Editing Peter Fleming (writer)

{{Short description|British adventurer and travel writer (1907–1971)}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Peter Fleming
| embed              = 
| honorific_prefix   = 
| honorific_suffix   = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE|DL}}
| image              = Peter Fleming.jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = Robert Peter Fleming
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1907|05|31|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Mayfair, London]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1971|08|18|1907|05|31|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Bridge of Orchy]], Scotland<ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/08/20/79148342.html?action=click&contentCollection=Archives&module=LedeAsset&region=ArchiveBody&pgtype=article&pageNumber=36 |title=Peter Fleming, 64, a British writer |work=New York Times |date=20 August 1971 |page=36|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
| resting_place      = St. Bartholomew's Churchyard, Nettlebed
| occupation         = {{hlist|Writer|adventurer}}
| alma_mater         = [[Christ Church, Oxford]]
| spouse             = {{marriage|[[Celia Johnson]]|10 December 1935}}
| children           = 3, including [[Lucy Fleming|Lucy]]
| mother             = [[Evelyn St. Croix Fleming]]
| father             = [[Valentine Fleming]]
| relatives          = [[Ian Fleming]] (brother)<br />[[Amaryllis Fleming]] (half-sister)<br> [[Robert Fleming (financier)|Robert Fleming]] (grandfather)
| awards             = 
| signature          = 
| signature_alt      = 
| years_active       = 
}}

'''Robert Peter Fleming''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|OBE|DL}} (31 May 1907 – 18 August 1971) was a British adventurer, journalist, soldier and [[travel writer]].<ref name = Obituary >"Obituary Colonel Peter Fleming, Author and explorer". ''[[The Times]]'', 20 August 1971 p14 column F.</ref> He was the elder brother of [[Ian Fleming]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.queenannepress.co.uk/authors.html|title=Authors|website=www.queenannepress.co.uk|access-date=3 May 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402023718/http://queenannepress.co.uk/authors.html|archive-date=2 April 2016}}</ref> creator of [[James Bond]], and attained the British military rank of [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant Colonel]].

==Early life==
Peter Fleming was one of four sons of the [[barrister]] and [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) [[Valentine Fleming]], who was killed in action during World War I in 1917, having served as MP for [[Henley (UK Parliament constituency)|Henley]] from 1910. Fleming was educated at [[Durnford School]] and at [[Eton College|Eton]], where he edited the ''Eton College Chronicle''. The Peter Fleming Owl (the English meaning of "Strix", the name under which he later wrote for ''[[The Spectator]]'') is still awarded every year to the best contributor to the ''Chronicle''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.coleshillhouse.com/captain-peter-fleming.php|title=Captain Peter Fleming|website=www.coleshillhouse.com|access-date=2019-05-13}}</ref> He went on from Eton to [[Christ Church, Oxford]], and graduated with a first-class degree in English.

Fleming was a member of the [[Bullingdon Club]] during his time at Oxford.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://literary007.com/2017/10/05/expedition-fleming-writer-traveller-soldier-spy/|title=Expedition Fleming: Writer, Traveller, Soldier, Spy|date=2017-10-05|website=Artistic Licence Renewed|language=en|access-date=2019-05-13}}</ref> On 10 December 1935 he married the actress [[Celia Johnson]] (1908–1982), best known for her roles in the films ''[[Brief Encounter]]'' and ''[[The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (film)|The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie]]''.<ref>{{cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31289|title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2004}}</ref>

==Travels==

===In Brazil===
In April 1932 Fleming replied to an advertisement in the personal columns of ''[[The Times]]'': "Exploring and sporting expedition, under experienced guidance, leaving England June to explore rivers central Brazil, if possible ascertain fate Colonel [[Percy Fawcett]]; abundant game, big and small; exceptional fishing; room two more guns; highest references expected and given." He then joined the expedition, organised by Robert Churchward, to São Paulo, then overland to the rivers [[Araguaia River|Araguaia]] and [[Tapirapé River (Mato Grosso)|Tapirapé]], heading towards the last-known position of the Fawcett expedition.

During the inward journey the expedition was riven by increasing disagreements as to its objectives and plans, centred particularly on its local leader, whom Fleming disguised as "Major Pingle" when he wrote about the expedition. Fleming and [[Roger Gamelyn Pettiward|Roger Pettiward]] (a school and university friend recruited onto the expedition as a result of a chance encounter with Fleming) led a breakaway group.

