The notion of hate speech is a contrivance by those who would silence the people. There is no reason you shouldn’t be able to share a “racist” joke with a person of that race for a laugh and expect the same in return. The N word could be made powerless by it’s over use, just as it has been in the black community.
I bought “Flashman” as a young Special Forces US Army sergeant, in the Flint Kaserne base PX in 1970. I still have it and all the following books of the series. Your article is fantastic and inspires me to reread them. My favorite line of he first book follows shortly after the assessment of his commander Elphy Bay shooting himself in the “arse.” “No doubt in an attempt to blow his brains out. He can’t have missed by much.”
“BUT I STILL STATE UNHESITATINGLY, THAT FOR PURE, VACILLATING STUPIDITY, FOR SUPERB INCOMPETENCE TO COMMAND, FOR IGNORANCE COMBINED WITH BAD JUDGMENT — IN SHORT, FOR THE TRUE TALENT FOR CATASTROPHE — ELPHY BEY STOOD ALONE. OTHERS ABIDE OUR QUESTION, BUT ELPHY OUTSHINES THEM ALL AS THE GREATEST MILITARY IDIOT OF OUR OWN OR ANY OTHER DAY.
“WE SHALL NOT, WITH LUCK, LOOK UPON HIS LIKE AGAIN.”
But, alas!
Andrew Dixon
1 year ago
GMF wasn’t “commissioned as an officer in the Indian army”. He was commissioned in the Gordon Highlanders. He was in India when this happened, having undergone officer training there, but that is not the same thing. This does not detract from the point that he knew the Raj in its dying days but as a newspaper man of the old school I think he would want the details of the story to be correct.
GMF fought as a Private Soldier in the Burma Campaign, serving in the Border Regiment.
Surely you have read his excellent account of this in “Quartered Safe Out Here”?
Yes, I have and it is fantastic. When serving in the Border Regiment (which at the time was part of the 20th Indian Infantry Division) he passed officer selection, sent for training in India, commissioned, and then joined his regiment in Palestine. None of which constitutes being commissioned in the Indian Army. I know I am being autistically male about this but these days it really isn’t that difficult to check facts like this so I find it annoying. From reading the McAuslan stories as well (also great) I am pretty sure that GMF had enough regimental pride that he would want his service with both regiments to be referenced rather than the inaccurate one in the article. Flashy, who glories in having no regimental pride, probably wouldn’t have minded much. Also, it is “Indian Army” not “Indian army”…I know, I know, this way lies madness…
Did you every hear him speak?
The BBC habitually wheeled him out on the anniversary of Hiroshima, to add spice to their rant about the iniquities the US Airforce etc.
GMF, as you would expect, always gave a most eloquent, forthright defence!
Yes, I remember him saying “I am an Imperialist. I believe the British Empire was the best thing that happened to an undeserving world” at the Bath Literary Festival. You could feel the audience dividing between “damned sound” an “my God, that is appalling” camps. Which I found pretty funny TBH.
Possibly the author was unaware of the difference between the Indian Army and the British Army in India. At one time most people would understand, but it’s one of those things that drops out of public consciousness over the decades. Unless you’re a Raj buff, it’s easy to get them mixed up.
I think this is probably right. I probably also have unrealistic expectations of the attention to detail that the average professional writer strives for these days. I just find it irritating that as facts become easier to check then writers seem less and less inclined to do so.
And I find it irritating that you insist on so demonstratively parading your pedantry without any acknowledgement of the insights of an article about such an unusual topic.
But hey you got your upvotes and some moments in the sun.
FM’s was a perfectly reasonable observation. Unlike yours, you grumpy so-and-so.
polidori redux
1 year ago
The joke running through the novels was that Flash was a cad who was constantly mistaken for a hero. I suppose that we are meant to see him as a representation of the whole imperial adventure – caddishness in the guise of selfless virtue, (though I am not sure that really), but you could enjoy them without reading anything into them. The sign of a good novel.
For those who don’t know him, Rick Mayall gave some bravura performances as a deranged Lord Flasheart,
I wonder why it is becoming common to refer to the Malayan emergency as ‘brutal’ (as in this article), unless it just means that all armed conflicts are brutal.
Yes quite extraordinary! Next they will be describing Operation Banner ( Northern Ireland 1969-97), perhaps the most benign campaign in recent history as ‘brutal’.
It has become the policy of the media, and especially the BBC, to use such descriptive adjectives so as to indoctrinate the casual listener into thinking of the British Empire as consistently bad. As those who remember it die off, there are fewer and fewer people to object.
Well, I object. I was there as a child, because my father was a soldier stationed there at the height of the Emergency. My mother drove us around without fear, and the only guns I saw were held by the Malay soldiers at the occasional checkpoints, where they politely searched our car for food, or at the army camp 10 miles from where we lived in Kuala Lumpur, where we occasionally saw soldiers setting off into the jungle to set an ambush, or on patrol, hoping to avoid one.
We used to swop comics with the soldiers, many of whom were doing national service.
They seldom fired their weapons, and had to account for each missing round in a report on their return. They suffered a small number of casualties, and inflicted a similar number.
There was brutality, in that the ‘bandits’ were prepared to murder, say, Tamil tappers, but nowadays, even that seems restrained in comparison to the brutality so common in so many parts of the world today, including Ukraine.
The Communist were brutal, torturing people to death in front of the plantation workers.
