Biggles
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Major James Bigglesworth, better known in flying circles as "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer created by W. E. Johns.
He first appeared in the story "The White Fokker", published in the first issue of Popular Flying magazine. The first collection of Biggles stories, The Camels are Coming, was published in 1932.
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[edit] Biggles history
In his first appearance, Biggles was a fighter pilot in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) during World War I. He joined the RFC in 1916 at the young age of 17, having conveniently "lost" his birth certificate. The original Biggles stories were based on Johns' experience — and stories he had heard from other pilots — during his time in France. (Johns did not fly "scout" — or fighter — aircraft like Biggles; he flew in a bomber squadron.) Biggles was supposedly based on Cyril Lowe. While the purpose of the Biggles stories was to entertain young men, they paid attention to historical detail and helped recreate the primitive days of early air combat — when most pilots died in their first combat and before devices such as respirators and parachutes had become practical.
During the war Biggles flew the FE2 "pusher", the Bristol F2B, the Sopwith Pup and the famed Sopwith Camel as a pilot of the fictional 266 Squadron RFC. Study of the series of short stories featuring his WW1 exploits suggest he has 40-45 kills.
Later stories told of Biggles' adventures after the War, as a charter pilot of an unidentified amphibian (often illustrated on covers, anachronistically, as either a Supermarine Walrus or Supermarine Otter), his return to service in World War II (initially with a Supermarine S6B type machine in the Baltic) and further adventures in peace time; others filled in his equally adventurous childhood in India and the story of how he came to join the RFC, flying with New Zealand observer Mark Way in an FE2 before he converted to scouts. Biggles' first post-war action saw him in the African desert with new twin-engined types (possibly Bristol Brigand and de Havilland Hornet).
Biggles has a small team of friends including Algy (Hon. Algernon Lacey), Ginger (Hebblethwaite) and Bertie (Lord Bertie Lissie), who share many of his adventures as pilots in the Special Air Police which they form after WW2, flying Auster and Percival types, under the command of Air Commodore Raymond, who is at this time an Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard.
Biggles' greatest opponent is the German spy officer Erich von Stalhein. They first meet when Biggles acts as a spy in the Middle East, where Biggles has some narrow escapes. Von Stalhein returns as an adversary in numerous other adventures. After World War II von Stalhein opts for the Communist bloc, until he gets imprisoned on the isle of Sakhalin, from where Biggles helps him escape. After this he and Biggles are chums.
Though Biggles and his friends age in the books, they do so more slowly than appears historically credible. The books somewhat obviously chronicle developments in aviation technology and also social changes. In an early book, the evidence points to an English nobleman as the perpetrator, but Biggles can dismiss this out of hand as the gentry would never commit a crime; in a later novel, one of the gentry is the villain. While various natives are sometimes unreliable, the Biggles books do not really display racist views - although Johns certainly promoted the superiority of British culture, as distinct from race. Johns' contemporary terms for people of different colour have resulted in censorship in some places, which does rather rewrite history.
In the Biggles stories, there are few females; either as characters or referred to. Biggles and his chums remain steadfastly single. Biggles suffered a disappointment in WWI when he fell in love with German spy Marie Janis in Affaire de Coeur; he later rescues her from East Germany in Biggles Looks Back.
Another female character appears in the form of Worrals, eponymous heroine of a related series of books featuring this resourceful and "plucky" member of the WAAF.
A further Johns creation, the commando Captain Lorrington King, nicknamed "Gimlet" also features in a series of books that intersect with Biggles at times. His regular colleagues are Corporal Albert Edward Collson, nicknamed "Copper" (he is an ex-policeman), Private "Trapper" Troublay, and Nigel Norman Peters, nicknamed "Cub".
[edit] Contemporary viewpoints
Biggles books have been satirised for their archaic use of language, notably terms such as "opined" and "ejaculated" and the use of what are now seen as offensive racial stereotypes and characterisations (Germans are often referred to as the Hun, for example). This led to the books being removed from most British libraries, a move which was held up derisively as an example of political correctness since the books are quite without malice and very much of their time. Written for children, they contain no swearing and no sex but alcohol is mentioned occasionally and cigarettes are much in evidence.
