Barbara's World.

This article presents an excerpt from the book "Here Be Dragons," by Peter Newman, which focuses on the life of journalist Barbara Amiel, and her marriage to Conrad Black. Peter C. Newman, Canada's pre-eminent chronicler of Canada's elite, reveals even more secrets in his autobiography, Here Be Dragons (Douglas Gibson Books, $42.99), to be published on Nov. 13. In the first of two adaptations from the 714-page book, Newman profiles Barbara Amiel, whom he hired when he was Maclean's editor three decades ago, long before she married Conrad Black. While I abhorred her facile dismissal of the small-l liberalism that was my own ideological bent, I admired the nerve of her contrarian views and her penchant for ad hominem attacks. That was my first revelation about Ms. Amiel: she had not much of a sense of humour--and none about herself. With his first wife, Conrad had lived in a relatively modest house in outlying Highgate, but when Barbara swept into his life, the newlyweds moved into London's most prestigious area, purchasing a mansion near Kensington Palace, the royal residence of British sovereigns until 1760 and the home of Diana, Princess of Wales.