The Circus of Adventure

Posted on August 14, 2015 by pippastef
The Circus of Adventure without Dustjacket

The Circus of Adventure without Dustjacket

So I finally got stuck into The Circus of Adventure, and I have to admit, for all my sins I haven’t been able to finish it, but I have read 3/4 of it so feel refreshed enough to review it for you!

Before we even begin on the story however, I do feel I should mention the extra special, long introduction from Blyton at the beginning of the book. She says how she was going to end the series with The Ship of Adventure but all the children’s letters persuaded her to carry on. How right the children were – just because Bill and Allie got married (spoilers, sorry!) that didn’t mean the story of the Mannerings and Trents was finished. It’s true that the Adventure series only carried on for two more books, and the last one is rather a disappointment in respects to some fans but I feel I would have been disappointed if the series ended at The Ship of Adventure which I feel isn’t one of her strongest Adventure books. Circus however has to be one of my favourites. Right up there with Castle and Sea. Maybe you’ll see why when you’ve finished reading the blog. I hope so.

The beginning of the book starts with the children coming home for the spring holidays. They’re loud, excited and eager to be at home with Aunt Allie, and their new addition to the family, Bill. Aunt Allie, or Mrs Mannering, has now become Mrs Cunningham – I wish Blyton had written their wedding, I wonder if Bill was late because he was on a job? (Maybe I’ll fill that hole in one day and write it for you all!) Anyway, she announces to the children straight away that Bill has suggested that they all go off somewhere on holiday and that they are to unpack and pack immediately.

Chaos then envelopes them all as they try to pack enough, but “not too much” as Mrs Cunningham says. She only wants them to take one set of clothes each, which is rather bold considering how quickly the Famous Five and the Mannering/Trents get themselves into adventures and often come home as muddy as people who have been to the Glastonbury rock festival (if you don’t know what this is, or what I mean, Google Image it. You will soon understand). Still eventually she manages to get them to pack suitably and not let Jack take all his heavy bird watching books.

In the middle of the packing however, she gets a mysterious phone call from Bill saying that he’s agreed to look after a friend’s nephew during the hols, which the children don’t like, but there is a consensus that they would rather have this boy than lose Bill for the holiday. Bill arrives him shortly with Gustavus Barmilevo and the children instantly dislike him as he’s strange, has long hair and is younger than them. The boys vow to put him in his place and become unusually hard with the young boy.

I suppose this feels strange because the Five are usually in the company of someone younger and the Trents and Mannerings tend to do a lot on their own without outside parties being present In fact, Tassie in Castle and Lucian in Ship are the only two companions in the whole series up until this point. Gussy reminds me a bit of Richard Kent in Five get into Trouble, and is a bit spineless to begin with and then suddenly he steps up to the plate. Its a remarkable transformation.

The big secret around Gussy is that he is actually the prince of a place no-one had heard of (and it’s a big old secret that Blyton made it up), Tauri-Hessia. Please don’t ask me to pronounce it, because I don’t even think I could. Given that it is a fictional country I cannot tell you where it is, however from a guess I would say it would be over towards Romania, Ukraine and the eastern block of Europe, just because of the way Blyton describes the clothes of the villagers later on in the book. That’s my thoughts on it anyway.

Now, when Gussy gives the game away by telling the children that he really is a crowned Prince, we finally get from the slow moving dullness of a ‘normal’ holiday to the exciting part where Gussy is kidnapped by some men who do not like his Uncle, the King’s, ruling and plan to put the weak Gussy on the thrown. In the act of catching Gussy, the men also take Philip, Dinah and Lucy-Ann from the cottage where they are staying. A clever plot device from Blyton was to have Allie and Bill overpowered on a late night walk and Jack outside watching the owls.

Jack manages to come back to the cottage just as the others are being bundled away and jumps on the back of the car and manages to stow away on the plane that is used to transport them all to Tauri-Hessia. When he’s there he has the problem of not knowing any of the language and through a series of mishaps Jack ends up with the Circus who are happy enough to have him and Kiki along, as well as travelling close to where the children are being held.

Jack attempts a daring rekkie to see where the others are being hidden, and then with the help of the Circus people rescues them. This is the book where I really decided that Jack was my favourite Adventurer because he does everything so level-headedly and he was so brave and daring. I think it also became one of my favourite books because of this long passage where you got to have an adventure on your own with Jack and Kiki.

The story as well is just as colourful and joyful as usual and is full of fun and adventure, in fact one of the biggest they’ve had because this adventure is the first one where they’re supposed to be protecting someone and its gone wrong. It shows as well that Bill is only human, even though he is an amazing secret agent. There are lovely little touches in Circus that make it one of the strongest in a very strong series. There are never as many plot holes in the Adventure series than the Famous Five, but that might be simply down to the fact that the Adventure series is only eight books long and is a much closer knit series than the 21 volumes of the Famous Five with stories that are very episodic rather than part of a carry on in a way.

Anyway, please let me know your thoughts on Circus. Where does it come on your list?

