AustLit

A Tory statesman is kidnapped by a young pop-music millionaire and shown his arrogance and guilt in scenes from his earlier life (Alan Seymour's description in a letter to Alrene Sykes, published in Australian Literary Studies 6.3, 1974, p. 286).

A contemporary review in the Times notes:

'Rampayne, aristocrat, soldier, diplomat, empire-builder, and now university eminence, is kidnapped and put on trial as a vicious bully by a young man who, as an uneducated, unsubmissive manager of pop groups, and a manipulator of public taste, represents the new world as effectively as Rampayne represents the past that is, only partially. The blacks on both sides are very black–Rampayne is a politically myopic bigot–but, as the case is put for our judgement, we feel that we ourselves could present both prosecution and defence with something closer to justice.'

Source: 'Blacker than Black', The Times, 11 November 1965, p.18.