He may be ageing but Bandy is ready to take on the Nazis in the cockpit of a super new Spitfire.
Donald Lamont Jack was born in Radcliffe, England,on December 6,
1924. He attended Bury Grammar School in Lancashire, and later Marr
College, Troon (from which he was briefly evicted after writing an
injudicious letter to the editor).
From 1943 to 1947 he served in the Royal Air Force as an AC, or
aircraftsman, working in radio communications. During his military
service Jack was stationed in a variety of locales, though he
concentrated on places beginning with the letter 'B': Belgium,
Berlin, and Bahrain. After de-mobbing, he participated in amateur
dramatics with The Ellis Players, and worked for several years in
Britain, but he had by then grown weary of 'B'-countries and
decided to move on to the 'C's. Thus, in 1951, Jack emigrated to
Canada.
In 1962 he published his first novel, Three Cheers for Me, about
fictional Canadian First World War air-ace Bartholomew Wolfe Bandy.
Three Cheers for Me won the Leacock Medal for Humour in 1963, but
additional volumes did not appear until a decade later when a
revised version of the book was published, along with a second
volume, That's Me in the Middle, which won Jack a second Leacock
Medal in 1974. He received a third award in 1980 for Me Bandy, You
Cissie.
Jack returned to live in England in 1986, where he continued to
work on additional volumes in the Bandy series. He died on June 2,
2003. His final novel, Stalin vs. Me, was first published
posthumously in 2005.
Praise for The Bandy Papers Series 'I enjoyed every
word . . . terrifically funny' P.G. Wodehouse
'Jack does more than play it for laughs . . . The
mingling of humor and horror is like a clown tap-dancing on a
coffin, but Jack is skillful enough to get away with it' Time
Magazine
'Funny. Very. Donald Jack has as light a touch with this
fragile art as his hero has on throttle of a Sopwith Camel.
Excessive corn is avoided in favour of wit and a delight in
life' New York Times
'Bartholomew Bandy is the most remarkable hero (or
anti-hero) since Harold Lloyd impersonated the
Freshman' Chicago Tribune
'To know Bandy is to love him . . . you tend to gallop through
and come hurtling out at the end panting for more' The
Sunday Sun
'For those to whom Bandy is a newcomer, what a treat is in
store' Toronto Star
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
