Sandy's Affair |
Sandy & Mma Ramotswe? |
Kwaluseni campus of the University of Swaziland. It's tough getting current photos, let alone 1981 photos. This is the location of the campus of the University of Botswana and Swaziland where Sandy worked.
Old and New buildings at the University of Botswana. I suspect Sandy's building was more like the closer building than the further away building.
Seems like an odd book to write while in Swaziland, but perhaps it reflects what was on Sandy's mind (sorry, Elizabeth).
We don't know if Sandy and Elizabeth had figures like these on their wedding cake, but as Sandy always wears a kilt to special events they seem to fit. Oh, and it's only the English who seem to fuss over what Scots wear under their kilts. What's that say about them? Especially as the wearing of underpants only became common there in the 20th century.
And here.
Sandy and some others puffing away in the Really Terrible Orchestra.
Sandy and friend sharing a cup of tea (no, not Rooibos!).
Sandy having another cup of his favourite addiction (tea!).
Sandy wearing what looks like Obed Ramotswe's hat.
Sandy seems to have a strong preference for classical music. What better than to listen to it on a classical music player? Hmmm. Perhaps not.
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Off to Swaziland ...
After his victory in the literary competition, and the success of publishing his first fiction book, albeit a children's book (The White Hippo), Sandy, having worked long enough to be granted a sabbatical, decided to head off to spend some time in Swaziland at the law faculty of the University of Botswana and Swaziland. He developed an interest in Swaziland and the faculty after meeting students from the University of Botswana and Swaziland studying in Edinburgh on scholarships. ... Although it really goes to Elizabeth, of course. His heart, we mean
Talking about Sandy's affection, while he was working towards his degree and doctorate, Sandy met a young woman studying to be a medical practitioner (or should that be "physician"?), Elizabeth Parry. Things didn't really take off at that time, for reasons that are no business of ours, but they met again sometime later, and married in 1982.
Later, Sandy and Elizabeth produced two daughters, Lucy and Emily, who appear to have followed their mother's career path by becoming physicians. Maybe Sandy's interest in medical ethics was influenced by his wife's profession, although we've read he denies this. Or, perhaps it was his grandfather the doctor taking off to New Zealand with one of his female patients. See! Oh, perhaps I should explain. This "See!" relates to the comment to the above left.
Sandy kicks arseNote that's "kick" with a "k", not "lick" with an "l". We doubt very much that Sandy's ever been one for licking arse, in the metaphorical sense. The actual sense is none of our business or concern, but we doubt that too.
It often comes as a surprise to those of us used to seeing Sandy as the world renowned author of the Mma Ramotswe books, but of course as you might possibly have guessed from reading his non-fiction bibliography (although his tastes are so catholic you might be excused for missing it), he was world renowned before that, just in a field most of us don’t follow. While Sandy was a professor at the University of Edinburgh, he was no run-of-the-mill academic. Indeed, Sandy was a world leading expert in medical legal (or medico-legal) ethics, did some short-term professorships abroad, including time at the law school at Southern Methodist University (goodness, is that a real place?), was deputy chairman of the British government’s Human Genetics Commission, and was Britain's representative on the bioethics commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). In other words, in the field of medical legal ethics, Sandy kicked some real arse (or ass, as you Americans would say, although why you want to kick the hell out of donkeys mystifies us). Look at this poor ass. How could you kick it? Or, maybe, this is what an arse looks like after a kicking! Or, then again, maybe not!!
And hits paydirt with Mma Ramotswe. Or not.
Sandy's time as a world-renowned author of fiction was just around the corner. It started when he decided to move on from children's books. For some years he had an image in his mind of a woman he saw in Botswana chasing, catching, wringing the neck of, and, I think, plucking a chook to give as a gift (to Dr and Mrs Moffat, as it happens). She was a large, "traditionally" built (ummmm, how can I put this, errr, how about "bigger than large") woman with a broad smile, a lovely nature, and a determination to accord with what she regarded as the traditional Botswanan (or Motswana) generosity to strangers.
Sandy took this image, and created a brilliant character with a hankering after a Botswana of the past, and combined this character with an inheritance that enabled her to do something she had always wanted to do - establish a private detective agency, the first in Botswana, and, what is more, run by a woman. Mma Ramotswe. Of course. (There is, in fact, apparently a genuine detective agency in Gabarone, but we understand it is not run by a woman. We don't know if Mma Ramotswe was first or not.) |
... But his heart? Botswana ...
While he appears to have enjoyed his time in Swaziland (he wrote his bestselling children's book of the pre-Mma Ramotswe children's books while there; The Perfect Hamburger), he seems to have particularly enjoyed trips to visit friends in nearby Botswana (Dr Howard and Mrs Fiona Moffat, whose names you might recall from the Mma Ramotswe novels).
Inspired by these visits, he was quick to accept the opportunity to travel to Gaborone in 1981 to establish what would become the law faculty of the University of Botswana (made necessary by the planned forthcoming 1982 split with the University of Swaziland, which occurred as planned). From this time he was well and truly hooked, and returned (indeed, returns) to visit Botswana at every opportunity. Mind you, he does not limit himself to Botswana in southern Africa. For example, he has supported a hospital in Zimbabwe and owns a theatre in South Africa (at least, at the time of writing, 3/2015). But it is Botswana that really attracts his on-going affection. Lex has seen wild elephants in Sri Lanka, and it was fantastic. But Bronwyn has seen the much bigger African elephant in the Kruger Park in South Africa, lucky thing. These are Botswanan elephants, of course.
