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The beginning of Biggles Goes to War gives us an idea of what Algy does when he's bored:"[Biggles] turned down the page of his book he was reading and pulled his chair a little nearer to the fire. 'Algy,' he announced quietly, 'you're smoking too much.'
Captain the Honorable Algernon Lacey deliberately blew a neat smoke-ring into the air before he replied. 'You think so?' he murmured, pushing his finger through the ring.
'I'm sure of it.'
'What are you going to do about it?'
'The question is, rather, what are you?'
'Nothing--that is, unless you can think of something else for me to do besides twiddle my thumbs in front of the fire.'
'Go to the pictures.'
'And see war-flying as it exists in the fertile imaginations of film producers? No, thank you.'"
--Biggles Goes To War
Bah! Smoking too much? That's a bit rich coming from you, Biggles, considering that you were probably the one who got Algy smoking in the first place...
A lovely little vignette of these two for once doing nothing much. I thought Biggles comment on Algy's smoking too much was a wonderful moment. Maybe Algy's smoking had increased, because we seldom hear of Algy lighting up. So could it be his ciggy intake increased has his boredom threshold decreased?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Algy took Biggles' advice and cut down after that!
ReplyDeleteVery cheeky :-)
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that Biggles turns down the page of his book to mark his place - always thought he respected books.
Maybe it wasn't a very good book, and he was bored, and Algy's smoke rings were more interesting. Maybe they both should have gone to the pictures.
What would they go to, I wonder. Not one of Ginger's American gangster films. I should think Biggles would have liked a travel film. And Algy????
A travel film? I don't think Biggles could sit still long enough to watch a film of any type. Either he'd leave to get more popcorn every ten minutes or he'd fall asleep.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Biggles doesn't strike me as a great reader. He threatens to throw a book overboard in In Spain.
But Biggles does opt to read a book instead of going out in The Camels are Coming (though that may have just been an excuse....)
ReplyDeleteNot to mention all those foreign language phrase books he gets through.... : - )
Now Algy on the other hand; can't remember ever seeing him with a book in his hand....
Biggles is a reader. When he first starts school, he tells his headmaster that as a child he spent a lot of time in bed and there was nothing else to do but read, books on travel, exploration and history. His father must have had quite a library out in India!
ReplyDeleteBiggles' uncle in Norfolk wrote to the headmaster that Biggles had read books in advance of his age. And when you think how he is forever coming up with bits of information about geography and history, all through the books, he could only have got a lot of it from reading.
I expect the book he got fed up with at the start of In Spain was some trashy novel somebody had given or lent him.
You're probably right about the trashy novel, SA. That would be typical of Biggles.
ReplyDeleteAlgy has been known to read flying magazines, I think.
ReplyDeleteThe book in In Spain was one that Ginger declared that "someone else" had told him was a good book.
At the start of In Spain Biggles was in a VERY disgruntled mood due to a long spell of enforced inactivity (I would imagine he makes a VERY bad patient....)
ReplyDeleteSo I don't think even the best book ever written would stand much of a chance of getting a good review from him that day....: - )
I also love the way Algy, at the start of In Spain, who understands Biggles' moods so well, is so mild and non-critical even though Biggles is really thowing the equivalent of a hissy fit!
Well, That's Algy isn't it :-)
ReplyDeleteI am sure you are right - Biggles would forever be wanting to get up and do things before he was better.
I think the four of them would be a match for any doctor. Remember when Bertie got shot in Flying Detective and he asked the doctor to cut a piece off the other leg so he wouldn't limp? :P
ReplyDeleteWell, Ginger did use penicillin on a sheikh's son in Forms a Syndicate. They had a comprehensive First Aid Kit which Biggles had insisted on them knowing the purpose of the items in it.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised Ginger can find his way out of a first aid kit, given his talent for getting lost and never knowing anything important.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised too! But there's no doubt he can find his way round an aero engine so I guess he's not completely useless. I'm almost feeling sorry for him here.
ReplyDeleteAh but did it mention in the book if the sheikh's son actually survived Ginger's ministrations?
ReplyDeleteYes, he did. and although WEJ didn't say so, I reckon Ginger could have had the pick of his daughters! As it so happens, the Sheikh was instrumental in helping Biggles & Co.
ReplyDeleteGinger, married to a sheikh's daughter?
ReplyDeleteI see a fanfic brewing there...
Are we to look forward to the first instalment of 'Ginger Married' now? : - )
ReplyDeleteBut if he had to live in the desert with her, poor Ginger would get lost every time he went out - he'd never find his way back home again - poor thing.
Plus he would run into all types of wildlife and have to be constantly rescued from snakes, scorpions, spiders and so on.
ReplyDeleteWhat a life! Maybe it's a good thing he didn't marry her after all.