A literary kerfuffle was going on at this time in 1964, with claims of censorship being levelled at Canberra librarians. But it wasn't the sexually charged Lolita that was engaging front page readers, but the destocking of the children's book series Biggles.
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On page one on this day, the author of the adventure series about a derring-do pilot, Captain W.E Johns spoke of his dismay at learning the Canberra Children's Library had removed the books because of their lack of currency in 1960s Australia.
"I'm a Victorian, born in Kipling's day, and I suppose I'm a good imperialist. When I started writing 32 years ago, I was told my books must have no sex, no politics, no hard liquor, no violence. I wasn't allowed even to use an expletive," Captain Johns said, defending his works.
The 71-year-old added that he was still producing three books a year, and one Dutch company had sold 1.7 million copies of his Biggles titles.
The story of the library ousting Biggles had run for several days, but poor James Bigglesworth wasn't the only British icon on the way out. Noddy and other Enid Blyton books had been left off the shelves not for reasons of censorship, but for not being stimulating enough to children's imaginations.
Mrs G. Rudduck from the Children's Book Council said the books were "quite harmless" but "not the best from the literary point of view".
