![]() ![]() His creator was born into the south London suburbs in 1883 as plain Arthur Ward, later adopting the middle name Sarsfield in honour of Irish nobleman Patrick Sarsfield, whom he claimed as an ancestor on his mother's side (which, if true, would make him a distant relative of Lord Lucan). Along with a series of novels, Fu Manchu generated endless spin-offs including five movies, a radio serial and even a brand of sticky sweets, as late as the 1970s, called Fu Man Chews. Supposedly the most evil man in the world, Fu Manchu was nevertheless much loved by his public, and by mid-century he had taken up residence in the same glorious realm as Dracula and Sherlock Holmes. ![]() ![]() It was just over a century ago that Rohmer created the fiendish Dr Fu Manchu, “the yellow peril incarnate in one man”, hell-bent on nothing less than the downfall of Western civilisation. Sax Rohmer falls into the category – like HP Lovecraft – of truly great bad writers, and like Lovecraft he has only recently enjoyed a revival and re-evaluation. ![]()
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