Biggles Scores a Bull

Biggles #85

by W.E. Johns

1952. First Edition. 158 pages. Pictorial dust jacket over red cloth. Black and white illustration plates by Stead. Pages and binding are presentable with no major defects. Minor issues present such as mild cracking, inscriptions, inserts, light foxing, tanning and thumb marking. Overall a good condition item. Boards have mild shelf wear with light rubbing and corner bumping. Some light marking and sunning. Unclipped jacket has light edge wear with minor tears, chipping and creasing. Some rubbing and marking to surfaces.

Genres: Adventure, Young Adult

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't remember anything about it, except that it was the first Biggles book I read. It must have been good, because after that I read virtually the whole series.

Something about helicopters and kidnapping prize bulls? I do recall being a little surprised later on to find that Biggles had served in WW I. Bull came out in 1967, shortly before I read it, so he would have been about 70. You know, nearly as old as James Bond...

[Paul Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very predictable and Biggles at his bigheadedest worst.

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am reviewing the series as a whole, rather than the books individually
The Biggles series is great adventure fiction: we get high stakes, aerial action (in most of the books), and a hero who is endlessly loyal, competent, and calm under pressure.

I love the dogfights, recon missions, and wartime scenarios.

Where the series falls short is character depth. Some attitudes and simplifications reflect the period in which the books were written. There are very definitely dated elements, but considering the era the books were written - overall the series performs well. More than a few of the stories defy plausibility, but who doesn't love to curl up with a good adventure book or 10?

“Never say die.”

[Edwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wat valt er te zeggen van dit boek. Het was leuk om te lezen, maar had weinig te doen met de luchtvaartpolitie, anders dan dat er een paar keer een helikopter in werd gebruikt.

Bertie wordt buiten westen geslagen, en Ginger wordt beschoten met een gif-pijltje, maar komt er goed van af. Gelukkig vinden Biggles en inspecteur Gaskin Ginger op tijd en weten hem voldoende op te knappen zodat hij hen alles kan vertellen wat hij weet. Biggles en Gaskin weten de dieven te stoppen, maar de hoofddader kiest er voor om zich zelf neer te schieten. Zodoende is het niet helemaal duidelijk wat zich heeft afgespeeld.