Britain was fortunate that we had enough ex WW2 Chindits, Commandos and Special Forces to train the NS soldiers and form the SNO and ranks above Captain. By 1945, the Empire had the best jungle fighters in the world. Ex WW2 officers who had returned to civilian life, many working in the Far East, were called back to the colours in 1948. In particular, the standard of the Police Special Branch was very high, most were army officer quality and were put through Commando Close Quarter Combat training. In adition they had to learn languages, Malay, Cantonese and Tamil.It would be interesting to compare the standards of the Malay Special Branch by the late 1950s and todays Met Police.
Good people sleep peacably abed because rough men stand ready to do violence- Orwell.
Charles Hedges
1 year ago
Would George MacDonald have been good enough fro a commission in the Indian Army, say Skinner’s Horse or Gurkha regiment?
What MacDonald shows is Wellington’s dictum ” The Battle of Waterloo was won the playing fields of Eton”. What he means it is the initiative, ingenuity and toughness of the junior officer who can think and act for themslves and correct the mistakes of those in charge. If one readPeter Hopkirk’s ” Great Game “one will discover countless records of the courage and skill with which junior officers explored India and central Asia.
To be an officer in the Indian Army one had to be in the top 20% of Sandhurst from 1919 onwards. One had to learn the languages and customs of the regiment, I think four were normally required. The officer was put on probation and the final decision was made by the Subedar Major, after consultation with the men. The SM could over ride the COs decision on whether a British officer was suitable or not.
The Indian Army recruited from the military casts and it was seen as an honourable occupation. In two world wars the Indian was the largest volunteer army in the world. Britain commissioned Indians as early as 1916 into the British Army and there were Indian officers in the Indian Army in the 19th century. By 1947 there were Indians who were Brigadiers such as Ayub Khan.
Proof of the courage of those who served in the Indian Army were the large number of Indian Orders of Merit ( first class was equivalent to the VC) and VCs and other awards for bravery. A good insight into the fighting bility of the Empire is described in Forgotten Voices of Burma by Maj Gen Julian Thompson RM.
People do not follow incompetent bullying cowardly officers who despise their religions to their deaths or accomplish acts of bravery worthy of the VC or GC.
A comment by Havildar Umrao Singh VC
” When I went to London to recieve my VC , I hd a wonderful moustache in those days. And a lot of women came up and kissed me on my moustache “.
My grandfather was in the Indian Police, and before he was allowed to join (1890), had to learn three languages. There was an established system involving a number of munshis, who taught the pupil intensively, one to one. He later learnt the language of a Chin people and wrote a grammar for it.
I’ve heard a lot about the Afghan wars, and a lot of it is written in ignorance, too lengthy and complicated even to touch on, but I have often been led to compare the extensive use of interpreters in recent times with the time when we administered a large empire. Although some postings used English or didn’t need to know much about the cultures, e.g. the British Army, or senior judges, the Indian Army insisted on such knowledge.
The average modern British person is ignorant about the Indian Army of those days, but much of its justified pride and skill has continued unbroken to today, although there were many sad disbandings or divisions on partition.
The entry standards to the Indian Police were more or less the same as the Indian Army. The book “The Great Game” describes how British Officer went in disguise through India and central Asia. Richard Burton the ICS officer knew at least 12 languages and used to hire a shop in the bazaar and sit there in disguise as an Indian picking up gossip.
My Father played cricket in Pakistan in the 1960s and the captain was a Pakistani general who complined about the decline in the standards in the British Army compared to days when he was in it. The general said the Pakistani Army maintained those traditional standards.
Martin Bollis
1 year ago
Is there also something in the British character that quite likes the panache of the unashamed cad?
No current PMs coming to mind
Tony Taylor
1 year ago
I know he was an obvious actor to play the role, given that his star was then in the ascendant, but I have never been able to see Malcolm McDowell as Flashy. The guy who played Flashman in the 1970s TV version of TBS’s was much more my idea of the role. What’s more, my enjoyment of the books was watered down by my mind’s eye picturing McDowell romping on screen. I wish I’d read all the books before I’d seen the film. Tell you what, tho, the time is right for a reboot.
PS: Fraser’s book on Hollywood and history is well worth a trip to Booko.
You and me the same, and given that another Flashy wasn’t made, then presumably a widely held opinion (By contrast, the narrator of the audio books is superb). I’m curious though, what did GMF think, indeed, did GMF even possibly suggest McDowell, it’s not as if GMF wasn’t still around or had experience of Hollywood ?
I think Oliver Reed would have made a wonderful cinematic Flashman. (Colin Mace gets the exact arrogant drawl in his audiobooks, but secondary characters have been criticised)
You’re absolutely correct, MM didn’t have the right physiognomy for Flashman, although perfect for ‘Clockwork Orange’, ‘IF’ and ‘O Lucky Man’, and passable in ‘Caligula’.
I thought the late John Forrest made a pretty good job of it in the 1951 film. Who can forget that splendid line of his when addressing the virtuous little Tom Brown: “ You inky little horror”?
GMF was far from happy with the film version of Royal Flash. McDowell was simply not physically imposing enough to play Flashman. A young Charles Dance – with a big moustache and dyed black hair – would be more the type. The young Terry Stamp could have been a good choice.
Colin Elliott
1 year ago
Coincidentally, I’ve just finished an historical work by Fraser, and am about to read the last Flashman novel unread by me.
