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Biggles #83
Biggles and the Plot that Failed
Biggles and the team are stuck in the Sahara trying to track down the missing son of a friend of Raymond.
The son, Alex Mander, has joined a partner, Sekunder, seeking treasure in a lost tomb. When the tomb is found Alex is deserted by his partner and left to die. Biggles and co find him just in time, and just before his partner returns with a drill to open the tomb.
In his haste to open the tomb the partner is stung by a scorpion. Biggles takes him back to civilisation, not before helping Alex open the tomb and determine there is nothing in it!
The son, Alex Mander, has joined a partner, Sekunder, seeking treasure in a lost tomb. When the tomb is found Alex is deserted by his partner and left to die. Biggles and co find him just in time, and just before his partner returns with a drill to open the tomb.
In his haste to open the tomb the partner is stung by a scorpion. Biggles takes him back to civilisation, not before helping Alex open the tomb and determine there is nothing in it!
157 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 1965
51 people want to read
About the author
W.E. Johns
566 books112 followersInvariably 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 10, 2025
The Biggles books should be rated according to how much trauma Ginger experiences. If, for example, it's very bad indeed (but not his fault), the cover should display five lumps of burning coal. This is a four lumps book even though the trauma is brief and he emerges unscathed. I'd downgrade it to 3 1/2 lumps but I felt sorry for him. Also, we were forewarned the moment Biggles said "right, Ginger. You slip along. Don’t go far. Start back before the storm breaks...". So not only did we experience the trauma, we experienced anticipation of the trauma. Win win.
The villain is a damp squib and I'd have left Adrian in the desert but the setting is good and there are a few gems of dialogue. For example: "Biggles nodded. "I know the type [oily foreigners]. Are you sure this wasn't colour prejudice?" [Because Biggles doesn't approve of colour prejudice unless the fellow's a swine] "Oh no. Actually, there wasn't much colour about him." Spoken like a Brigadier.
The villain is a damp squib and I'd have left Adrian in the desert but the setting is good and there are a few gems of dialogue. For example: "Biggles nodded. "I know the type [oily foreigners]. Are you sure this wasn't colour prejudice?" [Because Biggles doesn't approve of colour prejudice unless the fellow's a swine] "Oh no. Actually, there wasn't much colour about him." Spoken like a Brigadier.
November 21, 2020
Enjoyable, parts of it are historical rumour ig, but still thrilling...
June 28, 2016
Had niet veel met dit boek op. Het begon aardig, met beschrijving van de omgeving, maar daarna werd het weer veel van het zelfde.
Biggles, Ginger en Bertie worden door commodore Raymond verzocht op zoek te gaan naar een jongen die van een expeditie in Egypte niet meer terug gekomen was.
Na een paar dagen worden de voorraden van het team vernield, zodat Biggles nog maar een paar dagen heeft om de jongen te vinden. Dit gebeurt al snel.
Adrian vertelt wat er is gebeurt, dat Sekunder, zijn reisgenoot hem had achtergelaten om te sterven, zodat hij de schat voor zich zelf kon houden.
Nadat Sekunder weer op het toneel verschijnt doet hij Adrian een voorstel, die inhoudt dat zij samen het vliegtuig van Biggles zouden innemen, en de schat meenemen. Adrian weigert.
Het slot brengt een verrassing
Biggles, Ginger en Bertie worden door commodore Raymond verzocht op zoek te gaan naar een jongen die van een expeditie in Egypte niet meer terug gekomen was.
Na een paar dagen worden de voorraden van het team vernield, zodat Biggles nog maar een paar dagen heeft om de jongen te vinden. Dit gebeurt al snel.
Adrian vertelt wat er is gebeurt, dat Sekunder, zijn reisgenoot hem had achtergelaten om te sterven, zodat hij de schat voor zich zelf kon houden.
Nadat Sekunder weer op het toneel verschijnt doet hij Adrian een voorstel, die inhoudt dat zij samen het vliegtuig van Biggles zouden innemen, en de schat meenemen. Adrian weigert.
Het slot brengt een verrassing
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews