Biggles In Australia
So, I thought one of the more useful things I could use my largely redundant livejournal for would be writing entries about whatever books I happen to be reading or TV programs I happen to be watching, so when I go 'ohhh, you know, that one with the....giant squid...and the cheesy doritos...', I can search and find out what I was talking about and prove that I was not, in fact, insane.*
*for given value of sane.
This is particularly relevant as my current pet project is rarelitslash of various varieties, for which I need to be able to go 'oh, you know, that one with the giant squid and the cheesy doritos and Biggles saying they weren't going on a 'fruity frolic' when Bertie talks about their holiday plans' and find the relevant glee-worthy passage easily. So I'm planning to do quite a lot of these entries for Biggles books (which blur into one in my mind *so very easily*, but do in fact all have their own special merits), with particular reference to fangirl-smirk-inducing
lines.
So! With that, let us begin with...
Biggles In Australia (1955)
which I have in a rather nice first edition with dust jacket, purchased today from the Oxfam bookshop. Of course, this being Oxford, the Oxfam bookshop knows the *precise* value of what they've got and sting you for the full amount, chiz. The cover shows Biggles-and-co's flying boat being glomped by a giant squid, so *that's* all right.
Plot:
Von Stalhein's been spotted apparently ship-wrecked in Australia, and Raymond dispatches Biggles & Co. to hunt for him. Biggles has the good sense to point out that he doesn't seem to do anything but chase or run away from von Stalhein at the moment. Oh, Biggles. You don't seem to appreciate that W.E. Johns seemingly knew very well that people like me will buy *anything* with von Stalhein in. Adding a note of Prussian arrogance to our otherwise drab lives.
Algy and Bertie go in one plane, which is delayed at Singapore (oh, gee, can you say Johns didn't know what to do with the sidekicks again? Poor Bertie. And poor Algy - ever thought how annoyed he must get about Ginger being Biggles' favoured toy-boy these days?); Biggles and Ginger go ahead in the flying boat, and get attacked by a giant squid while searching the islands for the wreckage of von Stalhein's boat. Eventually they find the probable crash site, along with the bodies of several people from another wreck - seems like Erich & Co. bumped them off to steal their life-boat - and a list of Suspicious Names (TM). They go and inform the local
police, but when they take the Helpful Policeman (TM) back to the island, they find von Stalhein and his Merry Men have just finished burying the bodies and picking up the rubbish, which leaves them rather stuck for something to actually *charge* them with.
After various investigative runnings around, they piece together that the Filthy Commies are operating by air and sea out of a base not too far away, and that their intention is to use sleeper agents to encourage the aborigines to turn against the white settlers. (Note: gotta say, if I were an aborigine and I was reading this book, I might be ready to murder a few people too. This has to be one of the worst cases of that painful typically-1950s casual racism of any of the Biggles books I've read. Be warned. I'm assured that it can't be as bad as 'The Boy Biggles', which I am forbidden to read, but it's still more than a little >_<-inducing.)
Blah-blah, investigative dashing around, blah-blah, they take out the radioset of one of the Fifth Columnist bases, blah-blah, and plan then to inform someone in charge of what's going on (gee, Biggles, what an *excellent* idea! Perhaps you should have thought of it after the first boat-load of innocent bystanders got killed), and after that to take on the main base. At which point von Stalhein unexpectedly turns up in the tea-room at their aerodrome. Ohhhh, how I laughed. Sadly, this is a Biggles-von Stalhein meeting that is more composed of bad-temper
than banter and heel-clicking hi-jinx, but we can't have everything all the time.
Turns out von Stahlein and his unwitting Australian pilot are about to head off for their main base, where the mysterious Mr Smith dwells, with the list of Communist agents which Biggles wants to get his hands on. Biggles heads off to Sydney to inform the Australian Security officer of what's going on; meanwhile, Algy and the others kindly inform the Unwitting Pilot (TM) just who his employers are. He tells them in general figures where their base is, but is discovered by von Stalhein and the Sinister Ivan. He, still not quite understanding the danger he's in, leaves with them in the boat for their base (their plane's been grounded due to Biggles' efforts
in Sydney), and Algy-etc have to rescue him in a needlessly dramatic fashion involving crocodiles. No, really. After they get back to base, they decide this would be the *perfect* time for them to go and raid the enemy base - after all, it's the last thing they'd expect!