I think this article erects a facade on the flimsy foundations.of one author’s work. I read them to enjoy them, and that is the reason he wrote them, I’m sure. His gimmick was to use an anti-hero, in contrast to all other adventure stories, and the inspiration was Thomas Hughes’ villain. It’s surely tongue-in-cheek.
They were good not only because they were entertaining, but because they had substance, namely a degree of authenticity.
One shouldn’t stretch this to imply that most colonial servants were as selfish and greedy as Flashman, because they weren’t.
I know this because I have a number of family members who gave unselfish service in conditions which were unacceptable to many others at the time, and difficult to imagine now. They were doctors, engineers, soldiers, a policeman, and I’ll bet they served their publics as selflessly, conscientiously and competently as any modern critic.
They were often days, weeks, months of travel away from family or comfortable living conditions, including familiar foods, medical care, and things such as books, newspapers, concerts and theatre.
They were very seldom in physical danger. Indeed, peace existed most of the time, and that is one of the things they sought to establish or maintain. Of course law relies on force as a last resort, but it was seldom used, especially British forces, which were absent in most places.
Last edited 1 year ago by Colin Elliott
Adam Young
1 year ago
My reading gleamed from the Flashman novels is not a derision of virtues in themselves, but a derision of hypocrisy. Many characters throughout Fraser’s novels are potrayed as heroic, despite Harry’s usual backstabbing. If this was nihilistic satire, then all characters would be as bad as Harry is, but that is simply not the case. There would be no bite to Harry because the values would be worthless.
It is like Flannery O’Connor being described as nihilstic and cruel to her characters when that is missing the full picture. They are flawed but redeemable, and occasionally full of wisdom. If you want what O’Connor’s critics wrongly thought of her, then read Nathanael West who saw nothing in his characters and the values they had.
One must have a vision of the whole man, good or bad, and Fraser’s novels do.
Bill W
1 year ago
Thank you for this trip down memory lane.
I was around 13 when I bought my first Flashman novel way back in the 70s and I went on to enjoy and read most of them before tiring of them a bit (My older brother, whom I introduced to the series, waded through the whole lot of them). I also read the Macauslan books at the same time and found them hilarious. Thirty odd years or more later I read Quartered Safe Out Here which was brilliant. Perhaps it is time to revisit the Flashman series.
John Murray
1 year ago
Books I have read and re-read with great pleasure. The only one I remember being a bit iffy on was Flashman and The Tiger, which was a collection of short stories I think GMF had lying around that weren’t quite up to the quality of the rest. Sad there will be no more, but glad the series ended on a high with Flashman On The March, which was also rather pointedly anti-stupid imperial expeditions at the time the Iraq War was at its height.
Allison Barrows
1 year ago
I’m currently re-reading the entire Flashman series and they’re even better the second time around. I wonder why this fun article is accompanied by the photo of Malcolm McDowell, so woefully miscast in Richard Lester’s uncharacteristically terrible film adaptation. Some guy on YouTube is floating the idea of Robert Downey Jr. as the next Flashy. So, I guess it could be worse. Best to just stick with the books.
Kerie Receveur
1 year ago
It’s not just men who read and enjoy GMF’s many works, both fiction and non-fiction. This columnist is daft if he thinks it.
True. He was surprisingly popular among female undergraduate friends in the late 80s/ early 90s. I think they identified with Elspeth.
ARNAUD ALMARIC
1 year ago
I wonder what Flashman and GMF would have had to to say about the MCC banning the Eton v Harrow Match from Lords as of 2023?
Played at Lord’s* since 1805 ( Trafalgar Year), with Lord Byron, perhaps Flashman’s muse, in the field for Harrow, how could such a sacrilege have been committed?
Did MCC members really vote for this? If so they need to read all GMF’s works with immediate effect, and “pull themselves together”.
(* Originally at the ‘Old Ground’, now Dorset Square.)
No, they didn’t: as always, it was the doing of a woke management committee. What’s far more disturbing, though, is the fact that OUCC and CUCC then publicly licked the MCC’s boots with gratitude for banning them!
0 0
1 year ago
Not to spoil the mood but if you had seen (as I did) the elegant sincerity with which Princess Diana laid wreaths to the Commonwealth dead in Japan, Egypt, Pakistan and other distant war cemeteries you might temper your disdain. Flashy would certainly have found much to admire about Her late Royal Highness!
RJ Kent
1 year ago
Great article thank you, much appreciated by a second-time reader of the Flashman series, once at school and again more recently. All the helpful comments have inspired me to make a further reading list
J. Hale
1 year ago
Flashman! Wow do those books take me back to my youth. How bizzare that the U.S. followed Britain in fighting endless wars in Southeast Asia, Mesopotamia, and Afghanistan.
Christopher Chantrill
1 year ago
It’s interesting to me to wonder when the notion of “empire” became scandalous.
In The British Conquest and Domination of India some Brit in India in 1820 says “you know, I don’t think these chaps like us.”
But when did any real ruler down the ages worry about that? Stalin certainly didn’t.
