A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF ANNUALS

FEATURING STORIES BY W.E. JOHNS

THIS PAGE FEATURES 40 SEPARATE ANNUALS AND SIMILAR BOOKS WHICH INCLUDE A “W. E. JOHNS” STORY

THE ANNUALS ARE SHOWN IN (ROUGHLY) THE ORDER THAT THEY WERE PUBLISHED

IT HAS TAKE SOME CONSIDERABLE TIME FOR ME TO HUNT DOWN AND BUY WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE EVERY SINGLE ANNUAL FEATURING A W.E. JOHNS STORY

IF YOU HAVE AN ANNUAL FEATURING A W.E. JOHNS STORY THAT DOESN’T FEATURE HERE – AND I DON’T THINK YOU DO (!) - THEN PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

THE STORIES WILL BE FAMILIAR TO BIGGLES FANS AS THEY HAVE BEEN COLLECTED IN THE BOOKS, BUT THE REAL PLEASURE IN THESE OLD ANNUALS ARE THE

FANTASTIC ILLUSTRATIONS THAT WERE DRAWN FOR THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THESE STORIES – THOSE ILLUSTRATIONS WERE NOT REPRINTED IN THE BOOKS.

THIS PAGE IS REALLY FOR THE BIGGLES FANS WHO HAVE NEVER SEEN THOSE ILLUSTRATIONS.

