'Slim captures the humanity and humour of soldiers, in a series of stories which hark back to the age of the empire.' Saul David, author of Victoria's Wars.From the pen of the man who would become one of Britain's greatest generals of the Second World War.Edited and curated by bestselling historian Robert Lyman, The English Colonel is a special collection of stories by William and "Bill and " Slim which were first published during the interwar years under a pseudonym.Seen through the eyes of an officer of the old Indian Army, these stories provide a window into a lost world.The collection The English ColonelThe man looked, sounded and behaved every inch of the English Colonel, but for one small feature that made Govind the priest doubt his identity.Ghanoo and the BalooLow caste Ghanoo is a lowly mail-runner in the foothills of the Himalayas earning a mere 12 rupees a month. He has no hope of ever winning the hand of his beloved, Rupli. But unexpected events - including a marauding bear - interpose themselves to change the future for them both.How the Empire BeganIn the early days of the East India Company, the problem of protecting a trading post against the marauding Mahrattas worried the Agent, Jack Oddstock. The solution he came to was eagerly grasped by defenceless villagers who lay in the path of the enemy horseman - and who desperately sought the protection only he, a trader protecting his good, could offer.The Gurkha's HiccupThe new regimental doctor, in unknown territory and after a convivial evening in the tented Mess on the North West Frontier, struggles to communicate in the darkness with a Gurkha sentry.Recommended for fans of Jim Corbett, John Buchan, Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling.Field Marshal Sir William ('Bill') Slim (1891-1970) was the man who led the famous Fourteenth Army to victory over the Japanese in India and Burma in 1944 and 1945. Lord Louis Mountbatten described him in 1951 as the man who 'more than any other living person won the victory in Burma.' He wrote his best-selling Defeat into Victory in 1956, which tells the story of this long war between 1942 and 1945. He became Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1949, the first Indian Army officer to do so. After being Governor General of Australia between 1952 and 1959. He died in 1970.Born in New Zealand in 1963 Dr Robert Lyman was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. He spent twenty years as an officer in the British Army. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Robert Lyman is the author of numerous acclaimed works of military history, including Slim, Master of War and A War of Empires.'Field Marshal Viscount Slim - Uncle Bill to his troops - was not only Britain's finest general of the Second World War but a wonderful writer and story teller too. From humble origins and without any private money, as a young officer he supplemented his modest army pay by writing short stories under the pen name of Anthony Mills. Most of these tales were based on fact and gave an insight into that wonderful organisation the Indian Army of the Raj, the world's largest all volunteer army. That they are to be republished with an introduction by Robert Lyman, himself an expert on the Far East campaigns and the Indian Army, is nothing short of a delight.' Gordon Corrigan, author of Tipping Points of History.