Character Close-Up: Fourteen-Year-Old Biggles

There is a brief description of the "fourteen and a half" year old Biggles in Biggles Goes To School. The book opens with Biggles meeting his headmaster:

"[The headmaster] saw a slight, neatly-dressed, delicate-looking boy, with a sensitive face, thoughtful eyes and a small but firm mouth. Fair hair was parted at the side."

--Biggles Goes To School

Thank goodness no mention is made of the color of the thoughtful eyes! Biggles at fourteen seems to be smaller than average (undernourished? Surely not!), possibly due to the bouts of fever that sent him back to England in the first place. Words like "slight", "delicate", and "sensitive" bring to mind Colin from Burnett's The Secret Garden. Presumably Biggles had a grown spurt at some point during his school life, for in later books he seems to be of average height.

Image from Yet Another Biggles Site

Biggles is clearly lacking in confidence: his headmaster has to remind him to stand up straight:

"Hold your head up and pull those shoulders back. There's no need to wilt--here, or anywhere else."

--Biggles Goes To School

Biggles? Wilting? Seriously?

Later, the headmaster also instructs Biggles to:

"Open your mouth when you speak. If you mumble people can't hear what you say."

--Biggles Goes To School

Quite different from the Biggles we know and love!

One can't help but wonder what Algy's headmaster had to say to him when he first saw him....

Character Close-Up: Mark Way

For such a wonderful character, Mark Way only appears for a very short space of time (in Biggles Learns to Fly, and one short story in Biggles of 266). Even after Biggles was posted to 266, he still thinks of Mark as “…the man whom he still regarded as his best friend, and with whom he had so many thrilling adventures.”

Biggles of 266
Image from Wikipedia

There is very little in the way of physical description when it comes to Mark. In fact, all we know is that:

“…a deeply tanned, keen-eyed young officer tapped Biggles on the arm. ‘I’m Mark Way,’ he said. ‘It looks as if we shall be flying together, so the sooner we know each other the better.’
‘That’s true,’ said Biggles. ‘Have you been out here long?’
‘Nearly three months,’ replied Mark simply. ‘But I saw a bit of active service with the infantry before I transferred to the RFC. I came over with the New Zealand contingent; my home is out there.’
‘Sporting of you to come all this way to help us.’”

--Biggles Learns to Fly

Mark’s friendly manner and war flying expertise soon puts Biggles at ease, and it is his advice that saves Biggles from many a dire situation. Once, when Mark is sick and Biggles has to fly with another gunner, he finds himself feeling a little worried: “He realized for the first time just how much confidence he had in Mark, and the comfort he derived from the knowledge that he had a reliable man in the observer’s cockpit.”

Oh, Mark, Mark, Mark.

I think I’ve got a crush on you. 

Character Close-Up: Marcel Brissac's First Appearance

Of all the air police regulars, Marcel is probably my favorite. Perhaps it's just me, but his enthusiasm reminds me of Ginger (when he was young and eager and exciting and didn't run around getting lost all the time). Biggles mentions that he has flown with Marcel's father in France (during WWI, perhaps?), which makes Marcel....really, really young.

He makes his first appearance in Biggles Works It Out:

“[Marcel] was so obviously alive, and so glad to be alive. His vitality revealed itself in every eloquent gesture that he made—and he made many. Enthusiasm and good humor sparkled in his dark eyes when he spoke; and there were moments when words fairly rattled off his lips in his anxiety to give expression to his thoughts…every passing emotion was reflected instantly on his face.”

--Biggles Works It Out

He introduces himself as “the French Air Police”, and to Biggles’ amused query, “Just you?” replies happily, “Oui, Monsieur. Just me.”

And as for his physical appearance:

“…about twenty-five, slim, with fine, clean-cut features and a miniature black mustache decorating his upper lip. His general appearance was neat, without being foppish…in a word he was just as typically French as Biggles was British.”

--Biggles Works It Out

Marcel was mainly added to the air police books to create the idea of an international police force; when crooks cross over to France it is usually Marcel Biggles calls for help, and sometimes when French crooks stray into British territory Marcel drops in on his friend "Beegles" (which is what Marie called him too. Hmmmm. *Long Heavy Silence*) and asks for his help. 

Sadly it is only in Works It Out that Marcel seems refreshing and interesting. As time goes on he grows increasingly normal, until in the end he is just a name mentioned in passing whenever something happens in France.  

