Richard Bernard Pape MM (17 March 1916 – 19 June 1995) was a British Second World War escapee, adventurer, autobiographer and novelist. Pape was born in 1916 in

Roundhay Roundhay is a large suburb in north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Roundhay had a population of 22,546 in 2011. It sits in the Roundhay (ward), Roundhay electoral, ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds North East (UK Parliament constituen ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, Yorkshire. He worked as a journalist in the ''

Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire, although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

s publicity department, but on the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

.Dan van der Vat, "Boldness be his enemy", ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 19 July 1995, p. 13. He became a sergeant navigator in a

Short Stirling The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the war (the earlier Handley ...

bomber. On a 1941 mission he was shot down close to the German/Dutch border, was twice captured and twice escaped. Following his second capture he was tortured by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

. He was repatriated by the Germans on health grounds in 1944. In November of that year he was on a retraining course when he was burnt in a drunken motorcycle accident on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

, which led to his being hospitalised at

Queen Victoria Hospital The Queen Victoria Hospital (QVH), located in East Grinstead, West Sussex, England is the specialist reconstructive surgery centre for the south east of England, and also provides services at clinics across the region. It has become world-famo ...

East Grinstead East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...

, for pioneer plastic surgery under

Archibald McIndoe Sir Archibald Hector McIndoe (4 May 1900 – 11 April 1960) was a New Zealand plastic surgeon who worked for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He improved the treatment and rehabilitation of badly burned aircrew. Early life Arc ...

: he thus became a member of the

Guinea Pig Club The Guinea Pig Club, established in 1941, was a social club and mutual support network for British and allied aircrew injured during World War II. Its membership was made up of patients of Archibald McIndoe in Ward III at Queen Victoria Hospit ...

. He was discharged in 1947 and decorated for his persistence as an escaper. He went to live in South Africa and wrote a book-length account of his adventures, ''Boldness Be My Friend'', which he said he wrote to exorcise the "demons" which plagued him after the war. The book was brought to

Anthony Blond Anthony Bernard Blond (20 March 1928 – 27 February 2008) was a British publisher and author, who was involved with several publishing companies over his career, including several he established himself, or in partnerships, from 1952. Biograph ...

's London literary agency in 1952 by Vanora McIndoe, Sir Archibald's daughter. After being read and approved by Blond's colleague

Isabel Colegate Isabel Diana Colegate (10 September 1931 – 12 March 2023) was a British author and literary agent. Early life and education Born in Paddington in London, England, Colegate was the youngest of her parents' four daughters. Her father was Arthu ...

, it was published in 1953 by

Paul Elek Paul Elek (1906–1976)"Paul Elek"
Obituaries, ''AJR Information'', Association of Jew ...

, who paid a £600 advance. Still fighting his demons, in 1954 he drove "17,500 miles" from the North Cape in Norway to the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

in South Africa, in an Austin A90 Westminster. He then wrote a book, ''Cape Cold to Cape Hot'' (1956), about his adventures en route, "which came close to killing him".Pape’s Progress – Austin A90
psychoontyres.co.uk. Retrieved 21 February 2021. He later undertook similar endurance drives in North America for the

Rootes Group The Rootes Group was a British automobile manufacturer and, separately, a major motor distributors and dealers business. From headquarters in the West End of London, the manufacturer was based in the English Midlands, Midlands and the distribu ...

and embarked on further adventures in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, where he fell in the sea at

McMurdo Sound The McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica, known as the southernmost passable body of water in the world, located approximately from the South Pole. Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841 and named it after Lieutenant ...

. In 1964, following the advice of his colleague

Leonard Cheshire Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, (7 September 1917 – 31 July 1992) was a British Royal Air Force pilot, officer and philanthropist. Cheshire fought in the Second World War. Among the decorations Cheshire received as a pilot w ...

, VC, that he should "do something useful with his life instead of trying to repeatedly kill himself", Pape went to

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

where he established a Leonard Cheshire Home for "mentally handicapped native children". He also worked as Principal Publications Officer of the Australian administration's Department of Information. He would spend nine and a half years in Papua New Guinea and, while there, he met and married Stephanie Prouting, a solicitor working for the Public Solicitor's Office in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

. In June 1965, Pape returned his

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the British Armed Forces, armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned o ...

to the Queen in protest at

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

having been awarded the MBE. He was quoted as saying: "The Beatles' MBE reeks of mawkish, bizarre effrontery to our wartime endeavours."''The Glasgow Herald'', 22 June 1965. He died in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, Australia in 1995 at the age of 79.

Selected publications

*''Boldness Be My Friend'' 1953 *''Cape Cold to Cape Hot'' 1956 *''Sequel to Boldness'' 1959 *''Fortune Is My Enemy'' 1960 *''And So Ends the World . . .'' 1961 *''No Time to Die'' 1962 *''Cowardice Before Courage'' 1970

References

External links

Richard Pape
at Spartacus International
"Boldness Be My Friend" by Richard Pape
- discussion of Pape's life and exploits {{DEFAULTSORT:Pape, Richard 1916 births 1995 deaths Royal Air Force personnel of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Members of the Guinea Pig Club People from Roundhay 20th-century English writers