Gallagher, Donatus (2017) Book review of "Commando General: The Life of Major General Sir Robert Laycock KCMG CB DSO" by R. Mead, Barnsley, UK, Pen and Sword, 2016. ISBN:978-1-4738-5408-6. Evelyn Waugh Studies, 48 (2). pp. 19-24.

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Abstract

[Extract] Readers of Evelyn Waugh Studies will know Sir Robert (Bob) Laycock as the friend of Waugh and as the recognized model for the confident, pragmatic, and likable Colonel Tommy Blackhouse in Officers and Gentlemen and the Sword of Honour trilogy—the C.O. of No. X Commando and Deputy Commander of HOOKFORCE, both with strong links to the umbrella organization HOO (Hazardous Offensive Operations). Richard Mead’s excellent biography of Laycock gives a very full account Laycock himself and of the “real-life” equivalents of these fictional units, all of which Laycock came to command: viz. No. 8 Commando, LAYFORCE, and Combined Operations. (He also commanded the Special Service Brigade, but that has no fictional counterpart.) Baseless allegations that Laycock acted dishonourably during the evacuation of Crete, and that Waugh covered up for him, will have come to many readers’ attention. So too will Waugh’s fanciful encomium of Laycock in “Commando Raid on Bardia,” where he is the young officer who combined a “brilliant career at the Staff College” with “such feats of toughness as sailing round the world as an ordinary seaman in a Finnish windjammer.” Most Wavians probably also know that the tough, extrovert Commando with “the face of a gentleman boxer” was an avid and sophisticated reader; and that after leaving the Army he became Governor of Malta.

Item ID:	52868
Item Type:	Article (Book Review)
ISSN:	1058-8272
Date Deposited:	09 Mar 2018 05:15
FoR Codes:	19 STUDIES IN CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING > 1999 Other Studies in Creative Arts and Writing > 199999 Studies in Creative Arts and Writing not elsewhere classified @ 100%
SEO Codes:	95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9502 Communication > 950203 Languages and Literature @ 100%
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