This group continued for several days up the Tapirapé to São Domingo, from where Fleming, Pettiward, Neville Priestley and one of the Brazilians hired by the expedition set out to find evidence of Fawcett's fate on their own. After acquiring two Tapirapé guides the party began a march to the area where Fawcett was reported to have last been seen. They made slow progress for several days, losing the Indian guides and Neville to foot infection, before admitting defeat.

The expedition's return journey was made down the River Araguaia to [[Belém]]. It became a closely fought race between Fleming's party and "Major Pingle", the prize being to be the first to report home, and thus to gain the upper hand in the battles over blame and finances that were to come. Fleming's party narrowly won. The expedition returned to England in November 1932.

Fleming's book about the expedition, ''[[Brazilian Adventure]]'', has sold well ever since it was first published in 1933, and is still in print.{{as of when|date=January 2024}}

===In Asia===
Fleming travelled from Moscow to Peking via the Caucasus, the Caspian, Samarkand, Tashkent, the [[Turkestan–Siberia Railway|Turksib Railway]] and the [[Trans-Siberian Railway]] to Peking as a special correspondent of ''The Times''. His experiences were recorded in ''[[One's Company]]'' (1934). He then went overland in company of [[Ella Maillart]] from China via [[Tunganistan]] to India on a journey written up in ''[[News from Tartary]]'' (1936). These two books were combined as  ''Travels in Tartary: One's Company and News from Tartary'' (1941). All three volumes were published by Jonathan Cape.

According to Nicolas Clifford, for Fleming China "had the aspect of a comic opera land whose quirks and oddities became grist for the writer, rather than deserving any respect or sympathy in themselves".<ref>Nicholas J. Clifford. ''"A Truthful Impression of the Country": British and American Travel Writing in China, 1880–1949.'' Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,  2001. pp. 132–33</ref> In ''One's Company'', for example, Fleming reports  that Beijing was "lacking in charm", Harbin was a city of "no easily definable character". Changchun was "entirely characterless", and Shenyang was "non-descript and suburban". However, Fleming also provides insights into [[Manchukuo]], the Japanese puppet state in [[Manchuria]], which helped contemporary readers to understand Chinese resentment and resistance, and the aftermath of the [[Kumul Rebellion]]. In the course of these travels Fleming met and interviewed many prominent figures in Central Asia and China, including the [[Hui people|Chinese Muslim]] General [[Ma Hushan]], the Chinese Muslim Taoyin of [[Kashgar]], [[Ma Shaowu]], and [[Puyi]].

Of ''Travels in Tartary'', [[Owen Lattimore]] remarked that Fleming, who "passes for an easy-going amateur, is in fact an inspired amateur whose quick appreciation, especially of people, and original turn of phrase, echoing [[P. G. Wodehouse]] in only a very distant and cultured way, have created a unique kind of travel book". Lattimore added that it "is only in the political news from Tartary that there is a disappointment", as, in his view, Fleming offers "a simplified explanation, in terms of Red intrigue and Bolshevik villains, which does not make sense."<ref>''[[Pacific Affairs]]'' 9.4 (1936): 605–606 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2751207]</ref>

Stuart Stevens retraced Peter Fleming's route and wrote his own travel book.<ref name="Stevens1988">{{cite book|author=Stuart Stevens|title=Night Train to Turkistan: Modern Adventures Along China's Ancient Silk Road|url=https://archive.org/details/nighttraintoturk00stev|url-access=registration|quote=turki merchants gifts.|year=1988|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press|isbn=978-0-87113-190-4}}</ref>

==Second World War==
Just before war was declared, Fleming, then a reserve officer in the [[Grenadier Guards]], was recruited by the War Office research section investigating the potential of irregular warfare (MIR).  His initial task was to develop ideas to assist the Chinese guerrillas fighting the Japanese.  He served in the Norwegian campaign with the prototype commando units – Independent Companies – but in May 1940 he was tasked with research into the potential use of the new [[Local Defence Volunteers]] (later the Home Guard) as guerrilla troops.  His ideas were first incorporated into General Thorne's XII Corps Observation Unit, forerunner of the GHQ [[Auxiliary Units]].  Fleming recruited his brother, Richard, then serving in the [[Faroe Islands]], to provide a core of [[Lovat Scouts|Lovat Scout]] instructors to his teams of LDV volunteers.<ref>Alan Ogden. ''Master of Deception: The Wartime Adventures of Peter Fleming'' (2019)</ref>