Jonathan Story
1 year ago
So Flashman was not written tongue in cheek? If you want another peak at the Raj, try David Gilmour, The Ruling Caste, Kartar Lafjani, The Making of India.
adrian welsh
1 year ago
I came to this article after a mention of it on The Rest is History podcast. In my opinion, it is a solid article. Flashman provides a superb doorway to exploring British history at its best and worst. Flashman is both vile and brilliant, and I cannot help thinking, after 30 years of (re)reading, that if more British people read these books, they would have a better understanding of why we (the British) are often reviled, but also why our (the British) contribution to the history of the past 150 years has some relevance. It is totally fascinating, and Flashy brings it to life.
adrian welsh
1 year ago
I came to this article after a mention of it on The Rest is History podcast. In my opinion, it is a solid article. Flashman provides a superb doorway to exploring British history at its best and worst. Flashman is both vile and brilliant, and I cannot help thinking, after 30 years of (re)reading, that if more British people read these books, they would have a better understanding of why we (the British) are often reviled, but also why our (the British) contribution to the history of the past 150 years has some relevance. It is totally fascinating, and Flashy brings it to life.
That’s beautiful. I’d love to spend my holidays in the England of 1898….
Dustshoe Richinrut
1 year ago
Well, the Russians had to get out of Afghanistan recently, too. An old-style retreat by land. And the young lads are back in the Crimea, doing what they are told to do. Have the Flashman novels ever been translated into Russian?
I think Britain’s awkward, or embarrassing, colonial reckoning, of yesteryear, has been given a revamp: it’s now overdue, this reckoning. And it’s complex!
But there’s no up-to-date anti-hero around, with raised eyebrow, to ease the blushes of the still-fighting Tory types in this new and urgent climate. Just the interminably boring badminton scenes on TV. Like the sail to the war in the Crimea in the 1850s, Britain has a long way to go. Yet. Britain needs to unburden its stiff upper lip and have a good cry. And then it may entertain itself. Will we look forward to that, I wonder?
“Britain needs to unburden its stiff upper lip and have a good cry.”
Surely not? We did that during the Dianna Affair, much to the glee of the rest of the World and it availed us nothing.
‘Blubbing’ is for ‘lesser breeds’ as Kipling so prosaically called them.
GMF said of the reaction to Diana’s death that it made him feel “ashamed”. The stiff upper lip of the wartime generation (displayed by those of many races, not least the Indian Army) may seem absurd to some but they would do well to remember that they are only at liberty to hold their asinine opinions because of the sacrifices of that generation. Personally, I think we should seek to emulate them. And remember to be grateful.
Couldn’t agree more! Do you recall that primeval shriek as the gun carriage left Kensington Palace?
Or all the teddy bears littering the M1 for days afterwards?
It took Imperial Rome centuries to (arguably) collapse because of decadence. We seem to have got there in a few decades.
I recall the Diana Affair as a remarkably dry eyed affair. Three days after her demise, my colleagues and I were laughing our heads off in the pub at a feeble Diana joke. After three days of concentrated media hysteria and hypocrisy, we were ready to laugh at anything.
Admittedly, the pub was in Rochdale, where some people tended to wonder what the Royal Family had ever done for the North of England. And at least a few of the hard nosed bunch at Woolworths were ready to note the loss of business on her funeral day.
At the time I regularly posted on a chat site of football fans, not usually blubbers. I ventured an opinion that the Diana thing was overdone and got thoroughly flamed.
It was the first time I experienced a disconnect between my (1950’s) value system and the new one emerging.
It was the media that never got over Diana’s death. She will continue to pop up every so often, to satisfy their longings. I predicted to friends not long after the funeral that we’d never hear the end of her (as we still do via her sons).
Christopher Hitchens’ little film on the funeral and surrounding events is by turns hilarious and grotesque (‘The Mourning After’ available on a well-known video site).
Same here. I was working offshore at the time, saw the announcement on Sky News and went to the mess, where the guy sitting across from said “MI5” and we all smiled. Little did I realise..
Not to spoil the mood but if you had seen (as I did) the elegant sincerity with which Princess Diana laid wreaths to the Commonwealth dead in Japan, Egypt, Pakistan and other distant war cemeteries you might temper your disdain. Flashy would certainly have found much to admire about Her late Royal Highness!
I think you may have misconstrued what ‘we’ have said on this subject. It is not PD that is being criticised, but rather the appalling overreaction to her death by both the Media and the Public. GMF was not the only to feel ashamed.
As to your second point I certainly agree that Flashy would have found “ much to admire” in PD, but we better not go into details, lest we incur the Censor’s wrath.
Well, you Brits thought you appeased your guilt with that Live Aid/We Are the World claptrap. Don’t feel too bad about the setting sun. You still have St. Helena, The Falklands & Pitcairn. Cheerio!
And we burnt the White House, the House of Representatives and many of other Public Buildings in Washington DC, on the the night of the 24th August, 1814.
Previously that day, the American Army had fled in disgraceful panic at the Battle of Bladensburg, or the “Bladensburg Races” as we call it for obvious reasons. Best of British to you!
And the British Indian Ocean Territory, where your Indian Ocean fleet is currently allowed to moor itself. Your empire – largely stolen from the Spanish and Mexicans – will go the same way. Maybe sooner than you think.
And you cannot ‘appease’ guilt, you pitiful semi-literate. The word you’re looking for is expiate.
“many of his observations, commonplace then, would now be considered hate speech”
And yet none of them seemed hateful.
Probably because they weren’t.
We have to stop dignifying phrases such as “hate speech”. F. Fs. What does it even mean?
An expression you disagree with in order to impress others like yourself.
