MARTIN PAGE was one of the leading correspondents of the Daily Express when the Beaverbrook foreign service was among the most lavishly funded in Fleet Street. He was head of the Express bureaux in three world capitals — Paris, Moscow and Rome — and he reported wars from Algeria and Congo to Vietnam. Then his declining eyesight was diagnosed as untreatable and, faced with the prospect of the end of his travelling life, he started a new career as an author.

His novel, The Man Who Stole The Mona Lisa, was an instant success and hailed by The Times as one of the best two thrillers of its year. He also wrote The Good Doctors Guide, an assessment of the skills of various consultants that caused considerable controversy in Harley Street and beyond. But soon he became legally blind and moved with his wife and two small sons to live in Portugal.

This country provided the subject of his most important book, The First Global Village, in which he described the influence of Portugal over the centuries. This highly readable work was well-received in Britain and Portugal and this account by an English author of their country made it a bestseller with the Portuguese.

His books were published in 14 languages and included The Company Savage, which became a bestseller in Germany and Japan, and a second novel, The Pilate Plot.

Quando Jonas foi engolido pelo «grande peixe», tentava apenas escapar para o território que é agora Portugal. Foi aqui que Aníbal encontrou os guerreiros, as armas e o ouro que tornaram possível a sua marcha sobre Roma; e Júlio César, a fortuna que lhe permitiu as conquistas da Gália e da Inglaterra. Durante a Alta Idade Média, mais a norte, os governantes árabes integraram Portugal na civilização mais avançada do mundo. Após a conquista de Lisboa, pelos Normandos, o novo Portugal levou Veneza à bancarrota e tornou-se a nação mais rica da Europa.

Antes de ser eleito Papa, com o nome de João XXI, Pedro Hispano, nascido em Lisboa, escreveu um dos primeiros compêndios modernos sobre Medicina que, um século mais tarde, era livro de consulta obrigatória em quase toda a Europa. Os Portugueses levaram as túlipas, o chocolate e os diamantes para a Holanda, introduziram na Inglaterra o hábito do chá das cinco e deram a Bombaim a chave do Império. Ensinaram a África a proteger-se contra a malária e levaram carregamentos de escravos para a América. Introduziram, na Índia, o ensino superior, o caril e as chamuças e, no Japão, a tempura e as armas de fogo.