*headdesk* Please, guys, just - let Biggles do your thinking for you, okay? You know he didn't pick you for your brains.
Algy's left behind to wait for Biggles to get back. (Ha! Poor Algy, left on the sidelines yet *again*. If these books were a modern series, Algy would have died for cheap dramatic thrills in an emotionally pornographic way at the end of the second world war. Seriously, when was the last time Johns actually let him do *anything*? Bertie, Ginger and Unwitting Pilot go on to the Communist base, hoping to beat the boatload of von Stalhein and chums there. They duly do so, but are attacked by a small army of aborigines who set fire to their plane and trap them in the house. The Filthy COmmies, on their arrival, are attacked by the aborigines in their turn, and politely slaughtered in the correct way for such Treacherous and Underhanded Adversaries. (Naturally, von Stalhein had coincidentally stayed in the boat - though sweetly enough, Ginger insisted that they shout and warn von Stalhein about the danger when they heard the group approaching - so escaped unscathed to be a generally ill-used nemesis another day.)
Side-note: I wonder whether we're *meant* to be slightly disturbed by Biggles in this one? I'll admit, the darkness of the characterisation doesn't seem entirely normal for what was, of course, originally a children's book; but then, even in the early ones Biggles gets a lot of blood rage, death wishes and drinking problems, which aren't what you'd call typically child-friendly topics. There are several points in this book where I was really brought up short by the coldness of Biggles' behaviour. Biggles has always had a strong eye for 'the greater good', as he perceives it; but I was still caught out by his comment to the Helpful Policeman (TM): "You, naturally, are concerned about a murder that has been committed. To me that's only a side issue." (p.70). Biggles has never had much time for excesses on either side of the political spectrum; but I was still surprised by his altercation with Helpful Policeman (TM) on the communists using fermenting discontent amongst the aborigenes, wherein he expresses sentiments that make my knee-jerk pinko liberal attitudes twitch a bit: '"This is a free country," he [the policeman] argued. "A man can go where he likes and do what he likes as long as he doesn't break the law. And there's no law against talking, to blacks or whites."
"And that's exactly what the enemy reckons on," declared Biggles. "It makes his job easy and ours difficult."' (p.110) We all know that Biggles is cool in a crisis; but Johns seems to draw attention to his nervelessness to a surprising degree. There's the time one of the aborigines (whose name is Charlie) pulls a knife on them; admittedly he's a known murderer, but Biggles lack of reaction rather jolted me: 'Biggles hardly moved. His gun crashed. Charlie staggered screaming, clutching his arm. The knife clattered on the floor. Biggles kicked it aside and grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck.' (p.121) Then a little further on, when Ginger reports that von Stalhein has unexpectedly turned up at their aerodrome tea-room, 'Biggles looked incredulous. Not for a long time had Ginger seen him so taken aback.' (p.130)
It just feels oddly like Johns *means* Biggles to be a teensy bit off the rails at this point. I'm sure von Stalhein is supposed to be, throughout these later books - they're both a bit off-kilter without a war to fight. Ah well. I shall probably choose to read it as such, even if W.E. Johns didn't have any such thought in mind ^_^
Continuity note: (p.140) Algy tells Cozens (the Communists' unwitting pilot) that he's working for spies who'll get rid of him as soon as they've finished with him; Cozens replies that they won't get rid of him just yet, "because that'd leave 'em with an aircraft and no one to fly it." Now, I recognise that this could simply be a sign of Cozens' ignorance of his employers, but Algy and Ginger surely ought to have caught it: I'm sure von Stalhein was a pilot. Not an actual air-force pilot, but very capable of flying a plane, and flying it pretty well, as I recall. That's how he's first 'killed', at the end of 'Flies East', isn't it? Johns really does seem to lose track of what von Stalhein can and can't do at this stage. Ah well, maybe my fangirlish theory about von Stalhein not wanting to pilot a plane again after the crash at the end of 'Flies East' which left him with a limp for the rest of his life was actually correct ^_^
Lines to cherish and remember for always:
p. 10. Biggles calls von Stalhein 'the ubiquitous Erich.' This makes me happy on many levels. Also 'dear Erich' (p.16), and plain old 'Erich' (p.132). D'awww.
