Book 6 of The Speedicut Papers covers the period 1879-1885 during which time Speedicut is reluctantly involved in a series of British colonial and Imperial disasters in Afghanistan, South Africa, Egypt and the Sudan. Whist not ducking shot, shell and spears, Speedicut indulges deeply in such pleasures (usually of the carnal variety) that are on offer.

Book 6 of The Speedicut Papers covers Speedicuts reluctant and unsought involvement in a series of British colonial and imperial disasters in Afghanistan, South Africa, Egypt and the Sudan. Whilst not ducking shot, shell and spears, Speedicut indulges deeply in such pleasures (usually of the carnal variety) that are on offer. I ony met Speedicut once, in 35, when I took him and my nephew out of school for an educational tea. If Id known he was going to write all this tosh Id have drowned the title bugger in his first print Thomas Flashman, uncle of Harry Flashman

As the subtitle implies, Book 5 of The Speedicut Papers is largely concerned with Speedicuts unsought role as a part-time courtier to Prince Albert Edward, The Prince of Wales, whilst at the same time he tries to track down the traitor in the British establishment. Along the way he witnesses the battle of Isandlwana, is present at Rorkes Drift and is framed for the death of the Prince Imperial.

Why did General Gordon remain in Khartoum? What really happened at the Battle of Abu Klea? How and why did King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary and Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, actually die? Who was Jack the Ripper? And why was Oscar Wilde provoked into suing Lord Queensberry? For the first time, convincing answers to these and many other historical questions are answered in the memoirs of Colonel Jasper Speedicut. Speaking on behalf of the Faversham family, I can assure you that this book is an appalling travesty of the truth! A E W Mason Judging from this memoir, the British Empire was coloured pink on the map for a very good reason. Alfred Kinsey

The Speedicut Papers recounts in very frank detail the life, loves, and adventures of Jasper Speedicutcharmer, sexual libertine, reluctant hero, and friend of the self-styled brigadier general Sir Harry Flashman, VC. Comprising a nine-volume series of linked adventures and anecdotes in memoir format, The Speedicut Papers lifts the lid from a veritable cesspit of Victorian and Edwardian upper-class debauchery that makes Downton Abbey look like a vicarage tea party. It is also a unique account of Speedicuts involvement in some of the greatestand also some long-forgottenevents in the British Empire and beyond during the period of 18211915. In Flashmans Secret, the first volume of the saga, Speedicut throws a searchlight onto some very murky corners of the nineteenth century, including the early careers of the notorious courtesan, Lola Montez, and the demon barber of Fleet Street, Sweeney Todd. New insights are also provided into the formation of the IRA, the first Anglo-Afghan War, and the dubious acquisition by the British crown of the Koh-i-Noor diamond. If this were not enough, Flashmans Secret also reveals Nelsons actual last words and the existence of a sinister and murderous secret society at the heart of the British establishment.

Uncivil Wars opens in 1857 and takes the reader through the horrors of the Indian Mutiny to China and the Second Opium War, during which Speedicut is captured and tortured in the notorious Board of Punishments. Back in England, Speedicut remarries and he and his new wife spend their honeymoon in the United States, where they get caught up in the American Civil War along with Scarlett OHara, Ashley Wilkes and Rhett Butler, all of whose real characters he ruthlessly exposes

In this, the final volume of the memoirs of Jasper Speedicut, the old soldier and courtier is deeplyand often hilariouslyinvolved in the 1900 siege of the Peking legations, the death and funeral of Queen Victoria, the final days of Oscar Wilde, the removal to safety of the personal correspondence of the Dowager Empress of Germany, the sinking of RMS Titanic, the start of the First World War, and the fates of Mata Hari and Edith Cavell. The Speedicut Papers Book 9 (19001915): Boxing Icebergs also solves the mystery of the manacled skeleton found on a building site in Leicestershire, first revealed in Flashmans Secret, and the existence of an illegitimate son to carry on the Speedicut familys adventures.