitz, wealth combined with anonymity, privilege and comfort without meterosexual softness, and manliness without burlesque or misogyny. An unapologetic elitist gentleman, ever giving communists and the spineless a fair punch in their clownish noses. Pure delight.

Great BooK

A great book, maybe a little slow at the end. If you like Taki, I highly reccomend this collection of his writings.

Honest portrayal of life inside a high security prison.

After seeing the film, 'American History X', I was hooked on finding out about what it's really like in a prison without the added drama of films. Taki gives an honest, undramatised description of his short time in prison for attempted drug smuggling. He explains the torment of being alone and not being able to walk around freely, 24 hours a day, as well the the disgusting conditions prisoners may put up with. It was certainly different to the the image that films like 'shawshank' gave. It showed the human side of prisoners as well as the goodness that the guards were capable of. It also gave interesting descriptions of the social code that inmates followed. For example the unspoken rule that a prisoner never uses the lavatory when the other prisoner is present, as this is 'home'. A recommended read to anyone interested in prison and the loyalty inmates share.