Cyril Lowe Cyril Nelson " Kit " Lowe MC DFC ( 7 October 1891 – 6 February 1983 ) was an English rugby union footballer who held England ' s international try scoring record for over sixty years , First World War flying ace credited with nine victories , and supposedly the inspiration for W . E . Johns ' character " Biggles " . Early life . Lowe was born in Holbeach , Lincolnshire . He attended Dulwich College where he was a boarder in Orchard House . There he edited the school magazine , the Alleynian from 1910 to 1911 , as his fellow alumnus P . G . Wodehouse had done previously . At Dulwich he excelled at a number of sports , and represented the school in boxing , athletics , swimming , cricket and rugby . He captained the Athletics squad in 1911 and in the same year played for the first XI cricket squad . In this same cricket side he played alongside future England captain , Arthur Gilligan , the future Essex wicket - keeper Frank Gilligan and R K Nunes the future captain of the West Indies . Eclipsing these sporting achievements was his record as a rugby player . He was in the side first XV from 1908 and was in the unbeaten first XV rugby union squad in 1909 which contained five future internationals dubbed the ' Famous Five ' . These five would all go on to play in the 1913 Varsity match , ( and also produced the captains of both Oxford and Cambridge in 1919 ) , and all served in the First World War . They were Eric Loudoun - Shand and Grahame Donald who both went on to play for Scotland , W . D . Doherty who went on to play for and captain Ireland , J . E . Greenwood who went on to play for and captain England and Cyril Lowe himself . He then went on to captain the side in 1910 - 11 . Despite his sporting prowess , Lowe was not physically imposing , standing 5 ' 6 " and weighing around eight - and - a - half stone . His small stature led to his nickname at school being " Tich " Lowe . He was described by the school magazine , The Alleynian , as " A first rate centre three - quarter . Very fast , with a capital pair of hands , a first - rate dodge on a dry ground , and a good pair of feet on the wet . " He went on to Cambridge University where he won rugby blues in 1911 , 1912 and 1913 , making him a rare triple blue . Rugby career . Cyril Lowe , whilst still at Cambridge , was called up to play for England in 1913 . This was to be the beginning of an international career that spanned either side of the First World War , in which he scored a record 18 tries in 25 internationals and was on the losing side only three times , twice to Wales and once to South Africa . He played in four Grand Slam - winning sides until his retirement in 1923 . IN 1913 and 1914 he won back - to - back Five Nation Grand Slams and his eight try haul in 1914 remains a Championship record , only ever equalled by one other player , Ian Smith of Scotland . His tally of tries remained a record until overtaken by another RAF pilot , Rory Underwood , in 1989 . At club level , after leaving Cambridge , Lowe represented Blackheath , and was later the RAF representative on the Rugby Union Committee . International tries . " Source for information in table below : Profile of Cyril Lowe at ESPN Scrum . com Military career . At the outbreak of hostilities in 1914 he joined the Royal Flying Corps ( RFC ) , and flew with them . He was wounded in action on 24 March 1917 when his F . E . 2b was shot down by Reinhold Jörke . The citation for his Distinguished Flying Cross ( DFC ) reads : The citation for his Military Cross ( MC ) reads : Lowe was credited with nine victories . He left the RAF with the rank of Group Captain . Post war life . On the cessation of hostilities in 1918 and then in 1920 , Lowe returned to play for England . He retired from international rugby in 1923 with 25 caps , and would have gained more were it not for the war . He died aged 91 . His career total 18 tries remained an English record until it was equalled and later surpassed by Royal Air Force pilot Rory Underwood in 1989 , 66 years after Lowe ' s retirement . It has subsequently been achieved by other players , though internationals are more frequent in the modern game and are generally higher scoring .