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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.