Background

George Fraser was born on April 2, 1925, in Carlisle, Cumbria, United Kingdom. He was the son of William, a doctor, and Anne Struth (Donaldson) Fraser.

Education

George was educated at Carlisle Grammar School and Glasgow Academy.

Career

George's interest in writing was likely kindled by frontier service with the British 14th Army in Burma and the Gordon Highlanders in Africa from 1943 to 1945. After demobilization, Fraser worked as a sports reporter and journalist in Canada and in his native Scotland, latterly as deputy editor for the Glasgow Herald from 1953 to 1969.

In 1966, Fraser got the idea to turn Flashman, a fictional coward and bully originally created by Thomas Hughes in Tom Brown's School Days (1857), into a hero, and he wrote a novel around the character's exploits. The book proved popular and sale of the film rights enabled Fraser to become a full-time writer. He moved to the Isle of Man where he could pay less tax. His twelfth book, "Flashman on the March", appeared in 2005. In addition, Fraser authored several other novels and collections of short stories, each with a historical perspective.

During the 1970's and 80's, Fraser also collaborated on several film scripts, including The Three Musketeers (1973), its sequel The Four Musketeers (1974) and the 13th James Bond entry, Octopussy (1983). He wrote the screenplays for two of his own novels, the unsatisfactorily filmed Royal Flash (1975) and The Pyrates (1986), a comical swashbuckler set along the Spanish Main and featuring another rakish anti-hero, Colonel Thomas Blood.

Fraser also did the memoirs of his experiences during World War Two, Quartered Safe Out Here (1992). The Light's on at Signpost (2002) was a second volume of memoirs, focusing on Fraser's adventures in Hollywood and his criticisms of modern-day Britain. Following his death in 2008 a novel was discovered amongst his papers, Captain in Calico. This was published in 2015.

Achievements

• George Fraser is best known for his series of historical novels about the exploits of Harry Flashman, a hard-drinking, womanizing, and vain character depicted as playing a leading role in many major events of the 19th century. There have been a total of twelve volumes of the Flashman Papers.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Flashman and the Dragon

    (Lusting after a clergyman’s wife, smuggling opium to Hong...)

    1987
  • Flashman's Lady

    (What is Flashy doing? -in the drawing room of a great Eng...)

    1988
  • Captain in Calico

    (In the colorful standalone novel Captain in Calico, a nev...)

    2015
  • Flashman and the Redskins

    (The seventh volume of the "Flashman Papers" records the a...)

    1983
  • Flashman: A Novel

    (The first novel in the Flashman series Fraser revives Fla...)

    1984
  • Flashman and the Angel of the Lord

    (The tenth installment in The Flashman Papers finds Captai...)

    1996
  • The Light's on at Signpost

    (George MacDonald Fraser spent thirty years as an "incurab...)

    2002
  • Flashman and the Tiger

    (Eleventh in the series, Flashman and the Tiger features n...)

    1999
  • The Pyrates

    (Dashing young Captain Avery is entrusted with the mission...)

    1984
  • Royal Flash

    (In Volume II of the Flashman Papers, Flashman tangles wit...)

    1970
  • The Reavers

    (After twelve gloriously scandalous Flashman novels, the i...)

    2007
  • Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War II

    (George MacDonald Fraser beloved for his series of Flashma...)

    1992
  • Flashman and the Mountain of Light

    (This ninth volume of The Flashman Papers finds that histo...)

    1992
  • The Complete McAuslan

    (From humorist George MacDonald Fraser comes the funniest ...)

    2000
  • The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers

    (From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, outlaws r...)

    1971
  • Flashman in the Great Game

    (One of literature's most delightful rakes is back in anot...)

    1989
  • Flashman at the Charge

    (The fourth volume of memoirs in which Harry Flashman conf...)

    1986
  • Flash for Freedom

    (A game of cards leads Flashman from the jungle death-hous...)

    1985
  • The Candlemass Road

    (Young Lady Margaret Dacre was brought up in the genteel f...)

    1993
  • Flashman on the March

    (It’s 1868 and Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., arch-cad, amorist...)

    2005

Politics

George Fraser is totally independent and firmly opposed to party politics.

Membership

Fraser was a member of the Society of Authors and Authors Guild.

Connections

George married Kathleen Margarette Hetherington on April 16, 1949. They had three children: Simon, Caroline, and Nicholas.

Father:

William Fraser

Mother:

Anne Struth (Donaldson) Fraser

Spouse:

Kathleen Margarette Hetherington Fraser

Son:

Simon Fraser

Daughter:

Caroline Fraser

Son:

Nicholas Fraser

References

• Contemporary Authors A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields
  2008
• Contemporary Literary Criticism Sharon Gunton, Volume 7
  1977