SIR HARRY FLASHMAN

One of the saddest deaths i heard about this year was that of GEORGE MACDONALD FRAZIER, the man responsible for writing THE FLASHMAN PAPERS who died last junuary aged 81.

The FLASHMAN PAPERS are the collected memoirs of one BRIGADIER-GENERAL SIR HARRY PAGET FLASHMAN, V.C, KCB, KCIE. FLASHMAN had done many things in his life, from from his first public appearance in the book TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS where he turned up as the school bully who is last seen being expelled for being 'riotously' drunk , to the 'PAPERS' which pick up our 'hero' some years later when 'FLASHY' (as he likes to call himself) ends up becoming among other things, a soldier , an occasional diplomat, a liberator of slaves (and a slave dealer!), hero of the Indian mutiny, and a drinker, womaniser, a brigand, a coward and a poltroon (i love that word) as well as rising to become a brigadier-general in the British army. All in all one of Britain's greatest heroes!

FRAZIER started writing the FLASMAN PAPERS some thirty five years ago and had since then produced twelve novels about the exploits of FLASHMAN as he drank, whored, and squirmed his yellow belly around queen Victoria's empire, the fact that FLASHMAN was a lying grovelling coward didn't make much difference because 'SIR HARRY' went on to became the greatest hero of the age.

The FLASHMAN books are a laugh out loud mixture of fact, fable, real events and people all thrown in together in such a way that its hard to tell the truth from the story, the collection of 'memoirs' that span the life of 'SIR HARRY' evoke the Victorian era brilliantly and send up the Victorian age in a way that blows off all the 'stuff and nonsense' and shows the 'uptight' Victorians to be whores and pimps as well as drug fiends, murderers, and almighty hypocrites, and everyone from OTTO VON BISMARK to ABRAHAM LINCOLN and QUEEN VICTORIA (who fancies FLASHMAN) appear in an all too human way. Every one of these books is a laugh a page adventure that has our hero having to beg, whimper, lie, cheat and even shag himself to safety, and more often than not it is our heroes loins that get him into the bother in the first place. These books are not 'carry on' sex romps, in fact the reader ends up waiting for the next sexual encounters because they know that it is going to begin the next adventure (and they are just not dull "he put his throbbing member close to her blah blah blah stories, even if you don't find sex scenes interesting in books and films its easy to read the ones in FLASHMAN books because they are the vehicle which 'drives' the story -as well as being amusing scenes that are not taken any more seriously than any other part of the stories, unlike a lot of other writers who think that no book is complete without a detailed sex scene or ten!).

THE FLASHMAN PAPERS are a brilliant collection of stories that take our hero from one famous global event to another and are so well written that you begin to wonder if the author was actually there when things happened a hundred and fifty years ago, and include the most unlikeable bunch of cut throats, cheating husbands/wives, murderers and robbers that any man would ever like to meet, let alone get mixed up with.

So if you ever plan on buying your self a book to read then please consider one of the FLASHMAN books, the stories are so varied that there is at least one story-line that would appeal to almost everyone, be it the American revolution, British India, the first British/Afghani war, slavery, drugs, sex, murder, 'whodunits', or the Crimea, if it happened during the 1800's then FLASHMAN was there, sobbing with fear in a corner somewhere! or running for his life from an outraged father.

But don't take my word for it, go down to your local library and pick up one of the FLASHMAN books and take yourself to a world where one fifth of the world map was pink and Britain somehow managed to rule the waves.