More recently, the square-jawed space pilot, ‘Ace’ Rimmer, the heroic alter ego of the cowardly, egotistical and sneering Rimmer in TV’s Red Dwarf, seems to be something of a mixture of Biggles and that other great British hero, Dan Dare, the pilot of the future.īut during the Second World War, Johns was also determined to thrill and inspire girls with a similar figure for them. The character was so much a staple of British literature, that he was lampooned, I believe, by Punch’s Alan Coren in his short story, ‘Biggles Strikes Camp’. Johns’ hero was still a World War II airman, but was sent into the present day by time warp. In the 1980s there was an attempt to translate the character into film with an SF twist. Even though they’re now somewhat passe, they’re influence on British popular culture is still noticeable. They appeal mostly, but by no means exclusively to boys – they’re have been plenty of female readers. They’re classics of British children’s literature. Johns was the creator of that great British hero, ‘Biggles’ Bigglesworth, an RAF fighter ace, who with his friends Algy and Ginger foiled the evil designs of the German menace in a series of tales set in the First and Second World Wars.

Johns, illustrated by Matt Kindt, Worrals Flies Again (London: Indie Books 2013).Ĭaptain W.E.

Johns, illustrated by Matt Kindt, Worrals Carries on (London: Indie Books 2013).Ĭaptain W.E. Johns, illustrated by Matt Kindt, Worrals of the WAAF (London: Indie Books 2013).Ĭaptain W.E.

Worrals of the W.A.A.F. by W.E. Johns