Strolling along the promenade at Copacabana one could easily believe that the citizens of Rio are the luckiest in the world. But sunshine, music and the beach are the only blessings Rio hands out with fairness. The chance to eat well and die healthy is the privilege of the few and the envy of the many. The poor living on their wits in the favelas, can only trust the voodoo gods to see them through. And if that means sacrificing the odd chicken, so be it Clive James is made welcome by rich and poor alike. While the cariocas live in their own worlds, making contact only when a servant is paid or a millionaire is mugged, the outsider can meet them all.

Chicago is America's best-kept secret. Clive James discovers there's more to it than memories of Al Capone and Mayor Daley. The architecture is unique and the music is sensational. The people are surprisingly forthright about the problems of living in a city where millions of dollars change hands at the board of trade, but little is done to solve the problems of gang violence in the housing projects where shootings are a daily event.

In the 1960s, as a young expatriate Australian writer, Clive James discovered Paris, which was his spiritual home. Twenty-five years ago he sat alone in the Left Bank cafes, wondering how to meet the women of Paris. This time he meets them: the writers, the models and the actresses who were part of a different world in his youth. He also meets the unchanging archenemy of any visitor - the Paris taxi driver.

Clive James set out to discover the truth about Miami. The city is now seen as the vice capital of America, teeming with money, illegal aliens and cocaine. He goes under cover and investigates beneath the surface. During his visit he meets two of Miami's most famous residents, actor Don Johnson and singer Gloria Estefan.

Rome: focal point in the 60s for the world's jet-set. Now James arrives determined to find the dolce vita and acquire some Roman sophistication. He stays on the Via Veneto, seeks advice from a notorious socialite prince and discovers Mussolini's son in an unlikely setting. He learns a dubious lesson or two from a self-styled sexologist and is taught a few more by an aristocrat billed as the wildest woman in town.

In May 1989, James set off to see the city that was once known as the 'Paris of the East' and discovered China on the brink of revolution. As the demonstrating students joined three million cyclists to clog the Shanghai streets, he fought his way through to meet a once wealthy socialite who survived the Cultural Revolution, a baby-washing entrepreneur, the local eel gutter and a jazz band playing Jingle Bells on an empty ferry cruising up the famous Huangpu River. Leaving on one of the last flights before the government clamped down, he brought back this personal view of a city at an exciting and crucial moment in its history.

Los Angeles is a city of big money, big cars and big dreams. Young people from around the world are drawn to it for a shot at the entertainment bigtime, but how do they go about becoming stars? James's exploration of LA takes in the contrasts between the glitz and sleaze apparent in the city and he meets ex-pat Dudley Moore and actress Kirstie Alley in his quest to discover how to become a star.

In the 30 years he's been away both Sydney and Clive James have grown a little. His home town has now become one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world - with towering new skyscrapers competing with the beautiful symbols of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. And there's new good Australian chardonnay to discover, juicy seafood cooked in delicious continental ways, and of course, a hot beach life. Clive's confident he can pick up where he left off - as a surfing hero to rival the very best of Australia's Iron Men. If he can just keep his athletic silhouette in trim!

In 1961 Clive James and his cardboard suitcase arrived in swinging London. Thirty years on he re-assesses the city he knew then and the city he finds now. Out on the town he samples heavy rock night at the Hippodrome nightclub. In contrast he goes to a masked charity ball in the presence of Princess Alexandra and Bubbles Rothermere. Meeting Michael Caine in Mayfair, Victoria Wood in Islington, Peter Cook in Soho and driving with Terence Donovan in his Rolls, he rediscovers what it is about London, his home for 30 years, that makes it such a unique place to live.

In an occasional series that has included reports from Shanghai, Rome, Sydney and Los Angeles, Clive James makes his first trip to the Middle East and finds a city of opposites: liberalism and fundamentalism, opulence and poverty, ancient and modern. James visits the pyramids ("they're exactly as advertised: big, pointed buildings"), tries to buy a camel and talks to Omar Sharif about his love for Cairo's traditions of tolerance and cosmopolitanism.

"I got mugged the last time I was here. The guy only wanted 25 cents for a cup of coffee, but he had very bad breath." says Clive James as he adds New York to his occasional series of city snapshots that has included Shanghai, Sydney and, most recently, Cairo. Haunted by his previous experience, he takes a quick lesson in self-defence from a policewoman before hitting the mean streets of Manhattan. Armed with tips such as "don't go out alone at night", the anxious Aussie globetrotter braves the city's infamous subway system, gets the lowdown on its lowlife as well as being smeared with seaweed, attacked by killer poets and ambushed by the names (among them, Ivana Trump ) who help to give the Big Apple its bite.

Clive James samples life at either end of the social spectrum in Bombay, where he encounters both the country's top film stars and the city's street children.

With only a faulty Trabant car for company, Clive James goes to the reunited capital of Germany and finds a kaleidoscopic city of energy, invention and excitement. He mingles with the weird and wonderful youth of Berlin, keeps a last appointment at the notorious border-crossing Checkpoint Charlie, and eventually finds himself cold-shouldered off the road by former East Berliners in convertibles.

Clive visits Buenos Aires

Clive James sends a Pre-Handover postcard from Hong Kong at a time of change, with only a few hundred days until its lease reverts to China. Includes a ride in a leaky sampan, a night at the races, a game of tennis in the grounds of Government House, an interview with Governor Chris Patten, a meeting with Lord Lichfield on a glamour model shoot, and a visit to plutocrat Kai Bong Chow and his socialite wife Brenda in their `House of Gold'.