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| Biggles and the Rescue Flight. Image links to Amazon. |
Kindle version: Biggles and the Rescue Flight
We all know from Biggles, Pioneer Air Fighter that Algy is Biggles’ “cousin”, but the
term “cousin” can be used to refer to almost anyone who is remotely related by
blood, which is why the word cousin is so often preceded by a number, such as “second
cousin” or “third cousin”.
So just how exactly is Algy related to
Biggles? Reading over the Biggles article in Wikipedia, I see it says that
Biggles’ mother’s maiden name was Lacey, which makes sense given that Algy had
never met Dickpa (Bigglesworth) before Cruise
in the Condor
So are Algy’s father and Biggles’ mother
siblings? I find myself a bit puzzled by Biggles’ reference to “an elderly
female relative of mine” in Pioneer Air
Fighter—wouldn’t it have been easier to say “my aunt”, if indeed she was
the sister-in-law of his mother? Also, in Biggles—The
Rescue Flight, W. E. Johns tells us that Algy was a “distant relative” of
Biggles’—another clue that the relationship may not be as simple as it seems.
Strangely enough,
Rescue Flight seems to be the last
time that Algy is declared to be related to Biggles. I don’t believe any other
book thereafter mentions the connection.
So are Biggles
and Algy closely related, distantly related, or not related at all? Or did
Johns, as with so many other details, simply change his mind about the
relationship and decided to just let them be friends?
I beleive WEJ's reference to Biggles mother being a Lacey was used to indicate they were first cousins. With Biggles in India and Algy in England it is not surprising they were comparative strangers even though they were close in blood. Biggles reference to an 'elderly female relative of mine'was, I think, a typical thing for a young man to say about a female relative he very seldom saw. Algy's remark that he knew him 'from the photo at home' indicates a close relationship. Photos in those days were not taken for fun and I doubt that if he was a second or third cousin his photo would have graced the ancestral pile. The relationship would have been too far removed for him to be in a family portrait.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that WEJ ever mentions Biggles' mother as nee Lacey? I don't know where they got that from in Wikipedia. Is it in one of the books?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I read it somewhere. Will have a look when I'm up north and if I find it I'll post the reference as soon as I can, unless someone gets there before me.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember WEJ ever saying that Biggles' mother was a Lacey either. As far as I can remember, his mother is only mentioned in one book, in Biggles goes Home, when Biggles explains to Raymond that his pregnant mother (no name given) was on some routine visit with her husband and Biggles arrived prematurely.
ReplyDeleteEverything else in the various accounts of their relationship is made up, or guessed or deduced or... I do tend to agree though that a family photo out in the aristocratic Lacey family home does suggest a close relationship. And that can best be explained by making Biggles' mother the sister of Algy's father.
As to why WEJ never mentioned it again - I don't think it was necessary to do so. WEJ used the family relationship to start a story with Biggles being prejudiced against his relation. But Algy then proved himself so successfully by shooting down a Hun on his first trip over the lines and then saving Biggles' life by bursting back into the dogfight with jammed guns. After that they were firm friends and the cousin relationship became irrelevant.
As for Wikipedia - it is only as accurate as the author of the article - and often unreliable. Too many people out there in the great Internet soup just re-gurgitate half-truths they pick up from somewhere!
ReplyDeleteAn even more dreadful account is to be found in That Book, the dreadful authorised biography, but that ghastly account is even more untrue to WEJ.
To get it right you have to go to the books - but as WEJ is equally unreliable, that isn't safe either!
You're probably right about his mother only being mentioned once. I thought I'd read in a WEJ that Lacey was is mother's name, but it is on the cards that I read it somewhere and then automatically attributed it to WEJ. However, Biggles did say in 'the Boob' my cousin, so I'm going with that. Another little WEJ mystery to keep us guessing.
ReplyDeleteI always thought they were direct first cousins until I came across that bit in Rescue Flight that talked about them being "distant relatives".
ReplyDelete