Would You Rather...?

Would you rather...
Have a drink with eighteen-year-old Biggles?
Have a drink with Air Inspector Biggles?
I personally would like to meet eighteen-year-old Biggles more than air policeman Biggles. Biggles was so much more daring and fun when he was younger. After that he grew up and started worrying about things like starting wars and saving the world....

18 comments

  1. No contest - it has to be young Biggles!

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  2. My first reaction was exactly the same as ShirleyJay's - then I started to wonder if he'd have been a more interesting and thoughtful person to have a drink with when he was older.

    And who knows, with luck, Algy might be there too - if he was allowed time off from minding the phone :-)

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  3. I don't know that he was more thoughtful when he was older--the younger Biggles tended to be quiet and thoughtful and resourceful as well, but in a crazier way.

    It sounds like SA is more eager to have a drink with Algy than either Biggles! :P

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  4. Eightee-year-old Biggles every time.
    Air Inspector Biggles seems to have lost a lot of his sense of fun. He might have more stories to tell but if I asked too many questions he'd tick me off and tell me to use my head!

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  5. Well JJ, there is that, but it might depend on the type of conversation - I wasn't thinking of stories of what they'd done - more Life, the Universe etc. sort of thing.

    If one wanted to ask somebody to tell a story, Ginger might be best as he had plenty of 'tall story' practice in Charter Pilot **rolls eyes**

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  6. Definitely Air-Ispector Biggles. Having a drink with an 18 year old Biggles would be too much like having a drink with my own sons, one of whom was unfortunate enough to have gone through wars in Kosovo and Bosnia. I'd probably want to mother him and that wouldn't do at all!

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  7. The older one - after all, he might lighten up after a few drinks and be a barrel of fun!

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  8. Of course having a drink with Air Inspector Biggles would mean a chance of running into Ginger and Bertie, eh, fans? :)

    I don't think Biggles really did drink that much after he got older. Maybe he had learnt his lesson when he had the stuff for breakfast and realized that it didn't agree with him.

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  9. I seem to remember Biggles mentioning in a book something about learning his lesson. On the other hand, I've read so many fanfics since I joined the forum that I'm afraid WEJ and certain other authors are all blurring into one!

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  10. On second thoughts, skip the drink with Biggles. A glass of champers with Bertie will do me!

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  11. That'll be lemonade when some editor gets to it...

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  12. You are right FB - Biggles does mention he learned his lesson in a book - possibly more than once becasue I have a dim memory of him saying something along those lines in one of the air detective stories, but I clearly remember him saying it in In the Orient to a pilot (not in his squadron) who is drinking because so many pilots have been killed by a 'mystery weapon' - not wanting to spoil the story for anybody who hasn't yet read it.

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  13. I went back to this book in the Orient because I realised I hadn't read it for absolutely ages. Much of the beginning (and indeed various places through the book) is taken up by WEJ telling us how wonderful Biggles is **rolls eyes - to read it, you'd think WEJ was a Biggles fangirl**

    BUT WEJ also includes descriptions of the 666 pilots, including Algy, who at the age of maybe 43-ish is said to be "fair and freckled". So he still has his freckles even after all that time, Soppy :-)

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  14. Good find SA!
    It's good to know Algy's freckles didn't go the same way as Bertie's lisp, Bertie's limp and Bertie's moustache : - )))

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  15. It's a jolly good job those did disappear although I could forgive the limp.

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  16. 43 and freckles? Maybe he also had one of those faces that stayed young forever...

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  17. Well, the way he's going at the moment, Soppy, youngish forever appears to be exactly what he will be.

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  18. It's always hard for me to imagine Algy as older than 25. Even in the air police books he's 25 in my head.

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Maira Gall