		Dangerous Game	Snakes Alive!			Aeroplanes and Animals	Jack-of-all-Trades
1. THE NEW ZOO ANNUAL (1932)		This annual was published by The Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London and contained four separate articles by W. E. Johns
		NEW BOOK OF THE AIR There were two versions of this book but both featured FOUR stories by W. E. Johns. Those four stories were, firstly a BIGGLES story called THE FLEDGLINGS then three other non-Biggles stories called THE STORY-TELLER WINGED JUSTICE QUESTIONABLE CARGO There was also an article written by Johns’ son called ‘The Conquest of the Stratosphere’					THE MODERN BOY’S BOOK OF ADVENTURE STORIES featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called BIGGLES “ON THE SPOT” which was uncollected until 1999 when a limited edition collection of these uncollected stories was published entitled BIGGLES – AIR ACE Find out details of all W. E. Johns work in the Modern Boy Annuals by clicking here
		Published by					Published by
2. NEW BOOK OF THE AIR (1935)		Oxford University Press	3. MODERN BOY’S BOOK OF ADVENTURE STORIES (1936)				Fleetway House, London
		THE MODERN BOY’S ANNUAL 1937 featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called BIGGLES’EXCITING NIGHT which was uncollected until 1999 when a limited edition collection of these uncollected stories was published entitled BIGGLES – AIR ACE This book also featured THREE factual articles by W. E. Johns, the most interesting one being “Planes I have Crashed!”					THE MODERN BOY’S ANNUAL 1938 featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called BIGGLES TAKES THE BAIT! which was uncollected until 1999 when a limited edition collection of these uncollected stories was published entitled BIGGLES – AIR ACE Find out details of all W. E. Johns work in the Modern Boy Annuals by clicking here
		Published by					Published by
4. THE MODERN BOY’S ANNUAL (1937)		Fleetway House London	5. THE MODERN BOY’S ANNUAL (1938)				Fleetway House, London
		THE MODERN BOY’S ANNUAL 1940 featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called BERTIE THE BOOB which is basically the Chapter XI story from THE CAMELS ARE COMING entitled “THE BOOB”. The original story from 1932 introduced Algy as a companion at 266 Squadron. This version of the story has the character now named “Bertram Montgomery” (shades of later companion “Bertie”) and features two additional paragraphs not in the original version (!)					THE MODERN BOY’S ANNUAL 1941 featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns BIGGLES ON THE TRAIL Subtitled ‘ A story of the Second Great War’ which is basically the Chapter 8 story from BIGGLES OF THE CAMEL SQUADRON entitled “THE THOUGHT READER”. This 1934 story is updated to a WW2 story and references to Sherlock Holmes become Sexton Blake in this version – but Biggles is later called Sherlock where they omitted to change it (!) The story has a new ending with an additional 164 words
		Published by					Published by
6. MODERN BOY’S ANNUAL (1940)		Fleetway House London	7. MODERN BOY’S ANNUAL (1941)				Fleetway House London
		THE CHILDREN’S GIFT BOOK featured one ORIGINAL Worrals story by W. E. Johns entitled WORRALS TAKES A HAND The original story remained uncollected until 2001, when a limited edition collection of Johns’ ‘non-Biggles’ uncollected stories was published entitled WINGED JUSTICE AND OTHER UNCOLLECTED STORIES					YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT W. E. JOHNS’ CHARACTER “WORRALS” AT WWW.WORRALS.COM AND SEE THE DETAILS OF THE ORIGINAL FIRST PRINTINGS OF THE WORRALS STORIES IN THE GIRL’S OWN PAPER AT WWW.GIRLSOWN.INFO
		Published by	There were two different hardback covers for the Children’s Gift Book
8. THE CHILDREN’S GIFT BOOK (1946)		Odhams Press Limited
		THE CHILDREN’S WONDER BOOK IN COLOUR featured one ORIGINAL story by W. E. Johns entitled A MATTER OF OBSERSVATION The story was about two children investigation smugglers The original story remained uncollected until 2001, when a limited edition collection of Johns’ ‘non-Biggles’ uncollected stories was published entitled WINGED JUSTICE AND OTHER UNCOLLECTED STORIES					THE CHILDREN’S WONDER BOOK IN COLOUR – NUMBER TWO featured one ORIGINAL story by W. E. Johns entitled THE DINGO TRAIL The story was about two teenagers in Australia investigating the strange death of a dingo, they had been hunting. This leads to the discovery of smugglers The original story remained uncollected until 2001, when a limited edition collection of Johns’ ‘non-Biggles’ uncollected stories was published entitled WINGED JUSTICE AND OTHER UNCOLLECTED STORIES
		Published by					Published by
9. THE CHILDREN’S WONDER BOOK IN COLOUR (1947)		Odhams Press Limited	10. CHILDREN’S WONDER BOOK IN COLOUR No 2 (1948)				Odhams Press Limited
		THE WILFRED PICKLES GAY STREET BOOK featured one story by W. E. Johns entitled STRANGE FREIGHT This story was a reprint of QUESTIONABLE CARGO Johns wanted to change the title to QUEER FREIGHT - see his pencil note on a letter dated 8.11.48 here but Latimer decided to call it STRANGE FREIGHT and published it in this book rather than the JOY STREET ANNUAL as intended. The title change is confusing as there was a different story called “Strange Freight” published in 1935 in THE RAID !					THE WONDER BOOK OF COMICS featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called BIGGLES BAITS THE TRAP (Not to be confused with ‘Biggles Takes the Bait’) This story was eventually collected in 1952 as the fourth story in BIGGLES TAKES THE CASE The story had one significant change – Sergeant Bigglesworth of Scotland Yard in the original story is Detective-Inspector Bigglesworth of Scotland Yard in the book.
