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Did you read Biggles when you were a youngster?


winsor68

Did you read Biggles when you were a youngster?  

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  1. 1. Did you read Biggles when you were a youngster?

    • Yes... I read every book I could get my hands on.
    • Biggles..? Wasn't he something to do with Snoopy and the Red Baron?


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If you ask me, I think Biggles would have spent the half hour of fuel looking for a better place to land !!But he did land in the trees at one point in the Cruise of the Condor, as I recall.

rgmwa

Yes, and only a very short distane from an airfield!

 

kaz

 

 

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Read a couple that we had laying around, but found it a bit to fictional! Still a good read though...

 

I'm a bit like DJH, it's more fun outside making go-carts, making things, and flying... then reading about someone else doing it!

 

 

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Ok... For those who prefer their fiction a bit more sophisticated...

 

Who has read any of Neville Shutes Novels... which to my surprise when I first started reading them pretty much all contain aeroplanes and pilots as characters...

 

Thread created here---->http://www.recreationalflying.com/threads/do-you-or-have-you-read-any-neville-shute-novels.33803/

 

 

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Ok... For those who prefer their fiction a bit more sophisticated...Who has read any of Neville Shutes Novels... which to my surprise when I first started reading them pretty much all contain aeroplanes and pilots as characters...

Thread created here---->http://www.recreationalflying.com/threads/do-you-or-have-you-read-any-neville-shute-novels.33803/

I read in the Aviation News some time ago that Neville Shute was an aeronautical design engineer for both Vickers and De Havilland.

 

 

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If anybody is interested, a great read is "Boy Phoenix" - a biography of a South Australian Aviator who may not be as well known as he should be. James Melrose (The town of Melrose, Melrose Park and a few streets are named after him) flew in the early 1920s and 1930s. He lived in a rather large house at Glenelg, on the esplanade, there is a small thingo there in his honor. Not a huge book, should keep you off the streets for a week or two.

 

 

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I read in the Aviation News some time ago that Neville Shute was an aeronautical design engineer for both Vickers and De Havilland.

It came as a great shock to me to realize that an author of my great grandparents generation was writing aeronautical smart literature 50 years before Richard Bach*....

 

I had only really heard of "A Town Like Alice"... my grandmother gave me my first of his novels and it blew me away. They are a remarkable insight into the times as much as they cause us to reflect upon ourselves in the here and now.

 

*Another brilliant IMO aviation Author... Perhaps we need an "Aviation Reading" thread???

 

 

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Read a lot of them from age 10 to about 14. Don't have the copies anymore ... maybe mum still has them.I remember when I started high school at age 12 in Form 3 (we started high school at Form 3 in NZ) when our English Master asked the whole class what books we had recently read ... no guesses the response I got when I told the whole class I had just read a whole series of Biggles Books, not to mention the condescending response from the English master. He really was an arrogant condescending old bastard (see it still affects me to this day ... 049_sad.gif.af5e5c0993af131d9c5bfe880fbbc2a0.gif )

and as a consequence you have trouble string one word together?

 

 

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and as a consequence you have trouble string one word together?

Good one Col, I guess I am a little verbose at times, probably as a result of reading all those low quality Biggles books ... LOL.

He has a sharp wit Wayne.

 

 

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This one went over my head, Col. Could you explain please?

For one as loquacious as DI to have trouble with an English Master is rather surprising. When I read David's post I was reminded of "Seven periods with Mr Gormsby" a "first" rate NZ comedy about an english english teacher and his rebellious class.

Col 050_sad_angel.gif.66bb54b0565953d04ff590616ca5018b.gif

 

 

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What do you mean - when a youngster - I answered "Yes" but must admit when we were clearing out some old bookshelves I found about 20 books - and read them again 025_blush.gif.9304aaf8465a2b6ab5171f41c5565775.gif

 

 

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What do you mean - when a youngster - I answered "Yes" but must admit when we were clearing out some old bookshelves I found about 20 books - and read them again 025_blush.gif.9304aaf8465a2b6ab5171f41c5565775.gif

Golly, what were the titles. Hope you still have them???

 

I'd give them a good home 100_please.gif.86b3bfbc115b0271e90584d59019e59a.gif

 

kaz

 

 

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I never read the books as a kid, but I can remember listening to biggles on the radio (that was before tv).

I'd forgotten about that. Used to listen to the Lone Ranger and Superman as well (OK, I was a bit younger then!).026_cheers.gif.2a721e51b64009ae39ad1a09d8bf764e.gif

rgmwa

 

 

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It is pretty intriguing when you are old enough to remember the introduction of the 'automatic' telephone from 'party line' telephony; the introduction of television and then later 'PAL' colour TV.

 

The building of the Berlin wall and then later the pulling down of it ...

 

And I am not even 60 years old yet ...

 

I would only have to be a about 5 years older to have seen the Formation of the nations of Israel and the Peoples Republic of China ...

 

What will the next 50 years be like ... the way we are going ... scary ... very scarey.

 

 

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yep, read them all as a kid but wouldn't have a clue what ever happened to those books so a few years ago my good wife went and bought em for me again, so they are in my bookcase with all my other "factual" aviation reference material 001_smile.gif.2cb759f06c4678ed4757932a99c02fa0.gif

 

 

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