World of Blyton Blog has had 2,000 views!

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Fiona

After our excitement when we reached 1,000 views in 17 days, we’ve made another 1,000 in just 10 days. We really can’t believe it. (We’re not going to blog every thousand views… we’ll stop by the time we reach 10,000 or so, promise!)

We’re also proud of our world-wide reach – which of course is all our own work and has nothing to do with it being the World Wide Web or Blyton’s world-wide appeal 😉 – here is a map of our views, we’ve had visitors from every country that is coloured in.

Our visitor map

The ten countries where the most views come from are currently the UK, Australia, Malaysia, India, the US, South Africa, Germany, New Zealand, Thailand and Indonesia.

We’d like to thank everybody who’s ever read the blog (again), it makes all the hard work and late nights totally worth it.

What would you like to see on the blog in the future?

Posted in Blog talk | 2 Comments

Here’s to Enid Blyton on the 44th anniversary of her death

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Fiona

Forty-four years ago today, on 28 November 1968, Enid Blyton passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 71.

It is a testament to her that so many years later she is still read and loved by so many people, both modern children and adults who remember her from their childhood.

Let us raise a glass of ginger-beer and say three cheers for the wonderful and one-of-a-kind Enid Blyton, hip-hip-hurrah!

Blyton in her garden with her typewriter.

 

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Should we ever compare Julian and Fatty?

Posted on November 28, 2012 by pippastef

(L-R) Frederick Algernon Trotterville a.k.a Fatty and Julian Kirrin

By PippaStef

Inspired by several topics of conversation on the Enid Blyton Society Forums, “Fatty vs Julian”, I want to examine this comparison and why I believe it’s wrong to make it.

As a staunch fan of Julian Kirrin and not a fan of the ‘great’ Frederick Algernon Trotterville a.k.a Fatty, you might suspect that I will be biased towards Julian, but I will try not to be.

Now I hear you asking “Why can’t we compare Julian and Fatty?” To me the answer is quite simple in its way; they are too different.

When these comparisons come about, especially on the Enid Blyton Society Forums, Julian comes off rather worse. His character does not appear to be as popular as Fatty. For example in polls on the Enid Blyton Society Forums people were asked to select their favourite out of the two characters in 2006 and 2007.

In 2006, 90 votes were cast on the question “Who do you prefer? Julian or Fatty?”: Fatty won this poll with 57  votes (63%) leaving Julian trailing behind with 33 votes (37%).

A similar poll appeared in  2007,  with just 21 votes cast, Fatty received 13 votes (62%) and Julian just 8 votes (38%).

From these two polls it would seem the die has been cast: Fatty is more popular than Julian (at least on the Enid Blyton Society Forums as it yet to be tested on another sample of people to check its validity).  These statistics can give you a frame work to test the hypothesis that Fatty is more popular than Julian, but outside of Blyton forums, the story may be different. A reason why this might be is that in other circles, Enid Blyton is known more for her Famous Five than the Five Find-Outers which leads me to the point that universally, Julian may be considered the more popular character.

However, this isn’t the reason for this blog (unfortunately I don’t have the time or the resources to collect a representative sample of quantitative data on the more popular Enid Blyton male protagonist – anyway, there would be other characters to consider).

If you consider the popularity of these two characters within the Enid Blyton Society, the preference is clear BUT – and it is a big but in my mind – can you really, honestly and truly compare these two characters?

Fatty (The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage) by Treyer Evans

Some of the comments regarding these polls describe Fatty as one of a kind, a master of disguise, and a genius. Fatty naturally assumes the role of leader in the Five Find Outers, not because he is older than the other boys in the Five Find Outers (that would be Larry!) but because, as Fiona puts it:

“Fatty was deemed so clever and brilliant he was made leader.”

Whereas Julian assumed leadership of the Famous Five because he was the oldest member of the five and wouldn’t be one to take orders from his younger brother Dick. (In either series a female leader would never be considered.)

Fatty’s rare and somewhat unbelievable talents in disguise, ventriloquism, and as a linguist certainly put him miles apart from almost every Blyton character, not to mention Julian.  Even with his brilliance, Fatty is not without fault. He can be boastful and arrogant which usually doesn’t provoke a reaction greater than teasing from the rest of the Find-Outers.

So where does that leave us in regards to Julian? Julian Kirrin has always been a favourite character of mine: admittedly not so much through the books but the 1996/7 TV series at first, but later on I grew to love his character more and more.

Julian Kirrin is the kind of boy I had always wished I knew: caring, in charge, forthright. Fatty always reminded me of the show off boys at school. Julian is and tends to be my dream boy.

Julian Kirrin (Five Get into Trouble) by Eileen Soper

Anyway, back to facts. As already mentioned, Julian assumes leadership of the Famous Five because of his age and maturity, not because of any fantastical talents. However Julian proves to be an outstanding leader: admittedly he gets it wrong sometimes (Five go down to the Sea) but he leads the Five with common sense and a sense of duty. Well someone has to put George in her place!

Let me ask you this: How would Fatty fair against George Kirrin? I’d like to see him try!

I know that part of the problem with Julian as a character is that he is “of his time”. Nowadays those traits that make him appeal to the old fashioned girl inside of me are no longer desirable. No woman in the 21st Century really wants a man who would tell her what to do. Julian is part of a class of men who are slowly dying out. People in a relationship today expect that workloads around the house should be shared equally, and not that the woman was supposed to play house!

Another part of Julian’s personality that puts him at odds with people is that he can be quite pompous on occasion (Five on a Hike Together is a prime example!). George does try to push these boundaries on occasion by asserting her favourite phrase ‘as good as a boy’ (Five go off to Camp is a good example). Underneath all the pomp and circumstance, Julian means well and is charged with a great responsibility in looking after everyone, and I do like a man in authority. *fans self* 😉

The point I seem to be failing to make is that it is hard to compare the two characters and get a conclusive answer as to who is the better character. Many will disagree with me, I’m sure.

I do think that Fatty needs to be in a category of his own because of he is one of a kind and too different to Julian who is compared to him unfavourably which is not fair.

In my mind, characters that you could compare Julian to more fairly would be Larry Daykin (the original leader of the Five Find-Outers), Philip Mannering and Jack Trent from the Adventure series, and Barney from the Barney Mysteries. These characters would probably be a better comparison to Julian Kirrin, than constantly comparing him to Frederick Algernon Trotterville.

With that said, the question “Should we ever compare Julian Kirrin and Frederick Algernon Trotterville?” still needs to be answered. My answer?

My answer is that these two shouldn’t really be compared but when they are, the statistics available to me show that Julian often loses unfairly. Instead, Fatty should have his own category because none of Blyton’s other characters would be able to match him. However, Julian has contemporaries amongst her other characters, which would make the comparison fairer for him.

One last word: Fatty may have a category all to himself, but I’d take steady, masterful Julian over the  boastful and arrogant Frederick any day.

Images taken from the Cave of Books at http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk
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Three irreplaceable books by Su

Posted on November 27, 2012 by worldofblyton

Over on the Enid Blyton Society forums, Poppy asked a question about what your top ten books would be to save. I did list ten, but of them all, only three books would be irreplaceable.  You may be thinking that they are pristine first edition books worth lots of money, but no, whilst one may be a first edition I doubt anyone would buy it and the other two are 70s reprints.  Why would I save these over all the others, including my lovely Banshee Towers mentioned in an earlier blog?  They are all very unique in different ways and could never be found again.

1. Hurrah for the Circus

This book I got for my 11thbirthday and it has an inscription inside written by my Mum. Although I now have an older Newnes edition, I couldn’t sell this copy.

Su’s copy of Hurrah for the Circus that was given to her by her mother.

2. The Mountain of Adventure

This book was bought because I won  a prize at the church for, I think, reading the most number of  books in a fortnight.   I still remember going to Wardleworths book shop in Accrington with the £1 book token and looking at the bookshelves full of lovely books.  I decided that I would buy an Enid Blyton book and couldn’t decide which one to pick.

The winning name plate!

The winning name plate!

