There. Now that's out of the way...
There isn't too much of a description of Mark other than that he was tanned and keen-eyed (odd description, now that I come to think of it. How does "keen-eyed" look?) and came from New Zealand (but in my head he speaks with a British accent).
If not for Mark, Biggles would never have survived his first few days in the skies of wartime France. Mark only appears in one book (*sniff*) but his influence lingers on for the rest of Biggles' life. (I wonder if they ever met up for drinks after the war? Surely they met again? They must have met again!) Except for being unable to fly a plane--and I'm sure that in a pinch he could still manage to pilot one--Mark is Biggles' superior in every area of war experience. There is a bit in Learns to Fly where their plane is about to crash, and Johns tells us that Biggles marveled at how nothing could seem to shake Mark's calm. Quite a contrast to the hot-headed young pilot!
Another great passage (edited out in the Knight edition of Learns to Fly for some reason that I will never understand) is the scene where Biggles wakes up in the morning and tosses a pillow to rouse Mark. It's a rather childish thing to do, but really, most of them were just children, some straight out of school.
Is anyone else a Mark lover? Come along in and share the love below!
I am a great fan of Mark Way. Mark is a superbly realized character, although few lines are devoted to him. I was astonished to find the pillow scene (when I read The Modern Boy issue); a lovely scene, and the one place where we find out that Biggles was sleeping in a dormitory.
ReplyDeleteMark definitely has a Kiwi accent, though!
I agree with SJ about Mark. I liked him too and it would have been wonderful to have seen him appear some more. He obviously had a big part in shaping Biggles character during those early days. It is interesting to speculate how Biggles would have turned out (if he survived) had he not had such a steady, great man like Mark watching his back, so to speak.
ReplyDelete"If he survived" is the most telling thing! The first time he went over the lines he didn't see the planes that were shooting at himself and Mark, nor did he see the planes bearing down on them that caused Mabs to streak for home. If Biggles had gone straight to a scout squadron, I should think Algy would have had to find himself another best friend...
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, Algy didn't seem to suffer from the same blindness! Well, we know what Soppy would say :-)
I too sometimes wondered if Biggles and Mark Way ever met again.
ReplyDeleteNew Zealand is one of the few countries Biggles appears never to have visited, and I can't think why Mark would come to cold, damp, impoverished-after-the-war England when he lived in the wonderful country of new Zealand. And I don't suppose Biggles was a letter-writer somehow.
Pity though - Mark was a great person. I wonder what he did for a living after the war. Maybe he married some nice girl and settled down to keep thousands of sheep. I might even have been eating his family's New Zealand lamb way back...
Like the above, I found Mark's charcater worthy of further development and exploration. But maybe wej realised he just didn't know enough about Kiwis (he certainly knew precious little about Aussies!) to pursue Mark. Biggles owes a lot to Mark's mentoring in those early days. And he would definitely have spoken with a Kiwi accent (which is quite different to an Australian accent, by the way).
ReplyDeleteI agree with SA that it is somewhat strange that Algy didn't suffer from the same blindness Biggles did on his first day out. Either Algy is awesome or Biggles was just...not that good a pilot...*runs and hides*
ReplyDeleteI like to think Mark settled down with a nice girl and that Biggles came to visit sometimes and they shared a pint on occasion.
But didn't Biggles sit down with Algy and give him a few 'do's and don'ts'?
ReplyDeleteObviously, Algy had a very retentive memory. I got the impression he looked up to Biggles and wanted to do the right thing. When he was more confident, of course, he got a style all of his very own!
Biggles must have got the dos and don'ts from Mahoney, but it didn't help him much. You can't see what you're not looking for, no matter how many rules people drum into your ears.
ReplyDeleteWhich brings us to: Algy is awesome (QED).
Regarding Biggles visiting Mark and his lovely wife and sharing a pint. It's interesting that, having introduced Mark as an EnZedder, wej never tells us that Biggles ever made it to Kiwiland - although I'm sure our Kiwi cousins would probably mount a strong case to argue that Biggles probably did visit the Shaky Isles :)) . So maybe Biggles popped across the pond to visit Mark on one of his visits to Oz. I'd like to think he did, anyway :)
ReplyDeleteAlgy was awesome, Sopwith? Or was it just beginner's luck....? (Now I'll duck for cover....)
ReplyDeleteMaybe Biggles was the better isntructor. No disrespect to Mahoney but Biggles is a natural leader.
ReplyDeleteGreat observation, FB. Totally true. Biggles is a natural leader - and this is demonstrated by the way Algy chose to follow Biggles' lead :))
ReplyDeleteRSG: Algy is awesome. End of story,
ReplyDeleteNo respect to either Biggles or Mahoney, but anyone who could shoot down a Hun after listening to a ten minute lecture has to be some sort of a genius. Keep in mind too that Biggles' reaction on seeing the Huns was to dive into a cloud and wait for Algy to follow. Only, as we know, Algy didn't follow--he shot down a Hun.
Which brings us back to Algy is awesome...