Character Close-Up: Tug Carrington of 666

Of all the "other" members of 666. Tug is probably my favorite. His wild, don't-carish ways are so reminiscent of WWI Algy (although his abrasive manner is not). Here's a description of how he crashes his way into Biggles' squadron:

"The vague shape of a Spitfire could just be seen through the rain, side-slipping so steeply that nothing short of a miracle could prevent it from hitting the ground, wing first. The miracle happened. Algy clutched at Biggles' arm as the machine banked vertically ten feet above the turf and came to rest, nose to wind, on the tarmac."

--Spitfire Parade

Hmm. Sounds like something Algy might have done in the old days...

And this is what Carrington looks like:

"A small, hatless, leather-clad figure....His flying jacket was too large, and flapped against thigh boots that were obviously out of proportion to the wearer's size...a slim, nervous-looking youth whose pale face was thin and pinched as though with hunger. His hair was short and crisply curled. It was soaking wet. Rain trickled down his face and formed a dew-drop on the end of his nose. Pale grey eyes regarded the C.O. steadily. Occasionally his jaws moved with a slow, rolling motion."

--Spitfire Parade

And this is how he talks to Biggles:

"Biggles: 'Glad to see you, Carrington. Why are you late?'
Tug: 'I didn't know I was. Your clock is a minute fast.'
.....
Biggles: 'Forgive me for being personal, but are you eating something?'
Tug: 'No, just chewing.'
'Chewing what?'
'Gum.'
'Do you always chew gum when you report to a new station?'
'This is only my second, so I can't say.'
.....
Biggles: 'Christian name?' he asked curtly.
'Tug.'
'I mean your real name.'
'That's it--Tug.'
Biggles looked up. 'This is no time for pleasantries,' he announced crisply. 'What is your proper name?'
'I've told you twice--Tug.'"

--Spitfire Parade

And this is how Algy reacts to the newcomer:

"Algy turned away so that his face could not be seen. He was finding it difficult to retain his composure."

--Spitfire Parade.

Good to see Algy hasn't lost his sense of humor! He's probably remembering all the times he was smart with Biggles  when they were both younger, and how exasperated Biggles used to get with him...

Sadly, Tug seems to lose a lot of his rudeness as time goes on. I guess Biggles did a good job of straightening him out, but it is a pity in a way.

Character Close-Up: Biggles, Algy, and Ginger In WWII

Spitfire Parade opens with three Spitfires landing at 666 and three pilots getting out and walking towards the squadron office.

As always, Biggles is in the lead:

“His step was light and his figure slim, almost boyish, but his bearing was that of a man of experience. His deep-set hazel eyes were never still and held a curious glint, a sort of speculative fire, that seemed to be in keeping with a pale, clean-shaven face upon which the strain of war had graven little lines. His hands, as small and delicate as those of a girl, were nearly lost in the fur of the gloves they carried.”

--Spitfire Parade

Strangely, it isn’t that different from the description of his seventeen year old self. He’s still slim and has hands like a girl’s, and his boyish figure suggests the same delicateness he had in WWI, although he must have grown a bit because he’s no longer below average height. I’m glad to see that his eyes remain the same color (hazel), and that he’s clean-shaven (Biggles with a mustache? Never!). At this point Biggles of course was in his forties, so no surprise that he bears himself as a “man of experience”.

We later learn that he is “Squadron Leader James Bigglesworth, D.S.O., D.F.C., better known in flying circles as ‘Biggles’.”

Excerpt from the graphic novel Spitfire Parade
Image from blogs.birminghammail.co.uk/

Behind Biggles, is, of course, Algy:

“…of similar age and build, but his manner was nonchalant, and his expression one of slightly bored humor.”

--Spitfire Parade

Hmm. No mention of the freckles or “permanent expression of amused surprise” here. Thankfully Johns has decided to make Algy similar in build to Biggles rather than stockier (grrrrr) this time around.

Full title? “Flight Lieutenant the Honorable Algernon Lacey, D.F.C.”. Try saying that five times fast! It must have looked magnificent posted up on the noticeboards.

And lastly, Ginger, who annoyingly has a much longer description that Algy:

“…mere lad, with curious inquiring eyes; but his air was alert, and he carried himself in a way that suggested a degree of self-confidence hardly to be expected in one so young. A wisp or two of ginger hair escaped under the rim of the flying cap which he had just loosened.”

--Spitfire Parade

A “mere lad”? Ginger must have been in his mid-twenties in Spitfire Parade! How old does one have to be to stop being a “mere lad”? I feel as though Johns has got sixteen year old Ginger stuck in his head, except yet again the freckles appear to have vanished with age. As for the self-confidence, well, Ginger always had that in spades, even before he met Biggles, so it’s hardly surprising that he seems to have gotten more of it!