The chosen book .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After looking at all the books on the shelf I chose The Mountain of
Adventure, as the cover showed pictures of animals.  There was some change from the book token and I also bought a pencil, but where that is I have no idea.  I couldn’t even tell you what colour it was.

 3. Mr. Pink-Whistle’s Party 1955

This book was originally my Mum’s and when I got hold of it the dust-wrapper was long gone and it was a little tatty.

Su’s 1955 copy of Mr Pink-Whistle’s Party

I wasn’t very impressed with Mr. Pink-Whistle and his ability to go into your bedroom unseen to check up on you and much preferred the Mr. Meddle stories.  My copy of Mr. Meddles’ Muddles remains uncoloured, proof that I had more respect for the book unlike Mr. Pink-Whistle’s Party, as you will see from the pictures.

Scribbles inside the book.

Not only have I written inside it but my Mum has written the correct spelling of my name in pen next to my very untidy scribble.  She obviously thought it was fine to scribble on books as well.  I have no idea who Carol is though who joined in with the book scribbling party that day.

The book also has rips on more than one corner with some loss of text.  I remember the page ripping when I went to turn over the page.  The paper is very fragile in the book and I wasn’t being overly forceful with the page.  When I told my Mum what had happened she very kindly wrote the missing words on the bottom of the page.

A torn page

I always felt that books should have coloured pictures in them.  I had A Story Book of Jesus with some lovely coloured plates by Elsie Walker and this spoilt me a little.  Where were the lovely coloured illustrations in my other books? I chose to rectify this problem and coloured in the pictures myself.  I only managed to colour in the first two stories before becoming bored but it is quite neat!

Su’s careful colouring

There is also a page missing which I didn’t realise until a couple of years ago when I read the stories to my children.  When that page was ripped out I have no idea and I don’t remember it happening.  Maybe I could blame it on the forgotten Carol?  Oh and by the way this book is a 1955 first edition, it may be worth more if I hadn’t got hold of it but then it wouldn’t be able to bring back lots of happy memories.

Posted in Personal Experiences | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Just another manic Monday

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Fiona

Monday has rolled around again, so welcome to a new week here at the World of Blyton Blog.

We’re a bit unprepared this week (a recurring theme behind the scenes here) but will be posting another piece from Su for you in the next few days, and hopefully between us, Stef and I will come up with some other posts of interest as well.

Thank you to everyone who’s been reading our blog whether you check in daily or just drop by when you get a moment.

As always we welcome any comments, criticisms and contributors to our blog.

Have a happy Monday and and lovely week everyone!

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Comic Strip Presents… Five Go to Rehab – A Review

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Fiona

I’ve just gotten around to watching Five Go to Rehab as I recorded it when it was originally on. I have to say I have mixed feelings about the programme now I’ve seen it. There were definitely some good things about it – some funny jokes and a surprisingly good ending – but a lot of it was pretty average. I suspect I might have gotten more out of it had I seen the original episode Five Go Mad in Dorset.

I typed some of my thoughts as I watched it so I will try and turn my disjointed ramblings into a sort of review.

WHAT I LIKED

I thought it started out nicely (I admit I missed the start – the recording started with the two baddies at their car, and the train streaming past. The actors names were still on-screen so I don’t think I missed much). The steam train, the music and the station porter all seemed very authentic and really put me in a Famous Five mood. I wish the station porter had a role in the episode though.

Then we had the four children getting off the train with their bikes, and cycling off laughing and chatting – much like the Famous Five would have done years before.

I liked how Dick described their idyllic holidays slipping in an extremely casual mention of catching criminals.

I honestly did think that was Julian though, because of the blond hair. If I’d seen the previous episodes I would have known it was Dick, and right enough when you see Julian the casting makes sense.

Left to right, Peter Richardson as Julian, Adrian Edmondson as Dick,
Jennifer Saunders as Anne and Dawn French as George.

They made good use of clips from the other Five Go Mad episode(s), and those have definitely encouraged me to watch them.

One of funniest jokes I thought was where Anne chastised Dick for standing on her newly dusted grass (though if I remember rightly that’s actually from an earlier episode clip).

FAMOUS FACES AND FUNNY LINES

I was impressed by the famous faces such as Robbie Coltrane as the woman running the B&B, (and later the gypsy) who had some of the best lines of the episode. After skating around the reasons Anne may never have  married he she says if you catch my homophobic way of thinking. He also got to say home grown marzipan, from our marzipan tree – a sly joke on how the Five would be fed at farms or people’s homes and everything seemed to be home grown and made. We also had Rik Mayall as one of the slightly sinister baddies who made a Silence of the Lambs reference, which was exactly what he had already put me in mind of. I recognised the poor police constable as Stephen Mangan (of Green Wing, Billy Elliot, and Episodes) pity it wasn’t his Green Wing co-star Julian Rhind-Tutt.

Another funny line was nothing like a cold ginger-beer, with lashings of vodka! a good play on the erroneous belief that the Five ever said “lashings of ginger-beer” (which I think was partly if not wholly caused by Five Go Mad in Dorset). I also laughed when George twisted her ankle – again a familiar plot device (think Five Go Off to Camp) and Julian just says “good luck with that” and disappears.

NODS TO THE BOOKS

I thought the electric gates we see at the entrance to the rehab centre were very reminiscent of Owl’s Dene, and I wonder if that was deliberate?

The rehab centre scene was quite clever, it’s a fairly traditional Blyton-y place. The Five (or FFOs, Secret Seven etc) get caught snooping around what’s supposed to be a legitimate business and see right through the criminals.

I enjoyed the telling of how Julian punched Toby Thurlow for following them around – up until I heard the name I thought it was rather like Richard Kent in Five Get Into Trouble. Again, if I’d seen the first episode I’d have not spent the time wondering if they were talking about Richard Kent, or Yan or any real Blyton character. Toby Thurlow seems to be an amalgamation of names used in the series, though. Toby is the boy from Five Go to Billycock Hill and Thurlow is actually Richard Kent’s father’s first name. More coincidences? Toby is a fairly common name, but I don’t think Thurlow is.

Anne got to have another ‘tiger moment’ (like in Five Have a Mystery to Solve) which was rather funny.

The scenery and locations used were beautiful – and having seen the short making of programme shown after the episode I’m amazed how sunny and lovely it all looked. It was apparently filmed during an extremely wet summer and most of the behind the scenes footage showed pouring rain and flooded fields.

The language used was sometimes reminiscent of the books – we had “queer” happenings and “lashings” of vodka, but it wasn’t over-done. There was also some swearing, which I have no problem with.

I didn’t realise how good the gypsy scene was until I saw the making of programme, where they showed a near-identical clip from the original episode. I wouldn’t be surprised if Robbie Coltrane was right when he said I think it was the same caravan, the same costume, and it was certainly the same lay-by and same castle on the hill above.

I had great amusement at the music played as they head to their campsite – Come on Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners, but apart from Stef nobody else  will get the joke.

A classic picnic for a somewhat-less-than-classic five.

I think the ending was actually the best part of the episode, having felt fairly underwhelmed by much of it, the end was surprisingly good. I don’t want to give it away for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but when the Five have been captured by the mysterious bad guy (who turns out to be someone we already know) he drags his children along to see them. They’re the came children we saw at the start, and they’re rude to their father – eyes glued to their iPads or whatever it is they’re clutching – until they see the FF that is. I was feeling a bit depressed by that part – after all aren’t we just a bit too familiar with modern children who don’t share our love of Enid Blyton? The show hit just the right note, though, and we got to see a new generation of the Famous Five (a far superior one to the atrocious recent cartoon version).

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

As many people who watched it have said there is a big blooper where at least twice George is described as their sister, when we all know she is their cousin.

One thing I didn’t quite get was the time it’s set in. I realise it’s part of a joke running through the whole episode, the incongruity of the old fashioned things like the train, the car, their bikes and then their sat-nav and mobile phones, but it was confusing. I had thought if it was 30 years after the FF were last together it should only be the early 90s, but then I realised it was 30 years since the first Five Go Mad episode, and things made a little more sense.

