Would things have been different for
Biggles had his older brother survived the war?
For starters, I don’t know that James was
all that close with Charles. There is no mention of him in Biggles the Boy, so presumably when Biggles was in India getting
recurring bouts of fever his brother was in England attending school. Once
Biggles got to school, Charles of course was no longer there, having left to
join the army. Any communication between the two would have been through
letters (and we all know how much young boys like to write letters!) Certainly
it seems unlikely that Biggles and his brother would have the close
relationship of the Fortymore brothers from The
Rescue Flight.
However, upon his return to London in Pioneer Air Fighter Biggles’ first move
is to attempt to find out where his father and brother are, so one would
suppose that they did at least get on.
Did Biggles idolize his older brother? (If
he did, why did he choose to become a pilot rather than join his brother?)
Would they have gone on adventures together, with or without Algy? Was Johns
worried that the presence of an older sibling would detract from Biggles’
greatness?
Fairblue - you shouldn't encourage me! I am supposed to be working my way through a work mountain but I am very weak-willed.
ReplyDeleteCharles about three years older than James? Do you think so Soppy? Oddly, I always thought more than three years, not sure why. No evidence either way in the books.
Charles died in September 2018, footnote in Biggles Goes to School, but, as you say, is otherwise ignored, apart from when Biggles is forced to take some leave in London and is bored.
I expect he looked up the family house hoping to avoid paying for a hotel rather than because he wanted to see his brother.
He often seems to be a bit short of cash in WWI. All those cigarettes maybe - I assume their food was free in the squadron mess? Or the money he lost at bridge - see the WWI story 'The Packet' where Mahoney grumbles at Biggles because, although he gets good cards, he doesn't play them well so the pair of them are losing money! [What is it they say? Something like, lucky in cards unlucky in love...]
I don't think for one minute that Biggles idolised his brother. I don't think Biggles was the 'idolising' sort (unlike Ginger). Biggles saw an aeroplane at school, just once, and that was that; he decided he wanted to fly. And when Biggles decides something that is it - all out, single-minded determination. he joined the army (because he had to) and transferred to the RFC as fast as he could!
Charles Bigglesworth is a bit of a mystery figure isn't he? I'd like to have known a bit more about him.
ReplyDeleteAnd SA I always got the impression he was quite a bit older than Biggles too, though I can't say why either.
In those days I don't suppose it was unusual for children of well-to-do families to grow up living quite seperate lives - boarding school would see to that. And on the odd occassions when they did meet up it must have been like meeting a stranger.
I can imagine Biggles and his brother shaking hands and greeting each other seriously. Asking a few polite,disinterested questions of each other, and then both drifting back into their own little worlds. Biggles returning to his books, Charles to discussing his sporting achievements and army ambitions with his father.... a world which at that time in his life,from his sick bed, the frail young James would have had no part in....
No wonder they weren't close later on; though WW1 probably prevented any chance of that.
The young Biggles always strikes me as a very lonely person. He really did need Algy in his life to cheer him up a bit....
It is interesting that our thoughts often run on similar lines. I do agree with you :-) And I'd like to know a bit more about Charles, too.
ReplyDeleteI always imagine Algy also has an older brother, about Charles' age, who the doting Mama kept well away from Flanders mud so that he could inherit the title and look after the estate. After WWI, Algy was too busy enjoying himself flying round the world with Biggles, Smyth and Dickpa to want to get involved in estate administration.
However, I don't think Biggles was lonely. I think he was just self-contained and self-sufficient, and probably rather serious. And even as a child, he was self-disciplined - I am sure I remember in Biggles the Boy that he was doing his lessons as a self-appointed task (but I haven't checked that).
You can be lonely in a crowd, in a school, and not at all lonely all by yourself on a windswept hillside or in a jungle.
Biggles was fourteen and a half when he went to school, and the headmaster tells him that his brother has just left to join the army. I don't think Charles could have been too old--eighteen or seventeen (if he "lost" his papers as Biggles did). That's why I thought they would be about three years apart, give or take another year either way.
ReplyDeleteI believe one had to pay mess bills? (Thirty talks o Rip about needing money to pay his mess bills in Rescue Flight) I don't know if that was a blanket sum that covered all drinks and food and kit and everything? Hopefully someone with more knowledge on the matter can come along and enlighten us! I would think they would have to pay for drinks anyway because they all drank so much during the war--it's a wonder there was any alcohol left anywhere during the last couple of years of WWI!
I don't think Biggles ever felt lonely as such, but either way he liked to have Algy around whenever he went places, whether it was out for a picnic or on a proper adventure!
Don't know about Algy having an older sibling. One would suppose that the older sibling would get all of the doting mum treatment and that Algy would get left out of it. Or maybe she was super doting and it spilled over the edges and caught Algy?
