Biggles...

The books are pouring in every day for the forthcoming booksale - and here is an old favourite from boyhood days. That is Biggles' Sopwith Camel in the background from the stories on the Western Front during World War 1. It was all very derring do - but like most other adolescent boys I soaked it all up.

Capt W E Johns - the creator - was pretty much of the same generation as Biggles when the War broke out. That is not so clumsy as it sounds because one of the features of the very prolific series was that the chronology began to break down with passing years.

No matter - the First World War ones were the best in my opinion.

The dark cloud is that there has been (rightly) a considerable shift in attitudes to race and ethnicity. Since the 1960s a perception of Biggles as unacceptably racially prejudiced, especially considered as children's literature, has gained prominence. It's a bit difficult - because in most cases we are able to recognize the strength of the changing mores and just live with it. But sometimes Biggles is just way over the top!

Ah well - it is simply the result of development and change. Humanity maybe grows up in little ways, and we need to grow with it - uncomfortable though it is to go to leave behind other well-known and enjoyed stories that get caught up in the change.