Frederick Lees

Frederick Lees was born in 1924 in Cheshire. He served in RAF Bomber Command during the war and afterwards studied at Liverpool and London Universities. After joining the British Overseas Civil Service he was posted to Malaya where much of his work related to the countering of the Communist Insurgency. Subsequently he entered the British Diplomatic Service which took him back to South East Asia at the time of Indonesian semi-belligerent confrontation against the newly formed Federation of Malaysia. In the 1970's he became involved in the work of British and European non-governmental agencies active in Third World development; this, for a while, brought him to the Sudan in the aftermath of the first civil war and to Ethiopia in the period just before the anti-monarchical revolution. Later he returned to diplomatic work to train the foreign service of Papua New Guinea. The last part of his overseas career was spent in the Asian Development Bank in Manila during the years of the People Power revolution against the Marcos regime.

Lees penned  "The Arthuriad of Catumandus," highly praised by Anne Ross, D.J. Taylor, Gore Vidal and many others.  His interest in Arthurian studies began in his university days and so the Arthuriad represents many years of research into the early Dark Age period. The book is enhanced by his personal experience of social ferment, political rivalries and ambitious leaders in situations ranging from the sophisticated modern states of South East Asia through the court life of Malay sultanates to the religious conflicts of the Sudan and the tribal wars of Papua New Guinea. His deep understanding of human motivation has enabled him, on the foundation of Catumandus’ memoirs, to transmute 5th and 6th centuries AD Britain from an age of legend into a real world that is both harsh and beautiful.

Lees' depth of knowledge and command of the English language, which at times soars to the poetic, is amply illustrated in these selected cartoons and demonstrated in his literary works - the "Annals of the Purple City," a novel of east west human relationships rich in erotic and mystical elements, inspired by a sojourn in the early nineteen fifties in Macao where he studied Chinese. Those elements are also present in "The Arthuriad." A trilogy of novels, "The Malayan Life of Ferdach O’Haney," encapsulates much of Lees’ Malayan experience. His most recent novel. "The Rape of Rye," describes contemporary social life in the historic Sussex town of Rye where Lees and his wife, Marie, now live.