Hold the Line, Please

In 1968, Freda Bassindale quit the Edinburgh City Police and boarded SS Iberia for a new job as a telephonist. For the next five years she cruised the world with P&O, enjoying her life at sea and the exotic destinations she explored along the way.

Fifty years later, the discovery of a forgotten box of letters, booklets, diaries and photographs brought memories of people and places flooding back – of a time before mobile phones and internet, when travel was still an adventure.

By Freda Bassindale. Published by Bassman Books, 152 pages, 25 colour photographs, paperback, 14.8x21cms, £7.99.