History of Higgins

[Big Kahuna]

I recall somebody – in a different thread – talking about putting all of Magnum's bits of advice together on when he finally gets around to writing his book on How To Be A World Class Detective, which is a brilliant idea!

But...I wonder, has anyone put together all the little tid-bits of Higgins' history. You know, Burma, the El Alamein campaign, building the bridge on the River Kwai...all of those....

He's clearly moved around a lot and it would be interesting to see if there's much consistency.

Just a thought.

[Kate Sullivan]

It's here http://magnum-mania.com/Articles/Higgins_History.html

[Styles Bitchley]

In addition to this, I seem to recall someone in this forum who happened upon some pretty convincing evidence that JQH was actually based on a real life British military man. Everything from the name to specifics on where he served were too similar to dismiss. Anyone else recall that?

[Big Kahuna]

It's here http://magnum-mania.com/Articles/Higgins_History.html

Wow! That's amazing, thank you!

[Kate Sullivan]

You're welcome. Though it was James, I'm assuming, who put it all together - so all credit goes to him. That's what I call dedication, it must have taken ages.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Magnum Mania! - Higgins' History

I would like to say bravo to whomever did all the work compiling the timeline for Higgins military history.
However I have to take issue with the Magnum writers 'history':

1937 - Presumably still a Sandhurst cadet, doing some in the field work, Higgins is surrounded by Egyptians in 1937. While not a part of the British Empire, the Egyptians were a de-facto satrap with a puppet government. Neither their army nor security forces would dare attack a British unit.

1940 - Higgins had read Rommel's treatise on tank warfare? It wasn't completed when Rommel died in 1944 and was only pieced together after the war.

1940 - Lance-Corporal Higgins transferred to the Khyber Pass which was manned by almost all Indian Army units. Which means a transfer to the British Indian Army and out of his original regiment. Almost impossible for a lowly non-com, they wouldn't bother.
The British Empire Indian Army and Navy were separate institutions from regular British forces. You had senior British officers running them and a sprinkling of lower officers and senior enlisted men, all long serving lifers. The idea they would somehow need/require the basic infantry skills of a barely shaving Lance Corporal with at most 2 years in-service is just not on.
If it is the case that Higgins regiment was sent as a whole, then maybe. But they wouldn't have been sent there and then back in time for El Alamein in "1941". (actually the 1st battle there was in 1942).
The British were already stretched thin and did not have the transport to waste playing musical chairs with army units, between a backwater and the then main theater of contention for the Empire, North Africa.
Besides Higgins regiment would not have been needed at the Khyber Pass, the frontier units there could have easily dispatched any incursions from that quarter.
There were regular British Army units in India, dedicated between wars to maintaining the Empire, The Raj. Though not nearly as numerous as the colonial British Indian forces and generally held back from frontier duty as a strike force and to ensure order.
Later on the British had to resign themselves to a tacit understanding with the Indians that in exchange for loyalty during WW 2 the Indians would be granted independence afterwards.