The Circus of Adventure Dustjacket

The Circus of Adventure dustjacket

Next review: The River of Adventure

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My Eighteenth Noddy book: Noddy Goes to the Fair

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Fiona

My eighteenth Noddy should have been Cheer Up, Little Noddy which I was going to review last week. Unfortunately when I opened it I discovered the first 18 pages were missing (what a swizz!) and that put paid to a review. So this week I’m skipping onto the next in the series which I was able to pull from my new bookcase instead of from a plastic box.

The cover - though mine is more of a forest green.

The cover – though mine is more of a forest green.

Noddy’s tale, this time, opens on a very windy morning. It blows Noddy’s hat off and then it blows off Mr Plod’s helmet. Noddy really is most disrespectful to the policeman, even if he is annoyingly intent on catching Noddy up to no good. He had left his car on a corner with Bumpy Dog looking after it but being a troublesome animal Bumpy Dog went off and left it. I’m not sure that Bumpy Dog could really be considered responsible for a vehicle but either way Noddy is in trouble for his bad parking.

Mr Plod says he will lock up Noddy’s car for a week, and so Noddy says “I SHAN’T let you,” which somehow seems worse than his usual tantrums and protestations. While Mr Plod is distracted by his escaping helmet he decides to hop in his car and drive off – that way he can still go to the fair that Miss Fluffy cat has told him about.

Thus begins a life on the run for little Noddy! He manages to go about his usual day at first, ferrying his passengers around Toy Village but when he returns home for lunch Mr Plod is waiting for him! He is spotted by the policeman but drives off in a hurry – buying a sandwich for lunch before taking Tessie Bear to the fair. She isn’t too concerned about gallivanting about with a wanted criminal, she just worries that Mr Plod may find them at the fair.

Bumpy Dog turns up at the fair too and makes himself somewhat useful fetching hats which have blown off in the continuing winds. Suddenly a lot happens all at once. Mr Plod arrives at the fair and loses his helmet to the wind. Bumpy Dog catches the helmet and runs off with it. Noddy and Tessie Bear try to evade Mr Plod and run into old Saucepan Man (the same Saucepan Man as lives in The Faraway Tree perhaps?). They’ve met him before apparently – and Ee-aw his donkey – but that must have happened in one of the books I haven’t yet read. Anyway, at this point Noddy also realises he’s lost all his money through a hole in his pocket and decides to go looking for it.

So we have Mr Plod searching for Noddy, Noddy searching for his lost money and Bumpy Dog running about with the policeman’s helmet.

Noddy’s search for his money is fruitless but Ee-aw allows him and Tessie to ride for free and they do so, Noddy making up a song to sing along the way. (Not the most discrete behaviour when you’re hiding from the police but such a Noddy thing to do.) It’s mentioned that the Saucepan Man is almost deaf from the saucepans he sells clanging so I think he must be the same character – Blyton does do that on occasion especially with her fantasy stories, crossing over characters.

Bumpy Dog returns minus the helmet, and gives Noddy some of the pennies he had earned by catching so many hats and so he and Tessie Bear head over to the coconut shy for a turn. One of the coconuts has a face painted on it and a familiar blue helmet on top…

After winning themselves a coconut they hear the bad news that Mr Plod has managed to find Noddy’s car even if he couldn’t find the little toy himself. He has taken off the steering wheel so that Noddy can’t drive his car and Noddy is furious.

I’ll get his helmet and stamp on it! I’ll pull off his buttons!

Thankfully Big Ears is a bit more sensible than Noddy and points out he’d end up in jail alongside his steering wheel if he did that. Noddy hatches an alternative plan instead, when he sees Mr Plod getting a ride on the roundabout all on his own. He bribes the roundabout man into giving Mr Plod a very long ride indeed, and when he goes off to buy some food Noddy speeds up the roundabout to make Mr Plod giddy and sick.

The roundabout man rescues him at last but it’s Tessie Bear that manages to persuade him to give up the steering wheel – by promising to show him where his helmet it. Instead of being grateful he’s furious at the coconut made to look like himself and scares everyone at the fair into hiding – while Noddy and Tessie Bear escape in Noddy’s car.

I kept expecting Noddy to have his comeuppance all the way through as he really behaves quite badly. I don’t exactly like Mr Plod either (neither do the residents of Toy Village if the coconut incident is anything to go by) but that doesn’t make Noddy’s behaviour OK. I swing back and forth over whether I like Noddy as I read these books and after this title the answer has to be ‘No’.

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Happy Birthday, Enid!

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Fiona

Having been born in 1897, it would be Enid Blyton’s 118th birthday today. I think that’s the perfect excuse to celebrate with a piece (or indeed pieces) of cake. Don’t you?

Virtual cake to celebrate with

Virtual cake to celebrate with

Posted in Enid Blyton | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Monday Madness

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Fiona

“Here we are again, as happy as can be, all good friends and jolly good company”

Did you like my singing? It sounds a bit like nails down a chalk board really, which is a shame. However it is Monday again, more of an excuse for me to stop singing and deafening everyone! Hope your weekends went well. We’ve been getting used to our new schedule here at World of Blyton. I hope it worked for you?

