The Adventure Series on TV: The Circus of Adventure

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Fiona

So two things before I start this week.

Firstly, I had forgotten that the TV series has mucked about the order of the episodes. For some reason they have River as the seventh and Circus as the eighth. I promised Circus anyway, so I’m going to stick to the book order. I don’t imagine it will matter too much.

And secondly, Circus is my absolute favourite of the series so I really hope this one isn’t a disappointment!

THE MYSTERIOUS PRECREDIT SCENE

Outside Wytcherly Prepatory School for Boys there is a smoking man. Inside, at dormitory A an alarm sounds in the distance. It’s a toy police car. The man guarding the corridor is knocked out. The smoking man waits outside while his two cronies bring out the wrong boy…

1smokingman

THE SET-UP FOR THE STORY

Bill got a cast of the car’s tires and found some Turkish cigarettes. This must be why they decide to put Gussy with Bill et al over the holidays. Sir George foists the boy on Bill even though he hasn’t had a break since his marriage (presumably River didn’t count as he was working then too).

Allie tells the children that the boy’s name is Gus and they all burst into laughter, and Kiki starts up her fussy Gussy routine right away. At least in the book they don’t make fun of him until he turns up and acts rather strangely.

Back at the school suspicious music is playing. Something must be up. No, it’s ok, it’s just Bill. Though I suspect there’s some sort of filming or tracking going on, so maybe it isn’t ok.

FUSSY GUSSY

“I shall not lie down under the blanket. I shall make the protest!” So Gussy is going to be quite a pain still. He also has very silly long hair, which looks even more ridiculous in the 90s. It’s shoulder-length for goodness sake. And clearly a bad wig to boot!

2billandgussy

Gus then blurts out his true identity within ten seconds of getting inside. Having ruined Jack’s ‘best rugby shirt’ with a paintball pellet, Jack demands to know “who do you think you are, royalty?” Which is rather a non-sequitur as he hasn’t acted at all royal. And Gus immediately replies with, “yes, I am Aloysius Garmondie Racemolie Torquinel”. Bill then confirms it all with the front door wide open, and enemies watching from the road above the house. It seems like we may skip a lot of the bad behaviour from Gussy before the reveal, and probably fill the rest of the episode with dramatic running around. (Side note, that’s probably the first time I’ve ever heard Aloysius out loud and it sounds nothing like it does in my head… who knew it wasn’t Al-oy-see-us??)

On the plus side it’s good that they’ve kept the details of Gussy’s name and that he’s from Tauri-Hessia.

Bill’s first idea is then that on the first day of their holiday the children go for a picnic on the beach (with Gussy protesting at having to carry his own rucksack as he is not a donkey) without adult supervision. They’re not too far from the house but it still seems rather silly to let a child who is supposed to be under 24/7 protection to go off like that.

KICKING OFF

Madam Tatiosa and Count Paritolen are snooping about and see the kids alone on the beach, yet still stick to a plan of taking him that night.

That evening there is a knock at the door. I now suspect that that Bill and Allie will be lured away and a kidnap will take place. We are less than fifteen minutes into the episode. And yes, a slightly foreign sounding chap with a bloody hanky to his head is wanting help, claiming there has been a bad car accident down the road. Bill and Allie go off without a second thought or mentioning it to the children. The man then pulls a gun on them and makes Bill throw his gun away.

3kidnap

As per the book Bill and Jack are out badger watching (though we see nothing but a rabbit and an owl), and Philip heads back early because he is tired. He arrived to hear Lucy-Ann screaming and shoots one of the henchmen with his paint-gun. With Madam and Count in charge they decide to take all the children, and Jack climbs into the car-boot as in the book.

Jack’s airport scene is rather less convincing as he climbs out of the car boot while the occupants are still inside. Kiki flies off and is recognised by the children who say she is a policeman, sending some of the henchmen on a wild goose (or indeed parrot) chase.

Jack manages to sneak right past Madame T and the Count and gets into the helicopter (rather than a plane).

Meanwhile Bill and Allie have made it back to their car but the keys are gone. They return to find the house empty. Allie finds a smashed, framed photo of the children on the floor. Who goes on holiday and packs framed photos?

Sir George has the cheek to tell Bill off for putting their government in a very awkward position. Again, Allie gives him what for, considering her children have been abducted too. Luckily an unidentified helicopter has been seen crossing the English Channel and can “only be heading for one place. Tauri-Hessia”. (Tauri being pronounced as Tow-ree and not Toh-ray as I always imagined.)

6allie

NEXT STOP, BORKEN CASTLE

Philip tries to run off as soon as they land and makes it about ten feet before he is caught, so it is lucky they have Jack following them. He does get spotted by the henchmen though, who follow him in a car when he gets a lift in some sort of van. They are slowed down by a horse-drawn carriage and Jack leaps out and climbs on the back of it. The poor van-driver must be very confused by now.

7jackcaravan

The henchmen double back and find Jack sitting at the back of the caravan, and chase him into some woods. As usual Kiki does her usual wild-parrot chase and we pad out the story with another five minutes of running around. So now Madame T and the Count know about Jack being in the country, and it seems that we will have to endure more added material of them trying to hunt him down.

VELCOME TO THE GUEST SUITE

At Borken Castle the children are sent to the dungeons – so the final escape will play out quite differently. Madame Tatiosa makes some threats, demanding that Gussy takes over the throne from his uncle (which doesn’t make very much sense. In the book I’m sure they want Gussy’s father to abdicate so they can put his weak uncle on the throne).

They are treated to a stew of beef and three-day cooked cabbage which only Gus enjoys as it is traditional Tauti-Hessian fare.

The children try to escape the dungeon with a modified version of Fatty’s trick, involving a blanket under the door and a fork with two tines broken off. They get caught in the process, however.

THE CIRCUS

Jack finds himself at a busy circus where he meets Pedro who is half-Spanish, half-English, with a New Zealand accent and who runs the circus (it’s even called Pedro’s Circus). He’s a twenty-something guy instead of a boy Jack’s age.

8pedroandthecircus

It’s a very bustling place, and unusually most of the performers are in full costume already. Jack asks about the bad CGI castle in the distance which he is told belongs to Count P and is empty, more of a prison than a castle now.

9badcastle

Even though it looks to be a good few miles away, Jack appears at the castle door in the dark of night. He is able to walk right in the front gate where just inside is a conveniently open window above a strong ivy plant.

Cue much sneaking around reasonably well lit corridors with a torch, until he miraculously finds his way to the correct dungeon. At least there are some nice touches like a hidden passage and the spy-holes in the painting.

FRANK AND… THE LIONS

Frank has eaten wild mushrooms, and has a very bad stomach-ache. He doesn’t believe in doctors, though, so we have a convenient situation whereby they’re worried that there will be no show without the lions. Also, they are “very strong and may escape”.

Jack says that he knows someone who could handle the lions… which is really pushing the boundaries of believable in this adaptation where we’ve barely seen Philip with an animal. Pedro is easily convinced into going to rescue Philip and the others, though.

THE RESCUE IS MOUNTED

Meanwhile the King is out wandering in the night, alone, and is easily kidnapped by the henchmen.

Jack starts to saw through the padlock on the dungeon door, but Madame T comes down to talk to Gussy before they can escape. Pedro lures away the guards while Jack gets back to work on the padlock (cue a few more minutes of pointless running around before Pedro knocks one of the guards out with a juggling ball…)

Soon they’ve all fled via the secret passage which comes out under a statue in the woods. The juggling ball clue, however, has Madame T sending her men straight to the circus to find the children.

Frank has recovered by this point, however, so it seems we shall not get to see Philip rescuing the circus folk from escaped lions. The children escape detection with Gussy and the girls dressing as local girls, while Jack and Philip are dressed as clowns and run around crazily, distracting the men, before Frank seems to threaten to set a pig on them. This is not as good as the children pretending to be Jaberwockians, Philip getting in the bear cage and Gussy being Ma’s little grandaughter.

10gussyasagirl

Then Bill turns up quite casually to say hello, his only disguise being a floppy hat and waistcoat.

ADDITIONAL RESCUE AND DRAMA

The king is still being held, and the threat now is that he will be killed if he will not abdicate willingly. Bill wants Jack to show him and his colleague into the castle to rescue the king… leaving Gussy unprotected again. They arrive just in time to stop Count P shooting the King. But Bill’s colleague then turns out to a double-agent (it wasn’t until I went back to take screen caps that I recognised him as the smoking man from the school). He demands Bill steps aside so he can shoot, well he seems to be pointing the gun at Madame T or Count P, but I assume he meant to be aiming at the king? Luckily Bill had suspected that all along and had removed the bullets from his gun. All because Ronald, his colleague, smoked Turkish cigarettes…

AND THE HAPPY ENDING

Then we end with the children all dressed up in Tauri-Hessian finery, and Gus who has had his hair cut. Kiki even gets a medal, and it does rather feel like a series finale.

Over-all it wasn’t too bad. It remained mostly faithful to the book, but as usual fell into the trap of adding unnecessary running-around for ‘drama’. I’m assuming that because the adaptation was originally shown in several short parts they felt the need to have some sort of exciting scene in each section to keep children interested. I also don’t know why they had to have that extra part at the end, surely the children being rescued should have been enough as a finale?

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Famous Five 70s Style: Five Get Into a Fix

Posted on January 18, 2017 by pippastef

Five Get Into a Fix is one of my favourite books of the Five series; I love the imagery of the snow-capped Welsh hills, the tobogganing, the skiing and all of that. It’s one of the only Christmas stories and it’s got a properly thrilling mystery. Shall we take a look the 70s adaptation then? I know the 90s version isn’t up to much, so let’s see how well their predecessors did!

fix

The Story

The Five have been stopped from going on a pre-planned holiday to Switzerland because they have all had the flu, with the exception of Timmy. So instead of Switzerland they have been packed off to a farm in Wales to recover from the flu. It’s looking promising so far.

Uncle Quentin takes the wrong turn up to the strange house called Old Towers, so no driver, but Uncle Quentin is his usual hapless self, getting then lost and thinking that there was something wrong with their car, even though it had been in for a service recently. Immediately we know there is something wrong with the Old Towers’ hill and Mrs Jones’ reaction says it all when they inform her that is where they ended up after taking the wrong turn.