1941 - Back in North Africa for the Western Desert Campaign.
1942 - Higgins is then sent to a principality in the Pyrenees for 6 months of under cover work. By this point he must transferred to the Special Operations Executive and under gone extensive training. The SOE fits perfectly with Higgins supposed ensuing activities.
The idea that afterwards he would then be sent back to his regiment as just another non-com just wouldn't happen to a now highly skilled asset unless he pulled a FUBAR.
Supposedly from July to October he is back with his regiment in North Africa.
Higgins is then tasked to bring supplies to Chinese irregulars in the Himalayas.So he is back with the SOE again.
1943 - Back from Asia, back in the regulars, serves with the 8th Army in Sicily. That summer he is again sent back to the Far East.
First as an adviser to the Aussies in the New Guinea campaign, then apparently back with his old regiment in Malaya, so he is back in the ranks once more!
1944 - Back to the ETO again! We find Higgins at Monte Casino and Anzio.
1944 - Back to Asia, where on a Pacific isle he paints before battles.
1944 - Back to Morocco with his regiment! Except by then the war had moved on to Italy and later France and there were no more British infantry units there.
1944- Sent to Normandy for D-Day. A month later he is sent to Mexico City to pull a bank heist! He then finds time to play tennis with the top seeded US Army player.
And then:
1944 - Back to the ETO! he parachutes into the Ural Mountains! with a demolition team to infiltrate German Lines!
The Germans were never anywhere near the Urals which divides Europe from Asia.
If they had the war would have been over, the Soviets armies off the board, the armies that tied down 80% of Nazi forces and after 1943 made the once mighty German army a ruin, gone.
I can't take parsing Higgins timeline anymore, I give up.
The Magnum writers have 'lost the plot' as the Aussies say. What color is the sky in their world? Either Higgins is the greatest soldier adventurer in history or he is a "Colonel Blimp" type who bought a cheap knock off Victoria Cross from a crooked vendor on Portobello Road in London while on a toot.
I prefer to think Higgins is on the level, he is a wonderful character, except the writers got carried away with the fun of doing his back story and their suspect knowledge of WW2.
Or the exaggeration is done with a purpose, Higgins record some sort of sophisticated comment on war as espoused in, for example, the movie 'The Americanization of Emily'. One of the great anti-war movies ever.
Nah. Higgins unlikely history is the writers doing, as Jessica Rabbit put it,
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way"

[308GUY]

Ole' "Higgy-Baby" was sure a busy beaver in 44'!

Not disputing facts presented by any "side" here, just pointing out that HIS-tory...is just that....HIS story....how it is written and remembered by those who weren't there, is a matter of who "he" is.

As time marches on, as it inevitably does, those who were, or even might have been, there...begin to dwindle and disappear, leaving the "facts" open to discussion and/or debate. One cannot argue about a statue that occupied a space but is no longer there, or that something was painted a certain color if it's still that color, but exactly what happened, how it happened and exactly who made it happen, will always be subjective...methinks.

I would have to agree, however, that the writers of MPI obviously took liberties, or maybe we should call it "artistic license" (?) with facts and timelines.

Gotta remember, we're taking about the "Magnaverse"....not necessarily the same as the "universe" as we know and accept it. It's a fantasy tv show!

Fun to read the comparisons by somebody who's obviously very familiar with the actual, factual history, at least as it's been recorded and accepted by the "authorities" that we accept and recognize as the "way it was".

This place is great!

[ConchRepublican]

I have to think the writers had some reference book they built to make sure they didn't step on each other regarding Higgins' history. Considering the timeframe of the series, I'd assume they would have written it down and kept the leaves secured for story approval. Probably some binder they build over time or some notebook.

Could you imagine if there is one what it must be like? Talk about an MPI Holy Grail!

[Styles Bitchley]

In addition to this, I seem to recall someone in this forum who happened upon some pretty convincing evidence that JQH was actually based on a real life British military man. Everything from the name to specifics on where he served were too similar to dismiss. Anyone else recall that?

I finally found the thread (as noted in another thread earlier today)...wasn't easy to find: http://magnum-mania.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1387

[Kate Sullivan]

In addition to this, I seem to recall someone in this forum who happened upon some pretty convincing evidence that JQH was actually based on a real life British military man. Everything from the name to specifics on where he served were too similar to dismiss. Anyone else recall that?

I finally found the thread (as noted in another thread earlier today)...wasn't easy to find: http://magnum-mania.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1387

That's amazing, I had no idea about John Masters. I saw in the Wiki article that some of his stories had been dramatized on BBC Radio 4 so I looked him up on BBC iplayer and found this interview with him: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p033k2x1

EDIT: and also this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03m0nh0

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Ole' "Higgy-Baby" was sure a busy beaver in 44'!