Character Close-Up: Erich Von Stalhein’s First Appearance

No hero would be complete without an archenemy, and Erich Von Stalhein is Biggles’. He first appears in WWI, in the book Biggles Flies East, where Biggles is working as a German spy who is secretly working for the British (try figuring out that last sentence without getting a headache!)

Erich Von Stalhein
Image from yabs.isambard.com.au/

“In appearance he was tall, slim, and good-looking in a rather foppish way, but he had been a soldier for many years, and there was a grim relentless about his manner that quickly told Biggles that he was a man to be feared….wounded early in the war…[Von Stalhein] walked with a permanent limp with the aid of two sticks, and this physical defect added something to his sinister bearing….he was dark, with cold brooding eyes that were hard to meet and held a steel like quality that the monocle he habitually wore could not dispel.”

--Biggles Flies East

I’m somewhat surprised by this, because I had always assumed that Erich was around the same age as Biggles, as he was the same rank (Captain) when they met. However, rereading the above paragraph makes me think that he must be quite a bit older. The fact that he was wounded “early in the war” suggests that he has at least a couple of years on Biggles, as does the fact that he had been a soldier “for many years”.

Incidentally, I had assumed from Flies East that the Von Stalhein limp was fake, because there is a bit towards the end where Von Stalhein is seen to drop his sticks and run with some agility, but either Johns forgot, or something else happened to Von Stalhein in WWII, because in some of the air police books he is seen to limp again.

By the way, what is it with Johns and monocles?

Biggles Flies East
Image links to Amazon

Biggles and Erich don’t exactly hit it off at first sight:

“Biggles sensed a latent hostility from the first moment that they met, and felt it throughout the interview. It was almost as if the man suspected him of being an imposter but did not dare question the actions of those who had been responsible for his employment.”

--Biggles Flies East

No fool, our Erich, which makes it even more surprising that he doesn’t seem to have ever been promoted after meeting Biggles. He constantly refers to Biggles as “Major Bigglesworth” throughout WWII (and also in some of the air police books, I believe), and Biggles similarly always refers to him as Hauptmann Von Stalhein. Surely Von Stalhein would have gotten some sort of recognition for his hard work? Or was Biggles responsible for his continued lack of promotion? 

Character Close-Up: Bertie's First Appearance

I feel like it's time I posted a character close-up of Bertie, as he seems to have been sadly neglected until now.

Bertie from Biggles' Second Case
Image from yabs.isambard.com.au/

The first time we meet Lord Bertie Lissie is in Spitfire Parade, where he more than lives up to Raymond's description of him as "mad as a hatter":

"...a tall, slim young man in Air Force uniform, bearing the badges of rank of a Flight Lieutenant on his sleeve. Over his left arm, in disarray, hung a bundle of flying kit. His jacket was undone, revealing a yellow suede hunting waistcoat with silver, crested buttons. In his hand he held a small brass hunting horn."

--Spitfire Parade

Looks like he's untidy enough to be a friend of Algy's!

We further learn that:

"Nobody, not even his best friend, would have called Lieutenant Lord Bertie Lissie handsome, or his face a strong face...his small aristocratic features had...once inspired an adaption of his name to 'Cissy'. But only once. Such decorations as his face boasted, a wisp of hay-colored moustache and a rimless eyeglass, did nothing to correct this impression, however. But his eyes were extraordinarily blue and curiously bright."

--Spitfire Parade

Somehow I find it hard to imagine Bertie with facial hair. I always thought of him as being a clean-shaven sort of chap. Also, since he's the same rank as Algy, doesn't that make him Captain Lord Bertie Lissie? Strange.

He greets Biggles with, as Johns informs us, "a slight lisp", a speech characteristic that he mercifully seems to have lost in later books.

Biggles' brief conversation with his new flight commander is not encouraging. After Bertie leaves, Biggles' immediate reaction is, "That fellow's off his rocker...if the rest of the officers they send along are anything like him...this won't be a squadron, it'll be a madhouse." And then, slightly later, as the reality of meeting Bertie finally sinks in, "'What have I done to deserve this?' [Biggles] whispered plaintively."

One feels compelled to point out that his initial reaction to Algy was similarly negative!

Character Close-Up: Algy in WWI

Having got out Biggles and the Rescue Flight to find last week's Algy quote, it seemed a pity to put it back without rereading it. (That's the way it is with all Biggles books--you can leave them to gather dust in a closet for years and years, but once you've found a reason to get one out and read it, the others will soon follow, until your whole room is littered with them.)

