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| 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!
And to add insult to insult, when Ginger and Algy are looking for Biggles, he accuses Algy of sounding like an elephant I seem to remember. Of course, Algy had never had to skulk round people's henhouses looking for an egg - no doubt all Algy had to do was ask for an egg and say how he'd like it cooked ;-)
ReplyDeleteI've only read Black Peril years and years ago, but this is top of my list of must read again. I feel I don't know the young Ginger,but judging from the comments I'm looking forward to meeting him again.
ReplyDeleteFairblue, make sure you get the Red Fox edition of The Black Peril. They worked on the text and it is much more like the original printing than the later editions. It really is a different reading experience, noticeable from page 1.
ReplyDeleteSA, I try very very hard not to think of the elephant remark...and all other remarks Ginger made to Algy in that book that were just plain cheek. There are some moments where I quite like Ginger, and then he goes and ruins things by saying something rude to Algy.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, Fairblue, it is quite a good read, don't want to put you off reading it.
I've got the Dean and Sons version. Maybe they rewrote some of that so it came out cheekier than it should?
I've got the Red Fox version. It's been more years than I care to remember since I last read it and at the time it wasn't one of my favourites. but I was a kid at the time so I'll be reading it with a completely fresh look. Anyway, it'll keep me occupied for a short while in bonny Scotland.
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy it up there. Maybe bring Swastika along for your Mum-in-law? There are some charming Algy moments in it.
ReplyDeleteSopwith said: "I've got the Dean and Sons version. Maybe they rewrote some of that so it came out cheekier than it should?"
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is any difference in the text for Ginger's scenes. Red Fox put back text cut in earlier versions. For instance, on the first page of my old Thames version, it says they went to the aerodrome and are in an amphibian aeroplane. Red Fox text explains that they are in the Vandal, which they left at Brooklands after their return from South America. This kind of detail makes for a much more satisfying read, taking me instantly into Biggles' world.
I've got the Red Fox version and have just discovered a Thames version in an old box of books in my attic! I'm going to take them both with me and might indulge in a little literary exercise by comparing the two.
ReplyDeleteLove the blog, SA and the comments widget is a super idea.
Going to put the Red Fox version on my wishlist. It will be nice to read it. I wonder who decided to edit all the good bits out in the other versions?
ReplyDeleteSopwith wrote: Going to put the Red Fox version on my wishlist. It will be nice to read it. I wonder who decided to edit all the good bits out in the other versions?"
ReplyDeleteYou can actually read the first pages on the amazon site if you look for the Red Fox "Biggles and the Black Peril". You can what I meant about the extra detail.
It is pretty well acknowledged that some of WEJ's books were edited by butchers. Why they were so messed up when re-printed years ago is a mystery.
Isn't it just making more work for themselves to edit and (badly) rewrite?
ReplyDelete