		Published by					Published by
11. THE WILFRED PICKLES GAY STREET BOOK (1949)		Latimer House Limited	12. THE WONDER BOOK OF COMICS (1949)				Odhams Press Limited
		THE BOY’S BOOK OF ADVENTURE featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called SKYWAY ROBBERY This story was collected in 1952 as the first story in BIGGLES TAKES THE CASE The story had one significant change – Sergeant Bigglesworth of Scotland Yard in the original story is Air Detective-Inspector Bigglesworth of the Special Air Section of New Scotland Yard in the book.					THE GOLDEN BOOK OF COMICS featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS GUNSHOTS This story was collected in 1952 as the eighth story in BIGGLES TAKES THE CASE This story was significantly edited for this annual but restored back to the full version when collected in the book. Johns had provided a photo of elephants to aid the illustrator of the story, see letter dated 19.11.49 here
		Published by					Published by
13. THE BOY’S BOOK OF ADVENTURE (1950)		Evans Brothers Limited	14. THE GOLDEN BOOK OF COMICS (1950)				Odhams Press Limited
		EVERY BOY’S ANNUAL featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE This story was collected in 1952 as the ninth story in BIGGLES TAKES THE CASE The story was originally published in 1935 in the New Book of the Air (see above) as a WW1 story called THE FLEDGLINGS Here it is re-written as a WW2 story. The two pilots are Lissy and Taggart but Johns had to change Lissy’s surname to Daby for this as he already had Bertie Lissie as a regular character					THE ACE BOOK OF COMICS featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE NEW AEROFOIL This story was collected in 1952 as the seventh story in BIGGLES TAKES THE CASE where it was retitled THE CASE OF THE SECRET AEROFOIL
		Published by					Published by
15. EVERY BOY’S ANNUAL (1950)		Juvenile Productions Ltd	16. THE ACE BOOK OF COMICS (1951)				Odhams Press Limited
What about the 1951 Collin’s Annual featuring “Biggles in Arabia”? – You can see that by clicking here
		EVERY BOY’S ANNUAL featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE MAID AND THE MOUNTAINS This story was in fact originally the second chapter and story from BIGGLES FLIES AGAIN The story had been originally published in 1934 and it is somewhat surprising to see it re-published in this annual as it was a story with a “romantic” theme and not the sort of story that usually appeared in boy’s annuals such as this					THE TREASURE BOOK OF COMICS featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE CASE OF THE SECRET INQUISITORS This story was collected in 1955 as the seventh story in BIGGLES’ CHINESE PUZZLE
		Published by					Published by
17. EVERY BOY’S ANNUAL (1952)		The Thames Publishing Co.	18. THE TREASURE BOOK OF COMICS (1952)				Odhams Press Limited
		EAGLE ANNUAL 2 featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called BIGGLES BUYS A WATCH This story was collected in 1954 as the fifth story in BIGGLES AND THE PIRATE TREASURE It is interesting to note that following this story in this annual, there is a full page showing exactly how a watch works with detailed illustrations					EAGLE ANNUAL 3 featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE FLYING CRUSADERS This story was collected in 1955 as the fourth story in BIGGLES’ CHINESE PUZZLE It is interesting to note that this same story was also published in the BBC Children’s Annual in 1956 (see number 28 below). The BBC version is an edited version of the full version from the Eagle Annual. Chinese Puzzle also contains the full version.
		Published by					Published by
19. EAGLE ANNUAL 2 (1952)		Hulton Press Ltd, London	20. EAGLE ANNUAL 3 (1953)				Hulton Press Ltd, London
		DAILY MAIL ANNUAL FOR BOYS AND GIRLS featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called NIGHT FLIGHT This story was collected in 1954 as the third story in BIGGLES AND THE PIRATE TREASURE The Daily Mail annuals never had any reference to the year of publication so they can only be distinguished by their different covers! This particular annual was in fact published in 1953					THE CHILDREN’S JOLLY BOOK (published Summer 1952) featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called ALL IN THE DAY’S WORK This story had already been published in April 1952 as the sixth story in BIGGLES TAKES THE CASE
		Published by					Published by
21. DAILY MAIL ANNUAL FOR BOYS AND GIRLS (1953)		Associated Newspapers Ltd	22. THE CHILDREN’S JOLLY BOOK (1952)				Odhams Press Limited
		EAGLE ANNUAL 4 featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE ADVENTURE OF THE LUMINOUS CLAY This story was collected in 1955 as the third story in BIGGLES’ CHINESE PUZZLE This story is not to be confused with THE ADVENTURE OF THE LUMINOUS LILY from BIGGLES – CHARTER PILOT					I-SPY ANNUAL featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called FISHY BUSINESS This story was collected in 1958 as the eighth story in BIGGLES PRESSES ON This story is not to be confused with BIGGLES NETS A FISH from BIGGLES AND THE PIRATE TREASURE