The son, Morgan Jones, is a much younger, more talkative man than in the books. In fact he actually has conversations with the Five, not necessarily ones to their advantage but he’s a lot more engaging than the book. He is even on the environmental committee who shut down Llewellyn Thomas’ idea of creating a mine under his mother’s house of Old Towers. There is something obviously going on with Old Towers that no one wants to think about, so the children take it upon themselves to go searching which is how they get themselves into that big adventure.

We don’t really get introduced to his dogs and I think we only see three or possibly four, not the seven that he has in the book. I don’t know whether that was something to do with the legalities of having more than a certain number of dogs on the set but anyway, the story works perfectly well without them. We have what I consider to be the two main doggy scenes  of the book do take place. The first one is where Timmy gets attacked by the dogs, making the Five relocate up to the shepherds hut on the hill and then again when Morgan calls them from the mine inside Old Towers, hoping they will here him and come to his rescue.

aqf-alleyAily, the young girl who prances around the hills with no coat and no shoes, is possibly the only anomaly in this episode. She’s not as young as she is in the book, so her relationship with Julian isn’t a strong part of the episode and she actually appears quite late on, almost over half way through the episode. She still can’t read or, presumably, write which allows her the ignorance of not knowing that the letter from Mrs Thomas was a cry for help. Once the Five see the note they know something more sinister is going on, and spring into action.

Overall Impressions

Not having watched this episode much but knowing the book so well, I was quite pleasantly surprised at the attention to detail. The little things such as the shining rocks and the tremors are well placed in the episode, written by Gloria Tors, and the adventure is portrayed very well, the right amount of build up is used, and like the book it keeps you guessing.

aq4-happybirthdaysingend

Unlike the 90s episode, where Marco Williamson’s Julian rather overwhelmed the screen and the episode, Marcus Harris plays a slightly less bumptious Julian who dominates the screen less and shares it better with the others. Gary Russell’s Dick Kirrin doesn’t get the throw-a-way sarcastic lines as he does in the other episodes, which makes him much more of a quieter character, yet he still has an on screen presence and pulls his own weight. Jennifer Thanisch as Anne understated yet importantly played with the gentility of Anne that you expect from the character, nursing orphaned lambs, helping encourage George to stay after Timmy’s run in with the farm dogs, and gentle guidance throughout is an important part of the episode. Michele Galagher’s George once again lacks the emotion that Jemima Rooper brought to the character, but makes her presence known and well established throughout.

The star of the episode however is Martin Potter, who plays Morgan Jones. His on screen presence, the mood changes and the first class acting in general is a show stealer. Its not often that an adult guest star steals the show, but this is a rare case. I don’t know a lot about Martin Potter apart from what it says on his IMDB page. He seems to have been a successful actor in the day and is one of those actors I think I will be checking out the rest of his work. As far as I am concerned, a brilliant piece of casting by all concerned.

Conclusion

Hard to fault this episode, especially as there are very few niggly things to pin point. The late introduction of Aily is probably one of them, but in the grand scheme of things in the book, she doesn’t provide much help until later on in the story. The fact that this mystery is less to do about people and more to do about a problem in the enivonrment there is less that needs to be covered and looked at. However, even with the lack of snow, I think this episode jolly well comes out on top!

What do you think?

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Monday #200

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Fiona

monday200

Hope you all had a nice weekend, and are looking forward to our blogs this week: we are going a bit TV mad, but I hope you don’t mind.

 

 

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If you like Blyton: The Secret of Dead Man’s Cove reviewed by Chris

Posted on January 15, 2017 by worldofblyton

This review is inspired by Fiona’s of Dead Man’s Cove by Lauren St John which reminded me of one of my very favourite children’s books, The Secret of Dead Man’s Cove by R.J. McGregor published by Penguin in 1937. I have the 1952 reprint of the 1948 Puffin edition, the delightful cover of which is depicted here.

dead-mans-cove

The book is the sequel to The Young Detectives (1934) – which is slightly less good in my opinion, though still well worth a read – but can be read as a standalone. It features the same Mackenzie (Mackie) family. The Mackie children comprise Alan, Jean, David, Micky and Elizabeth. Their ages aren’t specified but seem to range from fifteen to seven years old. In this story Alan is mainly absent as he is on a school exchange and his counterpart, a German boy called Reinhard, takes his place. As well as the children other characters are Mummy, Daddy, Auntie, Chris the terrier dog, Nora and Edna the maids, and Cook.

As the composition of the household suggests, this is very much a well-to-do middle-class family, and the story takes place in their palatial holiday home, Oxmouth Manor on the Devon coast. The house and its grounds feature secret passages and a priest hole, as well as the cove of the title. So we are well into Blyton – and especially Famous Five – territory.

The adventurous aspect of the story concerns some secret plans which Mr Mackie is concealing as part of his unspecified work for the government (shades of Uncle Quentin here, although Mr Mackie seems to be a senior intelligence official rather than a scientist), and the attempts of a gang of smugglers/spies, including a sinister ‘man with a glass eye’ called Van Gorman, to obtain them. Highlights include David being kidnapped by the gang, a car chase featuring Scotland Yard detectives, and a thrilling boat chase.

However, for the modern-day adult reader at least, the greatest pleasure of the book lies in its incidental period detail, with village cricket matches, beach picnics, amateur dramatics and agricultural shows. Add to that the family’s boat, called the Kittiwake, the yacht of a rich American friend – the excellently named Hiram B. Soss – as well as a shipwreck and rescue, and there is plenty of excitement even without the adventure.

I mentioned the comparison with the Famous Five, but this book is considerably more sophisticated in its plotting and writing style than the Five, and was probably aimed at slightly older readers. Some of the adventure is really quite gripping, especially the kidnap scenes which have a genuine sense of menace. And when in one of my favourite scenes, during the kidnap, a cold and hungry David is given a door slab of a fried bacon sandwich you can almost taste it yourself.

The book is set in the 1930s, but there is no mention of the storm clouds gathering over Europe although the present-day reader can’t fail to be aware that Alan and Reinhard, now enjoying a holiday exchange, may in a few years’ time be facing each other on the battlefield. Perhaps Mr Mackie’s secret plans being sought by an agent called Van Gorman is a small hint of what is to come. But one of the pleasures of reading it today, when daily the news seems so depressing, is to be transported back to an at least apparently simpler age. At all events, I am sure that anyone who has enjoyed the Famous Five or Blyton’s Adventure series will find much pleasure in The Secret of Dead Man’s Cove.

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The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage: How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? part 8

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Fiona

This should be the second-last part, so we are nearly there! It won’t be long until we have a final total.

Previous parts can be seen  here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

As always my own copy is a Methuen from 1957 – a 12th reprint/impression of the original. The new version is the most modern of any paperbacks I have looked at so far,  which is an Egmont copy from 2014.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: SURPRISES AND SHOCKS 

As with most previous chapters (but not all, if I remember correctly) the firing of the cottage is changed to burning – and fired to burnt.

Also again, capital letters are removed from the select phrases Blyton had put them in. She had capitalised Suspects and so on, but in this chapter there was also a Big Think, the Law and Very Serious Trouble.

And as always, italics have all been done away with.

  • but somebody must have done the deed
  • Could the tramp have done it?
  • Could Horace have set fire to the cottage?
  • Could Mr Smellie have done it?
  • But someone hid in the ditch!
  • Oooh yes!
  • He meant to look after Bets, not have Bets look after him!
  • Oh this is exciting!
  • what are you doing here?
  • Oh we must go on… we are the Find-Outers!
  • it couldn’t matter him knowing
  • What will your mothers say?
  • Mr Hick told me he wouldn’t tell any one!
  • Of course, Bets would go and give everything away!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – important emphasis and nuance is lost when the italics are removed.

And now for some new changes:

Bets remarks that It’s a pity you can’t wear goloshes or something, Buster. This is changed to boots.

A few lines are lost at Mr Hick’s house:

He kicked Buster away and the dog yelped.   “Oh don’t!” said Bets, dismayed. “You shouldn’t kick a dog, Mr Hick. That’s cruel.”

And the children lose their titles when Goon speaks to them:

As for you, Master Laurence and Miss Daisy, and you Master Frederick.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: VERY STRANGE DISCOVERIES

In this chapter we have some straight forward, yet still pointless modernisation.

The tempests have become jets now. While tempest wasn’t a word I had seen before reading this book they are also referred to as planes so it’s perfectly clear what they are. Replacing it with a generic term like jet (there are many types of jet) makes it seem a bit silly that the whole mystery hinges over whether or not Mr Hicks saw some planes.

The train also gets modernised. Soon they saw a cloud of smoke in the distance. The train was coming, has become soon they saw a train in the distance, which makes the second sentence unnecessary and thus it has been removed.

Bets conjectured that perhaps it gets water or something. That’s now perhaps there’s a signal or something. And while previously the train had puffed by the five children it now had rushed by.

So what we have is a world without mobile phones, TVs in every house, a local policeman on a bicycle and what can only be imagined as modern electric trains. That makes totals sense!

The two queers have been replaced with peculiar and odd respectively.

And lastly the italics-cull.

  • you children simply cannot be allowed
  • I don’t care who fired [set fire] to his workroom
  • I’m glad it was burnt down
  • Mr Hick told me he wouldn’t tell any one!
  • How could he have seen and counted the Tempests [jets] that flew over here?
  • It is queer [peculiar]
  • Those planes have only been here once
  • he must have been here
  • a man who could break a faithful promise could do anything, simply anything
  • Whatever has he got?
  • Look!
  • that’s why he brought them to me
  • We’ll simply have to decide something

One reference to the workroom being fired has been left in, presumably by accident again.

That’s only eleven new changes in those chapters, making our total 184 with two chapters to go. I wonder if we will break 200 this time around?

