Character Close-Up: Fourteen-Year-Old Biggles

There is a brief description of the "fourteen and a half" year old Biggles in Biggles Goes To School. The book opens with Biggles meeting his headmaster:

"[The headmaster] saw a slight, neatly-dressed, delicate-looking boy, with a sensitive face, thoughtful eyes and a small but firm mouth. Fair hair was parted at the side."

--Biggles Goes To School

Thank goodness no mention is made of the color of the thoughtful eyes! Biggles at fourteen seems to be smaller than average (undernourished? Surely not!), possibly due to the bouts of fever that sent him back to England in the first place. Words like "slight", "delicate", and "sensitive" bring to mind Colin from Burnett's The Secret Garden. Presumably Biggles had a grown spurt at some point during his school life, for in later books he seems to be of average height.

Image from Yet Another Biggles Site

Biggles is clearly lacking in confidence: his headmaster has to remind him to stand up straight:

"Hold your head up and pull those shoulders back. There's no need to wilt--here, or anywhere else."

--Biggles Goes To School

Biggles? Wilting? Seriously?

Later, the headmaster also instructs Biggles to:

"Open your mouth when you speak. If you mumble people can't hear what you say."

--Biggles Goes To School

Quite different from the Biggles we know and love!

One can't help but wonder what Algy's headmaster had to say to him when he first saw him....