The notion of hate speech is a contrivance by those who would silence the people. There is no reason you shouldn’t be able to share a “racist” joke with a person of that race for a laugh and expect the same in return. The N word could be made powerless by it’s over use, just as it has been in the black community.
I bought “Flashman” as a young Special Forces US Army sergeant, in the Flint Kaserne base PX in 1970. I still have it and all the following books of the series. Your article is fantastic and inspires me to reread them. My favorite line of he first book follows shortly after the assessment of his commander Elphy Bay shooting himself in the “arse.” “No doubt in an attempt to blow his brains out. He can’t have missed by much.”
“BUT I STILL STATE UNHESITATINGLY, THAT FOR PURE, VACILLATING STUPIDITY, FOR SUPERB INCOMPETENCE TO COMMAND, FOR IGNORANCE COMBINED WITH BAD JUDGMENT — IN SHORT, FOR THE TRUE TALENT FOR CATASTROPHE — ELPHY BEY STOOD ALONE. OTHERS ABIDE OUR QUESTION, BUT ELPHY OUTSHINES THEM ALL AS THE GREATEST MILITARY IDIOT OF OUR OWN OR ANY OTHER DAY.
“WE SHALL NOT, WITH LUCK, LOOK UPON HIS LIKE AGAIN.”
But, alas!
GMF wasn’t “commissioned as an officer in the Indian army”. He was commissioned in the Gordon Highlanders. He was in India when this happened, having undergone officer training there, but that is not the same thing. This does not detract from the point that he knew the Raj in its dying days but as a newspaper man of the old school I think he would want the details of the story to be correct.
GMF fought as a Private Soldier in the Burma Campaign, serving in the Border Regiment.
Surely you have read his excellent account of this in “Quartered Safe Out Here”?
Yes, I have and it is fantastic. When serving in the Border Regiment (which at the time was part of the 20th Indian Infantry Division) he passed officer selection, sent for training in India, commissioned, and then joined his regiment in Palestine. None of which constitutes being commissioned in the Indian Army. I know I am being autistically male about this but these days it really isn’t that difficult to check facts like this so I find it annoying. From reading the McAuslan stories as well (also great) I am pretty sure that GMF had enough regimental pride that he would want his service with both regiments to be referenced rather than the inaccurate one in the article. Flashy, who glories in having no regimental pride, probably wouldn’t have minded much. Also, it is “Indian Army” not “Indian army”…I know, I know, this way lies madness…
I couldn’t agree more, thank you.
Did you every hear him speak?
The BBC habitually wheeled him out on the anniversary of Hiroshima, to add spice to their rant about the iniquities the US Airforce etc.
GMF, as you would expect, always gave a most eloquent, forthright defence!
Yes, I remember him saying “I am an Imperialist. I believe the British Empire was the best thing that happened to an undeserving world” at the Bath Literary Festival. You could feel the audience dividing between “damned sound” an “my God, that is appalling” camps. Which I found pretty funny TBH.
Those were the days!
Have you heard GMF reading “Quartered Safe Out Here” himself? Well worth it.
Possibly the author was unaware of the difference between the Indian Army and the British Army in India. At one time most people would understand, but it’s one of those things that drops out of public consciousness over the decades. Unless you’re a Raj buff, it’s easy to get them mixed up.
I think this is probably right. I probably also have unrealistic expectations of the attention to detail that the average professional writer strives for these days. I just find it irritating that as facts become easier to check then writers seem less and less inclined to do so.
And I find it irritating that you insist on so demonstratively parading your pedantry without any acknowledgement of the insights of an article about such an unusual topic.
But hey you got your upvotes and some moments in the sun.
FM’s was a perfectly reasonable observation. Unlike yours, you grumpy so-and-so.
The joke running through the novels was that Flash was a cad who was constantly mistaken for a hero. I suppose that we are meant to see him as a representation of the whole imperial adventure – caddishness in the guise of selfless virtue, (though I am not sure that really), but you could enjoy them without reading anything into them. The sign of a good novel.
For those who don’t know him, Rick Mayall gave some bravura performances as a deranged Lord Flasheart,
A shout-out to the history as well. I learned a lot from the story and footnotes!
Agreed
Ahhhh HA ha ha ha ha!
I wonder why it is becoming common to refer to the Malayan emergency as ‘brutal’ (as in this article), unless it just means that all armed conflicts are brutal.
Yes quite extraordinary! Next they will be describing Operation Banner ( Northern Ireland 1969-97), perhaps the most benign campaign in recent history as ‘brutal’.
It has become the policy of the media, and especially the BBC, to use such descriptive adjectives so as to indoctrinate the casual listener into thinking of the British Empire as consistently bad. As those who remember it die off, there are fewer and fewer people to object.
Well, I object. I was there as a child, because my father was a soldier stationed there at the height of the Emergency. My mother drove us around without fear, and the only guns I saw were held by the Malay soldiers at the occasional checkpoints, where they politely searched our car for food, or at the army camp 10 miles from where we lived in Kuala Lumpur, where we occasionally saw soldiers setting off into the jungle to set an ambush, or on patrol, hoping to avoid one.
We used to swop comics with the soldiers, many of whom were doing national service.
They seldom fired their weapons, and had to account for each missing round in a report on their return. They suffered a small number of casualties, and inflicted a similar number.