		Published by					Published by
23. EAGLE ANNUAL 4 (1954)		Hulton Press Ltd, London	24. I-SPY ANNUAL (1955)				News Chronicle, London
		ADVENTURE STORIES FOR BOYS featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE CASE OF THE UNKNOWN AIRCRAFT This story had already been published in 1952 as the second story in BIGGLES TAKES THE CASE It had been originally written in 1949 for the Marks & Spencer book BIGGLES - AIR DETECTIVE but after being broadcast on the BBC Radio as “Lump of Metal” M&S didn’t want to use it as they only wanted original stories!					COMMANDER STORY ANNUAL featured one story by W. E. Johns called BIRDS OF A FEATHER This story was not a Biggles story. It was, however, a World War II story. Czech pilot, Captain Rumbolt has a new co-pilot for his mission, a man called Kenton. They are both surprised by something on their plane and further surprises are in store. This story was originally published in “Illustrated” magazine in April 1942 and was collected as the sixth short story in SHORT SORTIES
		Published by					Published by
25. ADVENTURE STORIES FOR BOYS (1956)		Odhams Books Limited	26. COMMANDER STORY ANNUAL FOR BOYS (1956)				Sampson Low, London
		BOYS BOOK OF SCOUTING AND THE OPEN AIR featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called MISCHIEF BY MOONLIGHT This story was collected in 1958 as the tenth story in BIGGLES PRESSES ON					BBC CHILDRENS ANNUAL featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE FLYING CRUSADERS This story was collected in 1955 as the fourth story in BIGGLES’ CHINESE PUZZLE It is interesting to note that this same story was also published in the Eagle Annual, Number 3, in 1953 (see number 20 above). The BBC version is an edited version of the full version from the Eagle Annual. Chinese Puzzle also contains the full version.
		Published by					Published by
27. BOYS BOOK OF SCOUTING AND THE OPEN AIR (1956)		Edmund Ward (Publishers) Ltd	28. BBC CHILDREN’S ANNUAL (1956)				Burke, London
		EXPRESS ANNUAL featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called BIGGLES AND THE CRASH THAT WASN’T but if you look to find that story title in any book, you won’t be able to find it. That is because when it was collected, the title was changed to A MATTER OF DEDUCTION It was under that title that this story was collected in 1957 as the ninth story in BIGGLES OF THE INTERPOL					DAILY MAIL BOYS ANNUAL featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE MAN WHO CAME BY NIGHT This story was collected in 1957 as the tenth story in BIGGLES OF THE INTERPOL The Daily Mail annuals never had any reference to the year of publication so they can only be distinguished by their different covers! This particular annual was in fact published in 1956
		Published by					Published by
29. EXPRESS ANNUAL (1956)		Beaverbrook Newspapers Ltd	30. THE DAIL MAIL BOYS ANNUAL (1956)				Associated Newspapers Ltd
		DAILY MAIL BOYS ANNUAL featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called BIGGLES LAYS A GHOST This story was collected in 1958 as the ninth story in BIGGLES PRESSES ON The Daily Mail annuals never had any reference to the year of publication so they can only be distinguished by their different covers! This particular annual was in fact published in 1957					DAILY MAIL BOYS ANNUAL featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called DAWN PATROL This story was collected in 1963 as the tenth story in BIGGLES FLIES TO WORK as “The Trick That Failed” This story is NOT to be confused with that printed in STIRRING STORIES FOR BOYS (see No. 35 below). The Daily Mail annuals never had any reference to the year of publication so they can only be distinguished by their different covers! This particular annual was in fact published in 1958
		Published by					Published by
31. THE DAIL MAIL BOYS ANNUAL (1957)		Associated Newspapers Ltd	32. THE DAIL MAIL BOYS ANNUAL (1958)				Associated Newspapers Ltd
		DAILY MAIL BOYS ANNUAL featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE CASE OF THE TWO BRIGHT BOYS This story was collected in 1963 as the fourth story in BIGGLES FLIES TO WORK The Daily Mail annuals never had any reference to the year of publication so they can only be distinguished by their different covers! This particular annual was in fact published in 1959					DAILY MAIL BOYS ANNUAL featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called HORACE TAKES A HAND This story was collected in 1963 as the fifth story in BIGGLES FLIES TO WORK The Daily Mail annuals never had any reference to the year of publication so they can only be distinguished by their different covers! This particular annual was in fact published in 1960
		Published by					Published by
33. THE DAIL MAIL BOYS ANNUAL (1959)		Associated Newspapers Ltd	34. THE DAIL MAIL BOYS ANNUAL (1960)				Associated Newspapers Ltd
		STIRRING STORIES FOR BOYS featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called DAWN PATROL This story was collected in 1963 as the ninth story in BIGGLES FLIES TO WORK This story is NOT to be confused with the story of the same name that was printed in the 1958 DAILY MAIL BOYS ANNUAL (see No. 32 above). That “Dawn Patrol” is a completely different story and had to have its name changed to “The Trick that Failed” when collected as the tenth chapter in Biggles Flies to Work					STIRRING STORIES FOR GIRLS featured a non Biggles story by W. E. Johns called PEARLS AND PRIMROSES The original story remained uncollected until 2001, when a limited edition collection of Johns’ ‘non-Biggles’ uncollected stories was published entitled WINGED JUSTICE AND OTHER UNCOLLECTED STORIES but if this story seems familiar to Johns’ fans it is because the story was originally written as a Worrals story in 1947 and was later re-written as a Biggles story in 1963! Full details are given below