Continue reading →

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Collecting Blyton

Posted on November 24, 2012 by pippastef

by PippaStef

I was inspired by Fiona and Su’s stories of how they came across a longed for book to complete their Enid Blyton collections, and ended up wondering  how you achieve a complete collection of books that don’t cost the earth?

You can make the cost manageable, but what do you sacrifice in the name of a complete collection? There are things such as; the dust jacket, any editions/versions you already have in your collection, condition, age and edition.

Which editions do you have?

If you’re anything like me (which I hope you aren’t!) I have at least three different editions of the Famous Five books. I have the Hodder editions, the Hodder colour illustrated editions (Millennium editions), The 90s TV series tie-in editions, and some older 20th century editions by Hodder and Stoughton.

My Famous Five TV Tie-ins. I have 17 out of the 21 Famous Fives in this collection.

More often than not I shall pick up a  Hodder copy as a reading copy rather than my older Hodder and Stoughtons, wishing to preserve their life. I do not have a complete collection of the Hodder and Stoughton copies because of my problem of space. I have the titles though, thanks to the two Hodder collections, and a near perfect set of the TV tie ins.

Back to our question: Which other editions have you got? When considering my collections, I have admittedly given up collecting the Hodder paperback editions because I do not have space. The two collections I focus on now are the earlier editions from the 1940s, 50s and 60s and the TV tie-ins.

Easy enough to decide on and know what I’m looking for. Shall we examine the next factor in our list?

The Price: I’ll focus on the Hodder and Stoughton editions for this part, (the TV tie-ins don’t leave much room for discussion!)

A selection of my Hodder and Stoughtons with and without dust jackets.

The Hodder and Stoughton editions of the Famous Five can be found with relative ease on eBay, where ones without a dust jacket and in a decent condition can go for as little as a fiver, but when you find that incredibly rare volume, with the near perfect dust jacket, and it’s a first edition etc, you think you’ve hit the jackpot, until you look at the price. That one little aspect of the book that you’ve waited on for so long can be devastating.

For example, leaving my search for the Famous Five for the moment, and looking at my almost complete collection of Malory Towers I am just missing First Term at Malory Towers with all pages and Upper Fourth at Malory Towers.

The two volumes that I don’t posses seem to be the hardest to get hold of in that series. It is very hard to find 1940s and 1950s editions of the Malory Towers books. The two copies I have found recently from this time start at £25 and one edition of Upper Fourth at Malory Towers was priced at £90!

I am tempted by the cheaper options for the first and fourth books, but I’m still not convinced. Do I wait for cheaper options to turn up or do I go for these, taking their merits into account? The merits would be that these two books come with dust jackets and are described as being in good condition. However is it justified?

Does a dust jacket – often rare items in their own right – mean that I should spend this extra money or do I let them sail by?

This leads me quite nicely to the first section of this case study:

Dust Jackets

How do you measure the price of a dust jacket? By the condition? Whether your other editions have them? The overall price?

For me I think the condition of the dust jacket is certainly a key factor, as well as my budget for the book. As well as what else is on offer. This might explain why I’m having so much trouble with making up my mind about the Malory Towers books. I like dust jackets; they add something special to the book for me but are they really worth the price they add on to the book?

4 out of the 6 Malory Towers books. You see my problem? two  with dust jackets, two without. How do I choose?

It is a hard one to call for me. I can never be sure if  a dust jacket is worth the price.

Condition and Age

I think these two need to be grouped together because sometimes age is part of the condition. For example; foxing on the pages is part of the condition of the book but is also part of ageing, especially with the older editions. Of course the general age of a book can certainly impact the condition of the book. If it’s an old book there is a chance that the binding is loose or there will be discolouration of the pages.

The condition of the book also depends on how ‘clean’ the book is. If the book has scribbling in if from a child, it is worth less than a pristine copy. Same goes for tatty and damaged pages. Possibly not so much of an issue with adults’ books, but with children’s books, they receive a lot of attention and aren’t always treated with the same care.

Edition

A book’s edition can have a huge impact on its price. The earlier the edition, the dearer the book. First editions are particularly sought-after, often priced into the hundreds or even thousands if they also have condition and dust jacket on their side or even more if they have an authentic signature!

A few of my Hodder reading editions mostly  75th editions and onwards

If you’re lucky enough to find a first edition without a dust jacket the price might also be considerably lower. Its all about what you’re looking for I’m afraid.

I have a lot of editions. My Hodder and Stoughton ones range from first editions to around 7th editions. My Hodder paperbacks are something like 75th editions. However for me, it’s more about having those early editions, the Hodder and Stroughton editions for the Famous Fives and the Methuen editions for Malory Towers. As long as I can match the publisher I’m fairly easy about what edition I get. Although, obviously I want as many firsts as I can get. Finding them is another matter. Part of my idea behind not minding which edition I collect means I have a wider field to choose from in regards to sourcing the books

I don’t think I have the right answer for anyone but myself; and that depends on the book and how much I want to own it.

Su managed to complete her Five Find-Outers collection with a wonderful copy of Banshee Towers with dust jacket for £45 while Fiona managed to get herself a very good copy of Banshee Towers without dust jacket for £10. So what do I do with my Malory Towers conundrum?

My mother always says that something is worth only what another person is willing to pay for it. So now I have to decide if it’s worth me spending a minimum of £50 on two books!

As for this case study, I think I would willingly forgo a dust jacket to get the book I wanted at a reasonable price, as long as there were enough options for me to choose from.

How about you? Which aspect would you forgo to complete your collection?

Posted in Personal Experiences, Purchases | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Series Synopsis: Famous Five Books 7-9

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Fiona

Welcome to the third in the series of Famous Five posts. As usual, there may be spoilers for the books you’ve not read yet (if so, shame on you, get reading!) Interestingly, Blyton had intended to finish the series with book 6 “Five on Kirrin Island Again” but carried on thanks to the volume of letters she got from her readers, begging for more Famous Five adventures. Thank goodness she listened to them!

Early edition dustjackets from “Five Go Off to Camp”, “Five Get Into Trouble” and “Five Fall Into Adventure”, all illustrated by Eileen Soper.

FIVE GO OFF TO CAMP, 1948

The Location:  A lonely, high-up stretch of moor-land with only a small farm and old railway nearby.

The ‘Baddies’: Mr Andrews and some of his farm-workers.

 Significant other characters: Mr Luffy, a genial but absent-minded teacher from the boys’ school who loves to study insect-life and (more interestingly) can waggle one of his ears. Jock, a boy from the local farm. Wooden-leg Sam, the scared watchman from the disused railway.

The Plot: Camping with Mr Luffy, the Five are intrigued by a disused railway tunnel especially when they hear tales of night-time “spook trains” from the railway’s watchman, and are warned away from it by Mr Andrews and the Shepherd. The three boys sneak off at night to watch for spook trains (much to George’s chagrin) and they’re not disappointed. Though thanks to an inopportune twisted ankle they’re unable to investigate further.

Armed with information about the tunnel from a helpful old porter the boys plan to walk through the tunnel and search for the spook train. The boys and Anne walk right through the tunnel and out the other side without seeing anything unusual. Scared, Anne decides to walk over the moors to the tunnel’s other end. Meanwhile, George has gone off on her own and poor Timmy manages to fall down a hole, leaving him and George stuck in the tunnel with the spook-train.

The boys retrace their steps in utter confusion but before they can figure it out Mr Andrews and his men are upon them and all is revealed. Thanks to George and Timmy being there, and Anne raising the alarm help is summoned so no harm comes to the boys.

My favourite parts: I used to have this on tape, so when I read it I can hear the voices from the recording. Dick-with-a-lisp saying “blow, I’ve twisted my ankle”, and Jock in his strong Scottish accent saying “aye, I’m a ninny” and “I’ve let the cat properly out of the bag”, as well as the scornful way he says “Cecil Dearlove”. From the story I love Anne’s “volcano”, and exploring the old tunnel is really exciting, even without the ‘spook’ train. Also, Mr Luffy’s life-long disappointment that he can only waggle his right ear, but not the left is an amusing little aside.

Mr Luffy drives a bit too fast in “Five Go Off to Camp” forgetting he’s pulling  a trailer full of camping supplies behind the car! Illustrated by Eileen Soper.