Meanwhile, Fleming wrote a speculative novel called ''The Flying Visit'' in which he imagined [[Adolf Hitler]] flying to Britain to propose peace with that nation, only to have the United Kingdom let him return in light of the awkward diplomatic quandary he placed the British government in. It proved bizarrely prescient in 1941 when Hitler's Deputy, [[Rudolf Hess]], did that exact excursion into Britain and Britain found their new high ranked Nazi prisoner cumbersome for their foreign and propaganda policies.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Neidel |first1=Indy |title=Rudolf Hess – Nazi Pacifist, Traitor or Madman? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpAAdFFU8WA&t |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/EpAAdFFU8WA| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|website=World War II |date=12 May 2020 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=13 May 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

When [[Colin Gubbins]] was appointed to head the new [[Auxiliary Units]], he incorporated many of Peter's ideas, which aimed to create secret commando teams of Home Guard in the coastal districts most liable to the risk of invasion. Their role was to launch sabotage raids on the flanks and rear of any invading army, in support of regular troops, but they were never intended as a post-occupation 'resistance' force, having a life expectancy of only two weeks.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Fighting Nazi Occupation: british Resistance 1939–1945|last = Atkin|first = Malcolm|publisher = Pen and Sword|year = 2015|isbn = 978-1-47383-377-7|location = Barnsley|pages = 24, 26, 31,–2, 56–61, 66, 72, 76–7, 87, 172, 181}}</ref>

Fleming later served in Greece, but his principal service, from 1942 to the end of the war, was as head of D Division,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.coleshillhouse.com/captain-peter-fleming.php|title=Captain Peter Fleming|publisher=coleshillhouse.com|access-date=3 May 2017}}</ref> in charge of [[military deception]] operations in Southeast Asia, based in [[New Delhi]], India. He was scheduled to take part in the second Chindit operation, but this was cut short by the premature crash landing of a defective glider. The episode is described in an appendix Fleming contributed to Michael Calvert's book on the operation.<ref>Calvert, M. Prisoners of Hope, Pen and Sword 1995, {{ISBN|978-0850524925}}</ref>

Fleming was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] in the [[1945 Birthday Honours]] and in 1948 he was awarded the [[Order of the Cloud and Banner|Order of the Cloud and Banner with Special Rosette]] by the [[Republic of China]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37119 |date=8 June 1945 |page=2943 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=38288 |date=11 May 1948 |page=2921 |supp=y}}</ref>

==Later life and death==
After the war Fleming retired to squiredom at [[Nettlebed]], Oxfordshire and was appointed a [[Deputy Lieutenant]] for Oxfordshire on 31 July 1970.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=45170 |date=11 August 1970 |page=8872}}</ref>

Fleming died on 18 August 1971 from a heart attack while on a shooting expedition near [[Glen Coe]] in [[Scotland]]. His body was buried in the graveyard of St Bartholomew’s Church in Nettlebed, where a [[stained glass window]] dedicated to his memory was later installed in the church.<ref>'Grave of Capt. Peter Fleming', film of Fleming's grave, published on YouTube, 26 July 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2Xsy3YgqlY</ref> The gravestone has verses he wrote himself:

He travelled widely in far places; <br />Wrote, and was widely read.<br />Soldiered, saw some of danger's faces,<br />Came home to Nettlebed.

The squire lies here, his journeys ended – <br />Dust, and a name on a stone –<br />Content, amid the lands he tended,<br />To keep this rendezvous alone.<ref>Hart-Davis, Duff (1987) ''Peter Fleming''. Oxford: Oxford University Press; p. 401</ref>

==Family==
After the death of his brother [[Ian Fleming|Ian]] in 1964, Fleming served on the board of [[Ian Fleming Publications|Glidrose]], a company purchased by Ian to hold the literary rights to his writing, particularly the [[James Bond]] novels and short stories.

Peter and Celia Fleming remained married until his death in 1971. He was survived by their three children, including [[Lucy Fleming]].

Fleming was the godfather of the British author and journalist [[Duff Hart-Davis]], who wrote ''Peter Fleming: A Biography'' (published by Jonathan Cape in 1974).  Duff's father [[Rupert Hart-Davis]], a publisher, was a close friend of Fleming.