There was brutality, in that the ‘bandits’ were prepared to murder, say, Tamil tappers, but nowadays, even that seems restrained in comparison to the brutality so common in so many parts of the world today, including Ukraine.
Most violence these days is apparently “mostly peaceful”
The Communist were brutal, torturing people to death in front of the plantation workers.
Britain was fortunate that we had enough ex WW2 Chindits, Commandos and Special Forces to train the NS soldiers and form the SNO and ranks above Captain. By 1945, the Empire had the best jungle fighters in the world. Ex WW2 officers who had returned to civilian life, many working in the Far East, were called back to the colours in 1948. In particular, the standard of the Police Special Branch was very high, most were army officer quality and were put through Commando Close Quarter Combat training. In adition they had to learn languages, Malay, Cantonese and Tamil.It would be interesting to compare the standards of the Malay Special Branch by the late 1950s and todays Met Police.
Good people sleep peacably abed because rough men stand ready to do violence- Orwell.
Would George MacDonald have been good enough fro a commission in the Indian Army, say Skinner’s Horse or Gurkha regiment?
What MacDonald shows is Wellington’s dictum ” The Battle of Waterloo was won the playing fields of Eton”. What he means it is the initiative, ingenuity and toughness of the junior officer who can think and act for themslves and correct the mistakes of those in charge. If one readPeter Hopkirk’s ” Great Game “one will discover countless records of the courage and skill with which junior officers explored India and central Asia.
To be an officer in the Indian Army one had to be in the top 20% of Sandhurst from 1919 onwards. One had to learn the languages and customs of the regiment, I think four were normally required. The officer was put on probation and the final decision was made by the Subedar Major, after consultation with the men. The SM could over ride the COs decision on whether a British officer was suitable or not.
The Indian Army recruited from the military casts and it was seen as an honourable occupation. In two world wars the Indian was the largest volunteer army in the world. Britain commissioned Indians as early as 1916 into the British Army and there were Indian officers in the Indian Army in the 19th century. By 1947 there were Indians who were Brigadiers such as Ayub Khan.
Proof of the courage of those who served in the Indian Army were the large number of Indian Orders of Merit ( first class was equivalent to the VC) and VCs and other awards for bravery. A good insight into the fighting bility of the Empire is described in Forgotten Voices of Burma by Maj Gen Julian Thompson RM.
People do not follow incompetent bullying cowardly officers who despise their religions to their deaths or accomplish acts of bravery worthy of the VC or GC.
A comment by Havildar Umrao Singh VC
” When I went to London to recieve my VC , I hd a wonderful moustache in those days. And a lot of women came up and kissed me on my moustache “.
My grandfather was in the Indian Police, and before he was allowed to join (1890), had to learn three languages. There was an established system involving a number of munshis, who taught the pupil intensively, one to one. He later learnt the language of a Chin people and wrote a grammar for it.
I’ve heard a lot about the Afghan wars, and a lot of it is written in ignorance, too lengthy and complicated even to touch on, but I have often been led to compare the extensive use of interpreters in recent times with the time when we administered a large empire. Although some postings used English or didn’t need to know much about the cultures, e.g. the British Army, or senior judges, the Indian Army insisted on such knowledge.
The average modern British person is ignorant about the Indian Army of those days, but much of its justified pride and skill has continued unbroken to today, although there were many sad disbandings or divisions on partition.
The entry standards to the Indian Police were more or less the same as the Indian Army. The book “The Great Game” describes how British Officer went in disguise through India and central Asia. Richard Burton the ICS officer knew at least 12 languages and used to hire a shop in the bazaar and sit there in disguise as an Indian picking up gossip.
My Father played cricket in Pakistan in the 1960s and the captain was a Pakistani general who complined about the decline in the standards in the British Army compared to days when he was in it. The general said the Pakistani Army maintained those traditional standards.
Is there also something in the British character that quite likes the panache of the unashamed cad?
No current PMs coming to mind
I know he was an obvious actor to play the role, given that his star was then in the ascendant, but I have never been able to see Malcolm McDowell as Flashy. The guy who played Flashman in the 1970s TV version of TBS’s was much more my idea of the role. What’s more, my enjoyment of the books was watered down by my mind’s eye picturing McDowell romping on screen. I wish I’d read all the books before I’d seen the film. Tell you what, tho, the time is right for a reboot.
PS: Fraser’s book on Hollywood and history is well worth a trip to Booko.
You and me the same, and given that another Flashy wasn’t made, then presumably a widely held opinion (By contrast, the narrator of the audio books is superb). I’m curious though, what did GMF think, indeed, did GMF even possibly suggest McDowell, it’s not as if GMF wasn’t still around or had experience of Hollywood ?
I think Oliver Reed would have made a wonderful cinematic Flashman. (Colin Mace gets the exact arrogant drawl in his audiobooks, but secondary characters have been criticised)
Timothy West is a far better narrator of the Flashman Papers than Mr Mace.
You’re absolutely correct, MM didn’t have the right physiognomy for Flashman, although perfect for ‘Clockwork Orange’, ‘IF’ and ‘O Lucky Man’, and passable in ‘Caligula’.
I always imagine Flashman as looking like Tom Selleck and sounding like Terry-Thomas.
I thought the late John Forrest made a pretty good job of it in the 1951 film. Who can forget that splendid line of his when addressing the virtuous little Tom Brown: “ You inky little horror”?
