Diplomat from Workington has some tales to tell about life around the world

Sir Brian Donnelly is one of them.

This retired foreign office diplomat has come up against some of the most controversial leaders in the world.

He survived the violent civil unrest in Yugoslavia when the tyrant, Slobodan Milosevic, then Prime Minister of Yugoslovia, was charged with crimes against humanity.

From 2001 to 2004, when he was High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, he was the subject of personal and public attacks by that country’s president Robert Mugabe.

He has sat in the same room as some very intimidating political leaders.

Not bad for a lad from Frazer Street, Workington, who went from Workington Grammar School to Oxford University on a scholarship.

Sir Brian joined the foreign office in 1970, and got his first overseas posting in 1975 when he became UK representative at the United Nations in New York.

Service later included stints in Singapore, Greece and from 1992 to 1995 as UK representative to NATO.

Sir Brian, 67, and his wife, author Julia Newsome, have lived for the last seven years in an 18th century farmhouse on the outskirts of Maryport.

The house is adorned with pictures of Zimbabwe art, maps of Cumberland, and lots of pictures of family.

Modestly tucked away on a bookcase sits a picture of him being knighted by the Queen.

There’s nothing showy; just the things that are closest to his heart, representing the many facets of a colourful and well travelled life.

A bookcase is crammed full of autobiographies of some of the great political leaders in history.

Sir Brian and Julia tell me about their home and how they met in Greece while he was working in the British embassy and she was an English teacher.

It wasn’t until Sir Brian became ambassador to Yugoslavia in 1997 that they decided to get married.

The outgoing ambassador advised that Julia could potentially be subject to blackmail and harassment if she didn’t have full diplomatic status.

Sir Brian says: “It caused a bit of a panic. It was not very romantic at the time but it worked out fine in the end.”

Moving to Belgrade in the late 1990s was dangerous, to say the least. President Slobodan Milosevic was facing mass civil unrest from the different nationalist fractions, and in 1999 NATO intervened with a series of air strikes on Yugoslavia.

Sir Brian recalls: “Britain was regarded as the enemy by the Yugoslavian government.

“In World War Two, Yugoslavia had been on our side. We gave support to the resistance in Yugoslavia against Germany.

“On one level we were the old allies and on the other level we had also been calling for NATO action.

“They couldn’t understand it. They understood why the Germans were against them, but not us.”

Julia had to be evacuated three times as the unrest threatened to spill over but Sir Brian remained behind.

He says: “I stayed behind at the American embassy just for security reasons because they had their own plane.

“The only way I could communicate with London was with a satellite phone. I had to hold this phone out the window and I had no way of knowing which way to point it.

“I had these encryption disks on me at all time. It all sounds very James Bond.”

He says their home in Belgrade was bugged and it made their life uncomfortable.

“There was calculated violence in Yugoslavia, and in Zimbabwe it was more haphazard violence.”

Sir Brian’s time in Zimbabwe was rife with political turbulence.

He was branded a spy by the Zimbabwe state media, was constantly accused of plotting Mugabe’s overthrow, and was reportedly placed under 24-hour surveillance by the Mugabe government.

He says: “Mugabe had a thing about Labour governments.

“He believed that New Labour went back on promises made about giving money for land reform.

“He hated Tony Blair with a passion. I became Mugabe’s lightening rod.

“I got the flak whenever Blair said anything and I was seen as one of his cronies. As an ambassador I had to carry out the policies of the government.

“Mugabe was an extremely effective orator and he was just completely against Blair. He would get a very popular response from it.

“Most of our time in Zimbabwe was about this antagonism between the two countries.

“It made our life uncomfortable but it wasn’t as bad as Yugoslavia.”

Mugabe had his own secret police called the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and Sir Brian and Julia had regular but harmless encounters with its officers, who were usually distinguishable by their black pick-up trucks and black sunglasses.

“We were watched in Zimbabwe. Someone had been in a tree outside our house watching us. It wasn’t 24-hours though – that was exaggerated.”

Sir Brian retired after Zimbabwe but for a short period in 2005 was an advisor to Jack Straw, then Secretary of State.

He visited Iraq where he had to wear a bullet proof vest, and there was a constant risk of being bombed.

He retired in 2006, but how did he manage to work for so long at such a high level and during such turbulent times?

He says: “There is a risk of being an adrenaline junky.

“On one level you know it’s risky but on another side you can’t do things if you worry about it all the time. It has an addictive side to it.

“You have to externalise the risks. I would never have done it if I had thought too much about the risks. Sometimes afterwards I would think why did I do that?

“I have got a lot of empathy for the military. They have the problem of being able to stay sane when constantly going to hostile environments.

“I never had to do it regularly in hostile areas. I have great admiration for these people.”

While he and Julia are settled in West Cumbria, Sir Brian admits he still gets itchy feet after living in one place for seven years; the longest he has ever been in one location since childhood.

Sir Brian chose to settle on the outskirts of Maryport as he had fond memories of the area when he used to visit his aunt, who he was very close to, as a child,

He now gives talks about his experiences around the country, and he is a trustee of the Cumbria Community Foundation and Keswick School Charity.

To unwind he plays golf at Maryport Golf Club, goes walking, travels and visits his daughter and two grandchildren living in London.