Here's Sandy in his Rumpole rig. He was being joined up to the Scottish Faculty of Advocates as a non-practising member. In English and Australian terms, he is now a barrister, except he's not allowed to practise as one.
Hmmm. Odd. I don't think we have an equivalent here. We're not sure what the American, Canadian, NZ etc. versions are, but we're sure you'll all let us know. Organic (BUT not free trade, as far as we can tell) rooibos chai (ie with spices added)
But, albeit slowly, that paydirt finally came
Sandy's future changed, but not as suddenly as you might think. It actually took some years for word to seep out of Scotland into the United States, and then into the rest of the world. Some writers even think the 9/11 atrocities had to occur first, to interest a horrified American public in sweet-natured stories about a lovely Botswanan (again, Motswana) private detective.
Professorships at Edinburgh University pay well, but nothing like a multinationally multimillion selling series of novels. Goodness only knows how Sandy finds the time to write. He travels the world on book tours and to writers' festivals, visiting friends, entertaining interviewers, and even then writing. Of course, rising at the crack of a sparrow's flatulence helps, writing a thousand words or so, then going back to bed. Then, he writes another thousand or so words later in the day. A month or so of this and he's got another novel. |
Sandy and Rev. (now Bishop) Trevor Mwamba at a gathering in Dr. Moffat's garden.
Sandy on the right, in case you didn't recognise him, doing something he seriously loves, sailing. He does, after all, own an island. Not that I'm jealous or anything. Looks like a serious business. Either that or they've just had a disagreement about an important medico-legal issue! Or, maybe Sandy's wishing the bloke on the left would put his togs on again.
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Sandy looking cool in his overcoat. It was snowing in Edinburgh last time we were there. We suspect he gets a good bit of wear out of his overcoat. Mind you, thanks to the fact so many of us enjoy his writing, he can probably afford more than one.
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Sandy, Precious, and Morality
Mma Ramotswe has a strong interest in and sense of what she regards as morality. This is powerfully informed by Sandy's studies of and interest in ethics. The Mma Ramotswe books are, in this sense, morality plays. Sandy creates a scenario to work through the way/s particular people might deal with particular circumstances. What is important is not so much the story, as the people and how they react and interact.
This doesn't mean the characters are just mouthpieces for Sandy's beliefs and opinions. He has a great facility for "speaking" with the "voice" of each particular character. This is not necessarily the general case for novelists. For example, in detective fiction alone, there are multiple cases of even quite highly regarded writers who can't convincingly write in the voice of a person of the opposite sex to themselves. And some who can't even write convincingly in the voice of a person of the same sex! But in addition, Sandy seems to be a man with a strong sense of morality. Whether, like Mma Ramotswe, he has a hankering for the past isn't clear in his interviews or personal writings, but an insight is perhaps there in his writings about the matter of euthanasia, although drawing conclusions from one example of a highly controversial topic is not a good practice. |
Sandy's approach to euthanasia has much in common with the christian naysayers, which is not to say he's either right or wrong, or indeed christian, and he is definitely not unthinking, like most naysayers (and yaysayers for that matter), simply that he's standing in the way of one of those socio-cultural change-juggernauts like gay marriage, which will eventually roll right over its opponents whatever anyone does to stop it or slow it. Right or wrong has nothing to do with it.
Mma Ramotswe seems to have some of the same sense of standing against change she regards as immoral - and that most certainly does not include every "old" way of doing things, like "black" magic. But, if she believes she's right, the possibility of being rolled over by a change-juggernaut will not stop her, because in this sense she has no fear of standing strong for the "right" thing, as she perceives it to be. In reality, this can be OK so long as one is, in fact, right - although, frankly, the determination of this is very much involved with subjective decisions. But if one isn't right, the consequences can be dire indeed. |
**Yeah, yeah, so, it was a blatant misuse of an alternative meaning of the word "affair" we knew you might misinterpret. Donald Trump, the President of the United States of America (the groaning you here comes from the presidents who preceded him, right back to old George, the cherry tree bloke, although, of course, that was all another fake news story!) can do this stuff, and all those disgusting false news media he has such support from, so why not us? What? Mma Ramotswe wouldn't approve this level of immorality? Ah, now you get it. That's the point. Wake up world, this stuff is immoral and unethical, and while all politicians lie to some degree (yep, without exception), we don't know of any even even pseudo-democratic politician like Trump (Remember? 3 million votes less than his opponent, although as one of his supporters pointed out to Lex, the US isn't a democracy, it's a republic) who has done so to such a degree (except, maybe, Trump's love buddy, Putin, and I'm trying to avoid a reference to another much more democratically elected politician, at least the first time, whose name begins with H and who ended up killing himself, having his body burned, then his remains being crushed up and sprinkled down a drain in the middle of a military parade ground - after causing the deaths of tens of millions of people, including his own citizens).
Oh, we love the chance for a good holier-than-thou rant!! At least, Lex does!!! |
And fair trade organic Rooibos tea, like the wonderful Dragonfly
organic AND fair trade Rooibos tea.
organic AND fair trade Rooibos tea.
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