		Published by					Published by
35. STIRRING STORIES FOR BOYS (1960)		Odhams Press Limited	36. STIRRING STORIES FOR GIRLS (1960)				Odhams Press Limited
		DAILY MAIL BOY’S ANNUAL featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE CASE OF THE SOMERSET FARMER which was uncollected until 1999 when a limited edition collection of these uncollected stories was published entitled BIGGLES – AIR ACE The Daily Mail annuals usually never had any reference to the year of publication so they could only be distinguished by their different covers – but this annual did show 1963	FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE COMPLETE WORKS OF CAPTAIN W. E. JOHNS AT www.wejohns.com				The story PEARLS AND PRIMROSES From STIRRING STORIES FOR GIRLS (1960) was originally WORRALS WORKS IT OUT published in September 1947 in the GIRL’S OWN PAPER It was later re-written again as a Biggles story called THE CASE OF THE EARLY BOY and appeared in 1963 as the eleventh and final story in BIGGLES FLIES TO WORK
		Published by
37. THE DAIL MAIL BOYS ANNUAL (1963)		Associated Newspapers Ltd
		OPEN-AIR ADVENTURE STORIES FOR BOYS featured one Biggles story by W. E. Johns called THE CASE OF THE SUBMERGED AIRCRAFT This story had already been published in 1958 as the second story in BIGGLES PRESSES ON This story is not to be confused with THE CASE OF THE UNKNOWN AIRCRAFT from BIGGLES TAKES THE CASE which had been published in the similarly titled ADVENTURE STORIES FOR BOYS (see number 25 above)					OPEN-AIR ADVENTURE STORIES FOR GIRLS featured one story by W. E. Johns called NOCTURNE AERONAUTIQUE This story was not a Biggles story. It was, however, a World War II story. Brian Gray lands his hurricane to answer a signal by Morse code for help. Surprised to find an American lady, there are further surprises in store when Helen Cardell helps Gray out later. This story was originally published in May 1950 as the seventh short story in the book SHORT SORTIES
		Published by					Published by
38. OPEN-AIR ADVENTURE STORIES FOR BOYS (1965)		Odhams Books Limited	39. OPEN-AIR ADVENTURE STORIES FOR GIRLS (1965)				Odhams Books Limited
		BIGGLES ANNUAL featured one complete Biggles book by W. E. Johns called THE PLANE THAT DISAPPEARED which was published in an edited form in this annual. The original book had been first published in 1963 BIGGLES AND THE PLANE THAT DISAPPEARED This was the ONLY ever Biggles annual and featured the usual mix of factual articles, games and comic strips as was common in such annuals	NB - I have NOT included in this collection books such as “THE BEDSIDE BOOK FOR CHILDREN (1949)” published by Victor Gollancz Ltd, which was an anthology which featured a chapter called “Saving the Rubber” (on pages 172 to 174). This was merely an extract from BIGGLES DELIVERS THE GOODS (taken from pages 172 to 179) and so cannot be considered to be a SEPARATE story by W. E. Johns. Neither have I included “STORY TROVE (1950)”. published by Burke Publishing Company Ltd, which was an anthology which featured a chapter called “Frozen Gold” (on pages 182 to 191). This was again, merely an extract from BIGGLES BREAKS THE SILENCE (taken from pages 65 to 77 in the original first edition). I do provide a link to the DJ of “MY BEST STORY FOR BOYS (1937)” published by Faber and Faber which was an anthology which featured a reprint of the Johns story “Questionable Cargo” on pages 366 to 381, which had first appeared in THE NEW BOOK OF THE AIR (1935) (see Number 2 above).
		Published by
40. BIGGLES ANNUAL (1980)		World International
		Publishing Limited
THE BOYS OWN COMPANION 1959 featured “The Case of the Phone Box Murder” collected in “BIGGLES AND THE PIRATE TREASURE”	THE BOYS OWN COMPANION 1960 – VOLUME 2 featured “The Case of the Flying Clown” collected in “BIGGLES AND THE PIRATE TREASURE”			THE BOYS OWN COMPANION 1961 – VOLUME 3 featured “Biggles Chinese Puzzle” collected in “BIGGLES’ CHINESE PUZZLE”

IF YOU CLICK HERE YOU WILL SEE SEVEN AIR ANNUALS PUBLISHED IN THE 1930s BY JOHN HAMILTON WHICH REPRINTED WORK BY W.E. JOHNS

RETURN TO THE MAIN W.E. JOHNS PAGE

The copyright in each annual is owned by the publisher as referred to above. They own the copyright in all of the illustrations.

The copyright in all of W.E. Johns work is owned by the estate of W.E. Johns as represented by W. E. Johns (Publications) Limited.

This private limited company have appointed literary agent Pat White of Rogers Coleridge White to represent the interests of the estate.

This is a non-commercial non-profit making fan based web site purely for the information of fellow fans - no infringement of copyright is intended.

The intention of this web site is to encourage people to buy and read the works of William Earl Johns, one of the great authors of the 20th Century as

well as to keep his memory alive. This web site also acts as an online museum where people can find out information about his lifetime’s work.