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Spectator
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
The case for Biggles
The first Cold War thriller I ever read – before MacLean, before Le Carre, before Clancy – was Biggles Buries a Hatchet, from 1958, in which James Bigglesworth MC, DSO, of the Air Police, heads for Siberia to spring his nemesis Von Stalhein from a Soviet prison camp. The wily old German had first crossed swords with our hero in aerial combat over the Western Front, later thrown his lot in with the Nazis, and then deftly switched sides to serve the Communist Bloc after the second world war, but had run out of luck and been sent to the gulag after a falling out with his new masters. I must have been about ten or 11, and was just beginning to get a handle on what had been at stake in the great ideological struggle of the late twentieth century (which had then only recently concluded). Biggles himself was rather older, of course. Given that he was a decorated veteran of the first world war, he was at least 60-odd by the time he so magnanimously rescued his old foe from the dastardly Reds in the late fifties, with 30 instalments in the series still to come. Given his vintage – he grew up in India during the heyday of the British Raj, as we learn in The Boy Biggles – it is perhaps inevitable that Biggles has come under fire from various contemporary critics who expect us to be shocked that a British military hero from a century ago held views that might not pass muster in a university common room or a Guardian editorial conference in 2025. A recent addition to the ranks of such critics was Tom Tugendhat MP, who noted in an interview that many of the Biggles books had been added to the Forbidden Section of the Tugendhat family library, and would not be read to his son at bedtime. He suggested that 'W.E. Johns' views on people are more objectionable', presumably a reference to the imperialist views espoused in the books. Fair enough, it's a free country. All the same, there is a good deal to be said in defence of the Biggles oeuvre – which was, incidentally, enormously successful all over the world, suggesting that the alleged British jingoism is not so very unbearable to those unfortunate enough to be born Abroad. To be sure, the Biggles books are not great literature, and it's advisable to not think too hard about the chronology; Captain W. E. Johns certainly didn't. Only three years and half a dozen books into the series, the original presentation of Biggles as a 17-year-old rookie pilot who only gets into action in 1916-18, as seen in The Camels are Coming and Biggles Learns to Fly, is quietly superseded by a more experienced and poised tough guy, ready to be dispatched on a dangerous spy mission behind enemy lines in Palestine (Biggles Flies East). Similarly, Biggles and pals – Algy, Bertie, and Ginger – barely seem to age between their heroics in the skies of Flanders and the Battle of Britain. But if we take a deeper look, the series, as with many of the now unfashionable Boy's Own adventure yarns, puts forward a well-developed and admirable moral code which is very easy to sneer at and mock, and rather more difficult to surpass. Reading the books as a boy, I learned that you should be loyal to your friends, that you should love your country and fight for what is right, protect the weak from the cruel, and extend mercy to defeated enemies. It would be fascinating to know, specifically, what sophisticated moderns find objectionable about such axioms. At one point in Biggles Flies East, which I recently read to my own children, Biggles objects to the idea of blowing up a German-controlled dam because it would doom thousands of German troops stationed in the desert to an agonising death from thirst. In the same book he risks his own life to save a crashed German pilot, showing a chivalrous magnanimity which is presented as the obviously correct and honourable course of action. And what of the supposed advocacy for European racial supremacy? In some of the novels and stories, Biggles does express strongly paternalist views about the civilising mission of Empire. On the other hand, such views were common at the time, and are not inherently sinister. He is also an admirer of India, and speaks fluent Hindi. W. E. Johns, for his part, was no crypto-fascist: he expressed early opposition to appeasement of Nazism, and appears to have favoured British intervention on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War. His overall political stance seems to have been a strong and unwavering belief in the superiority of the British civilisation of ordered liberty, and hostility to its foes. In this respect, he resembles another much-criticised but enduringly popular writer of patriotic thrillers, John Buchan, whose main hero Richard Hannay embodies and espouses the same kind of earnest, straightforward British fair play. Here were men who could read Henry Newbolt's Vitai Lampada – 'Play up! Play up! and play the game!' – without sniggering. To understand the pre-first world war world that formed such values, we might recall an anecdote from Robert Graves' Goodbye to All That. On his way from Waterloo to Godalming, to start a new term at Charterhouse, the young Graves neglected to buy a train ticket. When he informed his father of this fact, Graves senior immediately went to Waterloo, bought a single to Godalming, and ripped it up. Johns and Buchan, and many others like them, really did believe in, and argue for, the attractive and heroic vision of the British gentleman set out by the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana: 'a steady and sane oracle amongst all the deliriums of mankind. Never since the heroic days of Greece has the world had such a sweet, just, boyish master. It will be a black day for the human race when scientific blackguards, conspirators, churls, and fanatics manage to supplant him.'
