Q: When did Flashman first take your fancy?
G.M.F: I'm not sure. He's been in my mind, I suppose ever since I read the book when I was... twelve years old I should think. When, in the 1960's I decided that I wanted to write a Victorian adventure story, he was the character who just came to mind. I mean, there he is, expelled from Rugby just about the time Queen Victoria comes to the throne and the whole Imperial thing starts

Q: What about your favourite spot he's gotten himself into?
G.M.F: People ask for a typical example of his behaviour and I think the one that appeals to me most is in: Flashman at the Charge. He's being pursued through the snow in a sledge by Cossacks and he flings his mistress out into the snow to lighten the sledge (laughs). I like that

Q: Palace Pictures were looking into making Flashman into a series like Sharpe. Was you involved in their negotiations?
G.M.F: Yes I was. In fact I was very nearly off to Afghanistan with the Palace people to have a look at locations and so on. But the deal fell through and hasn't been revived. To be frank I don't know that I'm terribly sorry. For one thing there isn't a Flashman around that I know of. Errol Flynn's dead, alas. So is the other man who wanted to play him: David Niven. He said to me "if only I'd been born forty years later"

Q: There's been great debate across the web sites of the world to see who could play Flashman
G.M.F: Well, Burt Reynolds was suggested - but that company wanted to Americanise it. The original Flashman casting for the movie that didn't get made was John Alderton from the TV series Please Sir. Another suggestion was made to me by the American director Dick Fleicsher, with whom I've worked. It sounds bizarre, but when you think about it, it's not so bad: John Cleese. He was one of the favourites

Q: Do you feel there was a similarity with the way you felt about action during your time in the Burma campaign and Flashman?
G.M.F: I suppose so, but there's a curious thing about Flashman. People write to me frequently and say "he's not a coward at all he's just a very modest man, in fact he's heroic". The answer to that is, very often he doesn't get any choice. Indeed when you're a soldier you don't get much choice. It would take an awful lot of courage to run screaming from the battlefield. I mean you're there, and you do what you have to do and that's that. I don't think Flashman is particularly heroic but sometimes yes, he fights like a cornered rat, and he's big and he's strong and he's vicious; so he's quite successful at it!