Not bad! I always pictured Flash as Addison Dewitt in regimental uniform.
GMF was far from happy with the film version of Royal Flash. McDowell was simply not physically imposing enough to play Flashman. A young Charles Dance – with a big moustache and dyed black hair – would be more the type. The young Terry Stamp could have been a good choice.
Coincidentally, I’ve just finished an historical work by Fraser, and am about to read the last Flashman novel unread by me.
I think this article erects a facade on the flimsy foundations.of one author’s work. I read them to enjoy them, and that is the reason he wrote them, I’m sure. His gimmick was to use an anti-hero, in contrast to all other adventure stories, and the inspiration was Thomas Hughes’ villain. It’s surely tongue-in-cheek.
They were good not only because they were entertaining, but because they had substance, namely a degree of authenticity.
One shouldn’t stretch this to imply that most colonial servants were as selfish and greedy as Flashman, because they weren’t.
I know this because I have a number of family members who gave unselfish service in conditions which were unacceptable to many others at the time, and difficult to imagine now. They were doctors, engineers, soldiers, a policeman, and I’ll bet they served their publics as selflessly, conscientiously and competently as any modern critic.
They were often days, weeks, months of travel away from family or comfortable living conditions, including familiar foods, medical care, and things such as books, newspapers, concerts and theatre.
They were very seldom in physical danger. Indeed, peace existed most of the time, and that is one of the things they sought to establish or maintain. Of course law relies on force as a last resort, but it was seldom used, especially British forces, which were absent in most places.
My reading gleamed from the Flashman novels is not a derision of virtues in themselves, but a derision of hypocrisy. Many characters throughout Fraser’s novels are potrayed as heroic, despite Harry’s usual backstabbing. If this was nihilistic satire, then all characters would be as bad as Harry is, but that is simply not the case. There would be no bite to Harry because the values would be worthless.
It is like Flannery O’Connor being described as nihilstic and cruel to her characters when that is missing the full picture. They are flawed but redeemable, and occasionally full of wisdom. If you want what O’Connor’s critics wrongly thought of her, then read Nathanael West who saw nothing in his characters and the values they had.
One must have a vision of the whole man, good or bad, and Fraser’s novels do.
Thank you for this trip down memory lane.
I was around 13 when I bought my first Flashman novel way back in the 70s and I went on to enjoy and read most of them before tiring of them a bit (My older brother, whom I introduced to the series, waded through the whole lot of them). I also read the Macauslan books at the same time and found them hilarious. Thirty odd years or more later I read Quartered Safe Out Here which was brilliant. Perhaps it is time to revisit the Flashman series.
Books I have read and re-read with great pleasure. The only one I remember being a bit iffy on was Flashman and The Tiger, which was a collection of short stories I think GMF had lying around that weren’t quite up to the quality of the rest. Sad there will be no more, but glad the series ended on a high with Flashman On The March, which was also rather pointedly anti-stupid imperial expeditions at the time the Iraq War was at its height.
I’m currently re-reading the entire Flashman series and they’re even better the second time around. I wonder why this fun article is accompanied by the photo of Malcolm McDowell, so woefully miscast in Richard Lester’s uncharacteristically terrible film adaptation. Some guy on YouTube is floating the idea of Robert Downey Jr. as the next Flashy. So, I guess it could be worse. Best to just stick with the books.
It’s not just men who read and enjoy GMF’s many works, both fiction and non-fiction. This columnist is daft if he thinks it.
True. He was surprisingly popular among female undergraduate friends in the late 80s/ early 90s. I think they identified with Elspeth.
I wonder what Flashman and GMF would have had to to say about the MCC banning the Eton v Harrow Match from Lords as of 2023?
Played at Lord’s* since 1805 ( Trafalgar Year), with Lord Byron, perhaps Flashman’s muse, in the field for Harrow, how could such a sacrilege have been committed?
Did MCC members really vote for this? If so they need to read all GMF’s works with immediate effect, and “pull themselves together”.
(* Originally at the ‘Old Ground’, now Dorset Square.)
No, they didn’t: as always, it was the doing of a woke management committee. What’s far more disturbing, though, is the fact that OUCC and CUCC then publicly licked the MCC’s boots with gratitude for banning them!
Not to spoil the mood but if you had seen (as I did) the elegant sincerity with which Princess Diana laid wreaths to the Commonwealth dead in Japan, Egypt, Pakistan and other distant war cemeteries you might temper your disdain. Flashy would certainly have found much to admire about Her late Royal Highness!
Great article thank you, much appreciated by a second-time reader of the Flashman series, once at school and again more recently. All the helpful comments have inspired me to make a further reading list
Flashman! Wow do those books take me back to my youth. How bizzare that the U.S. followed Britain in fighting endless wars in Southeast Asia, Mesopotamia, and Afghanistan.
It’s interesting to me to wonder when the notion of “empire” became scandalous.
In The British Conquest and Domination of India some Brit in India in 1820 says “you know, I don’t think these chaps like us.”
But when did any real ruler down the ages worry about that? Stalin certainly didn’t.
So Flashman was not written tongue in cheek? If you want another peak at the Raj, try David Gilmour, The Ruling Caste, Kartar Lafjani, The Making of India.
