Only a moderately intriguing adventurer

John Bierman, the co-author of a recent book on Alamein, had doubts about writing this biography of Lazlo Almasy, the Hungarian-born explorer of the Libyan desert, whose exploits were ‘immortalised’ in Michael Ondaatje’s Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, and the subsequent Oscar-winning film by Anthony Minghella. Bierman did not want to be seen to be taking ‘a ride on the coat-tails’ of the novel and the film (in which case a change of subtitle might have been advisable). He was also, rather puzzlingly, concerned that he might find ‘something nasty in the woodshed’ with regard to Almasy’s alleged Nazi past. Lastly, and more tellingly, he was unsure whether Almasy was an important enough historical figure to warrant ‘a full treatment’ and, related to this, he was worried whether he could find ‘enough primary source material to justify a new biography’. Although Bierman decided to go ahead with his ‘project’ he might have been better advised to have listened to his doubts.