This week however, we will be posting a Sunday blog as one came in from the lovely Laura who has been re-reading The Adventurous Four and has done a smashing review for us!

Fiona isn’t quite sure what she’ll do this week, as she’s just moved into her new flat and has yet to unpack her masses of books!

I’m trying to power through Circus of Adventure to review for you, and I shall try and have it done by blogging day.

And with that, I don’t think we have any more news for you. I hope you enjoy our blogs this week, don’t forget we are taking contributions still!

I shall leave you with a picture from my walk at Bourne End yesterday. Hope you like it!

The River Thames at Bourne End.

The River Thames at Bourne End.

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How to Throw a Famous Five Party

Posted on August 7, 2015 by pippastef

I know I know, I have failed to bring you a review of The Circus of Adventure  yet again, but I’m sure you’d rather I’d had a refreshing read of it, before I wrote about it. This means that I’m going to write about how to throw a Blyton party based on the children’s events I’ve been doing at work for a year or so now.

These events are mostly for children aged 5 to 8 but I’m sure they can be adapted for older children as well, and even for adults if you were that way inclined!

For the preparation, I would take a look at our recipes on the blog (which can be found a little way down this page) and see what Blyton inspired food you’d like to make for your party. Don’t forget the two most important things however; sandwiches (and plenty of them!) and ginger beer or lemonade! Those are what make a Blyton feast – don’t leave them out of yours!

I used this picture for the

I used this picture for the “Name the Five” part of the activity, but you can use whatever picture you want!

To start off, I always ask the children if they know the Famous Five, and can they name all of them by sticking the names on a picture of the Five. I chose a picture from the 90s TV series for this part as I’m sure the children would respond better to real people rather than Eileen Soper’s lovely drawings. Of course for older children or adults you can use the illustrations.

To make the name tags I just wrote the names out large on a word processing document and printed them out and cut them up.

The children then use blu-tack to stick the names over the character and hopefully, they’ll have got them all right. On Monday we had a bit of confusion over who was George and who was Dick and then who was Dick and who was Julian, but we got there in the end. They all seemed pretty clued up that the dog was Timmy though and that Anne was the one in a dress!  If you’re making it a big party, make sure you have a couple of sets for this part and make sure you organize the children into teams! We don’t want any squabbles now, do we?

IMAG0808So the next part is all done with paper plates and felt-tip pens. Weaving a story into the party you say that now the Famous Five have introduced themselves, that you’re all off on a picnic. Using the paper plates the children design their own picnic, drawing what they would like to eat on a plate. Usually you get some pretty samey things coming up but you do get the odd weird thing. I’ve had “blue raspberry lemonade” come up before. Now that certainly wasn’t in any Blyton book.

However the children can get quite creative, and its lovely to see the way they come up with all the yummy things that they would take on a picnic. Its a good one for adults too, because often they haven’t drawn in years and this is a chance to get back into the swing of things.

The next part of the story would be that after the picnic, George and Julian have a row and George storms off, just like Five Go Off to Camp for example. I have never worked out a reason why they row, but you can fill that in yourself. Following on from that the story then turns into “George gets kidnapped!” again, haven’t worked out a reason why, but you know children aren’t all that into detail at lot of the time. But if you can think of a reason please feel free to put it in.

The Treasure hunt tags with the clues as to George's whereabouts are spelt out!

The Treasure hunt tags with the clues as to George’s whereabouts are spelt out!

Now comes the hard work part. Before the party you will need to get some pieces of paper, or in my case I used parcel tags that were on offer in Hobbycraft last year, and write the letters of the place George is being held prisoner on them. One letter on each tag or piece of paper. Then, using blu- tack, you need to hide them all over your available space. The bigger the better, because you have more options on where to hide them then. Tell the children that they can help find George, but they must go and find these clues! In my adventure the letters spell out “Kirrin Island dungeon”. Also if you want, try and find a map of Kirrin Village. If you have the 2014 Famous Five Annual, I believe there is a map of the village in there.

With the clues all collected, try and let them  spell it out themselves, but ultimately if you need to, do some steering. I usually tell them to look at the map and see if there are any letters on it that match what they have. The “K” tag is a good place to start as if you’re basing your adventure in Kirrin, it helps them get the first word.

Jemima as George, with her curly hair. Doesn't she look grand?

Jemima as George, with her curly hair. Doesn’t she look grand?

When they’ve worked out your clue the next part is to “find and rescue George”. I do this by having a picture of George put up somewhere for the children to find. This obviously helps if you have a big space, as again, they have to work harder to find her. I use a picture of Jemima Rooper to tie in with the picture at the beginning where they have to name all the Five, but feel free to use any picture you want.

After that its a simple case of doing a collage on a line drawing of Timmy the dog. I found a picture a year ago now that I’ve been using, but I can’t find a replica on  google now. So I’ve found an alternative which can be found here. You will need glue sticks and scissors for this part and please just be careful of little fingers and scissors! They do produce some masterpieces I can tell you!

So there you are, that’s how to host a Famous Five party! Let me know if you give it a try, I’d like to know how it goes!