But here, from Thirty's perspective, is a close-up of our Algy in WWI:

"...of all their fellow officers the one for whom they formed the greatest attachment was a member of their own flight who invariably flew in formation at Biggles' right hand.He was an untidy youth with longish hair and a freckled face on which dwelt an expression of amused surprise. He was, they learned, a distant relative of Biggles', and had come straight out from school and caused a minor sensation at the squadron by shooting down an enemy aircraft on his first trip over the lines. His name appeared on the squadron roll as Second Lieutenant The Honorable Algernon Lacey, but he was never called anything but Algy, even by Major Mullen, the C.O."

--Biggles and the Rescue Flight

The term "untidy youth" puzzles me slightly. Does it mean he walked around with his shirt untucked? His hair unbrushed? Smudges of dirt on his face? Surely all these would be frowned upon by the C.O. (and Biggles)?

There is a later paragraph that attempts to show us more of Algy's untidiness:

"His Sidcot flying suit was flung carelessly over his shoulder; in his right hand he carried the rest of his flying kit--helmet, goggles, and gauntlets. On reaching Thirty and Rip he flung his kit in a heap on the dusty concrete and eyed them both with mock seriousness."

--Biggles and the Rescue Flight

Personality-wise, we learn that:

"Some of the older pilots sometimes showed signs of 'nerves', but Algy refused to treat the war as anything but a joke. The more his machine was shot about, the more he laughed, although on such occasions Biggles was apt to turn a reproving eye on him."

--Biggles and the Rescue Flight

Wonder what Biggles said when he turned on the reproving eye? And wonder what Algy said back? Knowing him, he probably shrugged it off and grinned. 

Character Close-Up: Ginger’s First Appearance

Ginger.
Image from biggles.wz.cz/

As mentioned previously in this blog, Ginger’s real name appears nowhere in the 90+ Biggles books. At their first meeting—when Biggles rushes into the railway hut where Ginger is cooking himself a meal of stolen egg and “mixed allsorts”—Biggles refers to the sixteen year old redhead as Ginger, and Ginger he remains to the last.

The first we see (or, to be more accurate, hear) of Ginger is his “shrill treble voice” (presumably his voice hadn’t broken yet at this point). Then Biggles crawls into his railway hut and we get our first ever glimpse of Ginger:

“…into the wide-open eyes of a lad of fifteen or sixteen years of age. He was in rags, dirty beyond description, but above a collarless shirt rose a frank, alert, freckled face, surmounted by a mop of tousled red hair.”

--Biggles and the Black Peril

When the young redhead opens his mouth again, he is full of the Americanisms that are such a wonderful part of the younger Ginger. It’s a great pity he lost them as he got older:

“What is it—cops after you? Say! If you’ve broken out of jail you can count on me.”

--Biggles and the Black Peril

Then Ginger proceeds to utter the sentence that makes me want to hit him over the head:

“Read all about you, of course. You've got a pal named Algy something or other, haven’t you? Where’s he?”

--Biggles and the Black Peril

Algy “something or other”? Show some respect!

Character Close-Up: Post WWI Algy

Cruise of the Condor opens with about a page and a half describing our heroes, Biggles and Algy. As this is an Algy site, I am of course more concerned with the description of Algy.

Cover of The Cruise of the Condor.
Image links to Amazon.

Find it on Kindle: Biggles and Cruise of the Condor

Johns informs us that, compared to Biggles, Algy was:

 “…about the same age, perhaps a trifle younger, but rather stocky in build. His round freckled face, surmounted by an untidy crop of fair hair, carried eyes that twinkled humorously at the slightest pretext.”

--Biggles in the Cruise of the Condor

Excuse me? “Stocky in build?” WHAT?? Our Algy is stocky in build?

Close up of Algy in Cruise of the Condor.
Image from http://algylacey.0catch.com/. 

I remember reading Condor for the first time, just spending perhaps five minutes or so staring at the offending words and wondering if there was some mistake. Like, maybe it wasn't Algy after all but someone else. Or maybe someone had carelessly put a Biggles cover on a book that wasn't about Biggles.

No. No such luck.

The second half of the paragraph calmed me somewhat:

 “There was little about [Biggles and Algy] to show that they had been two of the most brilliant air fighters in the war, who were known on the British side as nearly invincible, and on the German side as a combination to be avoided.”

--Biggles in the Cruise of the Condor

That “nearly” in front of the invincible rankles a little, but not enough to cause a temper tantrum. 