I came to this article after a mention of it on The Rest is History podcast. In my opinion, it is a solid article. Flashman provides a superb doorway to exploring British history at its best and worst. Flashman is both vile and brilliant, and I cannot help thinking, after 30 years of (re)reading, that if more British people read these books, they would have a better understanding of why we (the British) are often reviled, but also why our (the British) contribution to the history of the past 150 years has some relevance. It is totally fascinating, and Flashy brings it to life.
I came to this article after a mention of it on The Rest is History podcast. In my opinion, it is a solid article. Flashman provides a superb doorway to exploring British history at its best and worst. Flashman is both vile and brilliant, and I cannot help thinking, after 30 years of (re)reading, that if more British people read these books, they would have a better understanding of why we (the British) are often reviled, but also why our (the British) contribution to the history of the past 150 years has some relevance. It is totally fascinating, and Flashy brings it to life.
How Flashman looked; https://youtu.be/Ow2EWXl5w30
That’s beautiful. I’d love to spend my holidays in the England of 1898….
Well, the Russians had to get out of Afghanistan recently, too. An old-style retreat by land. And the young lads are back in the Crimea, doing what they are told to do. Have the Flashman novels ever been translated into Russian?
I think Britain’s awkward, or embarrassing, colonial reckoning, of yesteryear, has been given a revamp: it’s now overdue, this reckoning. And it’s complex!
But there’s no up-to-date anti-hero around, with raised eyebrow, to ease the blushes of the still-fighting Tory types in this new and urgent climate. Just the interminably boring badminton scenes on TV. Like the sail to the war in the Crimea in the 1850s, Britain has a long way to go. Yet. Britain needs to unburden its stiff upper lip and have a good cry. And then it may entertain itself. Will we look forward to that, I wonder?
“Britain needs to unburden its stiff upper lip and have a good cry.”
Surely not? We did that during the Dianna Affair, much to the glee of the rest of the World and it availed us nothing.
‘Blubbing’ is for ‘lesser breeds’ as Kipling so prosaically called them.
GMF said of the reaction to Diana’s death that it made him feel “ashamed”. The stiff upper lip of the wartime generation (displayed by those of many races, not least the Indian Army) may seem absurd to some but they would do well to remember that they are only at liberty to hold their asinine opinions because of the sacrifices of that generation. Personally, I think we should seek to emulate them. And remember to be grateful.
Couldn’t agree more! Do you recall that primeval shriek as the gun carriage left Kensington Palace?
Or all the teddy bears littering the M1 for days afterwards?
It took Imperial Rome centuries to (arguably) collapse because of decadence. We seem to have got there in a few decades.
I recall the Diana Affair as a remarkably dry eyed affair. Three days after her demise, my colleagues and I were laughing our heads off in the pub at a feeble Diana joke. After three days of concentrated media hysteria and hypocrisy, we were ready to laugh at anything.
Admittedly, the pub was in Rochdale, where some people tended to wonder what the Royal Family had ever done for the North of England. And at least a few of the hard nosed bunch at Woolworths were ready to note the loss of business on her funeral day.
At the time I regularly posted on a chat site of football fans, not usually blubbers. I ventured an opinion that the Diana thing was overdone and got thoroughly flamed.
It was the first time I experienced a disconnect between my (1950’s) value system and the new one emerging.
It was the media that never got over Diana’s death. She will continue to pop up every so often, to satisfy their longings. I predicted to friends not long after the funeral that we’d never hear the end of her (as we still do via her sons).
Christopher Hitchens’ little film on the funeral and surrounding events is by turns hilarious and grotesque (‘The Mourning After’ available on a well-known video site).
Same here. I was working offshore at the time, saw the announcement on Sky News and went to the mess, where the guy sitting across from said “MI5” and we all smiled. Little did I realise..
Outside the hallowed halls of Quislington*, the reaction was much the same in the pampered South, not least in my little slice of Arcadia.
(* First coined by Fraser Bailey Esq, late of this forum.)
You do realise that we are due another Diana-style funeral when Corbyn goes?
I trust the Reaper will have scythed me down before that! But thanks for the warning.
Not to spoil the mood but if you had seen (as I did) the elegant sincerity with which Princess Diana laid wreaths to the Commonwealth dead in Japan, Egypt, Pakistan and other distant war cemeteries you might temper your disdain. Flashy would certainly have found much to admire about Her late Royal Highness!
I think you may have misconstrued what ‘we’ have said on this subject. It is not PD that is being criticised, but rather the appalling overreaction to her death by both the Media and the Public. GMF was not the only to feel ashamed.
As to your second point I certainly agree that Flashy would have found “ much to admire” in PD, but we better not go into details, lest we incur the Censor’s wrath.
Grateful for the courteous clarification.
Well, you Brits thought you appeased your guilt with that Live Aid/We Are the World claptrap. Don’t feel too bad about the setting sun. You still have St. Helena, The Falklands & Pitcairn. Cheerio!
And we burnt the White House, the House of Representatives and many of other Public Buildings in Washington DC, on the the night of the 24th August, 1814.
Previously that day, the American Army had fled in disgraceful panic at the Battle of Bladensburg, or the “Bladensburg Races” as we call it for obvious reasons. Best of British to you!
And the British Indian Ocean Territory, where your Indian Ocean fleet is currently allowed to moor itself. Your empire – largely stolen from the Spanish and Mexicans – will go the same way. Maybe sooner than you think.
And you cannot ‘appease’ guilt, you pitiful semi-literate. The word you’re looking for is expiate.