Boris Johnson has revealed the eccentric life of his grandmother , who turned her back on high society to live without electricity or running water and cook in a cow shed . The Mayor of London spoke with pride of his resilient judo-loving gran , who spent years in the depths of Exmoor National Park in Devon . His paternal grandmother Irene , who was also known as Buster , shunned the glamour of London to move to the countryside with her husband to start a simple life . Boris Johnson has revealed the eccentric life of his grandmother Irene ( pictured with her dogs ) , who turned her back on high society to live without electricity or running water and cook in a cow shed . Close family : The Mayor of London spoke with pride of his late grandmother in a foreword for her book . Boris Johnson 's family pictured in the garden of their Exmoor home in 1960 's . From left Johnny , Birdie , Stanley , Buster and Peter with Hilary in the front . Mrs Johnson and her husband Johnny swapped a blissful life of domestic servants and bridge parties for a remote existence at a farm , West Nethercote . Boris , writing a foreword in a book about his grandmother 's life , said Mrs Johnson cooked in cheap pots in a kitchen which used to be a cow shed - but still served him dishes which have stayed with him all his life . She wrote the book before her death in 1987 , but it is only being published now . The Mayor of London wrote : 'She had no collection of fancy saucepans , no Sabatier knives - and yet she produced dishes whose tastes and smells I can remember today , almost half a century later , with Proust-like rapture . ' I am not sure that she was ever really taught to cook . She was born in the Pavillon du Barry at Versailles ; she went to Cheltenham Ladies College ; she read Russian and got half a blue for judo at Oxford . 'No , I do n't think cooking featured much on her early curriculum . It would be fair to say that her kitchen - a converted cow-byre - was not exactly a chef 's paradise . 'When the concrete floor needed cleaning , Granny would get a handful of wet tea leaves , hurl them into the dusty corners , and sweep up the gloop with a broom . ' Mrs Johnson wrote the book before her death in 1987 . It is called Alas Poor Johnny , after her husband Johnny ( pictured ) Johnny - a warm and friendly man - is said to have had a strong influence on Boris ' unique sense of humour . Boris , who is running to become an MP in the upcoming General Election , reveals some of his earliest memories of life on the Exmoor plains with his beloved grandmother , who lived in the West Country until her death . The book , Alas Poor Johnny , is named after Buster 's husband Johnny - a warm and friendly man said to have influenced Boris ' unique sense of humour . A spokesman for publishers Troubador said : 'In 1951 , Buster Johnson moved from Surrey to Exmoor with her husband Johnny , four children , two dogs and a van load of pigs and poultry . 'Alas Poor Johnny , written some 10 years later , is her account of their life there , and of farming on Exmoor in the fifties , told with a strong sense of drama and of the absurd . 'Above all , her life is filled by the animals , taking the place of absent friends in her affections . 'There 's also a small but strong supporting cast , including busybody Mrs Stevens at the next door farm ; Arthur the ex-cowman who moves with them from Surrey ; SRN Tommie , the butt of an aggressive ram - and Alby the rabbit catcher , who plays the mouth organ and thrills the children . ' The first half of the book details Buster 's move from the gentility of the home counties to the wilds of Exmoor . The book details Mrs Johnson 's move from the gentility of the home counties to the wilds of Exmoor ( pictured ) Johnny had become tired of life in his grandson 's beloved capital city and , having served as a Coastal Commander pilot at Braunton in Devon , had fallen in love with the mysterious hills that rise from the North Devon shoreline . Far from their idyllic life in Surrey , Exmoor provided no electricity , no running water and no indoor toilet . In a postscript for the book , Boris ' aunt Birdie , who decided to publish her mother 's book , said : 'As my mother hoped , over the years Nethercote has remained a constant in the lives of her children , grandchildren and great-grandchildren , wherever we are . 'It is a place which , for those who have spent time there , becomes ingrained in our DNA . It may sometimes , as she experienced , be hard to live there ; but it is always hard to leave . ' Alas Poor Johnny is available as both a paperback ( £7.99 ) and as an ebook .
Boris ##sdale 's grandmother returned to the countryside to live a simple life . She lived without water or food and cooked dinner in a cow shed kitchen . Mr Johnson spoke of pride of his resilient gran in foreword for her book . Mayor of joy reveals some of his earliest memories at her Devon home .