Who was Saki?

'Saki' was born Hector Hugh Munro in what was then Burma and is now Myanmar, the son of Charles Augustus Munro, an inspector-general in the Burmese police. Munro's mother, Mary Frances Mercer - died in 1872 and interestingly and rather revealingly, according to some Internet sources - she was "killed by a runaway cow in an English country lane."

That may explain some of his stories. The pseudonym Saki is thought to be taken from the name of the Cupbearer in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

A couple of quotes from Saki to whet your appetite and entice your curiosity about this interesting and rather enigmatic character:

"Addresses are given to us to conceal our whereabouts"

"He is one of those people who would be enormously improved by death"


technorati tag: Saki