h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As a child, forty years ago, I loved Biggles and William and Billy Bunter, Nancy Drew and Beverley Gray, and Edgar Rice Burroughs' books about Mars. At about age twelve I discovered Dornford Yates, Sapper and Leslie Charteris, devoured them all.

Alas, you can never go back. All they are good for now, is a bit of a laugh.

Johns also wrote a series about Worrals of the WAAF, a sort of female Biggles. Worrals had a set of mates who were the female equivalents of Biggles' sidekicks. I recently picked a Worrals book up at a street market. Poor old Worrals, the saddest case of them all. Excruciating!

Makes one wonder whether today's Harry Potter fans will sneer at the wizardly adventures forty years down the track?

My neighbour, Tom Chapman (no relation) has some framed Bunter artwork on the walls. I asked him if he was a fan, and he said no, they were his father's. His father drew the illustrations of the Fat Owl.

You are right, Worrals is, erm, a pathetic attempt at early political correctness? A transparent piece of marketing aimed at the female market? A fundamentally ill-judged foray into a world he didn't understand? You choose.

I suspect he saw he was on to a good thing with Biggles, so thought he could make another fast buck by appealing to the female market. Much like Richards with the Bessie Bunter attempt.