The Scandalous Freddie McEvoy: The true story of the swashbuckling Australian rogue

Description

Swashbuckler, daredevil racing-car champion, Winter Olympian, gambler, smuggler, scoundrel, stud and suspected spy - this is the fascinating story of the scandalous Freddie McEvoy. Born in Melbourne in 1907, Freddie's life took him from socialising with a young Errol Flynn in Sydney and on to the French Riviera in the heady years leading up to World War II. With his dashing good looks and charm, Freddie lived a swashbuckling life, quickly figuring out his path to easy fortune was through lonely rich women. World War II didn't stop Freddie's hedonistic pursuits - he skipped enlistment for Australia and Britain to party on in Hollywood, where he renewed his friendship with the now infamous Errol Flynn. Always short of cash, Freddie smuggled guns and diamonds on his yacht between California and Mexico and was rumoured to have worked as a spy. It was a life lived large and Freddie's death in 1951 was under the most mysterious circumstances off the coast of Morocco: his body was found naked and scalped . . . Frank Walker, bestselling author of The Tiger Man of Vietnam and Maralinga, has for the first time uncovered the complete, outrageous and incredible true story of Freddie McEvoy, Australia's daredevil Lothario. 'Freddie was one of the great livers of life. He lived it the way he saw it - he didn't give a hoot.' Errol Flynn 'Pleasure is my business.' Freddie McEvoy 'an extraordinary yarn . . . finely researched' Sun-Herald on Frank Walker's Ghost Platoon

Frank Walker has been an Australian journalist and foreign correspondent in Germany and the United States for forty years, covering wars and coups, floods and fires, terrorist attacks and political brawls, movie stars and street crime. His first two bestselling books - The Tiger Man of Vietnam and Ghost Platoon - revealed uncomfortable truths about Australia's actions in the Vietnam War. His third bestselling book, Maralinga, lifted the veil of secrecy thrown over the British atomic bomb tests in the outback and shocking human experiments in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. His fourth book, Commandos, examined the most daring secret raids behind enemy lines by Australians and New Zealanders in World War II. In 2017 Frank wrote Traitors, an expose on how Australia and its allies betrayed our Anzacs and let Nazi and Japanese war criminals go free. His most recent book is The Scandalous Life of Freddie McEvoy: The true story of the swashbuckling Australian rogue. He can be contacted via his website www.frankwalker.com.au

Freddie was one of the great livers of life. He lived it the way he saw it - he didn't give a hoot. - Errol Flynn Pleasure is my business. - Freddie McEvoy an extraordinary yarn . . . finely researched - SUN-HERALD on Frank Walker s GHOST PLATOON thoroughly researched and compelling . . . a chilling account - SUN-HERALD on Frank Walker s GHOST PLATOON one of those great untold stories . . . Walker tells it with verve and excitement and with meticulous attention to detail - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD on Frank Walker s THE TIGER MAN OF VIETNAM Walker, and others like him, are doing their country a great service by bringing both the bad and good deeds of Aussie diggers out of the shadows and into the light. - SUNDAY AGE on Frank Walker s GHOST PLATOON 'An original and compelling account that succeeds in exposing the subterfuge and myopia of both British and Australian governments - SATURDAY PAPER on Frank Walker s MARALINGA 'Demonstrates powerfully why, regardless of the context in which the testing took place, the emotional legacy of Maralinga will linger in the Australian psyche - WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN on Frank Walker s MARALINGA