Otago Daily Times
03-08-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
‘Port Dunedin' in Dunedin
Newly-built ship Port Dunedin arrives in Otago Harbour, attended by tug Dunedin. — Otago Witness, 11.8.1925 The new motor ship Port Dunedin, the first motor vessel to come to New Zealand from London direct, arrived off the Heads at 9am on Sunday and remained at an anchorage until yesterday morning off Port Chalmers, where she was boarded by the port health officer, the Customs authorities, and Captain MacLean (harbourmaster). Having been granted a clean bill of health the stately ship left the lower harbour shortly after 2pm. She was very deeply laden, but as advantage was taken of an exceptionally high spring tide, she negotiated the Victoria Channel without any difficulty, and at 3.20pm she was safely moored. The Port Dunedin has several features of outstanding interest. She has very graceful lines, all the latest improvements in the way of electric winches, boat davits, and accommodation. Her accommodation can, in fact, be classed as superior to anything seen on a ship which has visited this port for some time past. It is splendid, and everything connected with the vessel reflects credit on the owners and builders. A nasty bite The poison that has made the katipo notorious comes down the tube of a large gland near the spider's mouth. It enters a grooved, claw-shaped weapon that projects beyond the front of the head. When this weapon is thrust into an enemy's flesh, the poison from the gland flows into the wound and does the mischief. In the case of small creatures death is sure and instantaneous. Working for blind of Otago Since the inauguration of the Advisory Committee in Dunedin, in February 1924, over 40 different applications for assistance have been dealt with. They have varied in form. Masseurs have been set up in business, men assisted onto farms, into the piano tuning business, with purchase of equipment and homes, in several cases dire need was met with a grant for clothing, and for bedding, blankets etc. The pension for the blind, which came into operation on December 1 last, had been granted by June 1 to 136 blind persons. The Commissioner of Pensions is helping us considerably in our work by putting us in touch with all blind people whose names and addresses were not hitherto known to us. The local committee has assisted many in this direction. 67 blind persons are registered in Otago. Of this number 22 are in receipt of pensions. Eight applications for pensions have been declined for various reasons. Forty-two have received assistance from the fund. Amalgamation bid Another attempt is to be made to bring St Kilda into the city. A meeting of ratepayers will be held this week, when a committee will be set up to secure names to a petition asking that a vote should be taken on the question of amalgamation. That's $16.09 in 2025 There was a drop of three pence yesterday in the price of eggs. The wholesale price is 2 shillings 3 pence, and the retail 2s 6d. Missing link? In Poeloe Rimau, Sumatra, Dutch explorer J. van Herwaarden, reported a creature to De Tropische Natuur: "It was entirely covered with hair, lighter in front. The hair of the head was very dark, and fell down over the shoulders almost to the waist. The head appeared somewhat more pointed at the summit than is the human head. The face was brown and almost hairless; the forehead was high. The eyes were dark and lively, much like the eyes of a human being. The lips were normal; the mouth was very broad. The molar teeth, which I had an opportunity of observing, were larger than a man's; the incisors were of normal size. I had only a momentary glance at the right ear, but it looked exactly like a human ear. The backs of the hands were covered with thin hair, and the arms reached almost to the knees. It was about five feet in height." — ODT, 4.8.1925 (Compiled by Peter Dowden)
The Herald Scotland
27-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Dougie MacLean's anthem causes Scots to start greetin' and drinkin'
This is one of these weeks when I must think carefully (reader's voice: 'That's a first!') about whether the Icon is the person or their most famous work. But there's more to illustrious songwriter Dougie MacLean than 'Caledonia', Scotland's unofficial national anthem. That said, he actually had Perthshire in particular in mind when he wrote the song as a homesick young man abroad. However, 'Perthshire's been everything I've ever had' would have had limited appeal. It's a song for the nation. 'Wester Hailes has been everything I've ever had' wouldn't have worked either. Not that Wester Hailes has been anything to Mr MacLean – no fault on either part – but his love of the land in Perthshire is very real. He lives and works where he grew up, even converting his old school and teacher's house in Butterstone, by Dunkeld, into a music studio and home. Dougie told punk rock fanzine Scottish Field in 2015: 'When the school closed in the 1970s it lay empty for a long, long time, then I was able to buy it. We also bought the old teacher's house, which my mum used to clean. We live in it now – it's really bizarre!' Born on 27 September 1954 in Dunblane, Dougie MacLean has described his childhood in Butterstone as 'idyllic'. His father's side of the family hailed from Mull, his mother's from around Taynuilt. Father, a gardener on a big estate, played the fiddle. Mother played the melodeon. Grandfather was a shepherd on the hills above Butterstone. When full of whisky, he'd sing old Gaelic songs with tears flooding down his face. 