This is such fun to guess what happened - or didn't as the case may be :-)
ReplyDeleteCharles was a successful at Sandhurst, and got his commission before WWI started. he wouldn't need to lose his birth certificate, and anyway, they'd have a record of his entry, his successful career highlights and so on. All done in the proper manner. I think he would be more than three years older than Biggles quite honestly, but I don't know how long they had to spend at Sandhurst to get their commission.
Yes they did have to pay their own mess bills, but maybe you are right and that was only extras like alcohol. You'd expect the army to feed its officers for free? but I don't know either, I'm only guessing.
I wonder if they mainly drank rough local French wine! That at least would be plentiful. Whisky became scarce - look at the story where Biggles and Wilks compete for the case of 'lemonade' ;-)
Biggles would need a second pilot - it would be silly to go off on his own, even with Smyth as a backup. But anyway, I'm sure he and Algy were such good friends, it would never occur to him not to want Algy around. And a picnic on your own is no fun :-)
The reason why I think Algy must have had an older sibling is that otherwise he would have had to take some part in the running of the estate - the family would expect him to be involved, even if he engaged a manager to do it. There is never any suggestion that Algy was anything other than free to do what he liked. To me that says 'elder brother' (who probably didn't approve of him not settling down).
Mothers often dote upon and spoil the youngest!!! the last of their 'babies' to leave the nest... The older one has to put up with being told they are old enugh to do this and that, to be sensible and... [I was the elder of two, and I know...]
Could Algy have more than one older sib? If he was very far back in line he needn't have bothered about the estate at all, but would he still be an Hon. in that case? No one ever seems to say very much about Algy's family. :(
ReplyDeleteIsn't there a book where Smyth suddenly has a pilot's license and knows how to fly? I think it's Sees It Through? I remember reading it and thinking, well, Smyth, it's about time!
You’re right, Soppy, it was in “Sees it Through.” He blagged a machine from Raymond if I remember, correctly. In Black Peril Biggles splits up the party but insists on him being on one side and Algy on the other so each side would have a pilot, so obviously Smyth couldn’t fly then. I also seem to remember a reference in one book to Smyth saying he could fly the plane ‘in an emergency’ or ‘at a pinch’ or something like that, but cannot trace it at the moment. Perhaps another WEJ inconsistency?
ReplyDeleteRegarding Mess bills for officers. Food and Accommodation were free but any other extras 'bar bills' etc would have been but on their Mess bills.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the title 'Honourable' is bestowed upon the second son of a nobleman, the first son taking the title below that of the father. So Algy could have been a second, or even third son, but definitely not an only son.
Maybe Smyth used the £500 cheque he received at the end of Black Peril to treat himself to some flying lessons.... What Ginger could do he could do.... : )
ReplyDeleteMaybe they both learnt together (or perhaps Biggles secretly paid for Smyth to learn at the same time so he could keep an eye on Ginger and make sure he behaved for Captain Carthorne!)
Sopwith said:"I don't think Biggles ever felt lonely as such"
ReplyDeleteThere is a WW1 story where he is described as lonely when he gets back from a patrol late and finds everyone else has gone off in the tender.
It's perfectly possible, of course, to feel lonely for a wee while, because you were too late to go to the party etc. Such moments do pass and I imagine everyone felt like that at some time. SA's observation that Biggles was self-contained and self-sufficient covers it, I think. Without getting into this too deeply, it's also possible to be alone and not be lonely, and to be lonely among a crowd of people. I don't know the young WWI Biggles so much, I'm more in tune with the WW2 and Air Police Biggles, but an 18 year old's emotions were more than likely on a roller-coaster anyway without the ocnflict of war thrown in.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the reasons Biggles struck me as a lonely person as a child is because as an adult he seems to appreciate the company of his friends a lot. Not only does he (eventually) have them all living with him in his flat (not the actions of someone who values solitude!), whenever he or one of the others have to go off on a long flight he often suggests one of the others go along simply for 'company'. And in 'Swastika' he even requests the presence of Algy and Ginger not just to help out with the mission, but because he desires their moral support.
ReplyDeleteAre these the actions of someone who understands lonliness, perhaps? Someone who spent a tad too much time on his own as a child?
I absolutely agree that solitude doesn't always equal loneliness in fact, quite the opposite for many people. But also being self-contained and good on your own doesn't always mean you are happy on your own ALL the time. It's just that sometimes - well - what choice do you have?
I think Biggles' father comes across as quite strict, a little distant and VERY busy. He doesn't seem to have much time to have fun with his son. And of course Charles is always away.....
It's a pity the young Biggles didn't have a doting mother, like Algy had, present in his life - I'm sure he would have benefitted hugely from a spot of cosseting and mothering....it certainly never did Algy any harm at any rate.