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The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters

Posted on January 11, 2017 by pippastef

the-mystery-of-the-spiteful-lettersFiona told me that my reviews might be a bit more positive if I got myself an older version of the text. I managed to find one on eBay for around five pounds, which was good because there weren’t very many copies. The copy I have brought however has been loved good and proper. It has had several owners who have written extensively in the inside cover, not to mention some of the pages are loose. It also comes with pieces torn from the corners and rips in the paper. In theory, how could I not love and enjoy a story that had clearly been the source of reading and re-reading throughout the years? Well, lets take a look shall we?

Slow, Slow, Not So Slow, Slow

Seriously, I think this may have been the slowest starting Blyton that I have ever read. The children have just come back to Peterswood after their spring term and are itching for another adventure but its surprisingly slow to start. We’re a good five or so chapters in, having been introduced to Fatty’s “hilarious” new disguises of a telegraph boy and butcher’s boy. One day those disguises are going to get him into trouble, and in fact they do in this book, he gets himself caught by Mr Goon and locked up. It’s only his ability to get out of a locked room that saves him this time.

This little bit of drama is probably one of the most exciting in the book! Due to the nature of the mystery of the spiteful letters there isn’t a lot of clues or suspects for the FFO to follow. In fact it is all rather pulling at straws and then gets solved in literally the last four or five pages and even then I’m not sure that the whole thing ties up neatly. I would suspect that Blyton had been trying to mimic Agatha Christie’s mystery writing style but without the practice. I dare say that if I read the book again I may enjoy it more, but I just didn’t have time to do that when I had to review it for you. I might get round to it eventually.

I just can’t see the magic in this book, the oomph, the sparkle, the finish to it that you see in so many others of Blyton’s books. Now I come to think about it, I haven’t felt that magic in the FFO at all, and I’m not overly sure why! It might be because of my childhood mindset that nothing could be as good as the Famous Five.This was certainly not helped when I joined the Enid Blyton Society forums and discovered that lots of people were raving about this character Fatty, who I had no idea about, and saying that he was much better than Julian! Oh, my aching heart. Anyway, I’ve gone off topic in a spectacular way haven’t I? Maybe one day I’ll treat you to a blog called “The FFO and Me” and we’ll explore all these bits and bobs then!

Our Suspects

How many suspects can you have in a poison pen letter mystery? Answers on a postcard please, because it can literally be anyone you so think of!  With the initial mystery of the letters being shrouded from the FFO, we spend a good chunk of time wondering what the matter is with the maid Gladys and why she leaves so suddenly. When the five children find out what is afoot, they have no starting point. Goon has the letters, and they have nothing to go on – there are no clues that come with a poison pen mystery.

It feels very haphazard in the search for clues as to the culprit of the letters, but everything is circumstantial. I know that the Find-Outers aren’t really police dectecives but even Fatty with all his research and knowledge of literary sleuths can’t magic suspects out of the air.

In the end they narrow it down to three suspects, Mrs Moon, Old Nosey and Miss Tittle. They only get this far because there is a change in the delivery of the fourth letter. It was shoved under the door of a victim and not posted from the market village. These three people were all out early in the morning that the letter was delivered so they are the ‘prime’ suspects. Even then its impossible to find a way to prove that any of them did it!

Fatty as usual has a way to identify the real perpetrator, he will disguise himself and go around collecting handwriting samples from their three main suspects (two of whom were not introduced until this early morning letter posting business.) We get very little investigation into the three suspects themselves, and come to that anyone else who makes the list in the book, whereas usually the Find-Outers books provide a lot more detail and depth into their suspects.

The long and the short of it is that you do not know who the wrong-doer is until the last chapter, and even then it seems mucked up. Goon was supposed to be a few steps ahead of the children and failed abysmally by dumping the main ‘clues’ into their lap and accusing them of planting them so he would go down the wrong path. Now I can usually identify a Blyton villain very quickly  and with this one I had a hunch, but wasn’t sure. The options were there to jump to anyone because each reason seemed so flimsy to suspect them or to cancel them out.

The revelation from Fatty at the end was over dramatic and very poorly handled on the part of Inspector Jenks, who as an Inspector should have asked Fatty to tell him what he suspected first of all before he went forth and accused someone who may have possibly been the wrong person! Gah! (as Goon would say) at least the Famous Five recognise there are consquences (Julian getting his ears boxed by Mrs Penruthlan comes to mind) but no, there is never any comuppance for Fatty because he is magically always correct even though its hard to see how!

Anyway, lets just say I’m not overly happy with the layout of this mystery… Before I go into another full blown Fatty – I – Can’t – Like – Him rant!

Let’s Wind this Up!

I suspect that most of you are about to write in the comments and tell me to read it again, and that Fatty is really nice and amazing etc etc, but I have news for you; I just don’t like the boy! I reckon thats just where it ends for me. The others I do like, Philip, Bets, Larry and Daisy. Its a shame they get overshadowed by Fatty because I reckon they would do just as well on their own!

Unfortunately Spiteful Letters is not one of my favourite Blytons and I don’t know if it will ever be; the plot is full of holes and it is definitely not one of my favourite Five Find Outer books. Sorry to those who like it, but its just not for me!

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Next review: The Mystery of the Missing Necklace

 

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Monday #199

Posted on January 9, 2017 by Fiona

It’s a new year now and we’re hopefully getting back into the swing of real-life and blogging. We are starting off with a Five Find-Outers theme and then something a bit different on Sunday.

wedfrisun999

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Five on a Treasure Island – a review of the unabridged audio

Posted on January 6, 2017 by Fiona

I’ve gotten quite into my audiobooks this past year – they definitely help me to read more. I can ‘read’ an audiobook during times when I couldn’t hold a print or ebook, like when I’m walking to work or on the bus or those rare times I’m doing housework. I much prefer unabridged books as I feel only they ‘count’ as having really read a title. I don’t think you can say you’ve read a book if it’s been heavily abridged and dramatised.

Anyway, I have an audible account (started off as a gift, then I took my free month and never got around to cancelling) so I always seem to have a few credits waiting to be spent. I just can’t seem to listen fast enough to have finished one book before a new monthly credit appears (not when I’m also borrowing audio books from my library…)

ANYWAY, to get to the point, I decided to have a go with the Famous Fives on audiobook. I’ve listened to most of the one-hour dramatised adventures (and reviewed them too) but I thought it was time to see what the full stories were like. And of course, I had to start at the beginning with Five on a Treasure Island.

JAN FRANCIS

Jan Francis is the narrator for the whole series as far as I know, which for me is a bit of a shame as I can’t say I’m a huge fan of her voice work. The standard narration is fine, I have no problems with her reading voice, it’s her attempts to do different children’s voices that I didn’t love.

On the plus side, she did manage to make the different characters identifiable and her occasional Timmy noises were much better than some we’ve heard on the dramatised versions.

She does makes Anne sounds rather overly-girly (very high-pitched) and Julian very stuffy and even more pompous than he really is. I can’t put my finger on it but they all just sounds very affected. You can listen to a free sample on the Audible site (I think you get about five minutes) so you can judge for yourself.

THE UNBRIDGED TEXT

While the text is unabridged, it is not unaltered. As far as I can tell these are taken from the 1997 cassettes with the TV cast on the cover, which doesn’t shed any light on why the updatings are so different to the ones in the 1997 paperback book. I can only imagine Jan Francis was reading from an earlier edition when she made the recording (or they made their own alterations, some based on earlier revisions).

Some surprising things are left in – such as Dick’s golliwog and many, many (maybe all) of the instances of queer. But the children wear jeans throughout instead of shorts, and the luggage-hole of the car has been updated to a boot. Comparing the first chapter I can now see there have been a few more changes than I thought. A couple – like pursing her lips rather than pursing up her lips could just be slight misreadings on the narrator’s part, it’s easily done.

There are definitely still references to spankings (rather than tellings off) in later chapters and things like putting the call through haven’t been changed. So it’s a slightly strange version of the text to me. Saying that, the alterations are not generally noticeable unless you’re the type to have obsessively memorised the entire book word-for-word. I’ve read it at least twenty times and even I don’t know it word-for-word.

MY THOUGHTS

Part of the reason I got this was for something to listen to while trying to get to sleep. A new book would have probably kept me awake trying to pay attention to a story, but this was familiar enough to let me doze off. I did rewind to where I left off every night so I did listen to the whole thing in the end (it’s only just over four hours but it lasted me more than a week that way). Probably not the biggest compliment you can pay a work – It helped me fall asleep! – but it’s true.

Mildly annoying voices aside I enjoyed listening to a familiar old favourite.

 

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Famous Five for Grown Ups: Five Go Gluten Free

Posted on January 4, 2017 by pippastef

glutenfreeA sneaky purchase after Christmas because I was blessed with one of these spoofs at Christmas time. I didn’t have much choice of book as Five Give Up the Booze and Five Go on a Strategy Away Day were both sold out. However, I ended up with Five go Parenting and Five Go Gluten Free. Shall we see how Gluten Free compares to Brexit?

How it all starts

We join the Five on a picnic for Anne’s birthday and the others are just about to hand over their presents to the birthday girl. Julian gets her a spa weekend, Dick a healthy lifestyle cookbook – containing the recipes and benefits about being gluten free, and George buys the super modern Anne (who does Bikram Yoga!) a spiralizer.

On the way home Anne reads her new cookbook and decides that the Five are putting lots of toxins and things into their body with things such as gluten and she wants them to have a go at this toxin-free diet in her book. Part of the reason they agree to this is because Anne seems to be the only one who knows her way around the kitchen. As she tries to keep the Five on the straight and narrow, they find themselves growing ever more hungry, grumpy and low on energy, and morale starts to crumble. All we need to know is; can the Five stick to the diet?

What happens

As Anne struggles to keep the Five on the diet, she is also wrestling with her own convictions about the diet and meditates to help herself with the struggle of the ‘detox’ but she powers on. In fact she starts managing the Five in a manner that is reminiscent of my weight loss coach telling me to identify trigger times and plan! She tells the others that they have to think about things they can do instead of eating cake or drinking too much. The boys for example have a friend’s birthday coming up and Anne knows that if they drink too much they will end up eating ‘bad’ foods and tries to come up with a solution for them, i.e not drinking that much.