FIVE GET INTO TROUBLE, 1949

The Location: Owl’s Dene, a large house surrounded by a high wall with an electric gate.

The ‘Baddies’: Rooky, Perton and Hunchy.

 Significant other characters: Richard Kent, the son of a very rich business man. Aggie, an old lady who works at Owl’s Dene.

The Plot: The Five head off on a bicycling tour (well, Timmy’s not actually on a bicycle), and at their first camping spot meet a boy called Richard who claims they are trespassing on his father’s, land. He is appeased with a free breakfast courtesy of Anne, and rather insists on joining the five on the rest of their tour. After cycling with the five for the day, Richard abruptly heads home, only to return later claiming he’s being chased by an enemy. Julian, George and Timmy are off sourcing food from the nearest farm (facing an unusually surly man who’s not at all won over by Julian’s usual charm), so when the men find Dick at the campsite he is taken in Richard’s place, to somewhere called Owl’s Dene. Anne’s overheard this, so they all head to Owl’s Hill, where they guess Owl’s Dene will be. When they get there they find themselves shut in by electric gates and then when they sneak into the house, they are caught. The Fve plus Richard are allowed to spend their days in the grounds of Owl’s Dene and have to hatch a daring escape plan.

My favourite parts: Richard’s escape near the end of the story and Rooky’s secret hiding place. Also, Aggie’s kindness to the children despite her fear of Hunchy.

Five have a picnic in “Five Get Into Trouble” illustrated by Eileen Soper.

FIVE FALL INTO ADVENTURE, 1950

The Location: Kirrin Cottage, Raven’s Wood and Red Tower’s place.

The ‘Baddies’: Red Tower, Markhoff, Jake, and Jo’s father Simmy.

 Significant other characters: This is the first time we are introduced to Jo, the gypsy girl who’s tomboy enough to give even George a run for her money. Joan the cook is ‘in charge’ this time as Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny are away at a conference. Sid the paper-boy makes an important appearance too.

The Plot: The Five meet an irritating gypsy boy, who actually turns out to be a gypsy girl. Soon Kirrin Cottage is burgled, and it seems some of Uncle Quentin’s work has gone missing. George and Timmy then don’t return from their walk at night, and the next day Jo appears with a note, demanding another of Uncle Quentin’s notebooks for George’s safe return. The house is being watched, so a clever plan is hatched where Dick will swap places with the paper-boy and follow whoever collects the notebook. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the person Dick captures is Jo, and she promises to lead them to George. She is to take them to Raven’s Woods the next day, but is hauled away by Jake. The three find their way to a caravan deep in the woods, but it’s empty. George has been there as she’s written “Red Tower” on the wall. They then get hopelessly lost, and end up sleeping in the woods. Jo rescues them the next day and leads Julian and Dick to ‘Red Tower’ to rescue George.

My favourite parts: The scene with Sid is great, from his indignation at what’s going on to his utter joy at playing cards, I love the things he says like “I’m partial to chocolate mould”, and in a way he reminds me of Ern Goon. I always think Jo is a bit of a hero in the final scenes, climbing the tower, pretending to be George and using the larder key as a decoy. 

Jo lures Timmy away from a furious George in “Five Fall Into Adventure” illustrated by Eileen Soper.

Next post: Books 10-12

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Julian’s News, prequel

Posted on November 22, 2012 by pippastef

For a long time now I have been interested in Enid Blyton fan-fiction, namely ones involving the Famous Five and Malory Towers. Sites sometimes have some distinctly non-Blyton fan fiction on them, but that’s not something I have a huge issue with (as you will see if you continue reading!) The problem I have with fan fiction is if the characters that have been written deviate too much from those in the original creation.

In this way, my own fan-fiction efforts were born. I decided to create a story and some short pieces based on Blyton, and I’ve tried to use her characters as they were written by her.

I have taken some liberties in this piece: Julian has grown-up, very un-Blyton like I know, and is off to university, the same university as Darrell and Sally are supposed to attend. There is a hint of romance in the air, again un-Blyton like, but I hope to have kept to the personalities of the characters.

So please, give it a chance, and let me know what you think of my little story!

(Just as a note, this is a St Andrews Story but it was written before The Mystery of the Missing Papers, and doesn’t fit into the canon which is then followed by all our other St Andrews Stories.)

 

THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL

Summary: Julian Kirrin is on a trip up to the University of St Andrews in Scotland to their open day just before school starts again in September. During his visit to the town and university he meets a very pretty young lady. So does St Andrew’s meet the standards of the Famous Five’s oldest member? Find out! One Shot. Famous Five and Malory Towers cross over.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Characters part of Enid Blyton’s imagination! The story line is my own however.

Julian Kirrin felt the bus jolt to a stop in the sleepy old town of St Andrews on the east coast of Scotland. The bus was full of final year students from various boarding schools all over the country who had made their way up to the small town to attend the open day for one of the oldest universities in Britain.

Julian and his parents had travelled up to Scotland by train the day before and were staying in the small town of Leuchars, a few miles from St Andrews. Julian was attending the open day on his own, promising his parents that if he liked it in St Andrew’s then he would return there with them the next day, so that they could look around and voice their thoughts.

On the bus Julian and realised that he had made the right choice: not many of the people visiting St Andrews had brought their parents. He was glad that he wasn’t going to stick out like a sore thumb. The bus from the university had been specially commissioned to collect the prospective students. Julian had bought his ticket from the driver and sat down on the bus behind two girls. One had lovely light-blonde hair that caught the light, whenever the sun shone on it, and the other had striking short dark hair with curls. They were chatting away animatedly as they waited for the bus to set off. Julian overheard them discussing their school in Cornwall, so guessed correctly that they were friends already.

The journey from Leuchars only took half an hour and the students were taken straight to the main reception to sign in and be grouped off for tours. Julian lost sight of the two girls who had been sitting in front of him on the bus. He was too busy being grouped with the boys who, like him, were interested in the science subjects most notably biology and physics. They were shown around the state-of-the-art laboratories and then the library and the boy’s dormitories on the other side of the town.

By the time it came to a break for lunch, before talks from the principle and lecturers, Julian was chatting amiably to some of the boys he had been grouped with and was finding himself very much at home amongst these like-minded people.

During the lunch break, however, Julian wandered out of the lunch hall to take a closer look at the buildings around him; his interest spiked by the history of the buildings and how old they were. If he was lucky there would be lots of secret tunnels to explore when he came up next year; if he was fortunate enough to pass his exams, that was.

He arrived outside the campus chapel, St Salvador’s, and stood outside looking at the craftsmanship of the building. He was so busy studying the gargoyles on the roof of the Chapel  that he didn’t notice anything else until  someone spoke.

“Nice looking place, isn’t it?”

Julian looked over his shoulder and spotted the blonde haired girl he had sat behind on the bus from Leuchars. She was alone, her friend must have been eating, thought Julian.

“Yes, certainly grand,” Julian said, turning around to talk to her. He stretched out his hand in greeting. “Julian Kirrin,” he said politely.

“Sally Hope,” the girl said, holding out her own hand to shake his. She smiled shyly at him. “I thought I recognised you from on the bus when you sat behind us. You’ve been in the paper haven’t you? I swear you have!” She laughed a little nervously, not usually so forthright.

Julian smiled a little, feeling a touch awkward.

“Once or twice,” he said carefully, a small laugh escaping his lips. “So what do you think of St Andrew’s then?” he asked, steering the conversation away from himself and his past adventures with his brother, sister and cousin.

Continue reading →

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Fiona’s Three Favourite Characters

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Fiona

Reading Pippastef’s blog post on her three favourite characters inspired me write my own. When it came to it though, I had real trouble coming up with three characters. Other people seem to be able to instantly produce a few characters they would call their favourites but I really felt like I only had one. I thought a lot about the various Enid Blyton characters I like and I think my trouble is that I enjoy the characters as a group rather than as individuals. I like the kids in the Secret Series for example, they all have good points, but which is my favourite? None of them, really – on their own I can take them or leave them. Together is where their magic lies. The one exception – my immediate favourite  – is Julian Kirrin.

