MORE ABOUT THIS PHOTOGRAPH
Probably the most well-known photo of W. E. Johns
is this one:-
Taken by Victor Drees and copyright held by Getty
images.
Johns is holding a copy of “Biggles on Mystery
Island” published in July 1958, so the picture is taken after that date.
But what page has Johns opened the book
at? You can’t read the numbers or the words but you can in fact work
it out by zooming in on a high resolution photograph. The
chapter title has four words. I am confident is saying it is “Axel
Tells His Tale” and the book is open at page 85. I worked it out
from the spacing of the letters and the lines, even though you can’t actually
read them. I was then able to confirm that from this relatively
unknown photo below:-
This was taken at the same
time. Johns is wearing the same clothes and has the book open at the
same page. You can’t read the words, but you get a better angle of
the page and you can see from the spacing of the lines that is matches exactly
with page 85! And just for the sake of completeness, in the first
photo, another page number is showing where the book hangs
open. That is page 65. Again, you can tell from the
spacing of the words. And if you open Biggles on Mystery Island at
page 85, it does hang open at page 65, just after an illustration as that is
where the second section of bound pages ends.
Here is another photo, from the same session:-
I loved the first photo so much, that I
commissioned the artist Andrew Skilleter to
draw it for me in 2011 and he did a fantastic job ……
And finally, what are the Biggles books in the
background of the photograph of W. E. Johns and his
bookcase? Here is my list:-
Top row – left to right
BIGGLES IN AFRICA – August 1936
BIGGLES AIR COMMODORE – May 1937
BIGGLES FLIES WEST – September 1937
BIGGLES FLIES SOUTH – May 1938
BIGGLES GOES TO WAR – May 1938
BIGGLES IN SPAIN – May 1939
THE RESCUE FLIGHT – May 1939
BIGGLES FLIES NORTH – May 1939
BIGGLES – SECRET AGENT – May 1940
BIGGLES IN THE BALTIC – June 1940
BIGGLES IN THE SOUTH SEAS – September 1940
Second row – left to right
BIGGLES HUNTS BIG GAME
BIGGLES IN BORNEO
BIGGLES FAILS TO RETURN
BIGGLES DELIVERS THE GOODS
BIGGLES IN THE GOBI
BIGGLES IN AUSTRALIA
NO REST FOR BIGGLES
BIGGLES TAKES CHARGE (3 COPIES)
BIGGLES MAKES ENDS MEET
BIGGLES ON THE HOME FRONT
BIGGLES TAKES CHARGE (ANOTHER COPY)
BIGGLES MAKES ENDS MEET (CBC VERSION)
BIGGLES PRESSES ON (3 COPIES)
BIGGLES ON MYSTERY ISLAND (2 COPIES)
Gap because Bill Johns is holding a copy of Biggles
on Mystery Island
BIGGLES BURIES A HATCHET
BIGGLES IN MEXICO (3 COPIES)
UNKNOWN AND UNRECOGNISABLE BOOK
Third row – left to right
NO MOTIVE FOR MURDER (4 COPIES)
BIGGLES ON MYSTERY ISLAND (CBC VERSION) (2 COPIES)
THE DEATH RAYS OF ARDILLA (4 COPIES)
BIGGLES PRESSES ON ? (2
COPIES)
BIGGLES COMBINED OPERATION (6 COPIES)
BIGGLES IN MEXICO ?
3 UNKNOWN AND UNRECOGNISABLE BOOKS