Book Description

"After being dragged out of jail and placed on parole by Comrade Trotsky..." is the opening sentence in this book of memorable memoirs. It begins with a flashback to 1920 in Russia, where Bandy was sent to fight the Bolsheviks, but after his peace-time adventures in New York our hero returns in 1923 to his home in Gallop, Ontario. "Good Lord -- you're not the Bandy, are you?" is what he encounters at the Ministry of Defence in Ottawa when he tries to make an honest living. Soon he is so desperate that he agrees to run as a Liberal candidate in a by-election. To the horror of the party leaders -- especially Prime Minister Mackenzie King -- he wins and takes his seat in Parliament. His own exciting adventures as a rum-runner flying supplies to the Prohibition-parched United States makes him an authority on Liberal corruption, which leads to his lightning elevation to the Liberal Cabinet. Will this last? Will landing his float plane on the swimming Prime Minister tell against him? Will his girlfriend forgive him for being kept hidden in his parents' attic for three whole days? These are good questions, well worthy of this unforgettable fifth volume. Donald Jack was born in England in 1924 and served in the Royal Air Force before coming to Canada. He is best known for his ongoing series, The Bandy Papers (starting with Three Cheers for Me, That's Me in the Middle, It's Me Again and Me Bandy, You Cissie) which has won three Stephen Leacock Awards for Humour -- and a devoted following. Book jacket.