Name the three questions you would ask Air Commodore Raymond if you ever managed to meet him...
My three picks:
1. What did you see in Biggles that made you pick him out for your special missions?
Or did you just do it randomly picking names out of a hat...?
2. Were you ever a pilot?
In Flying Detective he does mention that his flying days are over, so maybe he did have a backbone once...
3. What is your first name?
Seriously, I'm dying to know!
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Maybe his name is Raymond Raymond.(Some parents can't resist the joke of giving their children repetetive names on occasions).
ReplyDeleteI am sure in one of the books somewhere we are told that Biggles, on his way to visit him, pushed open an office door bearing the inscription R. Raymond.
What else could it be? Randolph? Rupert? Ricky.....?
Drat it! Now I need to know too!
I have thought about this and I have decided I would ask Raymond:
ReplyDelete1. Do you ever worry that Biggles won't get back safely?
2. What would you do now if he failed to return? [given that you did damn all last time]
3. Do you know what Biggles' middle name is?
My three would be:
ReplyDelete1.Who did you marry? (And when?) Was she a childhood sweetheart or did you marry much later in life after you left the Service?
2. When did you really 'first' meet Biggles. This historic event seems to have occured twice! Surely even people involved in the Secret Service can't meddle with Time. Unless of course you had Biggles' memory erased after the first mission so that he only 'thought' he was meeting you for the first time the second time!
3. Do you ever feel guilty for sending Biggles and Co. on so many supposed suicide missions - does the thought of it keep you awake at night or are you too busy planning celebrations for your next resulting promotion? (As you can see I still haven't forgiven Raymond for his confession at the end of Baltic where he admits he never expected them to survive beyond a day on their latest mission. : - (
I agree. Raymond seems positively gleeful when he tells Biggles that he only expected them to last 24 hours on the Baltic (and what did he expect to happen then? That the Germans would throw a big party and allow to go home?)
ReplyDeleteI seem to have a vague idea that his initials were A. R., but I don't know how I got that impression, and neither could I swear to it...
In Fails to Return when the three chums go to see Raymond about Biggles they go through a door marked 'Air Commodore R.B. Raymond, D.S.O. Air Intelligence. So there you go.
ReplyDeleteAs for 3 things I would ask Raymond..
Are there any missions which we don't know about that you sent the boys on?
How would you feel if Biggles or any of the others really did not come back?
How much of Biggles success contributed to your rise to Assistant Commissioner at the Yard?
"R. B"????
ReplyDeleteA host of possibilities there.
I wonder if he ever knew Biggles' first name? He's only ever called him Bigglesworth.