Needless to say it fails when the boys end up drinking too much, George ends up snacking on her workmate’s cakes and Anne stuffs a packet of Wotsits in her mouth. Anne decides that they need to be out of the city where they are living and away from temptation. They head down to Kirrin (which we are assured is in Dorset – I’m glad someone apart from Blyton managed to clear that one up!)

Unfortunately going down to Kirrin isn’t the best idea as a very technically challenged Aunt Fanny hasn’t been on her computer to read her daughter’s email about the new gluten-free diet and has baked numerous cakes, biscuits, and gluten-filled items that they shouldn’t be eating. They can’t even escape to the relative safety of Kirrin Island because a specific kind of vole lives there now. Timmy would definitely be after chasing them, so they can’t go there to get away from the terrible things they were putting in their bodies.

Anyway towards the end of the book, Anne admits she may not have been completely right about the non gluten diet and sees how miserable it’s making her cousin and brothers. She agrees that they can go back to their usual diet, even though shes disappointed at the fact her experiment hadn’t worked. Though I think this should give the others enough of a shove to get in the kitchen and not expect Anne to do all the cooking in the future. That is, if they don’t want to be on another diet.

My thoughts

Much much much better written and thought out than Five on Brexit Island, perhaps because there was more time in fact to think and plan a story. On discussion with a friend, she agreed with me that Brexit Island was written to suit the feeling of the UK just after the historic vote on the 23rd June 2016.

Gluten Free does feel very tongue in cheek about the fad of being gluten free just because it’s seen as a good thing to be dietary wise, instead of as a result of a serious illness. As shown in the book, it is hard to maintain especially when you have no real reason to be gluten free.

A few bits could have done with a little change, mostly to go against the Blyton stereotypes; such as Anne getting the run of the kitchen, and all the cooking stuff for her birthday. I’m not saying that it wouldn’t have worked so well with someone else being the main character this time around, but it would have nice to maybe have seen one of the boys in charge of the kitchen and on a health kick or something. I’m just saying. Vincent missed out on a trick there to really turn the Blyton world on its head.

We also have the hilarity of political correctness gone mad; throughout the book Anne is constantly told not to call Julian “Ju” as it sounds wrong in today’s multi-cultural society so Dick and George are trying to convince Anne to call him Julian or “Jules” (I hate Jules.) When she accidentally calls him “Ju” in front of a group of school children the Five find themselves running, potentially for their lives,  away from the school in case they have offended anyone. Its an interesting twist and could have been an interesting novel in its own right. I wonder if Bruno Vincent will think of bringing it out next time, “The Five get caught by Political Correctness” sort of thing!

Anyway, I enjoyed this one more than Brexit and its made me curiously optimistic for Five Go Parenting.  This is one I would definitely recommend reading!

Have you read it? What do you think?

Looking for something else to read? More Famous Five for Grown-Ups reviews can be found here.

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Monday #198

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Fiona

Happy New Year to all! Hope you had a restful New Year. We’re not slacking this week and we’ve got two blogs coming up for you, hope you like them!

monday198

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The Famous Five 70s Style: Five Go to Billycock Hill

Posted on December 30, 2016 by pippastef

Before I start properly, I want to apologise to everyone because I believe that at the beginning of this series of blogs I said I would review the episodes as they appeared on the collectors’ edition boxed set discs. As some of you may have noticed that hasn’t really happened. An oversight on my part I can assure you. What I shall endeavour to do in the new year is go finish these episodes in order and then go back and review the ones I have missed! I’m really sorry for the oversight and I hope you can forgive me. Anyway, on to Five Go to Billycock Hill.

What I liked

First of all, the fact that the screenplay is written by Gail Renard, who we have established in the past as being a superior screenwriter for the Famous Five episodes we have seen before. Renard has fantastic attention to detail in adapting the novels into screen appropriate. I don’t know if anyone else pays attention to the writers of the episodes, but realistically the ones I’ve seen of Gail Renard’s have pretty much all been smashing adaptations.

The main thing to focus on with this episode (apart from the level of detail included) is the wonderful fact that all our main characters are included in this version. We get Toby, and his little brother Benny with the piglet Curly, who I am sure you all know is a key part of the story. Curly the piglet even obliges us by running away towards the end of the episode. Jeff Thomas, the dashing pilot cousin, makes an early appearance as well, establishing all the make visiting characters within the first five minutes or so.

Overall with all the relevant parts of the story were kept in and the little touches, like the Five all being crammed in one tent when the storm is on its way and all three boys visiting the Butterfly farm to see what’s going on during the evening and almost getting caught. The inclusion of Mrs Janes was a nice touch as well for this episode, because there is a lot of what she says that helps the five put the mystery of the missing planes and pilot together.

The niggly bits

Once again I’m sure this is basic nitpicking, but everyone knows by now I do try and tell you what exactly bugs a true Blyton fan. Unfortunately its the simplest things that come down to the situation the cast and crew had to deal with.

The simplest thing in the books – the Billycock caves. They seem wonderful and magical in the book, each glowing and showing off wonders that as a child I could barely imagine. I had never seen stalagmites or stalactites but I knew what they were the first time I did get to see them, and I knew how to tell the difference (I was a precocious 8 year old!) Anyway this (clearly) valuable life skill is missing from this adaptation (and from the 90s one – even though they had more time). In fact there are no caves whatsoever in the episode; they have been replaced with an old ‘haunted’ house which is not explored at any point before they discover Flight Lieutenant Jeff Thomas in the cellar.

Another sizeable issue with this episode is that young Mr Janes – Mrs Janes’ nasty son – has a particularly small role and only appears in about two scenes and has less of a part in showing the Five that something dodgy is going on. In fact I think you only get to see him for about 2 minutes in full, which probably is about equal to the time you have him present in the book, but its not handled very well.

Second to last nit pick I promise; Uncle Quentin turns up! When doesn’t this man come rushing in to try and look after the children or take them home? I swear Michel Hinz’s Uncle Q turns up in every episode whereas at least Christopher Good’s Uncle Q does at least have a reprieve. I am never sure if this is just so Hinz can deliver a dry “grown-up” line for Dick to flick something funny and witty back at him. At the end of this episode, Hinz says  “You better decide who gets that treat.,” or something approximately like that, when the Five, and Toby, are told that they may be able to go up in an RAF fighter jet and Dick’s reply is seriously cheeky and yet, fits in perfectly with Gary Russell’s characterization of Dick.

trouble-quote-2

See? Who else would suggest that the piglet should be allowed the treat of going up in an RAF plane? Only Dick!

My last complaint is the one you get every time –  they do not have enough time to include everything! My nitpicking would not be so bad if they had had more time  –  at least an hour –  to go through the adventure properly picking up on all the little bits and pieces seasoned Blytonites like myself know so well! I hope one day we get a chance to have a proper adaption made of our favourite books just so we can make sure all our favourite bits are in them in the correct places! Who agrees?

Conclusion 

Hands down, one of the best episodes of the bunch, only let down by the time constraints and the caves or lack of thereof realistically. Superb performances all round from the cast, the visiting members one of the best supporting casts I’ve seen from these episodes.

So, grab what’s left from your Christmas feasts, finish the sherry (or make a cuppa), find the DVD and put it on. Let me know what you think!

All that remains for me to say is: Happy New Year! Hope you’ve all had the best 2016 and I wish you the best for 2017!

 

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2016 birthday and Christmas presents round up

Posted on December 28, 2016 by Fiona

Every year I get spoiled on my birthday and at Christmas (the two days being only ten days apart) and every year I then show off what I got that’s Blyton-related. This year is no different!

fotojet-collage1. Five Go Gluten Free by Bruno Vincent – yes one of those very controversial Famous Five for adult books that came out this year. I might well hate it, but I’m always willing to try something at least once!

2. Who’s Who in Enid Blyton by Eva Rice – ‘don’t you already have that?’ I hear you ask. Followed by ‘and didn’t you write 10,000 words on how awful it is?’. The answers are yes, and yes. But this is a newer and updated version which I believe addresses perhaps two or three of my criticisms and so I wanted to have a look at it.

3. My birthday card from my mum – made from a charity shop sourced copy of Five Go to Smuggler’s Top.

4. Five Go on a Strategy Away Day by Bruno Vincent – if I’m giving one a go I might as well try two. I picked the two I thought sounded the best to ask for.

5. A Famous Five book mug – on which examining I said ‘the books are totally in the wrong order!’

6. A keyring with miniature Blyton books – which ones can you identify?

7. The envelope my card came in – I was most worried as my mum made it from ‘one of the books you left at home when you moved out’. And then I remembered I had left a duplicate copy of the Second Holiday Book. I’m still kinda appalled she tore up a perfectly good book, though, but it serves me right for leaving it where she could find it!

8. Another view of the mug

And some more things I got which are more tenuously connected:

fotojet-collage2

  1. Rye Royal by Malcolm Saville – Saville is definitely a contemporary to Blyton when it comes to adventure/mystery stories and he has been mentioned on this blog quite a few times. I have all the rest of the Lone Pine series so this means I can finish reading them now. I’ve been after a copy for ages but this ones one of the hardest to find in its original and unabridged form.

2. A new cover for my Kindle – in a Cath Kidston book print.

3. Quiet please… I’m reading! sign – made by my mum as it was hard to find a nice one online. The page is from a Harry Potter book this time. (The woman does love destroying books!)

4. A book-pile pin

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I hope you all got lots of Blyton goodies too!

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Monday #197

Posted on December 26, 2016 by Fiona

We hope you had a very merry Christmas! Here’s what we’ll be doing this week.

christmas-is-love-come-down-toearth-a-gift-of-infinite-worth

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Blyton at Christmas 1951-1962

Posted on December 23, 2016 by Fiona

A final instalment of Blyton at Christmas! (Unless I get more Christmas stories by next Christmas). The first parts are 1920-1945 and 1946-1950.

hollyborder

The 1950s, continued

Father Christmas and Belinda, 1951

I reviewed this two years ago, giving an overview of the story as well.

Father Christmas and Belinda

The Six Bad Boys, 1951

Although not a Christmas title in the traditional sense, it does feature Christmas in the middle. Probably to draw a parallel between the happy family Christmas in the family homes compared to the one in the boys’ cellar.

