Rushdie Really Isn’t Scruffy

We reported recently about the controversy around On Her Majesty's Service (John Blake Publishing), Ron Evans’ account of spending 15 years as a special protection officer in the UK.

After the previously reported brouhaha, the publisher agreed with Rushdie’s lawyers that there were “falsehoods” in the manuscript. Alison Flood reports in The Guardian:

The authors of a book which claimed that Salman Rushdie was nicknamed “Scruffy” by his police protection officers have admitted there were falsehoods in the manuscript and have made amendments accordingly, according to Rushdie’s lawyer. The publisher of On Her Majesty’s Service hopes to release a revised version of the book next week.

On Her Majesty’s Service by Ron Evans with Douglas Thompson was originally due to be published on August 4 but was delayed after Rushdie threatened legal action following the publication of extracts in the weekend papers. Rushdie said these portrayed him as “mean and arrogant”; one claimed that during the fatwa against him, Rushdie’s guards “got so fed up with his attitude that they locked him in a cupboard under the stairs and all went to the local pub for a pint or two”.