BIGGLES GOES TO SCHOOL
Book First Published on 7th June 1951* - 193 pages
* This information is taken from a letter
from A. P. Watt & Son to W. E. Johns in my collection
This story was first published, in six monthly parts, as BIGGLES
AT SCHOOL in the Boy’s Own Paper Volume 73, issues 1 to 6, dated October 1950
to March 1951
This book chronicles Biggles as a
schoolboy (dust cover) at Malton Hall School near the
town of Hertbury. The headmaster is Colonel Horace
Chase and he remembers Biggles' brother, Charles, who previously attended the
same school. (A footnote tells us that Major Charles
Bigglesworth, D.S.O., M.C., was later killed in action in September 1918).
Biggles immediately falls foul of the school bully, called Hervey and his
sidekick Brickwell. He has various adventures, he
recaptures an escaped dancing bear and on a mock army exercise, he captures the
enemy's flag. After exposing a crook at the local fair and recovering a
"stolen" diamond ring from a jackdaw's nest, Biggles and his best
friend Smith (tertius) cause a local rumpus by
making a fake treasure map for their own amusement. This sets all the locals
off on what became known as the Hertbury Treasure
Hunt. Biggles' most dangerous adventure is sparked off when he goes trespassing
in Foxley Wood to gather conkers and he sees Hervey
and Brickwell poaching and selling the stolen game to
a local butcher. When the whole school is confronted with the incident, Biggles
is the only one to own up to being present in the Wood but he refuses to name
the two guilty boys. Things start to get out of hand when a ruthless poacher
named Michael Dunnage kills the gamekeeper. Biggles is a witness having been
given permission to help the gamekeeper in Foxley
Wood. The police don't believe Biggles and he has to use his wits and cunning
to find the evidence to bring Dunnage to justice. However, Dunnage avoids
capture and Biggles is then in fear for his life because of what he knows.
Eventually, Dunnage is captured by the police and hanged.
Click here to see the story illustrations from this book
Biggles Goes to School
Subtitle - The Story of Biggles' early life and school days
Publication Details - published by Hodder & Stoughton
Frontispiece
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