Harry Flashman Harry Flashman Sir Harry Paget Flashman is a fictional character created by Thomas Hughes (1822–1896) in the semi-autobiographical "Tom Brown's School Days" (1857) and later developed by George MacDonald Fraser (1925–2008). Harry Flashman appears in a series of 12 of Fraser's books, collectively known as "The Flashman Papers", with covers illustrated by Arthur Barbosa. Flashman was played by Malcolm McDowell in the Richard Lester 1975 film "Royal Flash". In Hughes' 1857 book, Flashman (a relatively minor character) is portrayed as a notorious bully at Rugby School who persecutes Tom Brown, and who is finally expelled for drunkenness. Fraser decided to
Harry Potter influences and analogues a boy who arrives in this strange school to board for the first time and makes good, solid friends and also enemies who use bullying and unfair tactics", notes Fry, "then is ambiguous about whether or not he is going to be good or bad. His pluck and his endeavour, loyalty, good nature and bravery are the things that carry him through – and that is the story of Tom Brown's "Schooldays"". Fans of author J. R. R. Tolkien have drawn attention to the similarities between his novel "The Lord of the Rings" and the "Harry Potter" series; specifically Tolkien's