JJ, you might have hit it on the head when you said that 'he seems to appreciate the company of his friends a lot'.In Gun Runners when he went undercover, so to speak and moved out of Mount Street a passage read "he was getting bored with doing nothing and living without the companionship to which he
ReplyDeletewas accustomed." I've also a sneaky suspicion that part of that was he hadn't got anyone to boss around!
It's interesting to speculate. I agree - if Biggles had had a doting mother he might have turned out to be a different person, as he might have been had there not been WWI, or if he hadn't met Marie, or if his brother had survived WWI.
ReplyDeleteBut he never struck me as lonely in the accounts of his childhood, well not in India anyway. He seemed to enjoy his childhood in India (and he says he did in Goes Home). A lot of fathers were strict in those days. I always imagine that Algy's father was strict too, but that his mother was a balancing factor.
I doubt that fathers of the class and profession of Biggles' father spent much time playing with their sons. It would probably be quite normal to be absent and busy and the children would be accustomed to it. Biggles does say in Goes to School that his father took an interest in his education!
Biggles certainly spent most of his life living with other people after India - school, the RFC, various companions in the interwar adventures, the RAF, then the four of them in the air police. But in those days, if you were not married, I think it was more normal to do that than to live on your own.
He doesn't come across to me as being particularly close to any of his friends except Algy. He can seem quite remote, especially after WWII. In fact, I see him more as a person with a lot of acquantances but few real friends.
I don't mean he didn't care. He did have a concern for whoever he was working with, and he could be protective, especially towards the younger Ginger. But after WWI, Biggles rarely showed his emotions. Maybe, after Marie, he decided emotions were something it was safer not to indulge in.
When you have spent much of your life commanding other people, with all the responsibility that that brings, it must affect your character and behaviour cosiderably and may be quite inhibiting. And there are times when he is quite snappy and intolerant. But if you live with the same people for years there are bound to be times when they just get to you. And no doubt they got fed up with him too!
I think Biggles matured very quickly while living in India, partly because of all the reading (it's very hard to read a lot and not mature at all), but also because of all the dangers of wildlife out there which meant that at a very young age he was aware of things like death and so on. Losing his mother probably didn't help much in that respect either.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the point I'm trying to make is, his early maturity would have made him self-contained. Possibly it distanced him from boys of his own age, who were more carefree and "rough". He might have felt distanced from the young Algy as well, when he met him--Algy would have had a "normal" childhood, something that Biggles would find hard to relate to. Later, in the war, everyone grew up and matured very fast, so maybe that was why Biggles started making friends and becoming vaguely popular, although again he is more intense than the average pilot.
I agree that loneliness is more often a state of mind rather than actually being alone. If you have time to muse on the differences between you and other people and how and why you don't fit in with them, then it is possible to be quite lonely even in a crowd. I think a more accurate term, though, would be "comfortable". Biggles was comfortable with himself; he didn't feel the need to run about and make a noise or be rough or do whatever young boys do to prove their existence to the world, therefore Biggles never really felt lonely.
I think as Biggles grew older he became better at hiding his emotions and so the caring he shows to Algy in WWI doesn't really show in his relationship for Bertie and Ginger. Add to that, there is a sort of bond that grows between people who have grown up together and fought together and almost died together, and while Bertie and Ginger both had their fair share of that with Biggles, the almost-dying moments of WWI were in Biggles' most impressionable years, and so he would be more likely to hold onto that. I hesitate to say that he grew "jaded" as he got older, but having seen pretty much all the horrible things people can do to one another, is't surprising that he didn't get a bit more cynical than he did.
I think what you have written is a very good analysis Soppy. I think I agree with everything you say :-)
ReplyDeleteI would add to it that not only must Biggles and Algy have had the sort of total bond that you describe so well (and which WEJ mentions more than once but the occasion that comes to my mind is when Algy thinks Biggles may have drowned near the beginning of Black Peril), also, it must surely have been Algy who helped Biggles cope with the aftermath of Marie's betrayal, nearly drinking himself to death and being shot down and injured. That's when you need a real friend.
My father was only 19 when he went to fight in WWII.He made a very close friend in his unit and they went through Dunkirk, the African Desert and the Normandy landings together, plus a few more horrible places in between. One of the only times I've seen my father cry (other than on the death of my mother) was when his friend died at the grand old age of 91. Going through horrors together does form a bond which can last a lifetime. You don't choose for it to happen,
ReplyDeleteBiggles had a bond with Algy, but his relationship with Ginger, I think, was perhaps more fatherly, and Bertie came along later, so while Biggles cares for all of them, the bond with Algy is different and more intense.
I've also heard stories where war creates a bond but after people get back to their normal lives they don't want anything to do with each other (Hollywood loves this kind of plot, don't they? Two people survive something traumatic, get through it, and then go home and just want to forget all about it). It depends on the person, I suppose, and of course Biggles was always the adventuring type, and that being so he would need someone to watch his back--and who better to do that than the man who had done it during the war?
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