A little later we learn that Biggles (who is now a major and has grey eyes instead of hazel) is the “victor of thirty-five confirmed combats and many others unclaimed”.

Underneath that we learn that Algy finished WWI as a captain/flight-commander….

 “…with twenty victories signed up in his log book.”

--Biggles in the Cruise of the Condor

What?? What??? And yet again, WHAT????!!!

Are you seriously telling me that Algy only got twenty confirmed combats to Biggles’ thirty-five? Remember that even Wilks’ had eighteen victories to Biggles’ dozen in Pioneer Air Fighter, and then try looking me in the eye and telling me that all the times Algy went on crazy missions, saved Biggles’ life, and just went plain crazy-Algy-fighting-mad only added up to twenty victories.

I know. It’s just not possible. It must be that he simply didn't bother to write up his combat reports. I can’t think of any other explanation for this.

Better go and lie down now. I feel positively faint. 

Character Close-Up: Seventeen Year Old Biggles

September, 1916. A seventeen year old boy dressed in RFC uniform appears in the doorway of a wooden hut, unaware of the impact he will have on aviation, pilots, or book lovers into the future.

Unaware that he is on the cusp of becoming a legend.

Biggles.
Image taken from http://yabs.isambard.com.au/.

He doesn't look like much of a legend….

 “There was nothing remarkable, or even martial, about his physique…he was slim, rather below average height, and delicate-looking. A wisp of fair hair protruded from one side of his rakishly titled RFC cap; his eyes, now sparkling with pleasurable anticipation, were what is usually called hazel. His features were finely cut, but the squareness of his chin and the firm line of his mouth revealed a certain doggedness, a tenacity of purpose, that denied any suggestion of weakness. Only his hands were small and white, and might have been those of a girl.”

--Biggles Learns to Fly

This description is apt to change from time to time; sometimes Biggles’ eyes are hazel, occasionally they’re gray. His hair is usually “fair”, but that word seems to mean different things in different books. In fact, any Biggles fan would be hard put to place the color "fair" on any color plate, as it appears to encompass all hair colors from “golden” to a sort of muddy brown. Even his height ranges from below average to average, depending on the book.

The small white hands like a girl’s, however, seem to be fairly consistent over all 90+ books. This slight failing never fails to intrigue me. Why make Biggles average or better than average on so many levels, but give him small girlish hands? Are they echoes of his bouts of fever in India, his somewhat fragile health? Or were they put in because Johns felt that it was necessary to give his hero some sort of physical imperfection to make him more human? 

Character Close-Up: Algy Lacey’s First Appearance

Algy (from Biggles Works It Out)
Image taken from http://algylacey.0catch.com/

When Biggles first receives the letter from his aunt (Algy’s mother), asking him to take care of his cousin, his reaction is one of annoyance. Clearly, his memories of his young cousin are not fond ones:

“…if he’s anything like the little horror he was then, heaven help us—and him. His Christian names are Algernon Montgomery, and that’s just what he looked like—a slice of warmed-up death wrapped in velvet and ribbons.”

 One has to wonder exactly what the young Algernon did to the young Biggles to inspire the descriptions “little horror” and “warmed-up death”! And really, what is his issue with the name Algernon Montgomery? Was it too difficult for him to pronounce?

Even Mahoney is inclined to be skeptical about the new arrival to 266: 

“Well, go and get the letter done, telling her how bravely he died, and forget about it.”

 Algy’s first appearance is not, perhaps, that pleasing to the eye:

 “His uniform was dirty, his hair long, his face, which wore a permanent expression of amused surprise, was a mass of freckles.”

To add to that, his ten hours on Camels and liking for ginger ale must have made Biggles think to himself something along the lines of, “Bah! He’s just a kid. I’m going to need to write that letter.”

Having thus unconsciously alienated Biggles, Algy (who, by the way, is referred to as “Algernon” throughout the first Algy story, “The Boob”) proceeds to live up to Biggles’ “little horror” expectations, flying blissfully into the blue on the tails of five Fokkers, then coming back announcing that he has shot down his first Hun.

As Algy fans will know, it is this very same “little horror”-ness that finally thaws Biggles’ antagonism, and starts the friendship that will last for the entire Biggles series.

Did W. E. Johns intend for Algy to be Biggles’ best friend from the start? Or was he simply meant to be a passing character like Henry Watkins (“The Professor”), or perhaps a side character like Wilks or Mahoney, but was later developed into Biggles’ friend because Johns grew to like him too much?