Mr. Tony Simpson Strachan

A published author and veteran of the Second World War, Tony passed peacefully in his sleep following a brief illness. His family and close circle of friends are deeply saddened by his loss, and will remember him for his keen wit, gentlemanly ways and lively tales of a full life, well-lived.

Tony was born May 10, 1920 in Mountsorrel, Leicestershire, in the English Midlands. He served as a junior officer in the British army at the outbreak of the Second World War, and fought in the infamous and ultimately unsuccessful British landing at Narvik, Norway, in April, 1940. He was capture near Lillehammer, and would survive five years in a POW camp at Spangenberg, in central Germany. He and his fellow surviving POW colleagues were liberated by Gen. George Patton’s Third U.S. Army on April 25, 1945. Tony married Daphne Veronica “Billie” Strachan,

now deceased, herself a survivor of the London Blitz, after the war. They settled in Canada in 1967.

Tony is survived by his son, Alexander. Words and writing were among his many passions. He penned the mystery novels No Law in Illyria,

Key Major and The Short Weekend, which were published by the London publishing house Heinemann under the name T.S. Strachan. He

became fast friends with the late Scottish author Muriel Spark, writer of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, among other novels. Tony appreciated

traditional jazz, and counted Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum and Billie Holiday among his favourite artists. Time on My Hands, which Holiday recorded on June 7, 1940, was a personal favourite. A service in Tony’s memory will be held Friday, October 17 at Hollyburn Funeral Home, 1807 Marine Drive, West Vancouver, at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to World Vision Canada, at www.worldvision.ca.

Hollyburn Funeral Home 604-922-1221