Joe, thanks for telling us about George Fraser's book. I thought that was a wonderful book and loved all the references to the Armstrongs. I didn't realize he'd written anything autobiographical...I will look for that. It's nice to see you on the list again...we miss you and all of your great stories. Thanks for sending that information. Cheers, and happy new year, Cousin Marilyn ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe" <joe@gateshead8.free-online.co.uk> To: <armstrong@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 8:52 AM Subject: [ARMSTRONG] Death of a Master > Dear All, > > Today, January 3rd at mid day was news of the death of > George MacDonald Fraser. > > Surely all Armstrongs know of his definitive work, > "The Steel Bonnets" the tale of the Reivers of the Anglo-Scots > Borderland. > > George was 82 years old, a passionate opponent of the metric > system which was imposed upon us by Eurocrats. > > My other favourite is one of the last things he wrote, his own > biography. George served through the infamous Burma campaign > fighting them in the jungle. He ended his autobiography at the moment > when he left his mates as they drove the Japanese army out of Burma. > That was to go to an officer training course. > > What a man! > > Joe Armstrong. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ARMSTRONG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

He also wrote a wonderful series of spoof histories chronicling the life and times of Sir Harry Flashman, VC etc. etc. the school bully from "Tom Brown's Schooldays". The fictional Flashman of MacDonald Fraser's books was at the heart of of almost every episode of significance in Victorian history and was covered in undeserved glory. Historically, the books are very accurate and give a colourful desription of events