JULIAN KIRRIN

Probably my first ever crush – a very innocent one as I was only a child – Julian was everything I wanted a boy to be. He is kind; to his family, his friends and to the people he comes across from small and frightened children to vulnerable old ladies. He is brave; facing dangerous situations and dangerous people all the while trying to protect those in his care. He is unfailingly polite, able to negotiate rates on food and lodging with almost any farmer’s wife, and even when he’s being rude it’s politely rude. He’s tall, athletic and good-looking, need I say more?

Julian is first to explore the cellar at Two-Trees, though he sensibly takes Timmy with him. From “Five on a Hike Together” illustrated by Eileen Soper.

After further thought (and some conversations with Stef) I decided on my next favourite character and it’s not even a person. This character really seems to divide opinion, you either love her or hate her.

KIKI THE PARROT

I’m not really an animal person, and the animals I like tend to be small and furry rather than feathery. Yet here I am declaring a parrot as one of my favourite characters.

Kiki may be a bird (and bird-brained along with it) but she still has a huge amount of personality. Her critics say she’s too unrealistic, but I don’t care. She’s hilarious. From her infamous express-train-in-a-tunnel screech to her police-whistle imitation. From her rhyming obsession with fusty-musty-dusty and busy-dizzy-Lizzy to her Welsh “look-you, whateffer”. From comforting Aunt Polly with murmurs of “Poor Polly” to confusing the life out of Uncle Jocelyn, Kiki never fails to make me laugh. Hiding under someone’s bed and barking like a dog? Hilarious. Her angry war-dances on Jack’s shoulder? I love them. Mournful coughing from a darkened corner? Extremely funny, and also very useful as often this is enough to scare off the enemy. The Trents and Mannerings would have been in real trouble on many occasions had it not been for Kiki’s amazing repertoire of words and noises. As a child it never struck me as odd that Kiki always seemed to know the right thing to say, but then Blyton didn’t consider criticism from the over 12s as worth listening to, and in this case I think she was right.

Kiki puzzles Phillip in “The Island of Adventure” illustrated by Stuart Tresillian.

The third character on my list was the hardest to decide on. I’m imagining people reading this and thinking “how can they be her favourite if she couldn’t even decide on them?” They might have a point.

I considered George Kirrin for a bit. She’s feisty, determined, loyal, stubborn (something I relate a lot to) and has a real temper (again, something I relate to) but in the end while I’m amused by her “as good as a boy” shtick, I don’t relate to that much.

I thought about the four Adventure Series kids and I briefly considered Darrell Rivers, Sally Hope and Mary-Lou from Malory Towers. And then I had it – for definite.

IRENE FROM MALORY TOWERS

How could I forget Irene? Coincidentally, forgetfulness is one of Irene’s most memorable characteristics.  At Malory Towers for the full six years of the series, Irene provides real comedy moments throughout the terms – turning up to the wrong class at the wrong time (and sitting for an age wondering why nobody else is there), doing other people’s class chores when it’s not her turn, leaving her hat and cloak lying around the school and driving poor old Matron batty by losing her school cert almost every term. Irene isn’t daft, though, her brains are just too busy focusing on her two loves – maths and music (two things I am terrible at, by the way).  Even more amusing, is that in Second Form at Malory Towers Irene makes friends with a new girl, the equally scatterbrained Belinda Morris, and despite their best efforts the two of them are of no help to each other – quite easily watching the other walk around the school still wearing their out-door hat and cloak without noticing anything amiss.

Irene brandishing her hairbrush so fiercely she nearly hits Belinda in the face in “In the Fifth at Malory Towers” illustrated by Stanley Lloyd.

For the reasons above, Belinda gets an honorary mention as my fourth favourite character. Well that and her collection of scowls – how I wish I could flick through and see all the drawings! So from struggling to choose three characters, I now have four. Bet you didn’t see that one coming!

Do you consider any of these characters your favourite? Whether you agree or disagree you can have your own say in the comments – or better yet – write your own list for us to post!

Find more favourite characters here.

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November Flowers

Posted on November 20, 2012 by pippastef

In the Nature Lover’s Book, Enid Blyton wrote about the joys of nature and included things such as what flowers you can expect to see in which month, distinguishing bird species and telling trees apart.In this blog post we can look at her list of flowers in November from Enid Blyton’s Nature Lover’s Book, 1944.

NOVEMBER FLOWERS

Devil’s Bit Scabious: This little flower also blooms in the summer but may be found now in open woods and fields. It has a small, round, bright mauve-blue head, even more like a pin-cushion than the field Scabious. The upper leaves are narrow, the lower leaves broader.

Photo credit: swan-scot / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Bur Marigold: Look for this flower in ditches and marshy places. You will know it by its dull yellow-brown flowers, which will remind you of the button-like flower-heads of the tansy. The Bur-marigold flower-heads are set in the middle of a frill of green bracts that stand out round it. Notice the hooked and bristly fruit. The leaves are lance-shaped, and toothed round the edge.

Photo credit: jpc.raleigh / Foter / CC BY-NC

Ivy: The ivy is not usually in flower until October, and can be found easily in November, its green-yellow clusters attracting many insects with their nectar. Everyone knows the prettily-shaped ivy leaves. Notice the aerial roots of the ivy on the climbing stems.

Photo credit: Ram-Man / Foter / CC BY-SA

Hemp Nettle: Look for this common dead-nettle in the fields. It has the lip-shaped flowers we know so well. They are pale pink-purple. Notice the oval leaves, toothed and hairy.

Photo credit: CameliaTWU / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Petty Spurge: You will very often find this petty spurge flowering in late autumm, in fields of in the garden as a weed. It looks like a shower of green drops, for it is much-branched, and the leaves and flowers, both small, are green.

Photo credit: pellaea / Foter / CC BY

Common Comfrey: You will find this common water-side plant blooming in summer and autumn. Look for the flowers in drooping clusters, sometimes yellow, sometimes dull purple. The five petals join to make a drooping bell. Notice the rough hairs on the stalk, which is hollow and ridged. The upper leaves are narrow and hairy, the lower ones are broad and hairy.

Photo credit: amortize / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

And that concludes Blyton’s advice on finding flowers in autumn. How many of you will be out searching for these autumn delights?

Enid Blyton's Nature Lover's Book

Enid Blyton’s Nature Lover’s Book (Dustjacket). Published 1944 by Evans Brothers. Illustrators: Donia Nachshen and Noel Hopking.

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Green Hedges – The inspiration for my watercolour

Posted on November 19, 2012 by worldofblyton

by Julie Heginbotham

To any Enid Blyton fan, Green Hedges, Enid’s home in Beaconsfield from 1938 to 1968 was the most famous address known to them.

A letter from “Five on Kirrin Island Again”.  “Green Hedges” is at the top right. From the Cave of Books at http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk

On all of my 60s hardback dust jackets of the Famous Five by Hodder & Stoughton, is part of that famous address on a letter heading on the rear cover.But it wasn’t until many, many years later, as an adult, that I was able to see exactly what Green Hedges looked like, and that was from a black and white photo in a book titled The Enid Blyton Dossier by Tony Summerfield and Brian Stewart. I loved the house as soon as I saw that photo, a lovely architect designed house of character with a partial mock Tudor look.  The saddest part for me was the photo was an auction one, for the house stood empty, alone and deserted of love, waiting for someone to buy it and bring it back to life once more. But even more sadness was to fall on Green Hedges, for it was purchased by developers and was demolished in 1973 to make way for a housing development, which is there now to this day, on Blyton Close. For me two words describe what happened to Green Hedges, and those words are ‘criminal’ and ‘greed’!

But I could see the beauty of that house, and it inspired me so much that I just had to paint a watercolour from the photo. I took advice of the colours from Barbara Stoney’s book Enid Blyton the Biography and Imogen Smallwood’s book A Childhood at Green Hedges.  When the watercolour was finished, I then had a Wentworth wooden jigsaw of 250 pieces made up from the painting.

Julie’s watercolour of Green Hedges, photo by Julie.