==Legacy==
The Peter Fleming Award, worth £9,000, is given by the [[Royal Geographical Society]] for a "research project that seeks to advance geographical science".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Grants/Research/Peter+Fleming+Award.htm |title=Peter Fleming Award |publisher=Rgs.org |access-date=27 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125122020/http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Grants/Research/Peter%2BFleming%2BAward.htm |archive-date=25 January 2011 }}</ref>

Fleming's book about the [[British expedition to Tibet|British military expedition to Tibet]] in 1903 to 1904 is credited in the Chinese film ''[[Red River Valley (1997 film)|Red River Valley]]'' (1997).

==Quotations==
*"[[São Paulo]] is like [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]], only much farther away." – ''Brazilian Adventure''
*"Public opinion in England is sharply divided on the subject of Russia. On the one hand you have the crusty majority, who believe it to be a hell on earth; on the other you have the half-baked minority who believe it to be a terrestrial paradise in the making. Both cling to their opinions with the tenacity, respectively, of the die-hard and the fanatic. Both are hopelessly wrong." – ''One's Company''
*The recorded history of Chinese civilisation covers a period of four thousand years.
:The Population of China is estimated at 450 million.
:China is larger than Europe.
   
:The author of this book is twenty-six years old.
:He has spent, altogether, about seven months in China.
:He does not speak Chinese.

:: Preface, ''One's Company''

==Fleming's works==
Fleming was a special correspondent for ''[[The Times]]'' and often wrote under the pen-name "Strix" (Latin for "screech owl") as an essayist for ''[[The Spectator]]''.

===Non-fiction===
*1933 ''[[Brazilian Adventure]]'' – Exploring the Brazilian jungle in search of the lost Colonel [[Percy Fawcett]].
*1934 ''[[One's Company]]: A Journey to China in 1933'' – Travels through the USSR, [[Manchuria]] and China.  Later reissued as half of ''Travels in Tartary''.
*1936 ''[[News from Tartary]]: A Journey from Peking to Kashmir'' – Journey from [[Peking]] to [[Srinagar]] via [[Sinkiang]]. He was accompanied on this journey by [[Ella Maillart]] (Kini). Later reissued as half of ''Travels in Tartary''.
*1952 ''A Forgotten Journey'' – A diary Fleming kept during a journey through Russia and Manchuria in 1934. Reprinted as ''To Peking: A Forgotten Journey from Moscow to Manchuria'' (2009, {{ISBN|978-1-84511-996-6}})
*1953 Introduction to ''[[Seven Years in Tibet]]'' by Heinrich Harrer published by Rupert Hart-Davis, London<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.57195|title=Seven Years in Tibet|last=Harrer|first=Heinrich|website=The Internet Archive|access-date=2 May 2017}}</ref> 
*1955 ''[https://archive.org/details/tibetanmarches0000migo/ Tibetan Marches]'' – A translation from French of ''Caravane vers Bouddha'' by [[André Migot]]
*1956 ''My Aunt's Rhinoceros: And Other Reflections'' — A collection of essays written (as "Strix") for ''The Spectator''. Published by Rupert Hart-Davis, London.
*1957 ''Invasion 1940'' — an account of the [[Operation Sea Lion|planned Nazi invasion of Britain]] and [[British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War]]. Published in the United States as ''Operation Sea Lion''
*1957 ''With the Guards to Mexico: And Other Excursions'' — A collection of essays written for ''The Spectator''. Published by Rupert Hart-Davis, London.
*1958 ''The Gower Street Poltergeist'' — A collection of essays written for ''The Spectator''.
*1959 ''The Siege at Peking'' — An account of the [[Boxer Rebellion]] and the European-led siege of the Imperial capital.
*1961 ''Bayonets to Lhasa: The First Full Account of the British Invasion of Tibet in 1904''
*1961 ''Goodbye to the Bombay Bowler'' — A collection of essays written for ''The Spectator'' as 'Strix'.
*1963 ''The Fate of Admiral Kolchak'' — a study of the [[White movement|White Army]] leader [[Admiral Kolchak]] who led the anti-Bolshevik movement in Siberia from November 1918 to January 1920.