p.17. Air Commodore Raymond says to Biggles "I'm not particularly interested in von Stalhein personally". I choose to read this "I'm not interested in von Stalhein personally..." and that he then gives Biggles an old-fashioned look over his spectacles.
p.35. "By thunder! They're decapods!" *hugs Biggles for British decorum in the face of sweet, sweet decapod love.*
p.39. Biggles: "I once had a spot of bother with a big octopus. That was bad enough." IS NOTHING SACRED?
p.62. Is it me, or is it almost sweet that when Biggles talks about von Stalhein going over to the Communists, the main thing he highlights is that for the sake of revenge against Britain "he has sacrificed his sense of humour, and any pleasure he might have got out of life." I mean - honestly, Biggles, I know you're oddly indulgent towards dear Erich, but his sense of humour wasn't what I'd highlight as his most *obviously* positive character trait.
p.92. "Well, chase Aunt Lizzie round the haystacks!" *Best*. *Exclamation*. *Ever*. And yet more proof, as if any were needed, that Bertie is the best. This line also raises the gleeful possibility that Bertie has an aunt called Lizzie Lissie. Which is awesome. I hope she's mad as a sack of cats and is Bertie's favourite relative.
p.66. I love that the idea of von Stalhein on a desert island is so damned incongruous that Ginger doesn't recognise him. If he's not monocled, besuited or be-uniformed, with immaculate hair, highly polished shoes and preferably an amber cigarette holder, it's not really the genuine article. Von Stalhein: accept no substitutes.
p.76. "I've been on the go since daylight and I could drink a bucket of tea." *hugs Biggles for caffeine-habit.*
p.131. (Biggles, about von Stahlein arriving unexpectedly in their tea-room.) "If he sees us - well, maybe that will shake him as much as his arrival here has shaken me." It pleases me that they freak each other out so. Also, lines like this give one the pleasureable anticipation of a Biggles-von Stahlein meeting in the near future, complete with banter, excrutiating politeness, and buckets of snark.
p.153. '"If you go any nearer they'll start shooting at us," warned Ginger. Said Bertie, from behind: "If the dirty dogs start that I've a few things ready to unload on 'em, yes, by Jove!"' Bertie. High explosives. Truly a match made in heaven. I can't wait to read some Gimlet books, if it means I get more Bertie / Gimlet interaction. High explosives, horse-racing, chronically silly accents - what's not to love?
p.175. The image of Bertie wiping condensation from his monocle while dancing aborigines set fire to his plane outside. I'm not quite certain whether that leaves me overjoyed or horrified. Somewhere in the middle, I guess.
p.177. "He'll step right into the custard." Sometime, I want to see an extended conversation between von Stalhein and Bertie. I'm reasonably certain von Stalhein would not understand more than about 30% of what Bertie says. I'm reasonably certain *I* don't, but von Stalhein glares more than me.
Conclusions: not the best of Biggles books; I usually reckon the mid-50s ones to be quite reasonable, and though this doesn't have the strained feeling that the 60s books do, it's markedly less comfortable than the early volumes. The racist attitudes, while no doubt not out of the ordinary for their time, are pretty painful in places - more so than in many of the earlier books, oddly enough. Von Stalhein is sadly under-used, there mainly as a generic Communist underling, and there wasn't nearly enough of that slightly sad comraderie between him and Biggles, which I generally reckon to be the high-point of the later books.
