Patrick Newman has spent twenty-five years travelling through Europe with his Punch and Judy show. As he goes from London to Finland, Samarkand, the Russian Arctic, Mongolia and Uzbekistan, his puppets drive him to make deals and money. Punch and Judy soon teach Patrick that their uses go well beyond mere entertainment - he uses the puppet show technique to penetrate the Kremlin and then to buy the State film studios from the government of Uzbekistan. The Daily Telegraph reported: 'A small British company, financed by Count Gottfried von Bismarck, is buying control of Uzbekistan's state film studios and film library in a deal that began with a Punch & Judy show.' As the Soviet Union collapses Newman ships millions of cans of kiwi juice to the Russian Far East and flies a Russian bi-plane with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash stuffed in his socks. He teaches audiences in Tashkent about capitalism by turning the puppet booth sausage machine into a money machine, and wows Ruslan Khasbulatov, a Chechen 'big cheese', by presenting him with the perfect business gift - a big Wensleydale cheese weighing 40lbs.Newman's hilarious exploits give a unique insight into the often unbelievable opportunities afforded by Eastern Europe as communism collapsed.
- ISBN10 0297848992
- ISBN13 9780297848998
- Publish Date 1 January 2011
- Publish Status Cancelled
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Orion Publishing Co
- Imprint Weidenfeld & Nicolson
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 320
- Language English