Product Description

In May 1930, Amy Johnson, a typist from Hull, took off from Croydon Airport with a thermos flask and a packet of sandwiches to try to beat the world solo record to Australia. She arrived, sun-blistered and with grease on her face, after weeks of flying a second-hand, open-cockpit biplane with no radio communication and the most basic of maps. Her adventures inspired a world struggling with the devastating effects of the Depression and made her into a celebrity overnight. She married Scottish playboy Jim Mollison, and together 'The Flying Sweethearts' broke records, mixed with the Mayfair Set, Amelia Earhart and Hollywood stars. But her tempestuous marriage was soon to crumble and she resumed her love affair with speed, taking up gliding and rally driving, and finding solace with a French millionaire. Her plane disappeared over the Thames Estuary during the Second World War, sparking rumours which are still being investigated today. Her body was never found.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #123937 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In Amy Johnson: Queen of the Air, Midge Gillies tells Johnson's life story with a passion and zest worthy of the adventurer herself. In May 1930, the young typist from Hull took off from Croydon Airport, with a thermos flask and a packet of sandwiches, to beat the solo record for flying to Australia. Johnson went on to a celebrity life and embarked on other record-breaking flights to Tokyo and Cape Town. She went through a tumultuous marriage and, like her American counterpart Amelia Earhart, disappeared in mysterious circumstances during the Second World War.

Midge Gillies has interviewed surviving family members, and gained access to hundreds of letters, quoted here for the first time. She examines Amy's traumatic early life and recreates in detail the mystery of her last 24 hours. Complete with maps, illustrations and notes, this biography is an excellent example of thorough research of a captivating story, wedded to a straightforward and winning style. Especially enjoyable are the details that chronicle an age in which society high life demanded a certain standard of insouciant flamboyance. Gillie relates how, when Johnson flew solo from South Africa to London she made sure she included a tennis racket and evening dress, and regaled reporters with stories of how she had to powder her nose in mid-flight. Amy Johnson: Queen of the Air is a sparkling story of a swashbuckling personality in an age that valued individuality and genuine adventure. --Dwight Longenecker

From the Inside Flap
In May 1930, Amy Johnson, a typist from Hull, took off from Croydon Airport with a thermos flask and a packet of sandwiches to try to beat the world solo record to Australia. She arrived, sun-blistered and with grease on her face, after weeks of flying a second-hand, open-cockpit biplane with no radio communication and the most basic of maps. Her adventures - including a forced landing in the Iraqi dessert and on a football pitch near Rangoon - inspired a world struggling with the devastating effects of the Depression and a generation who felt cheated by the futility of the Great War. The Daily Mail transformed her into a celebrity whose career was followed by millions. But fame and the thrill of her flight to Australia made her restless and she took on record-breaking flights to Tokyo and Cape Town. She married Scottish playboy, Jim Mollison and together 'The Flying Sweethearts' broke records, mixed with the Mayfair Set, Amelia Earhart and Hollywood stars and dined with President Roosevelt. Amy became a glamorous fashion icon with a penchant for Chanel clothes and Cartier diamonds, and for painting her planes in her favourite colour of the moment. As her tempestuous marriage crumbled she resumed her love affair with speed, taking up gliding and rally driving, and finding solace with a French millionaire. Her plane disappeared over the Thames Estuary during the Second World War, sparking rumours which are still being investigated today. Her body was never found. Midge Gillies' fascinating new biography gives an intimate portrait of a complicated and passionate woman, a fearless adventurer with an inexhaustible lust for life. 20.00 in UK only Illustrated Midge Gillies is a freelance journalist who writes regularly for The Guardian and Los Angeles Times as well as for the Press Association. She was a consultant and contributor to The Real Amy Johnson, a Channel 4 Documentary. Her biography of Marie Lloyd was chosen as a Sunday Times biography of the year. Weidenfeld & Nicolson The Orion Publishing Group Orion House 5 Upper Saint Martin's Lane London, WC2H 9EA

From the Back Cover
MARIE LLOYD, the One and Only This class act ...reads like a script Eastenders hacks would die for. A cracking book...Midge Gillies tops the bill. Brian Davis, Time Out There have been several biographies, but Midge Gillies's is the most wide-ranging and thoroughly researched. It is also (not necessarily the same thing) the best. John Gross, Sunday Telegraph

Customer Reviews

Plane brilliant!
A secretary from Hull flying solo to Australia is bound to make a good story, but in the expert hands of Midge Gillies it makes a truly great one. These days we take international travel for granted, but this biography really brings back the wonder of aviation, and introduces us to the characters who shaped its fascinating history. Nobody could fail to be capitivated by the astonishing achievements of the redoubtable Miss Johnson. In this biography they are so recounted so well that one could be forgiven for thinking it an adventure novel. That is not to say this is not a scholarly work. The research is meticulous, bringing to light new evidence surrounding the aviatrix’s mysterious disappearance. I have not been this excited about a biography since Claire Tomalin’s award-winning “Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self”.

Diva and victim of the air
This is a fantastic biography. They say 'never judge a book by its cover' but I have to admit to buying this book 'for my bookshelf'. However, I am so glad I opened it. I can honestly say that I was gripped from the very first page. It has everything. It takes a very un-biased look at the tragic but diva-esque life of Amy with elements of history, family life, her working life and her fight for equal rights for women. Her aquaintances with other pilots are also included. It gives the reader a broad range of emothions from pity to love to feeling she gets what she deserves sometimes. It really is one of the best books I have ever read. READ IT!!!