I think I should have the Biggles equivalent of the Aitken Index, though I have no idea what it should measure. Any thoughts, anyone?
*for given value of sane.
This is particularly relevant as my current pet project is rarelitslash of various varieties, for which I need to be able to go 'oh, you know, that one with the giant squid and the cheesy doritos and Biggles saying they weren't going on a 'fruity frolic' when Bertie talks about their holiday plans' and find the relevant glee-worthy passage easily. So I'm planning to do quite a lot of these entries for Biggles books (which blur into one in my mind *so very easily*, but do in fact all have their own special merits), with particular reference to fangirl-smirk-inducing
lines.
So! With that, let us begin with...
Biggles In Australia (1955)
which I have in a rather nice first edition with dust jacket, purchased today from the Oxfam bookshop. Of course, this being Oxford, the Oxfam bookshop knows the *precise* value of what they've got and sting you for the full amount, chiz. The cover shows Biggles-and-co's flying boat being glomped by a giant squid, so *that's* all right.
Plot:
Von Stalhein's been spotted apparently ship-wrecked in Australia, and Raymond dispatches Biggles & Co. to hunt for him. Biggles has the good sense to point out that he doesn't seem to do anything but chase or run away from von Stalhein at the moment. Oh, Biggles. You don't seem to appreciate that W.E. Johns seemingly knew very well that people like me will buy *anything* with von Stalhein in. Adding a note of Prussian arrogance to our otherwise drab lives.
Algy and Bertie go in one plane, which is delayed at Singapore (oh, gee, can you say Johns didn't know what to do with the sidekicks again? Poor Bertie. And poor Algy - ever thought how annoyed he must get about Ginger being Biggles' favoured toy-boy these days?); Biggles and Ginger go ahead in the flying boat, and get attacked by a giant squid while searching the islands for the wreckage of von Stalhein's boat. Eventually they find the probable crash site, along with the bodies of several people from another wreck - seems like Erich & Co. bumped them off to steal their life-boat - and a list of Suspicious Names (TM). They go and inform the local
police, but when they take the Helpful Policeman (TM) back to the island, they find von Stalhein and his Merry Men have just finished burying the bodies and picking up the rubbish, which leaves them rather stuck for something to actually *charge* them with.
After various investigative runnings around, they piece together that the Filthy Commies are operating by air and sea out of a base not too far away, and that their intention is to use sleeper agents to encourage the aborigines to turn against the white settlers. (Note: gotta say, if I were an aborigine and I was reading this book, I might be ready to murder a few people too. This has to be one of the worst cases of that painful typically-1950s casual racism of any of the Biggles books I've read. Be warned. I'm assured that it can't be as bad as 'The Boy Biggles', which I am forbidden to read, but it's still more than a little >_<-inducing.)
Blah-blah, investigative dashing around, blah-blah, they take out the radioset of one of the Fifth Columnist bases, blah-blah, and plan then to inform someone in charge of what's going on (gee, Biggles, what an *excellent* idea! Perhaps you should have thought of it after the first boat-load of innocent bystanders got killed), and after that to take on the main base. At which point von Stalhein unexpectedly turns up in the tea-room at their aerodrome. Ohhhh, how I laughed. Sadly, this is a Biggles-von Stalhein meeting that is more composed of bad-temper
than banter and heel-clicking hi-jinx, but we can't have everything all the time.
Turns out von Stahlein and his unwitting Australian pilot are about to head off for their main base, where the mysterious Mr Smith dwells, with the list of Communist agents which Biggles wants to get his hands on. Biggles heads off to Sydney to inform the Australian Security officer of what's going on; meanwhile, Algy and the others kindly inform the Unwitting Pilot (TM) just who his employers are. He tells them in general figures where their base is, but is discovered by von Stalhein and the Sinister Ivan. He, still not quite understanding the danger he's in, leaves with them in the boat for their base (their plane's been grounded due to Biggles' efforts
in Sydney), and Algy-etc have to rescue him in a needlessly dramatic fashion involving crocodiles. No, really. After they get back to base, they decide this would be the *perfect* time for them to go and raid the enemy base - after all, it's the last thing they'd expect!
