Alexander Frater

Alexander Russell Frater (3 January 1937 – 1 January 2020 ) was a British travel writer and journalist. Described by Miles Kington as 'the funniest man who wrote for Punch since the war', Frater is best known for his various books and for documentaries he wrote and produced for the BBC and ABC.

Early life and education Frater was born in a small mission hospital in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in the middle of a monsoon. His doctor father would later teach him how to observe and analyse weather. A few weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the family evacuated to Australia to escape the coming war.

After primary school Frater was sent back to Australia to attend Scotch College in Melbourne, where he edited the school magazine and, as head boy, succeeded in his campaign to abolish corporal punishment. Initially studying law at the University of Melbourne, he left before graduating to move to England, and studied English at Durham University. He also served as Captain of the Hatfield College Swimming Club in 1961.

By his own account, he stumbled into a journalism career by accident. Having submitted pieces to Punch as an undergraduate at Durham he was, against all expectations, eventually offered a staff job, which prompted him to again leave university without graduating. While in Italy he met his wife, Marlis Pfund, who worked as an air hostess for Swissair. Frater's tenure at Punch saw him develop a friendly rivalry with a young Alan Coren, later to find fame as a humourist and participant on The News Quiz. During his time writing for The New Yorker he produced a number of stories about an idyllic, imaginary Pacific island he called Tofua. Later he was informed by a fact-checker that such an island really existed in Tonga, which went on to form the basis for a book published many years later, Tales from the Torrid Zone. Following his time with The New Yorker he spent one year as a staff writer for The Daily Telegraph from 1966 to 1967, working on its supplemental magazine.

Frater took a short break from journalism to write Beyond the Blue Horizon (1984). He attempted to recreate the journey made in the Imperial Airways 'Eastbound Empire' service - the world's longest and most adventurous scheduled air route. Chasing the Monsoon (1990) sees Frater follow the Monsoon in India. As a child his curiosity about India, and particularly its monsoon season, was sparked by his father - who often told stories about the country. In the course of this journey following the Monsoon he visited the city of Deeg, having driven for five-hours from New Delhi, but was disappointed to find the city largely lifeless and the watercourses all empty. Chasing the Monsoon would turn out to be Frater's most popular book, particularly in India, where, by 2016, it still sold hundreds of copies a month.

Frater visited North Korea in the 1990s under the guise of being a teacher – journalists not being allowed in. He stayed at the Koryo Hotel, where he was one of only 20 guests despite the building having 45 floors.

In 2008 he published his final book, The Balloon Factory. It focuses on the pioneers of aviation-based at The Balloon Factory in Farnborough.

Television Frater made several television documentaries.

A BBC and ABC Discovery Series documentary recreating Africa's flying boat journeys from Cairo to Mozambique was filmed in difficult conditions in 1989 aboard a Catalina flying boat. The programme aired in 1990 entitled The Last African Flying Boat and was awarded a BAFTA for Best Documentary in 1991.

Monsoon (BBC), about India's monsoonal rainfall event, aired in 1991.

In the Footsteps of Buddha (BBC), 1993.

Personal Frater had 2 children: Tania, a university administrator, and John, a medical professor at the University of Oxford. After release he was put under house arrest and then thrown off the island.

Death Frater died on 1 January 2020 at the age of 82.