Sandy is born, and lo and behold, he has a family!
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This wonderfully named man, who prefers to be known as Sandy, is the author of the Mma Ramotswe books, as if you didn't already know.
At the time of writing (June, 2017) Sandy is 68, being born on 24 August, 1948. Don't forget his birthday! Sandy was born in what was called Southern Rhodesia, which is right next door to Botswana, and which was later called Rhodesia, and later still Zimbabwe. We detest imperialism, and the Zimbabwe's ghastly fate reflects the worst of it. Well done, poms, that rates with your genocidal attempts on the First Australians, and the falsification of their pre-white history to attempt justifying stealing First Australian land. Whoops, in all the excitement ... well, my |
excitement, anyway ... well, okay, my ranting, I nearly forgot to mention "Alexander" is Sandy's full given name. His family name (surname), is the double banger "McCall Smith". While it's common for double bangers to be separated by a hyphen, there are exceptions, and this is one.
We've seen Sandy's name given variously as "A M Smith", "A Mc Smith", "A McC Smith", and "A McCall Smith". Just remember, if you're doing any research, all these people are actually the same person, Alexander ("Sandy") McCall Smith. "Sandy" is a commonly shortened form of "Alexander", as are Lex, Lexie, Lexy, Alex, Alec, Al, Allie, and, believe it or not, Xander and Zig (although, we have to say the latter two are uncommon - we've only come up against one poor bloke, who was known by both names). |
As the sign says "Bulawayo: The Place of Slaughter" Something for which the awful Rhodes would undoubtedly have felt little, if any, guilt. |
Sandy's Parents
Sandy's city of birth was Bulawayo. His father was a lawyer there, but he was no Rumpole. He was the public prosecutor, which may explain Sandy's later interest in the law, although I'm pleased to note he didn't follow his dad down the dark side.
Sandy's mother was the unpublished author of several manuscripts (one source) or one very long and unfinished manuscript (another source, which we find more believable, it being Sandy himself). This manuscript was apparently "something" about the Congo. She instructed that it be destroyed on her death, and Sandy made sure it was. We wonder if Sandy ever read it. Certainly, in the sources it appears not. I understand Sandy's moral obligation to his mum, but as so many authors doubt their own skill I reckon I would've had a peak to see if it was as unpublishable as his mother reckoned. However, that morality is what makes us love Mma Ramotswe. So different to Sandy, apart from the obvious gender difference, in many ways, Mma Ramotswe is a highly, sometimes perhaps too highly, moral woman. |
Having said that, Mma Ramotswe also has the great wisdom to usually know when to be flexible. She's a highly intelligent woman, and understands much about human nature, and the things that sometimes drive us to do things that on the surface, at least, can be seen to be contrary to the often inflexible judgements of governments, laws, courts, and police.
Sandy describes his father as a nice, gentle man, and his mother as "colourful", whatever that means. Sandy certainly appears to have a bit of both, in the nicest possible combination. Certainly the niceness and gentleness comes out most strongly in Mr Matekoni."Colourful" makes her sound like quite a character, although we can't help wondering how well matched she and her husband were. Still, there are no indications of family ructions in the various sources, quite the opposite, in fact. However, Sandy seems a little equivocal about the happiness of his earlier years in Bulawayo, but not, we hasten to add, because of his family. Rather, it was the consequences of being part of the dominant white minority enforcers of British imperialism. This, at a time when the authority of the British and the whites was in the process of waning. |
Sandy's Women!
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