Flashman's Retreat

A condition of swoon

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:31:00 +0000

...that inevitably led to another glorious thrashing-match which restored her amour-propre and left me in what I once heard a French naval officer describe as a condition of swoon.

Flashman and the Tiger, p.34, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, swoon.

Fortunate critters

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:07:00 +0000

...I recognised her as one of those fortunate critters who (like yours truly) are simply without shame, and wouldn't know Conscience if they tripped over it in broad day.

Flashman and the Tiger, p.34, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, shame.

Jezebel with a sassy twinkle

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:23:00 +0000

I liked her style: no humbug, just Jezebel with a sassy twinkle and a fifth-form fringe, lightly touched by the crazy gods — as many politicals are; Georgie Broadfoot was daft as a brush.

Flashman and the Tiger, p.34, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, daft.

Infrequent visits

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:39:00 +0000

...on my infrequent visits to Paris, which is a greasy sort of sink, not much better than Port Moresby...

Flashman and the Tiger, p.16, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, Paris.

Beats a flat white

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:48:00 +0000

…coffee Arabi style — black as night, sweet as love, hot as hell…

Flashman and the Tiger, p.33, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, coffee.

Valkyrian proportions

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:39:00 +0000

So it was with a light heart and my hat on three hairs that I found myself strolling under the famous lime trees to the Brandenburg Thor a few weeks later, taking a long slant at the Thier Garten in the June sunshine, and marvelling at the Valkyrian proportions of German women...

Flashman and the Tiger, p.27, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, proportions.

No surer way

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

It’s true enough; there’s no surer way of getting a secret than by letting on you know it already.

Flashman and the Tiger, p.26, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, secret.

Little success

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

At the same time we [England] were forever nagging the Turks to be less monstrous to their Balkan subjects, with little success, Turks being what they are, and when, around ’75, the Bulgars revolted and the Turks slaughtered 150,000 of them to show who was master.

Flashman and the Tiger, p.23, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, Balkans.

A mountain of trouble

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

First off the Balkans . . . you have to understand that they’re full of people who’d much rather massacre each other than not…

Flashman and the Tiger, p.23, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, Balkans.

The perils of diplomacy

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

It’s a hellish bore, like all diplomaticking.

Flashman and the Tiger, p.23, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, bore.

Decent grub

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

So I waited while he gorged his way through half a dozen overblown courses — why the French must clart decent grub with glutinous sauces beats me…

Flashman and the Tiger, p.20, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, sauce.

Uneasliy adrift

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:44:00 +0000

Ulysses S. Grant never called for help in his life, but just then I seemed to catch a glimpse within the masterful commander and veteran statesman, of the thin-skinned Scotch yokel from Ohio tanyard uneasily adrift in an old so-superior world which he’d have liked to despise but couldn’t help feeling in awe of.

Flashman and the Tiger, p.19, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, yokel.

Never mind the Moulin Rouge

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:18:00 +0000

My advice to young chaps is to never mind the Moulin Rouge and Pigalle, but make for some diplomatic mêlée on the Rue de Lisbonne, catch the eye of a well-fleshed countess, and ere the night’s out you’ll have learned something you won’t want to tell your grandchildren.

Flashman and the Tiger, p.16, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, Moulin Rouge.

Nothing like the job

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:29:00 +0000

…kings and chancellors confided in him, empresses and grand duchesses whispered him their secrets, prime ministers and ambassadors sought his advice, and while he was up to every smoky dodge in his hunt for news, he never broke a pledge or betrayed a confidence — or so everyone said, Blowitz loudest of all. I guess his appearance helped, for he was nothing like the job at all, being a five-foot butterball with a beaming baby face behind a mighty moustache, innocent blue eyes, bald head, and frightful whiskers a foot long…

Flashman and the Tiger, p.14, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, appearance.

His plump little claw

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:54:00 +0000

He was reckoned to be the smartest newsman of the time, better than Billy Russell even… Blowitz was a human ferret with his plump little claw on every pulse from Lisbon to the Kremlin…

Flashman and the Tiger, p.14, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, journalist.

Doubtless a government agent

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:47:00 +0000

He was their correspondent in Paris thirty years ago, and doubtless a government agent — show me the Times man who wasn’t, from Delane to the printer’s devils…

Flashman and the Tiger, p.13, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, agent.

Tricky villains

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:02:00 +0000

…I liked him, you see, in spite of his being a journalist. Tricky villains, especially if they work for The Times.

Flashman and the Tiger, p.13, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, journalist.

Damnable places

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:10:00 +0000

…they paved my road to hell — which lay at the bottom of a salt mine… Damnable places, and not at all what you might imagine. Not a grain of salt to be seen, for one thing.

Flashman and the Tiger, p.13, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, hell.

Who was Harry Flashman?

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 02:14:00 +0000

The first nine or so instalments of the Flashman Papers were prefaced by a 1909 Who's Who entry. However, with the publication of Flashman and the Tiger, this was superceded by the following biographical note.