I took the jigsaw to an Enid Blyton Day in 2009 and happily for me, Imogen Smallwood, Enid’s youngest daughter, bought one.  The following year at the 2010 Enid Blyton Day I met Imogen once again, and she came up to me and said – “Julie, thank you so much for the jigsaw, I spent a lovely few hours during the winter months doing it. It was so pleasurable.” You can imagine just how overjoyed I was at Imogen’s words to me.

Upton Leigh

Upton Leigh, Julie’s own picture of Green Hedge’s next door neighbour that was has not been affected by the redevelopment.

I have been to Beaconsfield, and stood at Blyton Close, where Green Hedges once proudly stood, and have walked a short way down Penn Road to see if the house that stood next door to Green Hedges – Upton Leigh – was still standing. It was. I took a photo of the entrance to Upton Leigh, just as a reminder that it once was a neighbour to Green Hedges.

Julie’s jigsaw nearly complete, with the specially shaped pieces around the edges.

Green Hedges may not be around any more, but I see it every day as it hangs on my wall, a reminder of one of the most famous houses in the literary world.

Posted in Personal Experiences | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

World of Blyton Blog has hit 1,000 views!

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Fiona

It’s true, today at just 17 days old the World of Blyton Blog has been viewed 1,000 times. Actually 1,081 times as I am writing this. Stef and I have become quite obsessed with all the statistics that are generated about our blog, including where our readers are from – here’s the top 10 countries:

Country Views
United Kingdom FlagUnited Kingdom 735
Australia FlagAustralia 132
India FlagIndia 37
United States FlagUnited States 29
South Africa FlagSouth Africa 25
Malaysia FlagMalaysia 22
Thailand FlagThailand 21
New Zealand FlagNew Zealand 15
Indonesia FlagIndonesia 13
Netherlands FlagNetherlands 10

We’ve so far had 37 comments and have 18 subscribers, as well as different 6 authors contributing – 7 if you include Enid Blyton! We’ve also had views from Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland, Portugal, Ireland,  Russia, Singapore, Denmark, Republic of Korea, Greece, Switzeland, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Poland and France.

We’d just like to thank everybody who has taken the time to read our blog, and especially to those who have commented whether that’s here or on the Enid Blyton Society Forums. We are enjoying blogging, but knowing people are reading and enjoying our blog really makes us happy.

Photo credit: woodleywonderworks / Foter / CC BY

Posted in Blog talk | 2 Comments

Su’s Five Find-Outers and Dog Collection

Posted on November 18, 2012 by worldofblyton

This article was sent to me by Su, a regular on the Enid Blyton Society forums. I recently posted this article about how I completed my Find-Outers collection and at the end asked “Have any of you gone to great lengths to obtain an Enid Blyton book? What was your most difficult find?” Turns out Su had a similar story to tell, and here is is.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Reading Fiona’s epic tale of how she has finally completed her set of Find-Outer’s books really struck a chord with me.  It could almost have been my tale as I too started out with one hardback book – The Mystery of Holly Lane – that I had obtained at a car boot sale and ended up just needing that elusive Banshee Towers at the end.

I had all the FFO in paperback that I had collected at various fêtes,  school fairs and as ex-library books.  When I had eventually replaced all the books in hardback, apart from Banshee Towers (surprise surprise) I decided to sell them as a set.  They sold on ebay and went over to a lovely lady in Canada.  I was browsing the forums about a month later and one of the forumites mentioned reading a FFO book that she had recently purchased.  From her name on the forum, her ebay ID and her location it turned out that this was the person who had bought my books!  Sadly she no longer posts on the forum but I hope she is still getting enjoyment out of the books.

When I sold the paperbacks I still had to obtain that elusive last title.  I was going to the Enid Blyton Day in 2010 and was determined that I wouldn’t leave without a copy regardless of the cost.  My 40th birthday was coming up and this was to be my (early) present.  I managed to buy a copy at the day for £45 and judging by what people have said, this was a bargain as it is in near perfect condition.  Along the way I lost out on a copy without dustjacket, which went for £7, but I’m glad I didn’t get it in the end, as the feedback given stated that the book was scribbled in and had all the pictures coloured in.  I don’t mind inscriptions or incomplete jackets but pictures coloured in are the one thing I don’t like.

I am still on the lookout for FFO bargains with jackets as I only have 7 with jackets and one of those – The Mystery of the Secret Room – is missing the spine and back flap.  As I have a very small budget for each book this is taking quite a while.  Here’s a picture of the whole collection which cost me a total of, wait a moment while I go to my spreadsheet (yes I know how very organised), £112.  Not too bad when you consider how much one of the books cost.

Su’s Five Find-Outers and Dog collection, complete with the elusive “Banshee Towers”

Now I just feel like having a re-read, it’s pity I have so many other things to do.

Posted in Personal Experiences, Purchases | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Banshee Towers, You Are Mine

Posted on November 17, 2012 by Fiona

Well, it has happened. Much sooner than I’d anticipated; my long wished for copy of The Mystery of Banshee Towers arrived today. “But weren’t you going on about ordering it just the other day?” I hear you ask. Yes, I placed the order on Thursday night and received the book on Saturday morning. My sincerest thanks to Windmill Books over at abebooks for obviously posting my book first thing on Friday, and also to Royal Fail ahem Mail for managing to deliver a first class item in one day.

I really couldn’t believe it when I staggered downstairs in search of food (I have the worst flu cold right now) and saw a book-sized package addressed to me sat on the arm of the settee. “It can’t be” I said, “maybe it isn’t” said my mum, “IT IS!” I cried looking at the sender’s details. I proceeded to rip it open while my parents stood and watched with bemused looks. Mum knew what it was after listening to me go on about it on Friday night, but Dad (clearly knowing me too well) said “what, is it a rare first edition of some Enid Blyton book?” So well done, Dad, right first time (though he did seem to think £10 was a bit much to pay for a book with a page missing, silly man.)

Banshee Towers

After listening to me babble about “tight bindings… mostly clean pages… slightly faded spine… minor tears and creases to some pages… very little text lost…” my parents slowly backed away and left for their usual weekend hill-walking.

One of the most badly damaged pages, though it doesn’t impact on readability.

Another slightly damaged page, but again there’s no text lost.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I lost no time in carefully examining the whole thing page-by-page and I just couldn’t see where the missing page should have been – every page from 1 to 184 was present and correct. On checking the Cave of Books, my copy has all the illustrations shown there, so I’m not sure why the seller thinks there’s an illustration missing. Not that I’m complaining – they probably would have sold it for more had they thought it was a complete copy.

A little text is lost here, but it’s fairly obvious what the missing words are

The page is quite loose, though, so I will have to see if I can repair it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only down-side is there’s no room on my bookshelf for it. At the moment there’s the 15 Secret Seven books, 14 Find-Outers, 3 Galliano’s Circus, and two stand-alone circus titles. I suppose the two circus books can be put somewhere else, but goodness knows where. All my bookshelves are crammed full.

All in all I’m extremely happy with the book, both condition and price.

All 15 Find-Find Outers books, together at last.

Now, what’s next on my “most needed” list?

Posted in Personal Experiences, Purchases | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Enid’s Inspiration: Bourne End in the autumn

Posted on November 17, 2012 by pippastef

Yesterday I went adventuring. Well I say adventuring but I have been to Bourne End before, on several other occasions actually, but always in bright summer and spring sunshine. The visit today was my first time seeing Bourne End in its autumn coat.

Bourne End by the River Thames, on the way to High Wycombe, just next door to Marlow in Buckinghamshire is a very special place for Enid Blyton fans. Why you may ask? Well quite simply Blyton lived at Bourne End, in a wonderful house called Old Thatch.

Blyton and her husband Hugh Pollock moved in to Old Thatch in 1929 and she wrote about it in one of her Sunny Stories collections, and it inspired a series of nature books.

“It is perfect both outside and in … just like a Fairy Tale house … roses bloom everywhere – there are dozens all hanging gracefully down.”

“You enter through a funny old lychgate. There are big fruit trees shading one end of the house and a lovely silver-leaved tree at the other end.”

It was while living at Old Thatch that Blyton’s two daughters were born, Gillian Mary in 1931 and Imogen Mary in 1935.