In general the books set in the First World War are good examples of their time and genre and are likely to be acceptable to a modern audience; they are also more edgy, Biggles setting out on at least one occasion with "red mist", on a death-or-glory mission occasioned by the death of a comrade. The inter-war books are reasonably typical of boys' adventure literature of the time, and similar plots and characterisations could be found in comics and books of other genres. The Cruise of the Condor (1933) is representative of this period. By the Second World War the characterisations had clearly dated but popularity was assured perhaps by the public need for reminders of past success and surely by the way "The Few" caught the popular imagination. Post-war Biggles books feel anachronistic and do not compare well with contemporary fiction such as Dan Dare, but the fictitious "Special Air Police" does provide numerous decent short stories, some of which stand the test of time.
[edit] Biggles in popular culture
Johns continued writing Biggles short stories and novels up until his death in 1968; in all, nearly a hundred Biggles books were published.
Most of the Biggles books are out of print but Red Fox is reprinting many of the titles. The books are a common target for collectors, with some titles fetching high prices, especially the handful that were deleted before being reprinted into paperback. The rarest title, Biggles and the Deep Blue Sea, has been known to fetch $1000 on eBay.
Biggles was parodied in a series of skits on the 1970s British comedy television show, Monty Python's Flying Circus, including one titled "Biggles dictates a letter"[1] and 'Cardinal Biggles', complete with flying helmet and goggles, assists in the interrogations in the Spanish Inquisition sketch. Text stories in the "Papperbok" included "Biggles Flies Down". There have been many other references to the character in film and literature. The fictional title Biggles Flies Undone was mentioned in the "Biggles dictates a letter" Monty Python's episode, but was never actually produced. In the first Comic Relief, Michael Palin read the skit "Biggles goes to see Bruce Springsteen". In Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, a customer in The Bookshop Sketch, also found on their Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album, requests a fictious title, "Biggles Combs his Hair".
In 2005, the British television show Doctor Who created a Biggles-based character called Captain Jack, for the episode "The Empty Child"[2]. The Captain had adopted the persona of an RAF volunteer, and had a friend called Algy; a nod to W.E. Johns' creation.
Biggles appeared in a short-lived 1960 TV series based on the books with Neville Whiting playing the title role and was also featured in a 1986 feature film called Biggles: Adventures in Time, directed by John Hough with Neil Dickson in the title role. The film attempted to add appeal to the character by adding a science fiction element but it was a commercial and critical failure.
An Unauthorised Biography by John Pearson, published in the 1980s, added new and somewhat incredible elements of unrequited love and suicide by warbird Supermarine Spitfire to Biggles history. A4 format cartoon adventures in which the Biggles characters use a mix of vintage and modern aircraft were published in the 1980s.
In an episode of The Thin Blue Line Constable Habib outrages Inspector Fowler with the suggestion that Biggles and Ginger were gay lovers, which was also a major point on Monty Python's "Biggles dictates a letter".
The lyrics of the Jethro Tull song, Thick As A Brick, has a line that mentions Biggles ("So, where the hell was Biggles when you needed him last Saturday?"). Additionally, Biggles is mentioned several times in the elaborate album cover, which is a parody of a local British newspaper, most significantly in a story entitled "Do Not See Me Rabbit".
In an episode of Top Gear, the "tame racing driver" known as The Stig was introduced with the line: "Let's hand the old crate over to our resident test pilot--Stiggles!" which is a referance to Biggles.
