Look Who it Was Random video

Brian Aldiss - Captain Justice flies to the rescue! (16/79)

384 views · Published 22 May 2017 · 3:03 · Indexed 10 November 2026

Channel: Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People · 2017 · Entertainment

Watch on YouTube

To listen to more of Brian Aldiss’ stories, go to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV0r6CmEsFz9eyoxSk8DdLNHllsrLXYf

Writer Brian Aldiss (1925-2017) was best known for his science fiction novels and short stories. 'Non-Stop', his first science fiction novel, was published in 1958. His many award-winning titles include 'Hothouse', 'The Saliva Tree' and 'Helliconia Spring'. [Listener: Christopher Sykes; date recorded: 2014]

TRANSCRIPT: I then read 'Biggles'. 'Biggles' was a great favourite for boys, and I took up a weekly magazine, called 'Modern Boy'. How old was I when I started 'Modern Boy', I wonder? Possibly eight? And in Modern Boy, there were lots of adventures, week by week, that took place all over the world. For instance, there was a chap with his kanakas, scouring the Pacific that I quite enjoyed.

But what I most enjoyed were the stories of a man calling himself Murray Leinster... no, he was called... sometimes Leinster, but, generally Murray Roberts. He wrote stories about Captain Justice. Captain Justice, my hero! My hero. Captain Justice had a floating island called Station A that was in the middle of the Atlantic. And Captain Justice would be called upon when there was any global problem too big for the USA and Britain to solve. Send for Captain Justice. And Captain Justice had a wonderful airship, called the Flying Cloud. And the Flying Cloud was the invention of a Professor Flaznagel, and Flaznagel was one of Captain Justice's team. And this wonderful Flying Cloud, you could pull a lever and it would become totally invisible. Wonderful! Wonderful!

So, Justice had a great deal of problems on his hands. For instance, it turned out that the Sargasso Sea was full of frogmen, who were six feet high and very nasty indeed, and Captain Justice had to defeat them.

And eventually – I think it was possibly Murray Roberts' last Captain Justice book – he wrote a novel called, 'The World in Darkness'. I collected all of his books – they were 4d, four pence – and I gave them to a science fiction museum on the Continent.

More from this channel