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Alexander Russell Frater (3 January 1937 – 1 January 2020) was a British travel writer and
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
. Described by
Miles Kington
Miles Beresford Kington (13 May 1941 – 30 January 2008) was a British journalist, musician (a double bass player for Instant Sunshine and other groups) and broadcaster. He is also credited with the invention of Franglais, a fictional language, ...
as 'the funniest man who wrote for
''Punch'' since the war', Frater is best known for his various books and for documentaries he wrote and produced for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
.
Early life
Frater was born in a small mission hospital in
Port Vila
Port Vila (french: Port-Vila), or simply Vila (; french: Vila; bi, Vila ), is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate.
Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an increase of 35% on the pr ...
,
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
, in the middle of a monsoon. His grandfather and his father were Scottish Presbyterian missionaries in Vanuatu. His grandfather Maurice was based on the island of Paama, which had previously been hostile to all outsiders, from 1900-1939. His father Alec, who became a doctor, established a hospital on the island of Iririki, offshore from Parliament House in Port Vila, training local staff in the treatment of tropical diseases. His mother established and ran two schools in Vanuatu. His father would later teach him how to observe and analyse weather. Frater's family employed the services of a native gardener, Moses, who believed the young Alexander was the reincarnation of a rain God.
A few weeks after the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...
, the family evacuated to Australia to escape
the coming war.
In 1946 they moved to
Suva,
Fiji, where Frater Sr. became professor at the Central Medical School.
After primary school Frater was sent back to Australia to attend
Scotch College in Melbourne, where he edited the school magazine and, as
head boy
Head boy and head girl are student leadership roles in schools, representing the school's entire student body. They are normally the most senior prefects in the school. The terms are commonly used in the British education system as well as in Aus ...
, succeeded in his campaign to abolish
corporal punishment.
Initially studying law at the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...
, he left before graduating to move to England, and studied English at
Durham University (
Hatfield College).
From 1960-1962 Frater competed for
Durham University Boat Club
Durham University Boat Club (DUBC) is the rowing club of Durham University. In recent years, DUBC has cemented itself as one of the strongest university boat clubs in Great Britain. Under the leader ...
. He also represented the Hatfield College Boat Club in intercollegiate events, and served as Captain of the Hatfield College Swimming Club in 1961.
He stumbled into a journalism career by accident. Having submitted pieces to
''Punch'' while still an undergraduate at Durham he was, against all expectations, eventually offered a staff job, which prompted him to once again leave university without graduating.
Frater would later enroll at
Perugia University to briefly study Italian, before again dropping out, meaning that he had attended three universities without graduating from any of them – an 'unusual feat' of which he was proud.
While in Italy he met his wife, Marlis Pfund, who worked as an air hostess for
Swissair.
Career
Punch
Before making his living through writing Frater had romanticised about joining the
Colonial Service
The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...
, but the process of
decolonization
Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on separatism, in ...
, culminating in the end of the
Colonial Office
The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of c ...
altogether, ended this notion.
Frater's tenure at ''Punch'' saw him develop a friendly rivalry with a young
Alan Coren
Alan Coren (27 June 1938 – 18 October 2007) was an English humourist, writer and satirist who was a regular panellist on the BBC radio quiz ''The News Quiz'' and a team captain on BBC television's ''Call My Bluff''. Coren was also a journalis ...
, later to find fame as a humourist and participant on ''
The News Quiz
''The News Quiz'' is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
History
''The News Quiz'' was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently, it was chaired by Barry Took from 1979 to 1981, Simon Hoggart f ...
''.
But it also coincided with the magazine's period of starkest decline, which he attributed to both the
Satire boom (which left ''Punch'' looking old-fashioned) and the decline of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
– the magazine being popular in the Colonies.
Interim
Looking to move on, he soon became a contracted writer for ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''. During his time writing for ''The New Yorker'' he produced a number of stories about an idyllic, imaginary Pacific island he called
Tofua. Later he was informed by a fact-checker that such an island really existed in
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
, which went on to form the basis for a book published many years later, ''Tales from the Torrid Zone''. Following his time with ''The New Yorker'' he spent one year as a staff writer for ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' from 1966–1967, working on its supplemental magazine.
John Anstey, the magazine's editor, did not like 'Russ', the name which Frater was then known by and demanded he use his first name for his byline (his family had a tradition of calling members by their second names).
Friends from earlier periods would continue to call him 'Russ', as did those he met after leaving
Fleet Street.
The Observer
Frater moved to
''The Observer'' in 1967, where he would spend more than two decades, become travel editor and amass a series of awards.
He was twice commended in the British Press Awards, and in 1990 won Travel Writer of the Year.
Frater took a short break from journalism to write ''Beyond the Blue Horizon'' (1984). He attempted to recreate the journey made in the
Imperial Airways
Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...