Not disputing facts presented by any "side" here, just pointing out that HIS-tory...is just that....HIS story....how it is written and remembered by those who weren't there, is a matter of who "he" is.
As time marches on, as it inevitably does, those who were, or even might have been, there...begin to dwindle and disappear, leaving the "facts" open to discussion and/or debate. One cannot argue about a statue that occupied a space but is no longer there, or that something was painted a certain color if it's still that color, but exactly what happened, how it happened and exactly who made it happen, will always be subjective...methinks.
I would have to agree, however, that the writers of MPI obviously took liberties, or maybe we should call it "artistic license" (?) with facts and timelines.
Gotta remember, we're taking about the "Magnaverse"....not necessarily the same as the "universe" as we know and accept it. It's a fantasy tv show!
Fun to read the comparisons by somebody who's obviously very familiar with the actual, factual history, at least as it's been recorded and accepted by the "authorities" that we accept and recognize as the "way it was".
This place is great!

308guy,
I understand your point of view but I can't believe it's the case that established facts can be twisted and turned to fit one's tastes. That's a slippery slope once you accept that, that's how we get all those oddball 911 conspiracy theories.
The bit about Higgins parachuting into the Urals is just painfully dumb, "and that's the fact Jack" to quote Bill Murray. It's on par with Bluto In Animal House asking,"was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor"?
Plus the errors regarding dates of battle rankle, and Higgins reading Rommel's as yet unpublished book.
Higgin's bio would make much more sense if had been a long serving officer whose pre-war duties had taken him to the many far flung exotic outposts of the Empire where many of his adventures could have occurred, rather than telescoped into a few war and post war years when the Empire was being dismantled.
That would have logically made him 10 years older and perhaps a little long in the tooth for our Higgins of the 1980's.
Anyway the gulf between enlisted man and the officer class was so vast that a serving in the ranks Higgins would never have been considered for many, if any of his assignments, despite his background. It would have been perceived as a threat to the prevailing social order, some would view him as a gentleman who had debased himself and his class.
As regards to this fellow Masterson, bravo to whoever first spotted the connection to Higgins.
From what you guys posted and noted, I agree it is pretty obvious that the Magnum staff, when creating the series "bible" for the character, just stole Masterson's story as per usual in Hollywood.
I looked up Masterson's photo on line and he could be Higgin's twin, or perhaps yet another half brother! I would post it here with the link but whenever I try that it never works, but if anyone wants to see it drop me a line. Or perhaps those with far greater computer skills than mine might put it up on this thread.
The likeness is eerie.

[308GUY]

Point taken Dobie!

Can't help remembering that at one time though, the earth was flat, the sun went around the moon, and if man were meant to fly, he'd have been born with wings!

Yes, it IS a slippery slope, sometimes it seems as though the media, certain authors, reporters, the politicians, and even some historians and obviously script writers, have tried to push ALL of us down it at one time or another. You are exactly right about the conspiracy theorists, etc., JFK's assassination is STILL being debated! Cause the "experts"...the "authorities" the "people that know" can't really agree on all the facts. Not too many folks left that were "there". Some reason the Warren commission's report was locked up for all those years.

I agree, it would have been much easier to swallow some of ole' Higgy baby's yarns, if all of the facts were 100% accurate, but I haven't heard very many story tellers that don't "embellish" at least a little.

Also can't help remembering the story JQH told TM about surfing on airplane wings. He finished the story in his usual "serious" tone, then TM asked him if they "really" surfed on airplane wings...to which he responded "Don't be absurd" or something quite similar. His presentation seemed to always be like he was narrating a documentary....but he never was.....the show was not a documentary.

I'm not all that "literate"....computer wise or otherwise, so I won't be of much help in posting the pic of Masterson, but if nobody else puts it up in fairly short order, I'll probably have to at least go look it up to see the similarity myself!

Forgot to mention, my first post is not necessarily my point of view....more of an observation.

Thanks for the response!

[Mrs. Higgins]

MasterSON...or are we talking about John Masters, the author of Bhowani Junction? Great film by the way. TCM aired it earlier this summer.

[ConchRepublican]

You mean this gent?

[308GUY]

MasterSON...or are we talking about John Masters, the author of Bhowani Junction? Great film by the way. TCM aired it earlier this summer.

I believe you are right MH....think I read "Masters" somewhere else here on the forum, but I was addressing what was recorded earlier.

Good job Conch! Now I don't have to go look it up!

Missed that on TCM, but will have to watch for it to be re-shown, they do tend to repeat periodically. Sounds like a good watch.