*headdesk* Please, guys, just - let Biggles do your thinking for you, okay? You know he didn't pick you for your brains.
Algy's left behind to wait for Biggles to get back. (Ha! Poor Algy, left on the sidelines yet *again*. If these books were a modern series, Algy would have died for cheap dramatic thrills in an emotionally pornographic way at the end of the second world war. Seriously, when was the last time Johns actually let him do *anything*? Bertie, Ginger and Unwitting Pilot go on to the Communist base, hoping to beat the boatload of von Stalhein and chums there. They duly do so, but are attacked by a small army of aborigines who set fire to their plane and trap them in the house. The Filthy COmmies, on their arrival, are attacked by the aborigines in their turn, and politely slaughtered in the correct way for such Treacherous and Underhanded Adversaries. (Naturally, von Stalhein had coincidentally stayed in the boat - though sweetly enough, Ginger insisted that they shout and warn von Stalhein about the danger when they heard the group approaching - so escaped unscathed to be a generally ill-used nemesis another day.)
Side-note: I wonder whether we're *meant* to be slightly disturbed by Biggles in this one? I'll admit, the darkness of the characterisation doesn't seem entirely normal for what was, of course, originally a children's book; but then, even in the early ones Biggles gets a lot of blood rage, death wishes and drinking problems, which aren't what you'd call typically child-friendly topics. There are several points in this book where I was really brought up short by the coldness of Biggles' behaviour. Biggles has always had a strong eye for 'the greater good', as he perceives it; but I was still caught out by his comment to the Helpful Policeman (TM): "You, naturally, are concerned about a murder that has been committed. To me that's only a side issue." (p.70). Biggles has never had much time for excesses on either side of the political spectrum; but I was still surprised by his altercation with Helpful Policeman (TM) on the communists using fermenting discontent amongst the aborigenes, wherein he expresses sentiments that make my knee-jerk pinko liberal attitudes twitch a bit: '"This is a free country," he [the policeman] argued. "A man can go where he likes and do what he likes as long as he doesn't break the law. And there's no law against talking, to blacks or whites."
"And that's exactly what the enemy reckons on," declared Biggles. "It makes his job easy and ours difficult."' (p.110) We all know that Biggles is cool in a crisis; but Johns seems to draw attention to his nervelessness to a surprising degree. There's the time one of the aborigines (whose name is Charlie) pulls a knife on them; admittedly he's a known murderer, but Biggles lack of reaction rather jolted me: 'Biggles hardly moved. His gun crashed. Charlie staggered screaming, clutching his arm. The knife clattered on the floor. Biggles kicked it aside and grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck.' (p.121) Then a little further on, when Ginger reports that von Stalhein has unexpectedly turned up at their aerodrome tea-room, 'Biggles looked incredulous. Not for a long time had Ginger seen him so taken aback.' (p.130)
It just feels oddly like Johns *means* Biggles to be a teensy bit off the rails at this point. I'm sure von Stalhein is supposed to be, throughout these later books - they're both a bit off-kilter without a war to fight. Ah well. I shall probably choose to read it as such, even if W.E. Johns didn't have any such thought in mind ^_^
Continuity note: (p.140) Algy tells Cozens (the Communists' unwitting pilot) that he's working for spies who'll get rid of him as soon as they've finished with him; Cozens replies that they won't get rid of him just yet, "because that'd leave 'em with an aircraft and no one to fly it." Now, I recognise that this could simply be a sign of Cozens' ignorance of his employers, but Algy and Ginger surely ought to have caught it: I'm sure von Stalhein was a pilot. Not an actual air-force pilot, but very capable of flying a plane, and flying it pretty well, as I recall. That's how he's first 'killed', at the end of 'Flies East', isn't it? Johns really does seem to lose track of what von Stalhein can and can't do at this stage. Ah well, maybe my fangirlish theory about von Stalhein not wanting to pilot a plane again after the crash at the end of 'Flies East' which left him with a limp for the rest of his life was actually correct ^_^
Lines to cherish and remember for always:
p. 10. Biggles calls von Stalhein 'the ubiquitous Erich.' This makes me happy on many levels. Also 'dear Erich' (p.16), and plain old 'Erich' (p.132). D'awww.