'We would say, 'What's wrong with Seanair [Gaelic for grandfather]?' MacLean told the National earlier this year. 'My mum would say, 'Oh, no, it's fine. He's just happy'.' HALL OR NOTHING THE kitchen table would then be pushed back, as mother and uncles produced their melodeons. By the time he was five, Dougie could play 'Morag of Dunvegan' on the harmonica. A year later, taken round village halls to hear Scottish country dance bands, he wanted to be a drummer: 'I used to sit up on stage beside the drummer with a pair of drumsticks and play along.' Soon, mandolin was added to his repertoire and, while at high school, he and buddy Ewan Sutherland (singing Corries songs) would play the Angus Hotel in Blairgowrie, earning £1 a night. With a few more pals, they formed a band called Puddock's Well, with Dougie on fiddle, the instrument for which he became best known in his early years. In 1976, while working as a gardener in Aberdeen, the 20-year-old was invited to play for the Tannahill Weavers – beginning in Germany the following day. After quickly consulting friends – 'Do it or you'll regret it for the rest of your life' – he gave up his job and flat and ended up, as he told Klof magazine, 'travelling all over Europe, sleeping in sleeping bags on people's floors and going through some real hard times'. Good times for folk, though, which was growing in popularity on yonder Continent. In the late 1970s, MacLean spent six months touring with Silly Wizard. Wanting to focus more on his own songwriting, he left the band, taking up an invitation from a friend living in Germany, the late Alan Roberts, to form a duo. (Image: PA) SICKENING TALENT AROUND this time, in just 10 minutes, he wrote 'Caledonia' while homesick on a beach in Brittany with a group of Irish buskers. It received its first airing at a concert in West Berlin and has since been embraced in Ireland, Norway, Denmark, all sorts of places, but mostly in Scotland, the homesickness capital of Europe. As MacLean has said: 'It's a magical thing when you put a bunch of words with a melody. When it works, it's really powerful.' It's been played during childbirth and in folk's dying moments. A commenter on the National's website called for it to be sung in schools as Americans do with the Star Spangled Banner. A version sung by Frankie Miller was used in a Tennent's Lager advert, which was quickly pulled for allegedly promoting a pro-independence message. It's since been watched by hundreds of thousands on yon YouTube. 'Caledonia' was written near the start of MacLean's stellar career, during which, while still in his early 20s, an English record company told him his music was 'banal, stupid and parochial'. This was at a time when cosmopolitan sophisticates Chas & Dave were all the rage. The insult led him to set up his own recording studio and label (Dunkeld Records), 'the best thing I ever did'. Musically, 'Caledonia' may have been the best song he ever did, but he also won plaudits internationally for 'The Gael', a dramatic and ominous version of which was used as a theme tune in 1992 film The Last of the Mohicans. READ MORE Rab McNeil: Get your Boots on, we're going shopping for unicorn hair gel Rab McNeil: No wonder the whole Scottish nation loves Nicola (no, not that one) Scottish Icons: William McGonagall - The poet who right bad verses wrote still floats some folk's vessel or boat Scottish Icons: There is a lot of tripe talked about haggis – so here's the truth BY ECK ANOTHER song, 'Holding Back', received a particularly emotional outing in 2013 when the late Alex Salmond presented MacLean with the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Lifetime Achievement for Contribution to Songwriting. It's a song about contentment: 'That's one of the great things about being an older musician – you can feel content with your place in the greater scheme of things.' Among other awards, in 2011 MacLean was conscripted as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), a higher award than the Quite Good Order of the British Empire. In 2014, Till Tomorrow, recorded in collaboration with The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, revisited some well loved songs. In Perthshire, MacLean set up the Amber Festival, so that fans might visit the places that inspired his songs. This coming November, a revitalised Shades of Amber will light up life in the county. In April, Dougie returned to New York's Carnegie Hall for a special concert with celebrated Scottish musicians Julie Fowlis and Mànran, while last month saw him perform at The Reeling, Glasgow's summer celebration of traditional Scottish music, at Rouken Glen song, though. Here are some final words on 'Caledonia', from the man himself: 'People sing it at weddings, they sing it at funerals. It becomes a kind of tool that people use in their everyday life. Music is much more than just a commodity. When it's done right it's a tool in life's toolbox to keep you from getting depressed or for celebrating in your own home.'