[edit] List of Biggles books
- The Camels are Coming — (1932)
- The Cruise of the Condor — (1933)
- Biggles of the Camel Squadron — (1934)
- Biggles Flies Again — (1934)
- Biggles Learns To Fly — (1935)
- The Black Peril — (1935)
- Biggles Flies East — (1935)
- Biggles Hits the Trail — (1935)
- Biggles in France — (1935)
- Biggles & Co — (1936)
- Biggles in Africa — (1936)
- Biggles - Air Commodore — (1937)
- Biggles Flies West — (1937)
- Biggles Flies South — (1938)
- Biggles Goes To War — (1938)
- The Rescue Flight — (1939)
- Biggles in Spain — (1939)
- Biggles Flies North — (1939)
- Biggles - Secret Agent — (1940)
- Biggles in the Baltic — (1940)
- Biggles in the South Seas — (1940)
- Biggles Defies the Swastika — (1941)
- Biggles Sees It Through — (1941)
- Spitfire Parade — (1941)
- Biggles in the Jungle — (1942)
- Biggles Sweeps the Desert — (1942)
- Biggles - Charter Pilot — (1943)
- Biggles in Borneo — (1943)
- Biggles Fails To Return — (1943)
- Biggles in the Orient — (1945)
- Biggles Delivers the Goods — (1946)
- Sergeant Bigglesworth CID — (1947)
- Biggles' Second Case — (1948)
- Biggles Hunts Big Game — (1948)
- Biggles Takes a Holiday — (1948)
- Biggles Breaks the Silence — (1949)
- Biggles Gets His Men — (1950)
- Another Job For Biggles — (1951)
- Biggles Goes To School — (1951)
- Biggles Works It Out — (1952)
- Biggles Takes the Case — (1952)
- Biggles Follows On — (1952)
- Biggles - Air Detective — (1952)
- Biggles and the Black Raider — (1953)
- Biggles in the Blue — (1953)
- Biggles in the Gobi — (1953)
- Biggles of the Special Air Police — (1953)
- Biggles Cuts It Fine — (1954)
- Biggles and the Pirate Treasure — (1954)
- Biggles Foreign Legionnaire — (1954)
- Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter — (1954)
- Biggles in Australia — (1955)
- Biggles' Chinese Puzzle — (1955)
- Biggles of 266 — (1956)
- No Rest For Biggles — (1956)
- Biggles Takes Charge — (1956)
- Biggles Makes Ends Meet — (1957)
- Biggles of the Interpol — (1957)
- Biggles on the Home Front — (1957)
- Biggles Presses On — (1958)
- Biggles on Mystery Island — (1958)
- Biggles Buries a Hatchet — (1958)
- Biggles in Mexico — (1959)
- Biggles' Combined Operation — (1959)
- Biggles at the World's End — (1959)
- Biggles and the Leopards of Zinn — (1960)
- Biggles Goes Home — (1960)
- Biggles and the Poor Rich Boy — (1960)
- Biggles Forms a Syndicate — (1961)
- Biggles and the Missing Millionaire — (1961)
- Biggles Goes Alone — (1962)
- Orchids for Biggles — (1962)
- Biggles Sets a Trap — (1962)
- Biggles Takes It Rough — (1963)
- Biggles Takes a Hand — (1963)
- Biggles' Special Case — (1963)
- Biggles and the Plane That Disappeared (1963)
- Biggles Flies To Work — (1963)
- Biggles and the Lost Sovereigns — (1964)
- Biggles and the Black Mask — (1964)
- Biggles Investigates — (1964)
- Biggles Looks Back — (1965)
- Biggles and the Plot That Failed — (1965)
- Biggles and the Blue Moon — (1965)
- Biggles Scores a Bull — (1965)
- Biggles in the Terai — (1966)
- Biggles and the Gun Runners — (1966)
- Biggles Sorts It Out — (1967)
- Biggles and the Dark Intruder — (1967)
- Biggles and the Penitent Thief — (1967)
- Biggles and the Deep Blue Sea — (1967)
- The Boy Biggles — (1968)
- Biggles in the Underworld — (1968)
- Biggles and the Little Green God — (1969)
- Biggles and the Noble Lord — (1969)
- Biggles Sees Too Much — (1970)
- Biggles Adventures in Time — (1986)
- Biggles Does Some Homework — (1997) (Note: Johns died while still writing this story. Although never completed, it was released as a strictly limited edition [300 copies only].)
