BIGGLES SCORES A BULL
Book First Published on 23rd August 1965 - 160 pages
I believe this Biggles book was never serialised elsewhere. If anybody knows differently then please E-MAIL ME
The first edition dust jacket showing the original price of 10
shillings and 6 pence
The second edition dust jacket shows the same price of 10
shillings and 6 pence but in a different place.
Note the different book logo on the spine as this book is now published
by Brockhampton Press rather than Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. The main give away that this is a second
edition cover and not the first is the book titles on the rear. Biggles Scores
a Bull is number 73 but then four later titles are listed.
Biggles is asked by Inspector
Gaskin to help him investigate the theft of bulls. Used by farmers for breeding
purposes, they can be worth a fortune. The next time it happens a bailiff is
murdered when he is deliberately shot with what later turns out to be a doping
gun. At the scene of the crime Biggles finds two rubber capped phials and
guesses that the bulls were doped to make them easier to handle. Ginger makes
inquiries with the Ministry of Agriculture to get a list of the most important
bulls in the Country. He finds that a Mr. Walter Thellin, the brother of the
first theft victim, has also been after the same information. Biggles has
discovered that Walter Thellin also visited one of the other victims trying to
buy his 'priceless' bull before the theft took place. This makes Thellin the number
one suspect, so Biggles and Ginger go to investigate his farm at Lockley Manor
in Somerset. At the farm, Biggles and Ginger see a Cadillac that belongs to Don
Jose Cordino, a South American millionaire and cattle baron. Ginger, posing as
a journalist, goes to interview Cordino in order to find out more about his
buying and selling of cattle. He learns that Cordino is due to send a shipment
of cattle back to South America in five days' time. Bertie is sent to keep an
eye on Thellin's place, but after seeing a cattle truck arrive and following
it, he stumbles on another bull theft. Bertie is seen, coshed and left for
dead. While Biggles goes to visit Bertie in hospital, Ginger is sent to keep an
eye on the farm. Getting close up behind a hedge he sees a stolen bull that has
been doped and is being painted to disguise its distinctive markings. Thellin
discharges his dope gun casually into the hedge and Ginger is hit by pure
accident. Ginger pulls the dart out of his hand and makes it to the road before
passing out. Biggles and Gaskin later find him. Now with ample evidence, the
police raid Thellin's farm and arrest all present, except Thellin who locks
himself in his house and commits suicide. Cordino returns to South America
because the police cannot establish whether he was behind the thefts or whether
he was merely to be an innocent purchaser of the stolen bulls. The dust cover
shows Biggles' helicopter and a photograph of a bull in a gun sight.
There are no story illustrations in this book
Biggles Scores a Bull
Subtitle - An adventure of Biggles and the Air Police
Publication Details - published by Hodder and Stoughton
Frontispiece
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“Children’s Book Club” edition reprint – click on the above
picture to find out more details