S ._.atiivated i Stream By‘ Jove; as. The Life of W. . Johns by Peter 84' sford Ellis and Piers Williams (ox, At, £5.95) - For many of us Biggles was as fojltlnativeian influence on our childhood as Just William and Z7Ite;.Eagle;. His creator, Bill after service in the ,Corps.in the First Wgeprldjfiwar, then the Flying Training School, then the RAF, .t wasfthe‘. ‘most popular juvenile _ f.f¢,tfijl1‘i»hero in the world. But were the .books_any* good, and what explains their attraction? I they caught the -hot stream ‘of the new world represented by flying. lt"‘9ov'_'er; Too . . . by Miles - s It b_n'(Penguin, £2.50) . 2%; Nevertheless, althtfiigh poli- tics. «”and- hard news are jolly of us are sternéminded» enough to live on a:,l~uI1di1I1t_e.tl“¢liet of them. For such weaker;-minded brethen and *sisters}—a_mong us, the best bit 11a¢vI'ime.r on scaly days xa[1d~,uhHIld days is the bottom nigh gghasement on the llosite the editorials. Moreover _Enterprise_s byeai h0‘t§73 The boys‘ own hero: Biggles conduct their business. ‘This’ selection of Moreovers covers the field of asphodel from the admirable Mills:;.and , Bang imprint to Unusual Jobs num- ber 94. Professional hacks among us admire the prodigious output. On Liberty by John Stuart Mill. edited with an introduction by Gertrude Himmelfarb (Penguin Classics, £2.50) V philosophers wrote, trumpet- tongued, for the ordinary man rather than for their pro«' fessional colleagues in their box. This is one of the foundation documents of western democ- racy. Dr Himmelfarb discusses Mil1’s precocious, utilitarian education, and his reverence for the unrivalled ‘wisdom of his wife, hinting at unconscious motives. She records responses to his books, and comments on his fear of the tyranny of the majority. She argues thatythfe . inconsistencies thatunderlie Oi: Liberty still complicate the moral and political stance’ of liberals today. V » ' . Those were the ldays,>‘-iwhenf 4 Q o--in l-I~ D-1-‘HI-ivfllv-4“rIv nnnmus ...._..... fifhi-4Ih.h—a