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| Cover of Biggles: Spitfire Parade. Image links to Amazon |
Bertie first appears in Spitfire Parade, the “devil with a Spitfire and wizard with a gun but mad as a hatter” addition to Biggles’ team. He bursts into Biggles’ office blowing a hunting horn and looking for his dog. Whereupon W. E. Johns informs us,
“Nobody, not even his best friend, would have called Lieutenant Lord Bertie Lissie handsome, or his face a strong face.”
And afterwards, for the rest of the war and
all the Air Police books thereafter, Bertie is simply Bertie. Like Ginger, his
nickname has become his only name.
What is Bertie short for? Bertram? Albert?
Cuthbert, even? Or could it possibly be something like Bernard? Or, is it
something horrific like Habblethwaite Hebblethwaite, so he decided to keep it a
secret for life?
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