W. E. Johns

William Earl Johns (5 February 1893 - 21 June 1968) was an English pilot and writer of adventure stories, usually written under the name Captain W. E. Johns. He is best remembered as the creator of the ace pilot and adventurer Biggles. He was born in Bengeo, Hertfordshire, England, the son of a tailor, and Elizabeth Johns (née Earl), the daughter of a master butcher. His brother, Russell Ernest Johns, was born on 24 October 1895. Johns' early amb... more

William Earl Johns (5 February 1893 - 21 June 1968) was an English pilot and writer of adventure stories, usually written under the name Captain W. E. Johns. He is best remembered as the creator of the ace pilot and adventurer Biggles. He was born in Bengeo, Hertfordshire, England, the son of a tailor, and Elizabeth Johns (née Earl), the daughter of a master butcher. His brother, Russell Ernest Johns, was born on 24 October 1895. Johns' early ambition was to be a soldier, being a crack shot with a rifle. In January 1905, he attended Hertford Grammar School (now the Richard Hale School). He also attended evening classes at the local art school. Johns was not a natural scholar. He included some of his experiences at this school in his book Biggles Goes to School (1951). In the summer of 1907 he was apprenticed to a county municipal surveyor for four years and in 1912 was appointed as a sanitary inspector in Swaffham in Norfolk. Soon after, his father died of tuberculosis at the age of... less