R.I.P. George MacDonald Fraser

George MacDonald Fraser, the creator of the Flashman series, has died aged 82 following a battle with cancer. Born in Carlisle, northern England in 1925, Fraser served as an infantryman with the British Army in India and Burma during World War II, and in the Middle East after the war. He worked as a journalist in Britain and Canada for more than 20 years before turning to fiction.

Flashman, the first in a series of twelve books, was first published in 1969 and detailed the adult life of Harry Flashman, the bullying schoolboy in Thomas Hughes's Tom Brown's Schooldays. In the first volume, Fraser picked up where Hughes left off, when Flashman is expelled from Rugby for drunkenness. He created one of the greatest literary rogues ever, taking his character on adventures that took him from Singapore to New Orleans and spanned every major historical event of the mid-nineteenth century.

Fraser also penned a number of screenplays including The Three Musketeers (1973), an adaptation of his novel Royal Flash (1975) and the James Bond movie Octopussy (1983). He was also a respected historian, writing several works of non-fiction, including Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border and The Hollywood History of the World. His final book, The Reavers, is a historical romp featuring espionage and intrigue set on the Scottish border during the reign of Elizabeth I.

For a full obituary, visit www.theherald.co.uk