Old Thatch still stands surrounded by its two acre garden with many of the features still there as they were in Blyton’s day. The house was also once an inn, reported to have been used by Dick Turpin and his horse Black Bess.

The gardens of Old Thatch are open to the public during the summer months, and they are a sight to behold. Ducking under the lychgate and into the gardens it almost feels like you’re in another world. It is easy to see how Blyton was able to write like she did in this fabulous place.

However, because of the time of year (it being November and everything!) I did not get to go into the magnificent garden, but satisfied my friend and myself by strolling down by the river, and admiring the beautiful autumn colours.

Our first port of call was to walk along the boundary of Old Thatch, admiring the brightest yellow leaves I have ever seen. We walked around the curve in the road and then noticed a footpath off to the fields.

Up for an adventure we started to follow the footpath but all too soon I discovered a small pond of water and a bridge that crossed it. It was almost directly opposite the bottom of Old Thatch’s garden and I thought it might have been part of the stream that had once flowed through the bottom of Blyton’s garden.

 

 

Perhaps part of the stream that flowed through the Old Thatch garden?

After crossing the bridge we headed back towards the River Thames, taking the footpath by the side of a field and under the wonderful yellow leaved trees. As we walked the ground became carpeted with yellow and it felt like we were walking on the yellow brick road from The Wizard of Oz (not very Blyton I know!)

We re-emerged by the old lychgate and set off with great speed towards the river path to enjoy the scenery.

The mist of the day added terrific amounts of atmosphere to a place so full of magic and serenity making you feel like there was an adventure around the corner.

Getting across the level crossing was the first excitement really, stopping at the big metal gates and peering along the straight track for a train (we saw one train slip past on our approach to the level crossing, but that is no reason not to be sensible and STOP, LOOK and LISTEN for trains!)

 

We scuttled across the tracks and were faced with the River Thames and
some boats, with the hills in the distance being barely visible above the clouds. We set off downstream, choosing muddy paths and civilisation in favour of wet and muddy fields (we did not escape those for long, I assure you!)

We walked along the path between the riverside houses, taking in the boats and the birds. We even came across an inquisitive goose as well as the ducks and moorhens you expect to see along the river. Bourne End riverside is truly crawling with wildlife. Little birds flitted across our path and chirped overhead. I wish I was more knowledgeable on birds as it would have been nice to be able to tell you which birds were there. It isn’t hard to see why Blyton was so inspired to write her nature books when living in Old Thatch.

We walked with gusto across the sailing club grounds and through the marina where great boats were moored up, lifeless in the November gloom. For a short while we sat on a grass verge by the marina and watched the river flow past and the ducks floating about in the water, before we took the muddy path towards the bridge further downstream.

Surrounded by fences, from the backs of people’s gardens and high trees and bushes, we felt as though we were in a sunken lane. Meeting people on this path is a battle of who can slip past first. Luckily the people who live in Bourne End seem to be some of the friendliest people around and are polite when you pass them.

Once we had reached the bridge we climbed up admiring the view of the river and the heavy fog. The train track runs directly parallel to the footbridge, so if you’ve timed your walk right, you can walk across the bridge with the train speeding past you. This didn’t happen to us today but it has in the past.

When we reached the other side of the bank, we continued downstream into the National Trust patch of land called (don’t laugh) Cock Marsh. Through some twisted and gnarled trees we walked the river back, getting thoroughly muddy and enjoying every second of it.

We stopped to watch the world go by on the other side of Cock Marsh, enjoying the autumn colours, the not too chilly air and the first heavy fog of the year. It is not hard to see why such a place could be such an inspiration to a great writer like Blyton.

After a little while we decided to turn back and face reality once more, but it was a pleasure to walk back through that lovely scenery, taking in everything once more.

Bourne End is a great place for ‘pilgrims’ of Enid Blyton because of Old Thatch and for the added fact that Peterswood in the Five Find Outers books is supposed to be modelled on Bourne End.

With that said, I feel I can now recommend that any fan of Enid Blyton, however big or small if they haven’t already, should make a trip to Bourne End and Old Thatch. A word of warning about visiting Old Thatch however, they are only open from May until August; so if that is high on your list when considering a trip to Bourne End, I do suggest that you check out their website and go when the gardens are open to the public.

http://www.oldthatchgardens.co.uk/default.htm

However if you are lucky enough to live closer and don’t mind not seeing Old Thatch on your first visit, I urge you to explore Bourne End, and the river path in the Autumn. It is truly magnificent.

You never know, you may be so inspired by the magic of the place that you end up as the next Enid Blyton!

If you’ve been to either Old Thatch or Bourne End, why don’t you share your own experiences of your adventure?

Posted in Personal Experiences | Tagged , | 5 Comments

The Weather – A poem by Enid Blyton

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Fiona

November is truly upon us now, and the weather seems to be all over the place. Here are some wise (and rhyming) words on the matter from Blyton.

I don’t mind the weather to-day,
It can rain or freeze,
The sky can be blue or black or grey,
There can be a breeze
Or a bitter wind or even a gale
Or a terrible storm with frozen hail!!
You see, I’ve got these –
A macintosh hat, an oilskin coat,
Wellington boots, a scarf round my throat,
A fine umbrella – and so I say,
WEATHER, DO WHAT YOU LIKE TO-DAY!

Are you prepared for whatever the weather throws at you?

* Cati Kaoe * / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA
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The tale of how I completed my Five Find-Outers collection

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Fiona

Something fantastic happened to me tonight.

I have finally acquired ordered a copy of The Mystery of Banshee Towers – the final Five Find-Outers book. I’ve been buying original hardbacks for nearly ten years – I started by filling in the gaps in my Famous Five series (I did have all the books, but some were paperbacks of varying quality)  and then branched out into other series like Malory Towers and the Adventure Series. I only had one hardback Find-Outers book to start my collection – The Mystery of the Hidden House which at some point belonged to my aunt Elizabeth and then my mum as both their names are written in the front. As I had fourteen more books to buy, it did take me a few years to find them at affordable prices.

Banshee Towers, however, has eluded me all this time. It’s often referred to as “the weakest book” in the series, everyone’s least favourite, and yet it’s also the rarest title. As far as I can tell, it’s never been reprinted in hardback, unlike all the others which have varying numbers of impressions. Maybe it’s because just five years after the first edition Armada published their paperback version of the book, I don’t know.

Either way, there’s not many Methuen hardbacks around, and the ones that do appear for sale tend to be above my admittedly somewhat meagre budget. I usually don’t pay more than £5-10 for my Enid Blyton books. There are a few exceptions, but on the whole I go for bargains. I don’t expect first editions for this (though I have quite a few) or dustjackets (of which I have a handful) just reasonably sound original hardbacks.

It’s said Blyton wrote something like 700 books, and even allowing for a lot of them being collections of already printed works, there’s a good few hundred unique titles. If I want to own as many of them as I can find, even at £5 a book, that’s… well… a heck of a lot of money, so I can’t go blowing 10 books worth on a single title.

When I realised I wasn’t going to get a hardback of Banshee Towers for my usual budget, I decided I would make an exception and up my limit to £20-25. I then missed the end of two auctions on eBay for books that sold within that price range (once through my own stupidity and once as I was at a relative’s hospital bedside). It seemed that it just wasn’t to be.

I still checked eBay every week (and got angrier and angrier at the million rubbish and overpriced paperbacks and the facsimile dustjacket that’s permanently listed). I also checked abebooks frequently and stared longingly at lovely copies priced at £50, £60, £100. I just couldn’t justify that much money on one book however much I wanted it

Then, tonight, I stumbled semi-accidentally onto a copy I could afford.

A member of the Enid Blyton Society Forums posted a link to a blog where someone had written about the prices of Enid Blyton first editions. On that blog was a link to a site which would search multiple websites for books – amazon, abebooks, independent sites – and then display them all in one place.

And there it was. On abebooks, where I’d looked last week and got disheartened yet again. Banshee Towers. Methuen. 1961. First Edition. £7.50.

It’s not perfect, there’s a little text loss on one page, and a missing illustration, but for £10 I’m still very, very happy.