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The Island of Adventure – How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? part 12

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Fiona

The first week of our new schedule hasn’t quite gone to plan. Tonight I settled down to  review Cheer Up, Little Noddy for you. Unfortunately when I opened the book I discovered it started on page 19. Nearly a third of the book was missing so I didn’t really feel I could review it! Thinking quickly I decided to just skip to the next book in the series before my brain caught up with itself and remembered all my other Noddys (in fact almost all my books) are in my new flat. Thankfully the half-dozen books I’ve still got here include two copies of The Island of Adventure so I’ve been able to get on with comparing them. 

Oh – and to add to the generally disastrous feeling of the evening as I went to start this post I discovered that last time I forgot to change the title of the post and therefore did two part tens. I’ve fixed it now, though, so onwards and upwards. 

Previous parts (correctly numbered!) are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven.

My own copy of the book is an 8th impression from 1955 (it was my mum’s before it was mine) and the modern copy I’m comparing it to is a Macmillan one from 2001 (one I borrowed from Stef).

Reading both and taking notes
Island of Adventure Millennium edition by Larry Ronstant

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: AN EXTRAORDINARY FIND

Our first change this chapter is on the usual lines of gender equality. Jack originally says that If I were a girl, I bet I’d burst into tears. It has become If I were a baby. After that, he had said But as I’m a boy, I must just grin and bear it. That doesn’t make so much sense now that boy has become baby so it has been changed to but I won’t do it. I must just grin and bear it. It’s funny sometimes how they try to stick to exactly the same wording with one word replaced and other times they feel the need to rewrite things. To stick nearer the text it could have been But as I’m not, I must… or But as I’m grown-up/older, I must…

Much like in our purses one-pound notes have been done away with in the modern edition. Jack had found bundles of one-pound notes along with bundles of five- and ten-pound notes but now he just finds the fives and tens, which apparently are enough to make people rich beyond their wildest dreams. If we’re sensibly updating here, surely there would need to be twenties/fifties/hundreds there? I mean… who bothers mass-counterfeiting fivers and tenners these days?

Lastly the only queer has become strange.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: A BAD TIME – AND A SURPRISE MEETING

Bucking the trend this time, and we’ve gained a hyphen where half starved becomes half-starved. We also get a new alternative to queer – mysterious, and another instance of queer is simply removed rather than being replaced.

And finally they’ve decided to rewrite another sentence instead of just replacing a word. The original line reads his voice breaking in a queer way, with joy and relief. It’s now his voice breaking in a great gasp of joy and relief. Again, to stick closer to the original text it could simply have become his voice breaking in a strange way. Or even his voice breaking with joy and relief. I really hate how the editors think they know how to write better than an author as successful as Blyton.

I’m going to count that as seven changes which brings us to 117 in total. Just three chapters to go now, and Goodreads informs me I’m 87% of the way through the book.

 

Posted in Updating Blyton's Books | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

First Monday of August

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Fiona

From this week we’re going to have a different posting schedule. Our current one worked just fine for us for the past year or so but at the moment things are very quiet on the contributor front and we’re struggling to fill our Wednesday slot. With that in mind we’ve decided to change things about so that we’ll do our posts on Wednesday and Friday. That gives us the weekend off – though if anybody sends us anything we can post it on a Sunday.

That means this week’s schedule looks like this:

blueblog

 

One thing that won’t change is our Monday post complete with our usual photo gallery. This week’s aren’t my latest photos as they’re still on the camera but I’ve been out enough lately to have some others to use.

 

Not a very spectacular picture but I also saw my very first hare last week (and spent several minutes wondering what on earth it could be):

DSCN3336

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Famous Five 90s Style: Five Fall Into Adventure

Posted on August 2, 2015 by pippastef

I, like Fiona, have not managed to bring you the promised blog this week. I really need two weeks head start to finish a book in time at the moment and what with one thing and another (extra shifts at work, interviews, meetings etc) I haven’t had chance to even start The Circus of Adventure, so you’re getting a review of Five Fall into Adventure 90s style instead.

So to start off, I’m going to make myself sound like a parrot and say that like most of the other episodes, and I’m afraid that this one needs it most of all, we needed at least two episodes. Two twenty-five minute episodes to really, really get all the juicy detail and plot twists and turns out of it. Its rushed, its lacking elegance. We barely get to meet Jo the Gypsy girl before we’re expected to trust her implicitly.

Also, I’m sorry, Jo and George look nothing alike in this adaption (And if I’m honest, they looked nothing alike in the 70s adaption either). It would take some stretch of the imagination to think that Jemima Rooper (George) and Vanessa Cavanagh (Jo) to be described as almost identical. Some of the jokes that Blyton has Dick and Julian say in the book fall flat on their faces in the TV episode because of this stark difference between the girls. 

We start off the episode, getting a good look at Red Tower, and we’re in no doubt that this menacing looking man is  villain, and up to no good. Actually all the villains in this episode are well done. Simmy and Jake are not comic as Perton was in the last episode, Red Tower is creepy and frightening and Markoff is downright scary. In fact he’s probably the scariest of them all! I think its such a shame we didn’t get to see more of them, and get a chance for them to really settle into their characters more. This could have really made the episode ten times better.

