(Check out my: Biggles Forum)
Who is Biggles?
Biggles is a fictional pilot from the pen of Captain W.E. Johns who wrote around 98 books which featured Biggles, full name: James Bigglesworth. They are children's books from the 1st world war through to the late 60's when W.E. died. He was the editor of the magazine popular flying and also wrote several other books. Biggles struts around the world in air planes solving things and being an action hero with pals Algy, Ginger and Bertie.
My favourite Biggles books in order
pics with permission
from: www.wejohns.com
1. Biggles in the Baltic
My number 1 favourite.. this was such a great ripping yarn about a base on
a small island in the Baltic where Biggles and his chums started daring
missions into Germany. As a kid it really had me involved.
2. Biggles Takes Charge
This book is so dark and has a great intro, W.E.Johns seems very inspired.
What I liked most is that Algy, Biggles 2nd in command takes the lead for the
first part of the book.
3. Biggles Charter Pilot
Probably a very terrible book, but it was one of the first I read and I liked
the 'psychedelic' feel to it. The chaps even discovering Dodo's are still alive!
Having said that, and even though it was a favourite, I have not read it for
years.
My copies
My Baltic and Charter Pilot are Armada paperbacks, Charter Pilot was given
to me on Christmas 1979 but I did not read it until a few years later. My Takes
Charge is a jacket-less, spineless hardback which used to be my Fathers! The
pic is of the inside plate.
Why did I like Biggles books?
I am dyslexic and had a lot of trouble reading early on. The first books to
inspire me to read were some dreadful series of pirate books; but Biggles
books really got me going. I loved flying boat and amphibian air planes
which Biggles often flies; I loved all that British pilot 'old chap' stuff;
and I loved tales of exotic places around the world. So despite inspiring
me to read I can honestly say that Biggles books inspired my desire to
travel.
What good did it do?
Biggles was an upstanding chap and stuck to rigid morals
of fair play, even though I guess that was my personality anyway
to do like to think that he inspired me to be a good all round
chap!
Biggles in my future
Having said all this I have not read a Biggles book for quite sometime and
recently have only read any new ones I have got, which hasn't happened
for a bit. I don't 'collect' Biggles books and only get copies to read
not for first-edition-sell-for-money stuff. Perhaps I will read them again
when I am old, if not they are a little inheritance for the kids!
How many I own
I have nearly all the 90 or so Biggles books now except 3.
The ones I don't have
Biggles Goes Alone
Biggles Looks Back
Biggles Scores a Bull
I haven't much hope that I will get these last 3, the last ones I was getting
were pretty naff anyway. Some of them were limited run titles and the prices
of remaining books are silly.
UPDATE
I sold all my Biggles books on ebay one by one for £464.76
WHY??!!
The last Biggles I read before this was "Biggles
and the Deep Blue Sea" (which was a PDF version!) and I realised
then that I did not want to re-read any of the others. For example I must
have read Takes Charge alone about 50 times and I decided I was wasting
my life. Also the later titles are very poor, Sets a Trap doesn't
even have any aircraft in it! Getting 95 Biggles titles pretty
much put me off them. So at the age of 34 I turned my back on
Biggles although if I have the opportunity to read the last 3 that
I never read I will. As for handing them down to the kids: they
would probably not know the value of them, I do, so I should give
them the benefit of the money now. It always did worry me having a bunch of
books worth so much. After a quarter of a century
of Biggles I think 25 years with him is enough.
Have now read my last
Biggles books
Through my
Biggles
Forum I was
lent Scores a Bull and Looks Back. Scores a bull is an air police
adventure and pretty standard. Looks back has Biggles meeting
up with Marie Janis at long last who was Biggles sweetheart in
the WW1 stories who turns out to me a spy, it also features von
Stalhein (Biggles arch enemy come over to our side) as Biggles
side kick. Rather a weak ending spoilt this book I think.
My very last Biggles book was a photocopy of Goes Alone sent to me by a chap in Australia after I sent him a photocopy of Scores a Bull. So both our last Biggles books were photocopies sent to each other! Goes Alone is a murder mystery featuring no aircraft, and only featuring Biggles as the title suggests. I think it was quite a good story and not a bad one to call my last Biggles book. Just me and Biggles together in the last book I read with him in it.
So on 26-9-05 at 3am I finished my last Biggles book, after 25 years reading them, and I re-live Biggles through my Biggles forum now.
Space
Oddly enough I have read some more W.E.Johns. A freind sent me
3 of the Kings of Space books and W.E.J is back on form in Return
to Mars
Links Bookshops
www.abebooks.com
davidschutte.co.uk
Lee-Anne
& Kim's Caerwen Books
Biggles Sticks - Books and walking sticks!
Links Biggles/W.E.Johns sites
www.wejohns.com
Biggles at wikipedia
W.E.Johns at wikipedia
Biggles
Forum
Don't miss my Biggles Forum
for talk about all things by W.E.Johns!
Biggles Topsites - devoted to W.E.Johns related sites
Biggles.startze.nl
Overview with all important links and information of Biggles.