I’m sure the rest of the Enid Blyton Society Forumites will be thrilled too, as it means they won’t have to read my many, many posts lamenting the fact that my Find-Outers collection is incomplete. In order to shut me up help me out, several members had even offered to keep an eye out for affordable copies.

So thank you Maureen who posted the blog link, as if I’d not seen the abebooks listing tonight, it may have been sold before I saw it. Also, thank you to Stef for encouraging me to just go for it and forget about slight internal damage.

Now I just have to anxiously wait for Royal Mail to  deliver my precious book. I hope I haven’t counted my chickens before they’ve hatched.

This very copy of Banshee Towers will be mine!

Apologies for the length of this post, but I really am very excited about all this.

Have any of you gone to great lengths to obtain an Enid Blyton book? What was your most difficult find?

P.S. I do recommend abebooks (www.abebooks.co.uk, http://www.abebooks.com) for Blyton books, even if some of them are way, way over-priced but that’s a blog for another day 😉

Posted in Personal Experiences, Purchases | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Series Synopsis: The Famous Five Books 4-6

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Fiona

A guide to the Five’s next three adventures, and again, if you haven’t read the books this might contain some spoilers.

First edition dustjackets from “Five Go to Smuggler’s Top”, “Five Go Off in a Caravan” and “Five on Kirrin Island Again” illustrated by Eileen Soper.

FIVE GO TO SMUGGLER’S TOP, 1945

The Locations: Smuggler’s Top is a huge, old, rambling house on top of Castaway Hill. Also on the hill is a small town, with a thick wall running right around it. The hill is almost an island, with just one road running to it through the marshes from the mainland.

The ‘Baddies’: Mr Barling, an eccentric local smuggler and someone from Smuggler’s Top itself.

Significant Other Characters: Uncle Quentin, Mr and Mrs Lenoir who own Smuggler’s Top, Pierre ‘Sooty’ Lenoir, Julian and Dick’s school friend, and Annabelle his little sister.

The Plot: Before the five have time to enjoy their holiday at Kirrin the giant ash tree in the garden falls on the house. Uncle Quentin’s scientist friend and son were supposed to come and stay, but it’s arranged for the children to stay with them while Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin sort out the cottage. George is told she can’t take Timmy but sneaks him along anyway.

When they arrive Sooty smuggles Timmy up to his room through a secret passage, and at nights they sneak Timmy to George’s room. One night Block – Mr Lenoir’s deaf servant – lies in wait and ends up getting bitten. When Uncle Quentin arrives he is given Sooty’s room, and the children have no time to smuggle Timmy out. George is punished by Mr Lenoir for sneaking into his study to rescue Timmy and is locked in her room. She climbs out of her window and sees someone suspicious conspiring with Mr Barling. Meanwhile, Sooty and the boys see someone signalling from the top of the tower, who then disappears into Block’s room.

One night Sooty sneaks into Uncle Quentin’s room to try and let Timmy out, but catches Mr Barling – a known smuggler – kidnapping Uncle Quentin. He too is kidnapped and left in one of the catacomb tunnels with a drugged Uncle Quentin.  Mr Barling is trying to buy Uncle Quentin’s plans to drain the marshes, because this would end his smuggling. It’s then up to Timmy to lead the rescue mission.

My Favourite Parts: Smuggler’s Top is and always has been my favourite Five book, in fact it’s probably my favourite Enid Blyton book, my favourite children’s book… maybe even my favourite book full stop. It has secret passages, which I always love, but my absolute favourite part of the book is the ash falling on the house, and how Julian saves everyone.

Julian warns everyone about the falling ash tree in “Five Go to Smuggler’s Top” illustrated by Eileen Soper.

FIVE GO OFF IN A CARAVAN, 1946

The Locations: Merran Lake and a camping spot halfway up the Merran Hills

The ‘Baddies’: Tiger Dan, Nobby’s uncle, and his friend Lewis ‘Lou the acrobat’ Allburg.

Significant Other Characters: Nobby the circus boy, Pongo the chimpanzee, and Barker and Growler Nobby’s dogs.

The Plot: The five are at Julian, Dick and Anne’s home trying to decide what to do for the hols when they see a circus go by. Nobby, a circus boy tells them where they are headed and the five decide to rent caravans and have a holiday near the circus camp.

When they arrive and camp near by, Nobby’s uncle Tiger Dan is not pleased to see them and warns them away. They camp up a hill overlooking the circus and the lake. Tiger Dan then tries to persuade them to camp down by the circus but Julian refuses. Barker eats some poisoned meat and becomes very sick, and they realise that Tiger Dan and Lou were trying to kill Timmy. Julian sends the others to the town for the day, and hiding on a caravan roof watches Tiger Dan and Lou show up and move the caravan to one side and disappear down a hole underneath.

The Five explore with Nobby and make an amazing find, but also get caught by Dan and Lou, who trap them inside. This time it is Timmy, Pongo and Dick that save the day.

My favourite parts: The caravans are pretty cool, I like all the little features like the running water and little cupboards. I also enjoy the bit of circus life we see, and Nobby’s admiration for the five is touching. Pongo is very funny, with his pick-pocketing and faux shame at being caught. His interactions with Timmy are amusing too, particularly when shaking paws and he goes round the back to shake his tail too.

The Five are inspired to take a caravan holiday in “Five Go Off in a Caravan” illustrated by Eileen Soper.

FIVE ON KIRRIN ISLAND AGAIN, 1947

The Locations: Kirrin Cottage, Kirrin Island, the Quarry and the Coast Guard’s cottages.

The ‘Baddies’: Mr Curton, who introduces himself as Martin’s father, is not very nice to Martin and prevents him from doing what he loves – painting. Mr Curton also has a few men who help him with his scheme.

Significant Other Characters: Uncle Quentin, Aunt Fanny, Martin and the Coast Guard.

The Plot: The five are back at Kirrin for the hols, but they can’t go to Kirrin Island as usual because Uncle Quentin is there doing some experiments. George of course, is furious that her father is using her island, and has built a plastic tower in the centre of it. Out walking on the cliffs the five meet Martin and his father, Mr Curton. Mr Curton appears to be too interested in the island, according to Dick, but he thinks George is a boy, so she doesn’t agree (she can’t always be right about these things!) Playing around at the old quarry the five – thanks to Timmy – find the start of a secret tunnel.

The five and Aunt Fanny visit Uncle Quentin, but can’t work out where his work room is. Uncle Quentin tells his family that he thinks that he’s not alone on the island, and asks George to leave Timmy to guard him. George agrees, as long as when Uncle Quentin signals at 10am and 10pm he takes Timmy up to the top of the tower too. Every day at 10 George goes to the Coast Guard’s cottage to look through his telescope so that she might catch a glimpse of Timmy. One day he isn’t there, and she begins to worry, so that night she sneaks out of Kirrin Cottage and rows to the island to investigate. She discovers another entrance to the dungeons, and goes down to locate her father. She finds him a prisoner of two men who want to steal his experiment, and have shut Timmy in a small cave. George, her father and Timmy then have to escape the island before it blows up.

My Favourite Parts: George seeing TV for the first time, Anne telling Mr Curton exactly what she thinks of him and the rather touching moment between Uncle Quentin and George towards the end of the book.

Aunt Fanny stops the pony-trap so the Five can see the tower on Kirrin Island in “Five on Kirrin Island Again” illustrated by Eileen Soper

Part 3 will hopefully be up next week, until then, what’s your favourite part from these books?

Next post: Books 7-9

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Dead Leaves – A poem by Enid Blyton

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Fiona

I’ve been admiring all the autumn leaves when I’ve been out recently, and then I read this poem and thought I should share it.

Did I hear some one say that the leaves were dead?
Well, it’s quite a mistake, for in brown, gold and red
They’re hustling,
Bustling,
Rustling about,
Hurrying,
Flurrying,
Scurrying out,
Lively and mischievous, merry and gay –
No, I don’t think the leaves can be dead to-day!

The Poem “Dead Leaves” by Enid Blyton, as it is written in the book “The Enid Blyton Poetry Book” (School Edition) published in 1934.

What are the leaves like where you are?

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , | 9 Comments