Five Fall into Adventure is one of my least favourite books, and that’s only really because it takes so long to get going with any real vigor. The arrival of Jo is fairly late on in the book, and her real significance isn’t known until much later when George and Timmy disappear.

What we also lose in this adaption is the growing fondness between Dick and Jo after the initial conflict where he mistakes her for a boy and gives her a bruise on her chin when he punches her for trying to take on George. For the time we have, Paul Child and Vanessa Cavanagh do very well, even though Cavanagh’s Jo remains quite aloof and prickly, whereas in the books, Jo begins to really trust and connect with Dick. I think as well as needing the time to set this up, what was really needed here was a bit more maturity in both actors, I think in the second series they could have managed it much better, and produced a much better result. A lot more of a believable result as well. Some people like to imagine a hint of romance with Dick and Jo from what’s said in the book (I’m afraid I disagree) and you really can’t get that feeling from the episode.

Another point about the actors needing to be older: Julian in the books has a lot of responcibilty given to him as his Aunt and Uncle have to disappear to Spain for a holiday and Joan/Joanna the cook looks at him to assume the male role in this house – such as locking up. I also think that Fanny and Quentin are expecting him to step up to the plate as well, and be in control. In the book he does this very well (he’s a mature for a 16 year old (its mentioned in the earlier editions of the book how old he is)) but I’m afraid to say that this falls short for Marco Williamson. Williamson does his best but unfortunately this is something that would have been more authentic in the second season because he not only would have looked more the part but had the grandeur to carry it off.

68d339edebe5ea8ade459741d3d88dfeFor one of my least favourite books I do feel that this episode is well structured and well turned out for the time frame that they have. There is just too much to fit into one episode however, like many other of the episodes we’ve had a look at. I don’t think that there is a Blyton fan out there who would disagree with me.

Anyway, view the episode here, and let me know what you think! Happy viewing!

Posted in Blyton on Screen | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Reblog: 10 Signs You Read Too Much Enid Blyton as a Child

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Fiona

This is not what I promised to bring you today but in my defence I have been busy lugging my enormous book collection to my new flat. I nearly packed the Noddy I planned to review – it’s one of about six books I’ve left here to keep me going – but in the end I just ran out of time.

So what I am doing is bringing you what I promised to on Wednesday and forgot (that’s a whole other story though.)

Stef and I spotted this on Buzzfeed (a dangerous site where a casual visit loses you several hours of your life as you jump from one list to the next) and while most of the 10* ring true we can’t possibly agree with the idea that there can be TOO MUCH Enid Blyton. It’s not possible!

*Sorry, I don’t really like ginger beer.

Anyway, you can read for yourself and see how many you agree with (and if you win any points at #1.)

10 Signs You Read Too Much Enid Blyton As A Child

Brought up on the Famous Five and The Twins At St Clare’s? You might find most of this familiar…

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Disclaimer: Buzzfeed is a site for grown-ups so other articles may not be suitable for a younger audience.

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

Last Monday in July

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Fiona

Well well well! Its the end of July! July! Where has this month gone?! We’re in the middle of summer already and the dreaded D-month is fast approaching. Madness.

So given that we’ve got one more week left on July I best tell you what we’ve got for you this week. We’re going to do a bit of a reblog, or article sharing as I’m sure its more like, for our Wednesday blog. Don’t forget, we’re looking for contributions for the blog!  Please don’t forget to send us any thing you think we would like.

Fiona will be reviewing Cheer Up Little Noddy on Friday, and I shall try and do my best to read and finish reading The Circus of Adventure to continue my Adventure series reviews.

Also this week, we shall be creating a letter to approach the National Trust and English Heritage about purchasing Old Thatch (see Fiona’s blog last week). Please email the blog with a picture or a scan of your signature if you wish to have it added to the letter. The address for those of you who need reminding is worldofblytonblog@hotmail.com please do send us an email if you wish the house to be open to the public.

Anyway thats it for today, so I shall leave you with some nice sunset pictures I took the other day when I was out for a cycle ride. Hope you like them!

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Making Blyton’s Food: Victoria sponge

Posted on July 26, 2015 by pippastef

I’ve been back in the kitchen again, creating a cake that I think is an important part of Blyton’s food. I can’t think of an instance at this moment in time where Victoria Sponge is mentioned by name, but its certainly in the book by Jane Brocket. However I decided to try a recipe from a household name this week, the one and only Delia Smith.

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The recipe is taken from Delia’s Complete Cookery Course, The Classic Edition.  A book that I initially  looked at for finding recipes, but I hadn’t marked the page for the Victoria Sponge.

The ingredients that you will need for Delia’s Vicky Sponge are as follows:

  • 4oz or 110g of Butter, at room temperature
  • 4oz of 110g of caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • a few drops of pure vanilla essence (I used vanilla extract)
  • 4oz or 100g of self rising flour

    And to finish:

  • Jam of your preferred flavour (I chose raspberry for a change)
  • Sifted icing sugar.

