George MacDonald Fraser (1925-2008) -- Real Brit

[D. Spencer Hines]

An honest, straightforward, unbiased obituary from _The Scotsman_.

DSH

Lux et Veritas et Libertas
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Father of arch-cad, womaniser and all-round bounder Harry Flashman dies,
aged 82

By Craig Brown
The Scotsman

GEORGE MacDonald Fraser, the creator of the much-loved Flashman novels, has
died. He was 82.

Born in Carlisle but proud of his Scots heritage, the best-selling writer
spent more than two decades living north of the Border and served overseas
with the Gordon Highlanders.

Fraser's life and career reflected the wild adventures of his literary
creation.

Fraser imagined Harry Flashman, the bullying schoolboy of 19th-century
classic Tom Brown's Schooldays, grown up to become a soldier in the British
Army.

In the book and 11 sequels, the roguish Flashman was little improved from
his schoolboy days, fighting, drinking and womanising his way across the
British Empire, Europe and the United States.

However, despite his debauchery and caddishness, Flashman invariably found
himself playing a pivotal role in the century's great historical moments and
emerged from each episode covered in glory, rising to the rank of
medal-garlanded brigadier-general.

Each installment purported to come from a faux-biographical trove of
memoirs – The Flashman Papers – discovered in England in the 1960s.

Fraser joined the 9th Border Regiment at the age of 18 and saw action in
India and Burma during the Second World War.

He joked that he achieved the rank of lance-corporal several times, but was
consistently stripped of the rank "for loss of such army essentials as tea
urns".

After leaving the army, Fraser started work as a reporter, returning to
Carlisle as a sports correspondent for his home town's local newspaper.

He later lived in Canada before moving to Scotland where he joined the
Glasgow Herald.

Fraser eventually rose to the position of assistant editor and in 1966
briefly held the post of editor.

However, he soon decided it was a time for a change and turned his hand to
novels.

However, he always credited his Scottish grandmother for getting him
interested in storytelling.

Speaking about Flashman in a 1980 interview, Fraser said: "I thought him
much the most interesting character in Tom Brown's Schooldays, and I suspect
Hughes did too.

"He got rid of him about a third of the way through the book because he was
getting too attracted to him and decided it wouldn't do."

Such was Fraser's love of the character that he even gave Flashman a cameo
in his novel Mr American, in which he appeared as a lecherous old general at
the beginning of the 20th century who disrupted the royal household at
Sandringham by dropping off to sleep in front of the King.

While best known for the Flashman series, Fraser also penned numerous other
novels and screenplays including James Bond movie _Octopussy_ in 1983.

He worked with Hollywood greats ranging from Steve McQueen and Charlton
Heston to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Fraser was awarded the OBE in 1999.

FASHION VICTIM

SOME readers and critics found Flashman's 19th-century racism and sexism
off-putting.

But by the time the final book of the series, Flashman on the March,
appeared in 2005, the critical tide had turned in George MacDonald Fraser's
favour.

In the Observer, reviewer Simon Beckett called the book "bawdy, offensive
and unrepentantly entertaining".

The Sunday Times was similarly approving: "In an age where so much fiction
is mere smoke and mirrors, we might well ask ourselves what is so wrong with
being wholly entertained by the waft of gunsmoke and a singular character's
shameless vanity."

Fraser also had heavyweight literary supporters.

Kingsley Amis called him "a marvellous reporter and a first-rate historical
novelist," and PG Wodehouse was also a fan.

However, his most recent book did not win over critics. The Scotsman's
Alistair Moffat called The Reavers as "literary pantomime".

[Ian Wallace]

On 3 Jan, 19:28, "D. Spencer Hines" <[email protected]> wrote:

An honest, straightforward, unbiased obituary from _The Scotsman....

The Scotsman obituary does not do justice to the range of his work.

"The Steel Bonnets" is a first rate factual account of the historical
business of Border Reiving. Anyone with family roots in the 'Bateable
Lands could do worse that start by reading this book.

"Quartered Safe Out Here" is (in my opinion) one of the finest
personal accounts of an ordinary soldiers experience of war. I first
picked it up casually while browsing in a library and had got to about
page fifty, still standing in the same spot, when I realised the
library was closing!

Ian.

[D. Spencer Hines]

I agree.

DSH

Lux et Veritas et Libertas

"Ian Wallace" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

"The Steel Bonnets" is a first rate factual account of the historical
business of Border Reiving. Anyone with family roots in the 'Bateable
Lands could do worse that start by reading this book.