The day before Christmas came at last. There was great excitement at Barlings Cottage. The Christmas-tree had come and was being decorated by the three children. Parcels were arriving by every post. Cards stood all along the mantelpiece and on the book-cases.

Frisky was as mad as the children. He tore here and there, barking when the postman came, barking when the tree fell over, barking at ever opportunity he had!

“I wish I could bark like that,” said Donald, standing perilously on top of the ladder to pin up some holly-berry strands. “I should be barking all day long too! Isn’t Christmas fun? I wonder how Bob and Tom are getting on. Mother, isn’t it a shame, Bob’s mother is going away for Christmas, ad he’s got to go to an aunt he doesn’t like.

– leading to –

[the policeman] also described how Bob had been found down in the cellar on Christmas Day.

“He had dressed a little Christmas-tree, and hung it with presents for the rest of the gang,” said the policeman, amid a dead silence. This was the first they knew of the Christmas-tree! Good old Bob! They all wished they had seen the tree. Bob hung his head. That Christmas night seemed a long time ago now but he could suddenly see the gaily-decorated cellar, and that little tree lit with its candles.

Images from "The Six bad Boys" illustrated by Mary Gernat

Images from “The Six bad Boys” illustrated by Mary Gernat

The Little Christmas Tree from Enid Blyton’s Buttercup Story Book, 1951

This story is about Robin and Susan, whose mother is ill at Christmas – and it shows Blyton doing what she was so good at, taking a familiar element and working it into a new story.

Daddy doesn’t know all the things Mummy does when Christmas comes,” said Robin. They both looked very gloomy indeed. Christmas without Mummy would be horrid.

“Mummy always digs up the little Christmas tree that grows in the garden, and hangs it with dear little presents,” said Susan. “We can’t expect Daddy to do that – he’s so busy and worried. The little tree will be sad not to be dressed up and made pretty.”

“Well – I don’t want it without Mummy,” said Robin. He looked gloomily out of the window to see the tiny fir tree growing in the garden. It really was a dear little tree.

Susan looked at it too. A sparrow flew down to the tiny tree and perched on the topmost spike. Susan suddenly had an idea.

“Robin! I’ve got such a good idea!” she said. “Even if we don’t feel like using the tree for ourselves, we could use it for the birds. We could hang biscuits and crusts and nuts and bacon rind on it. The birds would love it.”

Their neighbour sees all this and thinks them very good children for doing it, instead of grumbling about not having a proper tree. So once all the bird treats have been eaten off the tree she borrows it and loads it with candles and presents for Susan and Robin.

Continue reading →

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Famous Five 70s Style: Five on a Secret Trail

Posted on December 21, 2016 by pippastef

This episode is one I remembered from my childhood, I think it was one that I had on video with Five on a Hike Together. I don’t remember a lot of the episode as a rule, but I certainly remember the beginning with Anne and the house! Let’s see now, with hindsight, if the episode is close to the book.

The Good

What really strikes me about this episode is the way it actually seems to stick to the story in the book. Obviously we skip ahead a little to Anne joining her cousin on the moor, where she is staying because Timmy was being laughed at for having a cone over his head where he had hurt his ear. So far so good, the girls are on the moor, camping with Timmy and they go to look at the Roman ruins and get introduced to Guy and his dog Jet.

After mentioning that there is a lake they can swim in, George and Anne leave Guy and walk straight into his unknown twin brother, Harry, who is perplexed by the girls familiarity and rebuffs them sharply.

The whole plot then takes off, with the girls sheltering inside the ruined cottage during the storm, and being woken by Timmy barking. At first they believe it down to the thunder, but then they see a silhouette at the window and get very scared, agreeing to pack up and go home the next morning. On cue the boys turn up and a plan starts to unfold.

The details are whats important in episodes like this; the book, Secret Trail starts off quite slowly, mostly because the boys don’t arrive until chapter eight it takes me ages to get through the faff of the girls’ first chapters, but then the interesting stuff begins to happen and the whole adventure takes off. Weaving in and out of the mystery people trying to scare them out of the cottage and trying to work out what the bad guys are looking for. In a strange twist we don’t find out what the Five plus the twins Harry and Guy manage to find until right at the end, which also happens in the book. Usually we found out early whats been stolen but this is a nice twist. Maybe Blyton was trying something new?

Richard Sparks, the writer of this episode, has stuck pretty close to the book, just the few odd lines where you can definitely tell that Blyton hadn’t wrote that, but otherwise a successful adaptation.

The Not So Good

Really there is very little wrong with this episode, it doesn’t differ from the book too badly, but just the odd placement of dialogue and random words. For example right at the beginning where George and Anne meet up, and George is telling Anne about Timmy’s cone of shame, she almost immediately takes it off. I mean obviously for Toddy, the dog who played Timmy, it must have been uncomfortable or he was unable to understand why he was wearing it; so realistically it would have to be removed as soon as possible.

glauberBasically we come down to my own pedantic opinions and feelings on certain things for this episode, it really is hard for me to fault. However, we are again stuck with a comic villain, dark beard, hair, and a foreign accent provided by an actor called Gertan Klauber (who I have now found out played Mr Slither in the 90s Famous Five; Five have a Wonderful Time).

One last peeve, and this time it comes down to the filming and the use of the dark filters instead of letting the children film at nighttime. Even with the digitally remastered DVDs this episode’s nighttime scenes with the children are extremely hard to view and almost come close to making a great episode unwatchable.

Final Thoughts

Five on a Secret Trail has to be one of the best adaptations of a Famous Five novel. All the key components of the novel are there and with the shorter time frame we actually seem to get a slow novel moving fairly quickly, efficiently, and effectively. Richard Sparks did us proud on this episode so if you haven’t watched it, I suggest you do!

As always don’t forget to let me know what you think of the episode!

And from me that’s all until over Christmas, so let me wish you a happy one and I’ll see you on the other side! Merry Christmas!

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Monday #196

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Fiona

ristorante8

Well well well, Fiona turned 30 and now we’re on to a run up to Christmas! I hope you’re all organised! I know I’m trying to be! Hope you’ll enjoy the reviews this week and we’ll see you after Christmas!

Merry

Christmas!!!

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Famous Five for Grown Ups: Five on Brexit Island

Posted on December 16, 2016 by pippastef

brexitislandThe first review of the new satirical Famous Five novels. These novels have been out for a while now but Fiona and I have asked for them for Christmas – luckily for me I got given a copy of Brexit as a early Christmas present from a family friend. How could I not take the chance to review it before the festive period just for you?

First Impressions

To start off the book starts in a very un-Blytonish way –  with an excerpt of a speech  that will happen later on in the book. We see Julian, giving a speech or rather, practicing his speech to an audience, which turns out to be Timmy. We then have a little flashback to the reason why Julian is giving this speech  and we find out that in a fit of post Brexit blues George declares Kirrin Island independent from Britain and part of the European Union. George and Julian take opposite sides on the argument with Dick and Anne playing the swing voters. We follow the rigmarole of the ‘campaign’ which only takes place over four or so days having been announced on Twitter after the Brexit vote had come in. Krexit becomes a media storm and the worst thing for George is the island becomes besieged with reporters who want to get the news of the story and its progress straight from the horses mouth –  so to speak.

The first impressions left me a little surprised I guess; it made me rather hopeful for a decent comical parody. The writing was in the style of Blyton, even if the speech between the characters is a little tongue in cheek, and some of the description is a little exaggerated. Then the changes start creeping in, the new technology and the new social media usage. These things aren’t traditionally Blyton –  as I’m sure you can tell –  but they are necessary in these books I think because otherwise you wouldn’t have them!

So to begin with the book appears to be a kindly poke at the original five but as I found out, it doesn’t really last that long!

As we dig deeper

For this lover of the original Famous Five the hilarity of the book soon begins to wear thin. There hardly seems to be a plot for a start; there is just a sudden declaration of independance and then it all sort of goes away when we get to the end.

trouble-quoteJulian, my beloved Julian, is turned from a svelte, suave young man into a BORIS JOHNSON lookalike, along with the disastrous media stunts that Johnson gets himself into. There is a parody of the zip wire moment, Julian gets stuck on the line in front of reporters. He tries to play them like an experienced politician but more often than not ends up coming off with a rum lot. It turns out that Julian is a Euro-skeptic and voted to leave the EU during Brexit. Later on the book we’re given a glance into him doubting his decision a little. My soft spot for Julian does not really extend to him becoming a bumbling buffoon like the ex mayor of London, Johnson. This does mean that I do find it hard to believe in the tongue in cheek manner in which this is taken. It became very personal.

As with the Brexit campaigns, there was no real flow to the story, no clear cut arguments to make your mind up on, but as a Stay voter I came down heavily on George’s side of the Krexit (gosh who thinks up these words?!) debate.

George’s character was perhaps the most well written of the seven main characters (six if you exclude Timmy, but we don’t). Possibly because she was Blyton’s best loved and well written character it is easier to write her and her feelings toward things than it is to write for the others. Poor old Dick barely gets a look in, while Anne skulks around the sidelines. Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin make an appearance but again they are nothing like the book, and Aunt Fanny even takes to showing Julian the cricket bat she hid on the island to stop Uncle Quentin when he got too amorous.

The last thing to really look at is the language. Now in the TV spoofs with Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders even though they are poking fun at the Five, the language is basically the same, just born of innuendos. This isn’t. As soon as Bruno Vincent starts bringing in the modern language, and having George swear and shout at her parents in a non-respectful manner, this book stops being funny for me. It it was more in the style of Blyton I could laugh, but unfortunately this detracts from the fun for me.

Who the Blyton is Rupert?

We have a new character to explore in this book, though I suspect he appears in the other parodies as well. I don’t strictly know if these are supposed to be read in any order, and I suppose we will find out.

Anyway, welcome to the fold Rupert Kirrin! He appears about half way through the book, an apparently the cousins aren’t very pleased to see him; they’ve come across him before and he is a dodgy character and they have tried to put him in prison but that has failed. With this said and the promise of adventures needing to be told hanging in the air, you do not trust Rupert at all, especially when he tries to become a PR and Media manager for the five and their Krexit campaign .