I also chose to whip up some whipping cream to put between the layers with the jam. Yummy!

So here are the (modified) instructions for those of you who do not have the delightful Delia’s book at home:

  1. Preheat the oven to gas-mark 3, 325F or 170C
  2. Take your two sponge tins, and grease them and line the bases with greaseproof paper.
  3. In a mixing bowl (you won’t need a very big one) cream the butter and sugar together until you get a pale, fluffy mixture that drops off the spoon easily. You can use an electric whisk to speed this part up but a wooden spoon will do! (You’ll have amazing muscles afterwards if you use the spoon).
  4. In a separate jug or bowl beat the eggs together thoroughly.
  5. Then add them a little at a time, beating well after each addition (If you’re a beginner, Delia recommends a teaspoon at a time, beating after each addition so the mixture won’t curdle).
  6. When the eggs have been added, stir in a few drops of vanilla essence (or extract) with a metal spoon as it cuts and folds the flour in better than a wooden spoon).
  7. Have the flour in a sieve resting on a plate, then lift the sieve high above the bowl and sift about a quarter of the flour into the mixture and fold in. Then repeat until you’ve used up all your flour. The mixture should now drop easily off the spoon when you tap it on the side of the bowl. If it doesn’t, add 1-2 teaspoons of hot water.
  8. Divide the mixture equally between the two tins. If you want to get it exactly right, use scales to weigh how much mixture goes into each. Don’t worry about this if you’re happy with one sponge being marginally thicker than the other.
  9. Place them on the centre shelf in the oven, and they’ll take about 25-30 minutes to cook. When they are cooked the centres will feel springy when lightly touched and  no imprint remains.
  10. Then removed them from the oven and after about a minute, removed them from their baking tins, loosening the edges with a palette knife first.
  11. This tip is one that comes from a majorly talented baker friend of mine, who when I asked how do you get the two pieces to go together without having the usual problem of the rounded top of the cake, she said; when they’re fresh out of the oven, just turn one  over, and leave it to cool on the rounded side so that its flat. So that’s what I did and spread the jam and cream on the bottom of the flipped slice before sandwiching the two cakes together to make a delicious Victoria Sponge.

So, let me know how your own cake adventures go, and I shall tell you how yummy my own creation is tomorrow when I get to break into it with my Godmother and parents for tea time!

I can’t wait!

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Five Go Adventuring Again: An exciting audio dramatisation

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Fiona

This is one of the CDs I got free from The Daily Telegraph years ago when they were running a promotion. The only differences between this one and the one that you can buy in the stores is that this only has a paper sleeve and the story is split into two tracks rather than six or so chapters.

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This is one of the CDs where the actress playing George has also played Anne on other recordings. This gives the unfortunate side effect of her always sounding like Anne to me – even if she plays George a little more forcefully.

Julian and Dick have the same actors as the audio of Five Go Off to Camp. That means it’s Dick with a bit of a lisp but that never bothers me as I had that as a cassette tape as a kid and listened to it all the time.

Uncle Quentin is very jolly sounding at the start of the story and sounds quite friendly throughout. He rather lacks the snappish tone you expect from a stressed and over-worked scientist.

Mr Roland is fine, he sounds fairly authoritarian without sounding outright evil. If he sounded too much of a baddie it would have given the game away! One of the two artists (revealed to be Mr Thomas) has an accent – I think it’s Australian but I’m pretty bad with accents. It’s a little jarring actually, alongside the other voices. There’s no mention in the books that Mr Wilton or Mr Thomas has any sort of accent.

There’s not a huge cast in this story – there aren’t many characters in the book itself as they’re rather cut off in Kirrin especially once it snows. The only other characters in either the audio or the book are Mr and Mrs Sanders who are appropriately old and friendly sounding.

Timmy has reverted back to being awful unfortunately. If I had listened to these audios in some sort of order I wonder if I would find more of a pattern to the voice actors and Timmy-effects. As it is they seem to jump back and forth and swap around a great deal. It would have been wonderful if the same cast could have recorded all the stories.

Yet again I made some notations which haven’t made it into the blog – purely because I made them to check whether or not they appeared like that in the book and the answers turned out to be yes. It’s funny how listening to some sentences (this time including Anne calling her parents Mummy and Daddy, and Uncle Quentin holding his papers like a precious baby) is enough to make you question them. I then check the book and most of the time I then go ‘oh, so that IS in the book. Huh.’

 

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Monday

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Fiona

This week has brought a lot of Blyton-y things into my life (along with rather too much rain for my liking).

Firstly my latest journal arrived from the Enid Blyton Society – #57 Summer 2015 to be precise. In the editorial there’s an interesting tidbit – The Secret Series is to be republished by Hodder early next year but they are skipping The Secret Mountain as it’s too ‘un-pc’. Well you can imagine how I feel about that!

Next I headed to The March House Books shop and took advantage of their closing down sale (65% off everything!). There weren’t any Blytons left that I didn’t already have (I was clearly too slow) but I did get a Malcolm Saville, two Angela Brazils and an adventure tale by Doris Pocock.

