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W.E. Johns

Born

in Bengeo, Hertfordshire, England, The United Kingdom

February 05, 1893

Died

June 21, 1968

Genre

Children's Books, Literature & Fiction, History

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Invariably known as Captain W.E. Johns, William Earl Johns was born in Bengeo, Hertfordshire, England. He was the son of Richard Eastman Johns, a tailor, and Elizabeth Johns (née Earl), the daughter of a master butcher. He had a younger brother, Russell Ernest Johns, who was born on 24 October 1895.

He went to Hertford Grammar School where he was no great scholar but he did develop into a crack shot with a rifle. This fired his early ambition to be a soldier. He also attended evening classes at the local art school.

In the summer of 1907 he was apprenticed to a county municipal surveyor where he remained for four years and then in 1912 he became a sanitary inspector in Swaffham, Norfolk. Soon after taking up this appointment, his father died Invariably known as Captain W.E. Johns, William Earl Johns was born in Bengeo, Hertfordshire, England. He was the son of Richard Eastman Johns, a tailor, and Elizabeth Johns (née Earl), the daughter of a master butcher. He had a younger brother, Russell Ernest Johns, who was born on 24 October 1895.

He went to Hertford Grammar School where he was no great scholar but he did develop into a crack shot with a rifle. This fired his early ambition to be a soldier. He also attended evening classes at the local art school.

In the summer of 1907 he was apprenticed to a county municipal surveyor where he remained for four years and then in 1912 he became a sanitary inspector in Swaffham, Norfolk. Soon after taking up this appointment, his father died of tuberculosis at the age of 47.

On 6 October 1914 he married Maude Penelope Hunt (1882–1961), the daughter of the Reverend John Hunt, the vicar at Little Dunham in Norfolk. The couple had one son, William Earl Carmichael Johns, who was born in March 1916.

With war looming he joined the Territorial Army as a Private in the King's Own Royal Regiment (Norfolk Yeomanry), a cavalry regiment. In August 1914 his regiment was mobilised and was in training and on home defence duties until September 1915 when they received embarkation orders for duty overseas.

He fought at Gallipoli and in the Suez Canal area and, after moving to the Machine gun Corps, he took part in the spring offensive in Salonika in April 1917. He contracted malaria and whilst in hospital he put in for a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps and on 26 September 1917, he was given a temporary commission as a Second Lieutenant and posted back to England to learn to fly, which he did at No. 1 School of Aeronautics at Reading, where he was taught by a Captain Ashton.

He was posted to No. 25 Flying Training School at Thetford where he had a charmed existence, once writing off three planes in three days. He moved to Yorkshire and was then posted to France and while on a bombing raid to Mannheim his plane was shot down and he was wounded. Captured by the Germans, he later escaped before being reincarcerated where he remained until the war ended. ...more

Combine Editions
W.E. Johns’s books

Average rating: 3.91 · 17,716 ratings · 1,552 reviews · 613 distinct works • Similar authors

	Biggles Learns To Fly (Biggles, #5) 4.05 avg rating — 1,049 ratings — published 1935 — 39 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Biggles of the Camel Squadron (Biggles, #3) 4.08 avg rating — 879 ratings — published 1934 — 42 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Biggles Flies East (Biggles, #7) 4.15 avg rating — 752 ratings — published 1935 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Biggles The Camels Are Coming (Biggles, #1) 4.11 avg rating — 706 ratings — published 1932 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Biggles and the Cruise of the Condor (Biggles, #2) 3.99 avg rating — 614 ratings — published 1933 — 44 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Biggles Defies the Swastika (Biggles, #22) 4.09 avg rating — 559 ratings — published 1941 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Biggles Goes To War (Biggles, #15) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 490 ratings — published 1938 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Biggles In The Orient (Biggles, #30) 3.97 avg rating — 491 ratings — published 1945 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Biggles in France (Biggles, #9) 4.10 avg rating — 428 ratings — published 1935 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Biggles and the Black Peril (Biggles, #6) 3.96 avg rating — 423 ratings — published 1935 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by W.E. Johns…

Series by W.E. Johns

Biggles (99 books)
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3.90 avg rating — 16,385 ratings

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3.96 avg rating — 248 ratings

Tiger Clinton (10 books)
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3.60 avg rating — 196 ratings

Gimlet (10 books)
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3.91 avg rating — 160 ratings

Steeley (6 books)
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4.27 avg rating — 15 ratings

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Quotes by W.E. Johns (?)

“One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it brings.”
― W.E. Johns

11 likes

“Congratulations flew fast and furious when Major Mullen’s squadron landed, for it had unquestionably been one of the most successful ‘shows’ ever undertaken by the squadron.”
― W.E. Johns, Biggles Learns To Fly

2 likes

“The first man who puts a foot past that next rock will meet a small piece of nickel coated lead coming the other way. Got that?”
― W.E. Johns, Biggles Hits the Trail

1 likes

See all W.E. Johns's quotes »

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W.E. Johns’s Followers (117)

W.E. Johns

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W.E. Johns’s books