In this book we never do work out who he is related to the Five, apart from the link of cousin and lets face it, us in the Blyton community know how to debate the idea of cousin very well (google the Kirrin/Barnard discussion on the Enid Blyton Society forums if you don’t know what is going on). I hope that Mr Bruno Vincent does expand on this in is other spoofs, not that I can say I’m looking forward to reading them much.

Final Thoughts

Basically, not impressed. I’m sorry but there you are. The book was funny enough I suppose, up until my pet peeve of the band language slips into gear, but I just can’t find this funny. Not when Brexit and the devastation of the result swept over me is still quite a nasty reality for me to wake up to every day. It could have been less political, and a bit more light hearted. Topical, yes very, but it won’t age well. In a few years this will be consigned to the scrap heap just like other topical parodies.

One quote from the telegraph, doesn’t sit right with me:

trouble-quote-1

A “Gentle Parody”?! GENTLE? This is nothing but a cleverly disguised political romp in places. The other spoofs may not be so bad, but Brexit island, for me, goes to the bottom of the pile.

Looking for something else to read? More Famous Five for Grown-Ups reviews can be found here.

 

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The Adventure Series on TV: The Ship of Adventure

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Fiona

This is my second least favourite of the series (River being the least) so you have been warned, this review may be more negative than usual. It’s not that I don’t like the book, it’s just not as good as the others. Saying that, sometimes watching a less than stellar adaptation can leave you with a sudden fondness for the original.

THE MYSTERIOUS PRE-CREDITS SCENE

We are outside the Dominion Museum as a black limo draws up. A man in heavy black lace -up boots gets out. He’s very happy to see a ship in a bottle on display. It’s a 12th century replica Roman galley.

In a fit of criminal mastermindry he just smashes the glass and walks out with the ship and bottle. The black-hatted man in the car is equally happy to receive it, but it turns out that the secret compartment inside it is empty. The booted man makes several strange noises, like an evil Mr Bean.

WEDDING DISASTERS

At Craggy Tops Bill and Allie reveal to us that they are going to be married tomorrow. Dinah and Lucy-Ann are trying on some of the worst bridesmaids dresses I have ever seen outside of the 1980s. They make awful noises when the girls move. After the wedding, Bill and Allie are to go on a cruise of the Channel Islands.

To be honest the bride's dress isn't much better!

To be honest the bride’s dress isn’t much better!

Bill then gets a call on his mobile from his boss. His side of the conversation goes:

YOU MUST BE JOKING. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. I DON’T BELIEVE IT. I MUST STRENUOUSLY OBJECT, THIS IS ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS.

So it isn’t good news then. The wedding has to be postponed because Bill is needed at work. He and Allie have a bit of a row, but there’s nothing that can be done and Bill leaves.

He is told that a gang is planning to overthrow Zimbabwe. Leon Slade (our chap in the black hat) is the leader of the group and they are looking for funds. Bill is the only one who can stop them (He’s as sceptical about this as we are.)

It seems that his boss is right though, as within a few hours Bill is hot on the trail of ships in bottles.

Leon Slade is ahead of him, though, and has men turning up with ships in bottles so he can smash them and look for secret compartments. He then throws them out the front door to the hounds when there is nothing inside the ships.

Fool! You know what penalty for failure!

Igor (the booted man) is still around, and still grunting more than he speaks.

CAN I CHANGE MY BOOKING AT THE LAST MINUTE? I WANT TO BRING FOUR CHILDREN AND A PARROT INSTEAD OF MY HUSBAND

Allie decides to take the children on the cruise with her – somehow booking three extra last minute tickets. Kiki is simply allowed on without issue – though she is to remain in the cabin at all times. The children run rather wild at first – Jack gets into trouble for swinging on lifeboats which I’m sure the children never would have done in the books.

Something else that would never happen in the books – Lucy-Ann FORGETS to buy Jack, her beloved brother, a birthday present. Their cruise attendant helpfully directs them to a nautical gift shop on one of the islands, despite Jack having no more of a interest in the sea than the rest of them do.

SHIP SHOPPING

And surprise surprise, there is another galley in a bottle in that shop! Lucy-Ann buys it just before Slade and Igor can.

I just want to know how Slade (and later, Bill) discover that this ship is in that shop. Do they have an online listing of all their gifts? Is the ship so important that there is a paper trail of sales leading to the shop? And if so, how can Lucy-Ann afford it with her pocket-money? The other question is how do Slade and Bill know that there are only four possible galleys out there? Surely anyone could make replicas?

Anyway. Igor collapses outside the shop to distract the children and Allie and Leon steals the bottle. Except he discovers he has stolen Jacks’ large container of cockatoo feed which just happens to be a cylinder of a similar size to the bottle.

Igor then manages to sneak on board and gets around the ship without anyone demanding to know who he is or what he is up to. The stewardess merely tries to direct him to the store cupboard when she sees him.

BIRTHDAY PRESENTS, RUNES AND BROKEN BOTTLES

Jack gets a scanner for his birthday which he can hook up to the little computer he takes everywhere with him, but they all agree that the ship in a bottle is the best gift of all. (It’s at this point I realised that Bill and Allie had booked a honeymoon to coincide with Jack’s birthday. That’s not very nice of them!)

There is runic writing on the ship like they’ve already seen on the stewardess’ necklace. She tells them it is called  the Andrea (not the Andra as in the book). The bottle smashes when Igor tries to steal it in the night, but Kiki scares him off before he can take the ship. Allie is momentarily concerned but then leaves the boys to pick up all the broken glass.

Can you spot Igor?

Can you spot Igor?

Of course the kids find the hidden piece of paper inside. I would call it a map, but it’s more of a parchment with colourful pictures on it – and more runes. They decide to have a treasure hunt, did you expect any less?

findingthemap

bettermap

MORE LAST MINUTE BOOKINGS AND BIRTHDAY PRESENTS

There are two new passengers on board – Slade and a young boy who is coached to say

You are Murray Eppilenska known to your friends as Eppy. You’re a watch manufacturer.” “I’m Lucas Eppilenska, your son, I’m 14. My mother couldn’t make it…

So these are Mr Eppy and Lucian. Eppy/Slade immediately gets close to Allie and the kids and Lucas gives Jack a suspicious watch for his birthday. It has a tracker in it. Igor then bursts into one of the children’s cabins and gets seen by the stewardess – so they then know that someone is really after them.

Igor then runs around roaring at people indiscriminately, then chases Jack when he realises he has the map on him.  Jack is actually saved by Eppy, and Igor taken off by police. Eppy has now more become even more trusted while preventing any further scenes on board.

INJURED RELATIVES, MAP SCANNING TECH AND BAD SIGNPOSTS

Allie then gets a message to say that Uncle Jocelyn has had an accident and broken his hip. Eppy is quick to offer to keep an eye on the children.

Once she’s out of the way, Jack gets to work scanning the map – which does have the outline of an island on it. His computer whizzes through all sorts of maps of the UK and matches it up with that of Anders Isle. Conveniently they are docked at Andersea at the time, which is very close to Anders Isle.

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Andersea is a real place, actually. It’s a tiny village lying between Taunton and Glastonbury in the Bridgewater area of Somerset. Bridgewater had a port many years ago, but it connects to the Bristol Channel and is nowhere near the Channel Islands, so I suspect this is a coincidence and the names were picked to go with the Andrea.

Handily for him, Igor was punted off the ship at Andersea and has been released by the time the children head off and hire bikes (with those strange flag things on the back). He is able to follow them to the stewardess’ friend’s house. Owen (a priest) is knowledgeable on runes and the island, and when shown three out of the four sections of the map furnishes them with some clues:

A monk with a snake – the guardian will show the way

A young woman – beware the smiling princess

The ship – turn the ship north, 7 and 5

A special coin – one has just sold at Sotheby’s for £50,000

Meanwhile Igor has changed the direction of a signpost back to the ship. The kids follow the wrong path on their way back and get chased by Igor who crashes his bike.

He just isn't a convincing baddie

He just isn’t a convincing baddie

BUGS, TEDDIES AND BILL AGAIN

They make it back to the ship and Philip finds a bug in their cabin. They then pretend to have hidden the map in a stuffed toy in the shop – saying it clearly into the bug so they will be overheard. It sounds an extremely stupid plan – even if no teddies had been sold yet, they couldn’t ensure that none would. But Lucas it sent to buy all the bears, watched by the kids. They then know exactly who is after them, and their map.

Allie has reached Craggy Tops by now to discover nothing is wrong with Uncle Joss. Two men from “the phone company” have disconnected the phone. This is actually a nice little twist on the tried-and-tested Blyton contrivance of getting the adult(s) out of the way. (Though even Blyton did use it herself in Circus of Adventure when Bill and Allie go off to help old Aunt Naomi who is perfectly fine.)

The kids have fled the ship to escape from Eppy and camped out on the island with next to no supplies. They might as well treasure-hunt while they’re there, though.

Bill then arrives on the ship while Eppy, Igor and Lucas are trailing after the children, following the signal from Jack’s watch.

As usual Kiki flies off… as she has done so many times in this series. Jack goes after her while the others wait. That means Eppy etc are only following Jack now. When he sees Eppy et al nearby he intermediately realises his watch is a tracker and sends Kiki flying off with it. This has the men running back and forward and round in circles.

And then there is lots of farcical running around (just like in every episode). Allie returns in time to run into Bill.

 

DONKEYS, COLUMNS AND THE QUEST FOR THE HOLY GRAIL

Using the map the children are able to find an old cross with a hollow column. They use the ‘7 and 5’ clue and try pacing five and seven steps from the cross, which seems pretty silly when they have to idea of direction or length of step. And yet Lucy-Ann digs up a stone with one of the map symbols on it on her first try. They turn it around and open a door at the bottom of the column.columntunnel

Igor is now leading along the donkey which the children saw earlier, I do not know why. There was a donkey in the book – bringing food for Mr Eppy’s crew and commandeered by the children.

Underground, the children find a big round pool which seems deep. A monk from the map is on the wall – walking on water. Dinah follows the ‘guardian’ and finds stepping stones just under the surface of the water, following the shape of the snake. (Somewhat like Indiana Jones making the leap from the lion’s head in his quest for the Holy Grail).

