When I was about eighteen or nineteen years old a friend introduced me to a series of books by a Canadian author called Donald Jack. His first book, Three Cheers for Me, was published in 1962 by Doubleday. It tells the story of a young Ontario clergyman's son who decides, after failing at medical school ("...I failed the final year after shooting the Professor of Surgery in the back."), to enlist in the Canadian army to fight in the War to End All Wars. This naïve, prim and erstwhile religious boy finds himself in the trenches in France learning the ways of the world rather suddenly and, sometimes, comically.
I have read a few funny books in my time, but this is one that has me laughing out loud (to my wife's annoyance) even now, when I give it my eighth or ninth reading. Similar in style to Douglas Adams, Donald Jack's narrative wanders hither and thither around the point as his hero, Bartholomew Bandy, demonstrates formidable inadequacy in trench warfare.
In an effort to rid himself of this burden, his C.O. heartily endorses Bandy's request to join the newly-created Royal Flying Corps where the life expectance of pilots is measured in days. Bandy discovers, to his surprise, that in the air he is in his element. He meets his wife-to-be when he force-lands in the grounds of her country house on one of his first solo flights. He soon proves himself a crack pilot and an ace.
The rest of the story completes his rise to Captain where he hobnobs with the upper echelons of the British military command. His brilliance as an aviator is inversely proportional to his abilities as a socialite and his blistering incompetence makes a very enjoyable read.
I am no history buff, nor over familiar with early 20th Century flying, but those who are will recognise that many of the anecdotes are based on true stories, though just one name has been used to protect the rightful heroes - Bandy.
Three Cheers for Me won the 1962 Stephen Leacock Award, which encouraged the sequel, That's Me in the Middle. Not quite as funny as its predecessor, I don't think, but it provides a good bridge to It's Me Again, volume three, which recaptures some of the earlier flavour. Toward the end of the war Bandy finds himself in Russia (after the death of his wife) and the stage is set for Me Bandy, You Cissie, Volume IV. In this instalment he finds himself barnstorming and flying for films, as his one true vocation still hasn't got a foothold on the world.
Just when I thought it was all over, in 1983 he published Me Too, which, after recapping his earlier adventures, picks up where he left off and sees him safely into a seat Parliament. Volume IV is called This One's on Me and till now, I didn't know it existed.
In all, Donald Jack's Bandy Papers have won three Stephen Leacock Awards for Humour. The books went out of print in the 80's, but I am delighted to see them being reprinted by McClelland & Stewart (in "trade paperback" whatever that means) and Volumes I-III are available on Amazon. I reckon in order for McClelland & Stewart to reprint the whole series they have to see sufficient interest in the first three volumes. So if you want me to ever get a chance to read Vol. VI you have to get these books.
If you have ever flown a plane, fought a war, had an awkward moment with a woman, been in love, lost a friend, embarrassed yourself in public, been drunk, been right or been wrong, you will feel at one with Bartholomew Bandy.