After that I bought two books from a fellow forumite – Tales at Bedtime and The Three Golliwogs. I don’t usually go for Dean editions but I couldn’t resist this one even with its scribbled on cover. The original edition is very expensive and often the Dean is too. Probably because it’s so un-pc. The Dean edition has updated their names of course (I think they were Gollie, Wollie and Nigger? originally) but apart from that it’s the same. More recent versions have seen the book become The Three Pixies which is just a bit too far from what Blyton actually wrote for me.

Finally this morning I saw the news (thanks to Stef) that the Hawthornes are selling Old Thatch (take the Blyton details in the article with a pinch of salt as many of them are wrong). It has a hefty price tag of £1.85 million though, so I don’t think I will put an offer in unfortunately.

Anyway, coming up this week on the blog:

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Wednesday is a question mark as we don’t have a contributor this week (unless someone sends us something by Tuesday night?).

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The Island of Adventure – How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? part 11

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Fiona

I managed to get through three chapters again this week, this time 22, 23 and 24. Only five more to go, now! The rest of the series is here, in posts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten.

My copy of the book is an 8th impression from 1955 (it was my mum’s before it was mine) and the modern copy I’m comparing it to is a Macmillan one from 2001 (one I borrowed from Stef).

Reading both and taking notes
Island of Adventure Millennium edition by Larry Ronstant

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: A TALK WITH BILL – AND A SHOCK

Again the wireless set is now called a radio, and then the wireless is referred to as the set. 

They’ve cut a sentence from where Philip fiddled with the wireless too. Originally it reads He twiddled one or two knobs. Music came from the wireless when he twiddled one knob. A Morse code came from it when he twiddled another one. In the updated version the middle sentence is cut for no apparent reason.

Also, his dialogue after that is then altered. He originally asks Y2 Do you want to leave a message for Bill? as he speaks to him over the wireless. This has become Do you want me to leave a message for Bill? It’s a completely pointless change as it doesn’t make the meaning any clearer.

Lastly they continue the trend of doing away with hyphens and stock-still becomes stockstill (which my spell checker does not like).

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: ANOTHER SECRET PASSAGE

Going on the past few chapters it seems the editor’s goals have changed from removing all traces of queer to simply reducing the number of times it occurs. It’s in this chapter three times – the first time it gets removed and the queer little tower room becomes just the little tower room, but when looking at the queer old map or one queer map it’s left alone.

A line gets cut from this chapter too, from when Bill goes to sit by the window after Philip has gone to bed. He lit a cigarette and thought for a long time is missing – I suppose our hero can’t smoke in case he passes on his bad habit to the readers.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: A JOURNEY UNDER THE SEA

There were four queers in this chapter, and the editors left one – in queer phosphorescent lights. Queer lights became strange lights though, in a queer place became peculiar and rather queer is now rather odd.

The reddish rocks in the secret passage are corrected to greenish, so far that’s been entirely consistent at least.

The biggest changes are made to the paragraph when Bill and Philip are to go down the well. The girls were not to go has become The girls did not go (even though at this point no-one has gone). The first line does sound like it could have been an order that they were not to go, but it doesn’t actually say that Bill or Philip forbade them. After that they are no longer terrified of going (though Dinah says it would be beastlier to go down than stay behind) as indeed, the thought of going down the steep, cold well-shaft with only insecure staples for a foot- and hand-hold was terrifying to both of them becomes a much milder and less interesting indeed, neither of them like the thought of going down the steep, cold well-shaft with only insecure staples for a foot- and hand-hold.

The editor seems to have woken up a little for these chapters and we’ve got 5 unique changes. That doesn’t seem like a lot compared to some chapters but considering two of them were lines completely cut out and two were sentences completely re-written then it’s a fair bit. If I was counting every word that was altered I’d be here all day. And of course there are plenty of alterations I don’t count at the end as they’ve been made numerous times already.

Anyway, we’re at 110 changes now. (And about 100 too many?)

 

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Famous Five 90s Style: Five Get Into Trouble

Posted on July 17, 2015 by pippastef

This book is one of the more complex books when you get down to the characters and in a ways, although thrilling, the plot is sort of secondary. The characters and their interactions are what makes up for most of the story.

Richard Kent played by Stuart Piper

Richard Kent played by Stuart Piper

Especially with the introduction of the bothersome Richard Kent. Richard Kent is one of my least favourite characters in the series and he comes across just as badly in the 90s TV series. In fact, even though I’m sure the actor, Stuart Piper, tried his absolute best, there is no way to stop Richard Kent from being an odious little tick. Undoubtedly he does a marvelous job of making Richard so believably unlikeable that he must be commended. It is not a job I would have wanted. I wonder if Piper had read the books before he got the part because he really does a good job, if at times a little cringey at playing the spineless Richard.