Time of India
16-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Bobby Orr blasts Ron MacLean over controversial claims about Don Cherry's health and ‘exit strategy' from Coach's Corner
Bobby Orr criticized Ron MacLean for his recent remarks about Don Cherry's departure from Hockey Night (Image via The Canadian Press) In a fiery public statement, hockey icon Bobby Orr has come to the defense of his longtime friend Don Cherry, fiercely condemning comments made by broadcaster Ron MacLean about Cherry's controversial 2019 exit from Hockey Night in Canada. The dispute, reignited by MacLean's recent interview with the Kingston Whig Standard, has reopened old wounds over Cherry's infamous 'Poppygate' fallout and the end of one of hockey's most iconic broadcast partnerships. Ron MacLean claims Don Cherry used health scare to engineer his departure During the interview, Ron MacLean suggested that Cherry's 2019 pneumonia scare was a turning point that prompted him to consider leaving Coach's Corner. Referring to the infamous poppy controversy, MacLean alleged that Cherry used it as an 'exit strategy' following serious health issues. 'I think that pneumonia scare was it,' MacLean said via The Toronto Sun. 'The pneumonia said to Don, 'It's time.' He had to think, 'Why is this grind suddenly so hard?' He was ready to have an exit strategy. From that moment on, he was plotting a way out." MacLean even claimed Cherry was hospitalized in Boston and required assistance at the time, a version of events that has been strongly disputed. Bobby Orr slams MacLean's remarks and defends Cherry's character Bobby Orr did not hold back in criticizing MacLean's version of the story, describing the remarks as both inaccurate and deeply disrespectful to Cherry's legacy. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 목에 주름이 생기는 '진짜' 이유 뷰앤디 더 알아보기 Undo 'Suggesting Don Cherry used encouraging people to wear poppies on Remembrance Day as an exit strategy from Coach's Corner, revealing he had pneumonia in 2019 and that he doesn't have many friends, I have only one thing to say to you Ron MacLean: Shame on you.' Orr's statement has been echoed by Cherry's family, including his son Tim, who flatly denied any hospitalization or planned exit, stating that Cherry never intended to leave the show prior to his dismissal. A legacy fractured by controversy and regret The MacLean-Cherry duo, once synonymous with Canadian hockey culture, has long since fractured under the weight of Cherry's dismissal. While MacLean later apologized for not condemning Cherry's poppy comments during the live broadcast, Cherry expressed deep disappointment, believing his co-host abandoned him in a moment of need. With Bobby Orr stepping into the fray, this decades-long relationship now appears irreparably damaged—one that once brought passion and color to Saturday night hockey but now symbolizes a cultural divide. Also Read: Stanley Cup shame sparks Oilers' panic move—goalie coach out as franchise refuses to face roster truth Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Edmonton Journal
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Edmonton Journal
'Shame on you': Cherry vs MacLean, biggest feud in Canada's culture war, blows up big time
Article content But immigrants who come to Canada and refuse to put behind violent, old world feuds with other groups, and who deplore what Canada stands for and decry our traditions, they aren't above criticism, correct? Article content The need to stand up for Canada has come into ever more clear focus since Cherry's statement in 2019, with many Canadians hammering away at the country's founding father John A. Macdonald, ripping down statues of him and taking his name off of public buildings. Local politicians have been loathe to celebrate Canada Day. They wanted to treat it as a some kind of day of self-loathing mourning. We've also seen rallies on our streets where radicals have chanted, 'Death to Canada.' Article content It was only with the rise of Trump and his perceived threat to Canada that many Canadians suddenly rediscovered their patriotism. Perhaps if many of the same people now wrapping themselves in the flag weren't leading the charge to fire Cherry they'd have more credibility. Article content Article content 3. The firing of Cherry remains an open wound in Canada. MacLean just gave it a good poke. He's getting plenty of pushback on it just now, as seen by Bobby Orr's comment. Article content The latest turn comes from the Toronto Sun's Joe Warmington, him reporting that after Joyce's story appeared, MacLean went over to Cherry's house to apologize. Article content I'll leave the last word here to Warmington, who has done much to get out Cherry's side of the story over the years. Article content Writes the Sun columnist: 'Cherry should be bestowed every hockey accolade there is and the Order of Canada, too — for his hockey contributions, but also for his avid support of Canada, its military, police, first responders and nationalism. There is nobody more about Canadian hockey or Canadian patriotism than him. On top of that, he should be reinstated by Sportsnet so he can retire with the honour he deserves after six decades as a player, coach and broadcaster. No one is saying Cherry should go back on air, but they could do it symbolically. They could do a special segment with Cherry and MacLean one last time on his porch, as I have done numerous times since they threw him under the bus.' Article content