A TRAIL OF WINEGUMS, THE PRINCESS TRAP AND DON’T CROSS ALLIE WHEN SHE’S MAD

Lucy-Ann has left a trail of wine gums leading Eppy right to the open column so he is soon after them (though how he knows how to cross the pool is a mystery).

Three of the children forget to follow the map advice and get shut in a room with the smiling princess statue – only Dinah isn’t in there so she can rescue them. She spots another monk on the wall, holding a ship in a bottle.

Using the 7 and 5 again they find a tile in the roof and press it, revealing a cascade of the coins like the one on the map. Eppy walks in just in time to see this, and ties the kids up. He even ties Lucas up – and reveals that Lucas’ father has been held hostage presumably so that Lucas will do Eppy’s business.

Of course the children escape and do the only sensible thing – make lots of scary noises. to scare Igor and Eppy.

Bill and Allie have visited Owen and managed to make their way to the cross, and find Eppy clutching bags of money, and Allie knocks him into the water by throwing a bag of money at him.

HAPPY ENDINGS?

We assume everything then has a happy ending and Lucas is reunited with his father… but nothing is said.

Allie and Bill get married by Owen (the priest who helped them with the map) and thankfully there are no awful bridesmaids dresses.

The episode ends as the kids promise no more adventures with their fingers crossed behind their backs.

MY THOUGHTS

This is another slightly strange adaptation.

A lot is lost by taking away the rich Greek history of the story. Much of the excitement is lost by revealing the secret nature of the ship before the children even embark on the cruise, and again a lot of time is given to silly chases and pointless running around. Igor is one of the worst baddies I’ve ever seen – he’s stupid, bumbling, clumsy and I don’t think he utters a fully coherent word the whole way through.

They somewhat redeem themselves with the underground portion of the episode, though – the set is convincing and the clues work. I’m really glad they kept to the underground passages to find the treasure and the column with a tunnel inside it as well.

Posted in Blyton on Screen | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Monday #195

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Fiona

We are going back to two posts this week as it’s my – ee gawd – 30th birthday this week and I’ll be away over the weekend hiding from the world.

So we will just have:

wedfri7And then we will be back with more Christmassy things for you!

In other news: Sotheby’s are holding an auction of Children’s artwork on Tuesday 13th December. In it will the the five cover artwork used for the 70th anniversary editions of The Famous Five. If you have 2-3 grand to spare and want to own an original piece of Famous Five artwork (or think it would make a splendid 30th birthday present for yours truly…) you can see them here, lots 294- 298. The auction starts at 2.30pm and you can bid in person, by phone or online. It’s for a good cause, too!

The auction is to raise money for House of Illustration, the UK’s only public gallery devoted to illustration based in King’s Cross in London. We put on exhibitions and events, promote new illustration talent, commission new art work and we have an illustrator-led learning programme for schools, families, students and enthusiasts of all ages. We are a registered charity and receive no public funding, raising all the money ourselves from admissions, retail and fundraising from a variety of sources.

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Blyton at Christmas 1946-1950

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Fiona

There are such a huge amount of stories still that I’ve only made it through five years worth here! The stories from 1920 through to 1945 can be see here.

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The 1940s continued

For the Christmas Tree from The Second Holiday Book, 1947

It would be fun to make some gay little baskets to hang on the Christmas tree, full of sweets.

We want some flat round corks, some long pins, and some bright coloured wool.

Perhaps Mother has a pickle-cork she can let us have, a nice flat one that we can cut into two, and use for the bases of two baskets. If you are not very old, ask Mother to cut the cork for you, or you may hurt yourself with the knife.

Now we have our flat cork. Stick the long pins in all round – not too close together. Now take a gay length of wool and begin to twist it from pin to pin. You must begin weaving at the base of the pins, of course, not at the top. Go on weaving until the pins are quite covered with the wool, and you have your little basket.

A piece of wire (or a hairpin) will do for a handle. Twist some wool over it, then bend the ends to catch under the edges of the basket, just as in the picture.

Now put your sweets in, and hang your little basket up on a twig of the Christmas tree. If you make half a dozen, they will look very gay hanging on the tree.

The Christmas Tree Aeroplane from The Second Holiday Book, 1947

All the children in the village were as excited as could be, because the lady at the Big House was giving a party –  and every boy and girl was invited!

“I’m going to wear my new suit,” said Alan.

“I’m going to have on my new blue dress,” said Eileen.

“There’s going to be crackers and balloons,” said John.

“And an ENORMOUS Christmas tree that nearly reaches the ceiling!” said Harry.

“And a lovely tea with jellies and chocolate cake,” said Belinda.

“It will be the loveliest party that ever was!” said Kenneth.

“Look! There’s the tree going up to the Big House!” cried Fred.

All the children ran into the lane and watched the cart going up the snowy road, with a big Christmas tree lying on it.

“There’s a fine pack of toys for this tree!” called the driver, who was Alan’s father. “I’ve seen them. My, you’ll be lucky children!”

“What’s for the top of the tree?” asked Belinda. “Will there be a fairy doll?”

“No, not this year,” said the driver. “There is going to be something different – it’s a Santa Claus in an aeroplane!”

So all the children dress up – apart from Harry who seems to come from a poor family. His mother’s also too ill in bed to get him a clean hanky. Never the less he gives away his balloon when someone else’s bursts, and gives away the bonnet from his cracker. Then one of the other children is somehow missed out, and doesn’t get a present from the tree. Harry selflessly gives up his ship to the other child.

Just before he has to walk home alone in the dark, the lady who held the party realises he hasn’t got any of his toys and prizes to take home. When the other children tell her how he gave them away she gives him the Santa Claus aeroplane from the top of the tree, a box of cakes, dish of fruit jelly and a ride home in her car.

Bells! Bells! Bells! from The Second Holiday Book, 1947

A Flock of Christmas Robins from The Second Holiday Book, 1947

Christmas Puzzles from The Second Holiday Book, 1947

The clues I give you must be turned into a rhyming couplet. For instance “a kindly gift” can be changed to “a pleasant present” which is a rhyming couplet; “a Christmas donkey” to a “yule mule” and so on.

  1. A neat and trim Christmas bird
  2. A curtsying Christmas bird
  3. A fidgety Christmas bird
  4. A jolly celebration
  5. A happy decorations
  6. An enormous bob-bon

Can you guess them all?

[Answers provided at the end of the post!]

The Strange Christmas Tree from A Second Book of Naughty Children, 1947

One year George, Kenneth and Doris demand their mother buy them a Christmas tree from the market. What they don’t know is it was planted by a pixie and is a very special tree. At home, mother covers it in candles, toys, sweets and ornaments and tells the children not to go near it. But of course these are Naughty Children as the title of the book suggests.

“It looks nice,” said Doris.

“It’s not so big as the one last year,” said George.

“It hasn’t got enough toys on,” said Kenneth.

“There’s something I mean to get, anyway,” said Doris, pointing to a box of crackers. “So don’t you ask for that, boys!”

“Don’t be mean, Doris,” said George. “You got the crackers last year. It’s my turn!”

“Well I’m going to have the soldiers,” said Kenneth, and he took hold of a box of them. “There’s only one box this year, George, and as I’m the oldest, I’m going to have them. See? If you ask for them I’ll smack you hard afterwards.”

“Don’t be so mean and horrid!” said George. “If you smack me, I shall smack you! I’ll pinch you too!”

“Look! Look!” said Doris suddenly. “Here’s a box of chocolates. Shall we undo the lid and take some? Nobody will know.”

Now, wasn’t that a horrid, mean thing to do? Children that will do things like that don’t deserve a lovely Christmas tree, and that’s just what the tree thought. But it stood there quite still and silent, listening and looking.

The children took the chocolates – but Doris had the biggest one, so they began to quarrel again. George hit Doris, and then Doris smacked Kenneth, and soon they were all fighting. The tree was most disgusted. It had never seen such behaviour before.

The children bumped against the tree and knocked off a lovely pink glass ornament. It fell to the floor and broke.

“Silly tree!” said Doris rudely. “Why can’t you hold things properly? Why aren’t you as big as last year’s tree? You’re not half so pretty!”

Is it any surprise then, that this tree uproots and walks off? Ending up in the garden of a very poor family who had admired the tree through the window earlier? They are delighted and grateful for the presents and the tree then heads back into the forest.

The First Christmas and The Shepherds and the Angels from Before I Go to Sleep, 1947

This is Blyton’s retelling of the first Christmas, with Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus in the stable, and also of the angels and shepherds visiting the next day.

There are also a prayer and a carol.

A Week Before Christmas from Enid Blyton’s Treasury, 1947

This is one of the stories included in Enid Blyton’s Christmas Stories last year.

The Jameson Family were making their Christmas plans. They sat around the table under the lamp, four of them – Mother, Ronnie, Ellen and Betsy. Daddy as far away across the sea, and wouldn’t be home for Christmas.

“Now, we haven’t got much money,” said Mother, “so we must spend it carefully this Christmas. We can’t afford a turkey, but I can get a nice fat chicken. I’ve made a fine big plum-pudding, and I shall buy as much fruit as I can for you. Perhaps I can buy tangerines for a treat!”

“Can we afford a little Christmas-tree?” asked Betsy. She was ten and loved a gay Christmas tree hung with all kinds of shiny things. “Just a little one, Mother, if we can’t afford a big one.”

“Yes, I’ll see what I can do” said Mother, writing it down on her list. “And I’ve made the cake, a nice big one. I’ve only got to ice it and put Christmassy figures on it. I’ll see if I can buy a little red Father Christmas for the middle of it.”

However, disaster befalls Mother as she loses her handbag and all her money while out delivering magazines. There will be no Christmas now!

Thankfully these are good children and they put they head together to try to raise money for a chicken and tangerines. Ronnie starts delivering prescriptions for the pharmacy, Ellen takes children out for walks and keeps them amused and Betsy goes to read to a blind woman as a companion.

Between them they earn a fair amount towards Christmas, but it is Ronnie who really saves the day, as he offers to sweep someone’s path for free and finds Mother’s handbag buried in the snow.