===Fiction===
;Books
*1940 ''The Flying Visit'' – A humorous novel about an unintended visit to Britain by [[Adolf Hitler]]. Illustrated by [[David Low (cartoonist)|David Low]].
*1942 ''A Story to Tell; and other Tales'' — A collection of short stories.
*1951 ''The Sixth Column. A Singular Tale of Our Times'' — A humorous novella, around the idea of random traitors acting merely because they are in position to act, unlike [[fifth column]]ists with established ideological or command connections to foreign powers. 
* ''The Sett'' (unfinished, unpublished){{sfn|Hart-Davis|1974|p=316}}
;Short fiction
* "The Kill" (1931)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?95124|title=Bibliography: The Kill|publisher=[[Internet Speculative Fiction Database]]}}</ref>
* "Felipe" (1937)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1334525|title=Bibliography: Felipe|publisher=[[Internet Speculative Fiction Database]]}}</ref>

===Other===
*1932 ''Spectator's Gallery: Essays, Sketches, Short Stories & Poems from The Spectator'' — editor with [[Verschoyle family|Derek Verschoyle]].
*1933 ''Variety: Essays, Sketches and Stories'' — illustrated by Roger Pettiward.

==References==
;Notes
{{Reflist}}
;Cited works
* {{cite book|last=Hart-Davis|first=Duff|author-link=Duff Hart-Davis|title=Peter Fleming: A Biography|publisher=Jonathan Cape|location=London|year=1974|isbn= 0-224-01028-X}}
* {{cite book|last=Clifford|first=Nicholas J|title=A Truthful Impression of the Country: British and American Travel Writing in China, 1880–1949|location=Ann Arbor|publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]]|year=2001|isbn=0472111973}}
* {{cite book|last=Ogden|first=Alan|title=Master of Deception: The Wartime Adventures of Peter Fleming|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=London|year=2019|isbn=978-1-7883-1509-8}}
* La Gazette des Français du Paraguay – ''Peter Fleming Un Aventurier au Brésil – Peter Fleming Un Aventurero en Brasil'' – Numéro 5 Année 1, Asunción Paraguay.

==External links==
*[http://www.reading.ac.uk/library/special-collections/collections/lib-special-fleming.asp A short biography provided by the University of Reading]
*[http://www.the-a-maze.net/people/folini/leisure/literature/pfleming.html A profile stressing his travel writing]
*[http://www.007forever.com/books/faq009.html Peter Fleming's daughters]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927203849/http://www.ianfleming.org/mkkbb/iff/iff_blue.shtml Source for the death date of his son Nicholas Fleming at ianfleming.org]
*[http://www.patrickwright.net/2008/02/12/on-peter-flemings-rook-rifle/ Peter Fleming's rook rifle – a correspondence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218190359/http://www.patrickwright.net/2008/02/12/on-peter-flemings-rook-rifle/ |date=18 February 2020 }}
*{{IMDb name|0281727}}
*{{Cite book | last=Bleiler | first=Everett | author-link=Everett F. Bleiler | title=The Checklist of Fantastic Literature | location=Chicago | publisher=Shasta Publishers |  year=1948}}
* [http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/articles/blogs-shanghai/shanghai-book-club/live-blogging-at-the-shanghai-international-book-festival-starting-with-paul-frenchs-talk-on-peter-fleming/ Podcast talk and live blogging] at the Shanghai International Book Festival with Paul French's talk on Peter Fleming
* Paul French, "Peter Fleming" [http://www.audible.co.uk/mt/spotlight-fleming]
* {{UK National Archives ID}}
* {{NPG name|name=(Robert) Peter Fleming}}
*Translated Penguin Book – at [http://www.penguinfirsteditions.com/index.php?cat=TranslatorsA-G Penguin First Editions] reference site of early first edition Penguin Books.
* [http://www.ibtauris.com/ I.B. Tauris] published [http://www.ibtauris.com/Books/Lifestyle-sport--leisure/Travel--holiday/Travel-writing/Classic-travel-writing/To-Peking-A-Forgotten-Journey-from-Moscow-to-Manchuria?menuitem={DFF51E2F-C0BA-4928-ACC4-415188DCDEE8} Fleming's ''To Peking: A Forgotten Journey from Moscow to Manchuria'' (out of stock 4/18)], [http://www.ibtauris.com/Search%20Results.aspx?query=peter+fleming ''News from Tartary'' and ''Bayonets to Lhasa: The British Invasion of Tibet'']; also its [http://www.ibtauris.com/Books/Humanities/History/Regional--national-history/Asian-history/A-Dance-with-the-Dragon-The-Vanished-World-of-Pekings-Foreign-Colony?menuitem={DFF51E2F-C0BA-4928-ACC4-415188DCDEE8} ''A Dance with the Dragon: The Vanished World of Peking's Foreign Colony''] by [[Julia Boyd]] includes Fleming among its subjects.

{{Ian Fleming|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Writers about the Soviet Union]]
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[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
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[[Category:Fleming family|Peter]]
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