'Eastbound Empire' service - the world's longest and most adventurous scheduled air route. ''Chasing the Monsoon'' (1990) sees Frater follow the
Monsoon in India
The Monsoon of South Asia is among several geographically distributed global monsoons. It affects the Indian subcontinent, where it is one of the oldest and most anticipated weather phenomena and an economically important pattern every year fro ...
. As a child his curiosity about India, and particularly its monsoon season, was sparked by his father - who often told stories about the country. In the course of this journey following the Monsoon he visited the city of
Deeg
Deeg is a historical town and a municipality in Bharatpur district in the state of Rajasthan, India. It is situated north of Bharatpur and northwest of Agra.
In Hindu mythology, Deeg was situated along the '' parikrama'' path of Krishna, wh ...
, having driven for five-hours from
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
, but was disappointed to find the city largely lifeless and the watercourses all empty. ''Chasing the Monsoon'' would turn out to be Frater's most popular book, particularly in India, where, by 2016, it still sold hundreds of copies a month.
Frater visited
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
in the 1990s under the guise of being a teacher – journalists not being allowed in. He stayed at the
Koryo Hotel
The Koryo Hotel is the second largest operating hotel in North Korea, the largest being the Yanggakdo Hotel. The Ryugyong Hotel is larger than both, but is not yet operating. The twin-towered Koryo Hotel building is 143 metres (469 ft ...
, where he was one of only 20 guests despite the building having 45 floors.
In 2008 he published his final book, ''The Balloon Factory''. It focuses on the pioneers of aviation-based at
The Balloon Factory in
Farnborough.
Television
Frater made several television documentaries.
A BBC and ABC Discovery Series documentary recreating Africa's
flying boat journeys from Cairo to Mozambique was filmed in difficult conditions in 1989 aboard a
Catalina
Catalina may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''The Catalina'', a 2012 American reality television show
* ''Catalina'' (novel), a 1948 novel by W. Somerset Maugham
* Catalina (''My Name Is Earl''), character from the NBC sitcom ''My Name Is Earl''
...
flying boat. The programme aired in 1990 entitled ''The Last African Flying Boat''.
''Monsoon'' (BBC), about India's monsoonal rainfall event, aired in 1991.
''In the Footsteps of Buddha'' (BBC), 1993.
Personal
Frater had 2 children: Tania, a university administrator, and John, a medical professor at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
He lived in
Richmond upon Thames
The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...
, close to
Heathrow Airport, but unlike many residents did not mind being under 'the glide path' and was curious about the details of the aircraft passing above his flat.
In a 2004 interview with ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' Frater named his worst travel experience as being arrested in
Kupang
Kupang ( id, Kota Kupang, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 C ensus, it had a population of 442,758; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 455,850. It is the largest ci ...
,
West Timor
West Timor ( id, Timor Barat) is an area covering the western part of the island of Timor, except for the district of Oecussi-Ambeno (an East Timorese exclave). Administratively, West Timor is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The ...
by the
Indonesian Military
, founded = as the ('People's Security Forces')
, current_form =
, disbanded =
, branches =
, headquarters = Cilangkap, Jakarta
, website =
, commander-in-chief = Joko Widodo
, ...
and spending three days in prison, in a cell neighbouring a pit with two
Komodo dragons
The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is the largest extant s ...
.
After release he was put under
house arrest and then thrown off the island.
Death
Frater died on 1 January 2020, two days before his 83rd birthday and several years after suffering a
stroke.
Books
* Frater, A.R. 2008. ''The Balloon Factory: The Story of the Men Who Built Britain's First Flying Machines''. Picador.
* Frater, A.R. 2004. ''Tales from the Torrid Zone''. Vintage Books/Picador.
* Frater, A.R. 1990. ''Chasing the Monsoon: a Modern Pilgrimage Through India''. Picador.
* Frater, A.R. 1986. ''Beyond the Blue Horizon: On the track of Imperial Airways''. Heinemann.
* Frater, A.R. (ed.) 1984. ''Great Rivers of the World''.
Hodder & Stoughton.
* Frater, A.R. 1983 ''Stopping-Train Britain.'' Hodder & Stoughton.
Awards
*
BAFTA Award
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...
for Best Single Documentary (''The Last African Flying Boat'')
* British Press Travel Award commendations – 1982 and 1989
*
British Press Award
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
Travel Writer of the Year – 1990, 1991 and 1992
* Best Radio Feature Travelex Travel Writers' Awards – 2000
* Overall winner Travelex Travel Writers' Awards – 2000
* Shortlisted Thomas Cook Travel Book of the Year Award, for ''Monsoon'' (Br Book Award, McVitie's Prize)
See also
*
List of Hatfield College alumni
*
List of Durham University people
This is a list of people associated with Durham University, divided for user convenience into multiple subcategories. This includes alumni, those who have taught there, conducted research there or played a part in its founding.
Durham is a coll ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frater, Alexander
1937 births
2020 deaths
Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham
Australian writers
British male journalists
British travel writers
Durham University Boat Club rowers
People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne
University of Melbourne alumni
University of Perugia alumni