An Afghan dancer whom Flashman rapes, Gul Shah - Sher Afzul's nephew, Narreeman's lover and later husband, and Flashman's torturer, Hudson - Flashman's sergeant on the retreat from Kabul who comes to realise Flashman is a coward but dies before he can expose him. Historical characters Thomas Hughes - The author of Tom Brown's Schooldays. Thomas Arnold - The headmaster of Rugby School. Lord Cardigan - Flashman's original commanding officer, whom he describes as "amusing, frightening, vindictive, charming, and downright dangerous" and "too stupid ever to be afraid". Captain John Reynolds - embroiled in "The Black Bottle Affair" with Lord Cardigan. Lord Auckland - Governor-General of India. Sir Robert Henry Sale - Commander at the Battle of Jellalabad. Lady Sale - Sir Robert's wife, and celebrated diarist. Paolo Di Avitabile - Governor of Peshawar, Flashman said of him "the Sikhs and Afghans were more scared of him than the devil himself". Willoughby Cotton - Former army commander at Kabul. Alexander Burnes - Political agent at Kabul, Flashman is present at his assassination. General John Nicholson. Colin Mackenzie - army officer who is depicted as one of the few competent British officers in Afghanistan. George Broadfoot - reckoned to be one of the bravest officers amongst the British in Kabul. William Hay Macnaghten - Head political agent at Kabul, Flashman is present at his assassination. General Elphinstone - Commander of the Kabul army, whom Flashman describes as "the greatest military idiot of our own or any other day". Akbar Khan - Led the revolt in Kabul and held Flashman hostage; Flashman "was impressed by the obvious latent strength of the man" but also says "he was something of a dandy". William Nott (1782 – 1845), a British military leader in India. Henry Havelock - army officer who meets Flashman at the Siege of Jalalabad. Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough- Governor-General of India, whom Flashman found to be rather long-winded. Duke of Wellington - goes with Flashman to visit the Queen and shakes his hand. Queen Victoria - Flashman describes her as "rather plump, and pretty enough beneath the neck". Prince Albert - who has "hellish-looking whiskers" according to Flashman. Thomas Babington Macaulay - present when Flashman meets the Queen. Background George MacDonald Fraser was a journalist who dreamt of becoming a novelist. He wrote a straight historical novel in the mid-1950s which no one would publish and came to feel