FLASHMAN, Harry Paget. Brigadier-general, V.C., K.C.B., K.C.I.E.; Chevalier, Legion of Honour; Order of Maria Theresa, Austria; Order of the Elephant, Denmark (temporary); U.S. Medal of honor; San Serafino Order of purity and truth, 4th Class. b May 5, 1822, s of H. Buckley Flashman, Esq., Ashby and Hon. Alicia Paget; m. Elspeth Rennie Morrison, d. of Lord Paisley; one s., one d. educ. Rugby School. 11th Hussars, 17th Lancers. Served Afghanistan, 1841-42 (medals, thanks of Parliament); chief of staff to H. M. James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak Batang Lupar expedn, 1844; milit. advisor, H.M. Queen Ranavalona of Madagascar, 1844-5; Sutlej campaign, 1845-6 (Ferozeshah, Sobraon, envoy extraordinary to Maharani Jeendan, Court of Lahore); polit. advisor to Herr (later Chancellor Prince) Von Bismarck, Schleswig-Holstein, 1847-8; Crimea staff (Alma, Sevastopol, Balaclava), Prisoner of war, 1854; Artillery adviser to Atilik Ghazi, Syr Daria campaign, 1855; Sepoy Mutiny, 1857-8, dip, envoy to HRH the Maharani of Jhansi, trooper 3rd Native Cavalry, Meerut, subseq. att, Rowbotham’s Mosstroopers, Cawnpore, (Lucknow, Gwalior, etc., V.C.); Adjutant to Captain John Brown, Harper’s Ferry, 1859; China campaign 1860, polit. mission to Nanking, Taiping Rebellion, polit. and other services, Imperial Court, Pekin U.S. Army (major, Union forces, 1862; colonel (staff) Army of the Confederacy, 1863); a.d.c. to H.I.M. Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, 1867; interpreter and observer Sioux campain, U.S. 1875-6 (Camp Robinson conference, Little Bighorn, etc.); Zulu War, 1879 (Isandhlwana, Rorke’s Drift); Egypt 1882 (Kassassin, Tel-el-Kebir); personal bodyguard to H.I.M. Franz-Joseph, Emperor of Austria 1883; Sudan 1884-5 (Khartoum); Pekin Legations, 1900. Travelled extensively in military and civilian capacities among them supercargo, merchant marine (West Africa); agriculturist (Mississippi valley); wagon captain and hotelier (Santa Fe Trail); buffalo hunter and scout (Oregon Trail); courier (Underground Railroad); majordomo (India), prospector (Australia); trader and missionary (Solomen Islands, Fly River, etc.); lottery supervisor (Manila); diamond Broker and horse coper (Punjab); dep. marshall, U.S.; occasional actor and impersonator. Hon. mbr of numerous societies and clubs, including Sons of the Volsungs (Strackenz), Mimbreno Apache Copper Mines band (New Mexico), Kokand Horde (Central Asia), Kit Carson’s Boys (Colorado), Brown’s Lambs (Maryland), M.C.C., Whites and United Service (London, both resigned), Blackjack (Batavia). Chmn, Flashman and Bottomley, Ltd.; dir. British Opium Trading Co.; governor, Rugby School; hon. pres. Mission for Reclamation of Reduced Females. Publications: Dawns and Departures of a Soldier’s Life; Twixt Cossack and Cannon; The Case Against Army Reform. Recreation: oriental studies, angling, cricket (performed first recorded “hat-trick”; Wickets of Felix, Pilch and Mynn for 14 runs; Rugby Past and Present v Kent, Lord’s 1842; 5 for 12, Mynn’s Casuals v All Engand XI, 1843). Add. Gandamack Lodge, Ashby, Leics.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, biography.

Not the slightest desire

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:55:00 +0000

"No, I've never had the slightest desire to be like Flashman and I think my military experience killed any particular idea of derring-do.There was a young lady this morning at a book shop who told me about playing a game at a dinner party asking men who they would like to be and three of them said Flashman. Now, I don't know that they'd thought hard about it, but I don't think they'd really like to be Flashman."

George MacDonald Fraser, OBE, novelist, screenwriter and historian
2 April, 1925 - 2 January, 2008

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, George MacDonald Fraser.

Fits old Morrison

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:00:00 +0000

I’ve learned that there’s no sense in kicking against the prick — a phrase which fits old Morrison like a glove.

Flash For Freedom!, p.42, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1980.

(My thanks to Ian Dundrillon for suggesting this quote.)

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, glove.

More of Flashy on politicians

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:00:00 +0000

“… it takes a peculiar combination of the imbeciles, the toady, and the braggart to run for office in the first place.”

Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.350, Harper Collins, 1995.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, politicians.

Immutable law

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:35:00 +0000

“What immutable law,” he went on, “decrees that the obtuser the politician, the higher he will rise?”

Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.350, Harper Collins, 1995.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, politician.

Crimson with booze

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:56:00 +0000

Even in the South they respected him for his courage; I remember the verdict, delivered to me by a grizzled Alabama veteran, crimson with booze and chewing on his Wheeling tobey:* “Ole Ossawatomie? Well, now, suh, Ah reckon he lived like a skunk — an’ died like a lion.”

* A particularly pungent cigar.

Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.348, Harper Collins, 1995.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, lion.

Sincerely mourned

noreply@blogger.com (Speedicut) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:26:00 +0000

…I doubt if any man in the history of the United States was more deeply or sincerely mourned — and I ain’t forgetting friend Abraham, either. He was even more detested in Dixie than J.B., and he was just a politician, while J.B. was a fighting man and a rebel, a combination which no American could resist.

Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.348, Harper Collins, 1995.

Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, mourn.