Santa Claus Makes a Mistake from The Green Story Book 1947

I’m not completely sure but I think that Santa Claus Makes a Mistake may be the same story which then appears in The Teacher’s Treasury – but it’s certainly the same one in Sunny Stories Magazine.

The story is about Ellen and John who, after hanging up their stockings and going to sleep nice and early on Christmas Eve, are woken in the middle of the night. They go downstairs and find…

“A boot hanging down in the chimney! look!”
Sure enough, there was a boot there –  a big black boot – and it was on a leg – and the leg was kicking about! As the children watched, another boot came down the chimney.
“It is Santa Claus!” said Jack. “He always wears big black boots in his pictures. Oh Ellen, he’s come down the wrong chimney. He’ll burn himself on the fire!”

It’s then up to the children to put out the fire and rescue Santa from the chimney!

The Man Who Wasn’t Father Christmas from A Story Party at Green Hedges, 1949

There was once an old man with a long white beard who loved children. He was very poor, so he couldn’t give the children anything, and you can guess that he always wished at Christmas-time that he was Father Christmas.

“Goodness! What fun I’d have if I were Father Christmas!” he thought. “Think of having a sack that was always full of toys – that couldn’t be emptied, because it was magic. How happy I should be!”

Now one Christmas-time the old man saw a little notice in the window of a big shop. This is what it said : “WANTED. A man with a white beard to be Father Christmas, and give out paper leaflets in the street.”

Well, the old man stared at this notice, and wondered if he couldn’t get the job.

He does get the job – but he is disappointed that he will only be handing out leaflets and not presents. The leaflets are to entice people into the store to buy their Christmas presents there. The children that see him are even more disappointed at not getting so much as a sweet from Father Christmas. The old man feels terrible then, pretending to be someone generous but unable to give out anything but adverts. But then:

It wasn’t horse-bells he heard. It was reindeer-bells! To the great surprise of the old man, a large sleigh drove down he road, drawn by reindeer. And it in was – well, you can guess without being told – the real Father Christmas!

Father Christmas (the real one) needs directions and the old man explains why he’s dressed as Santa. Father Christmas is very understanding and asks if the old man can’t do him a good turn. That good turn is driving the reindeer around the town while he gets something to eat. And of course – handing out presents to any children he sees! After all that, he then wakes up on Christmas morning to find a coin purse in his stocking. Not just any coin purse, a magic one that is always filled with pennies which he intends to give out to children.

The Tiny Christmas Tree from Tales After Supper, 1949

There was once a very small Christmas tree. It lived in the woods among all the other Christmas trees that were grown for Christmas-time.

There are rows and rows of tall trees, big enough for the grandest parlour or school hall. All those trees are sure they will be sold and are imagining being topped with a pretty fairy and holding ornaments and tinsel. By Christmas Eve most of the trees have been sold, and the tiny Christmas Tree is alone in a wide open space.

Then a little boy and girl came running towards the trees. They stopped beside the tiny tree.

“This one would do beautifully,” said the little girl.

“It’s just about the right size,” said the boy. Let’s ask if we may have it.”

They are told they can have it for nothing, as it would otherwise be dug up and thrown away. When it arrives at the children’s house it meets a grand Christmas tree which was next to it in the field. That informs him that he cannot be the Christmas tree for the house, as that position has already been filled.

The children hang coconut pieces on it with string, along with bacon rind, a bone, crusts of bread and sprays of millet seed.

It’s a tree for the bird-table! (An idea also used in The Book of the Year for the school children.)

Let’s Make Some Christmas Trees from Enid Blyton’s Bluebell Story Book, 1949

Good Gracious, Santa Claus! from Enid Blyton’s Bluebell Story Book, 1949

There seem to be a lot of stories in this vein. Two children, Elsie and Nicky, should be asleep on Christmas Eve but are not. Nicky worries that Santa may not come to their big town thanks to all the telegraph wires. This turns out to be somewhat prophetic, as although Santa does come, his sleigh gets caught on the telegraph wires and tips all the presents out.

The children bring Santa inside to recover as his reindeer have run (flown?) away.

“Very worrying,” he said, half to himself. “Very worrying. My reindeer gone, and all those toys to take – and no way of getting to the chimneys of the houses! Dear, dear, dear!”

“Can’t you whistle your reindeer back to you?” asked Elsie.

“Not after eleven o’clock, my dear, not after eleven,” said Santa Claus. “Not allowed to whistle them, you know, for fear of waking children up. Well, well – what in the world am I to do?”

After biscuits and milks the children hit on the solution of borrowing some more reindeer from the zoo.

Little Mrs. Millikin from The Fourth Holiday Book, 1949

I got a tip-off on this from the Enid Blyton Society Forums – as by the name alone you couldn’t guess it was a Christmas tale!

Mrs Millikin is a little old lady who loves children. She spends all her money on other people’s children, giving them sweets and toys and biscuits she has made. At Christmas she goes quite mad.

She went to the toy-shop and bought dolls, toys, and books. She went to the sweet-shop and bought packets of sweets and boxes of chocolates and tins of biscuits. She went to the book-shop and bought all kinds of gay cards. Really, she had a perfectly lovely time – but she was happiest of all when she gave what she had bought to the children, and heard all their squeals of joy and saw their beaming faces.

“That’s my best Christmas present,” she always said. “That’s my very best Christmas present – seeing the children so happy and excited.”

She saves up very hard by scrubbing floors, washing curtains and mending socks, but this year a hole in her pocket causes her to lose all her money and she can’t buy gifts for the children. She also can’t buy herself Christmas dinner, but she’s not worried about that, only the children.

It just so happens, though, that that Christmas Santa goes down the wrong chimney into Mrs Millikin’s house. He thinks she is a child asleep in bed but isn’t sure at all how old she is – or whether she is a boy or a girl. So he fills the pair of mended socks with presents for all ages and genders. She is then able to distribute all those toys to the children – and ends up with an invite to have Christmas dinner with one family.

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The 1950s

The Doll on the Christmas Tree from The Yellow Story Book, 1950

Raggy was a funny little doll. She was called Raggy because she was stuffed with rags and was very soft and cuddly. But she was old now, and her face looked queer. She had odd eyes; her hair was made of yellow wool, her nose was flat, and her teeth and lips were made of white and red stitches.

Every Christmas the children sorted out their old toys, and put those aside that they could spare. They were given away to children who had very few toys. But Raggy was never given away because the children loved her so much.

Unfortunately the new toys that arrive that Christmas do not have the same opinion on Raggy. They think she is dirty and battered. They aren’t very complimentary to the other older toys in the nursery either.

For some reason the family then try to get a fairy for the top of the Christmas tree – after Christmas – and can’t get one. Mother looks over the dolls in the nursery and ends up picking out Raggy for the job.

After unpicking her old dirty clothes –

She worked very hard all the evening. She made Raggy a lovely frilly dress sewn with tiny silver beads. She made her a most beautiful pair of silver fairy wings that stuck out behind Raggy like real ones. She washed Raggy’s woollen hair and fried it, and it looked clean and golden. She made a silver crown and a litlver wand, and she even made a little pair of silver shoes!

“There. You look lovely!” said Mother. “The prettiest fairy doll we have ever had, Raggy! I’ll put you at the top of the tree.”

Being an Enid Blyton story there’s an essence of come-uppance when the new toys fawn over the pretty new fairy and then discover she’s actually Raggy.

It reminds me a little of the fairy on the tree in my house when I was a child. It was a cheap Sindy style doll with fluffy yellow curls, a white dress with silver adornments, legs strapped together with elastic bands to hold her on the top of the tree and fingers that were fused together (in fact a finger or two had snapped off the plastic had grown so brittle). We loved her though and were very upset – as adults – when my parents replaced her with a proper fairy doll.

The Christmas-Tree Party from Tricky the Goblin and Other Stories, 1950

Janey and Robin know the children in the house across the road are having a Christmas party as they have been watching from the window. Janey is in awe of the spread on the table and the beautiful tree while Robin is sulky that they are not invited (not going to the same school or even knowing the children).

Janey watched for a long time. It did seem as if the party was going to be a beautiful one! Janey counted how many chairs were round the table – sixteen! The maid put out dishes of sandwiches and cakes and buns and jellies and blanc-manges. And right in the very middle of the table she put the big Christmas cake, but she didn’t light the candles. They would not be lighted until the tea-time.

“A Christmas-tree party is the very best kind of party,” said Janey to herself. “Oh now I do believe the children’s mother is going to put all the presents on the tree now!”

So she was! The tree reached almost to the ceiling, and already had dozens of unlighted candles on it, and some bright shiny ornaments and coloured balls. Now the mother was hanging dolls and engines and books and motor-cars and all kinds of exciting toys on it.

When Janey notices that the tree is in danger of falling onto the table she rushes over to warn the family and earns herself an invite to join the party. Robin, who wished ill on the party-goers has to stay home and continue to sulk.

The Enormous Christmas Stocking from My Enid Blyton Book No.3, 1950

There was once a little girl called Margery, who always liked a lot of everything. She liked a big plateful of pudding, she liked the biggest cake on the dish, and liked the finest doll in the shop.

“You’re a greedy little pig,” the other children said to her when they saw her take the biggest and best things for herself.

She also wants the biggest and best Christmas presents, and lots of them too!

“Father Christmas, are you listening? These are the things I want. I want a railway train and lines and signal just like Harry has. I want twelve different books – school stories, adventure stories and circus stories. I want six new dolls for my dolls’ house, all dressed differently. I want a tea-set, one with buttercups and daisies on. I want a little tiny sewing machine that will really sew.”

Her only problem now, is that all that will never fit in her stocking! She decided to knit a new, enormous stocking to solve that problem. When Santa comes down the chimney and sees it, however, he is not impressed. He decides that if Margery is going to behave like a greedy little pig he shall give her piggy presents. And so Margery wakes up to her stocking simply stuffed… with vegetables. Leeks, turnips, parsnips, carrots and swedes.

Answers to the earlier puzzles!

  1. A spruce goose
  2. A bobbin’ robin
  3. A jerky turkey
  4. A hearty party
  5. A whacker cracker

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