p.17. Air Commodore Raymond says to Biggles "I'm not particularly interested in von Stalhein personally". I choose to read this "I'm not interested in von Stalhein personally..." and that he then gives Biggles an old-fashioned look over his spectacles.
p.35. "By thunder! They're decapods!" *hugs Biggles for British decorum in the face of sweet, sweet decapod love.*
p.39. Biggles: "I once had a spot of bother with a big octopus. That was bad enough." IS NOTHING SACRED?
p.62. Is it me, or is it almost sweet that when Biggles talks about von Stalhein going over to the Communists, the main thing he highlights is that for the sake of revenge against Britain "he has sacrificed his sense of humour, and any pleasure he might have got out of life." I mean - honestly, Biggles, I know you're oddly indulgent towards dear Erich, but his sense of humour wasn't what I'd highlight as his most *obviously* positive character trait.
p.92. "Well, chase Aunt Lizzie round the haystacks!" *Best*. *Exclamation*. *Ever*. And yet more proof, as if any were needed, that Bertie is the best. This line also raises the gleeful possibility that Bertie has an aunt called Lizzie Lissie. Which is awesome. I hope she's mad as a sack of cats and is Bertie's favourite relative.
p.66. I love that the idea of von Stalhein on a desert island is so damned incongruous that Ginger doesn't recognise him. If he's not monocled, besuited or be-uniformed, with immaculate hair, highly polished shoes and preferably an amber cigarette holder, it's not really the genuine article. Von Stalhein: accept no substitutes.
p.76. "I've been on the go since daylight and I could drink a bucket of tea." *hugs Biggles for caffeine-habit.*
p.131. (Biggles, about von Stahlein arriving unexpectedly in their tea-room.) "If he sees us - well, maybe that will shake him as much as his arrival here has shaken me." It pleases me that they freak each other out so. Also, lines like this give one the pleasureable anticipation of a Biggles-von Stahlein meeting in the near future, complete with banter, excrutiating politeness, and buckets of snark.
p.153. '"If you go any nearer they'll start shooting at us," warned Ginger. Said Bertie, from behind: "If the dirty dogs start that I've a few things ready to unload on 'em, yes, by Jove!"' Bertie. High explosives. Truly a match made in heaven. I can't wait to read some Gimlet books, if it means I get more Bertie / Gimlet interaction. High explosives, horse-racing, chronically silly accents - what's not to love?
p.175. The image of Bertie wiping condensation from his monocle while dancing aborigines set fire to his plane outside. I'm not quite certain whether that leaves me overjoyed or horrified. Somewhere in the middle, I guess.
p.177. "He'll step right into the custard." Sometime, I want to see an extended conversation between von Stalhein and Bertie. I'm reasonably certain von Stalhein would not understand more than about 30% of what Bertie says. I'm reasonably certain *I* don't, but von Stalhein glares more than me.
Conclusions: not the best of Biggles books; I usually reckon the mid-50s ones to be quite reasonable, and though this doesn't have the strained feeling that the 60s books do, it's markedly less comfortable than the early volumes. The racist attitudes, while no doubt not out of the ordinary for their time, are pretty painful in places - more so than in many of the earlier books, oddly enough. Von Stalhein is sadly under-used, there mainly as a generic Communist underling, and there wasn't nearly enough of that slightly sad comraderie between him and Biggles, which I generally reckon to be the high-point of the later books.
I think I should have the Biggles equivalent of the Aitken Index, though I have no idea what it should measure. Any thoughts, anyone?