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?
I quote you: "He doesn't look like much of a legend…."
ReplyDeleteWell what do you expect from such a ghastly pic from the cover of some modern reprint!!! Not only is the person in that pic clearly not a boy of 17, not only is he clearly not as described by WEJ, he is equally clearly not standing next to anything that flew in WWI. Biggles deserves better!!!!!
Or was that pic supposed to represent him after he became a legend? In which case - go for the beautiful pic on the front of all the Oxford Flying jacket dustwrappers. There he does look like a legend.One of the best Biggles pics in existence.
I know this site is really all about Algy... But Algy would never have pasted that one in his photo album........
By the way, in the original version of the White Fokker, the first Biggles story, W E Johns describes Biggles' hair colour as fair, almost golden, so you can forget the muddy brown end of the colour spectrum!
ReplyDeleteI believe hair tends to darken as one grows older?
ReplyDelete"Almost" golden isn't much of a description either--how much "almost"!?