This episode is very much one where Julian’s reputation for bossiness comes from, but also his humanity because he wants to give the spineless Richard a blooming great shake, but restrains himself. This doesn’t really come across with Williamson; Julian just comes across as an impatient school boy, and his attitude towards Richard is mostly one that reminds me of bullying. Dick and George don’t have much patience with him either, and Anne is the only one who might have a modicum of patience with him. There is a sense that Richard is the same age as Anne or younger, which may explain his arrogance, but doesn’t excuse the Five’s impatience with him.

I feel especially sorry for Richard during the scene just after Dick is kidnapped (outstanding fighting from Paul Child there, really looked like he got a few good bruises on those nasty villains), and asks to be taken home. He is genuinely terrified of Rooky and the others pay him no heed. Unfortunately emotions are running high because Dick has just been carted off to God knows where, but there is still a lack of understanding for Richard.

The rest of the story plays out very well in a way, most of the details are there, such as Timmy getting locked out of the house, and the discovery of the secret room are all nice touches. However when Julian sneaks out of the room the children have been sent to sleep in, and creeps off to find Dick and doesn’t explain to him how he came to be there is frustrating. I know its all down to the timing again, and its different in the book when you can skate over all the little facts and things, but still, all that effort not even to tell your brother how clever you were to find him? That’s a very un-Julianish thing to do!

Anyway I’ve come this far and not said a word about our villians. Like many of the other episodes they have come out comedic. The smooth, dangerous Perton is reduced to a sniveling, cack-handed idiot who can’t really form a plan and just seems to be more muscle. He doesn’t really seem dangerous, which is what Perton is in the book. His book alter-ego really gives the ideas that he is the brains of the outfit and Rooky is the brawn. This gets swapped around in the TV episode. Rooky manages to become the brains of the outfit, deciding that Richard’s kidnap will help them blackmail his father into helping them get rid of the diamonds they have stolen.

So overall, its a fairly decent episode, apart from the points I’ve mentioned. Some of them are purely down to time, and some are down to how well certain things would translate onto the screen and for a young audience and in those circumstances you can’t really complain. Still it would be nice, once again to have a little longer than 25 minutes for the episode. Its not my favourite one, mostly because its one of the ones that makes me cringe the most, but well worth a watch, even just for the eye-rolling at the holes in the plot!

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A Song of July – A poem by Enid Blyton

Posted on July 15, 2015 by pippastef

To fill in the gap as we have no contributor today, I’ve chosen to bring you one of Blyton’s Poems called A Song of July.

Softly the river goes swaying along,
Dreamily singing its rippling song,
Round by the mill, and away by the trees,
Caressing the little boats lying at ease,
Lazily murm’ring a lullaby,
Drowsily wrapped in the heat of July.

Tall is the corn, a-curtseying low,
Whenever the breezes begin to blow,
Whispering secrets, innocent, sweet,
Half-asleep in the shimmering heat
That quivers and trembles all the day through,
Wrapping the hills in mist of blue.

Roses droop on the wayside hedge,
White ducks drowse by the water’s edge.
Birds are silent among the trees,
And only the brook and the breeze,
Croon a soon as they go their way,
For the poppies dance to, lissom and gay.

"Tall is the Corn, a-curtseying low"

“Tall is the Corn, a-curtseying low”

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Making the most of Monday

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Fiona

Well Fiona and I have both had busy weekends, having both been working  a six day week, and Monday seems to be the only day we’ve both got off. I think we’re both about to collapse in a heap, but I know for one I’m busy still. I’m off up to London to see the Infinite Monkey Cage be recorded for BBC Radio today, so its not all relaxing.

Anyway this week we don’t have a contributor, so if someone wants to send us in a piece before Tuesday evening, we’d be most obliged, but otherwise it might be a poem or a reblog.

Fiona will treat you to another chapter analysis of The Island of Adventure, which I’m sure we cannot wait to see what other changes have been made to our beloved text. I shall be trying to review another 90s TV episode. I’m onto Five Get into Trouble now, and I think we’ve got a lot to look at.

I’ll just leave you with a few choice pictures from my visit with Fiona to Arbroath Abbey in Scotland.

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My seventeenth Noddy book: Noddy and the Bunkey

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Fiona

I’ve gone and gotten it wrong again this week I’m afraid. I said I would review Noddy Has an Adventure, but as anyone with half a brain (i.e. clearly not me) will know, I reviewed that two Noddys ago. So, the next book in the series for me is Noddy and the Bunkey. I didn’t realise I had already done Adventure until I picked it up and looked at the cover. That’s the problem with a lot of Blytons – very vague titles. I can hardly tell one Secret Seven from another as they’re all about Puzzles, Adventures, Mysteries… and entirely interchangeable. At least this Noddy can’t be confused with any other!

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I started the book immediately wondering what on earth a bunkey was. Obviously the creature on the front cover, but what was it? It looked like a monkey with donkey ears and for a moment I thought I’d cracked it – it’s part monkey part donkey! A donk… oh. Back to the drawing board then.

I soon began to expect that the mysterious bunkey would have something to do with the circus that was to pass through Toy Village. The story opens with it raining (and Noddy doesn’t get any milk delivered which is unusual) so Noddy goes off in his car, expecting to be busy. He is, but he still has time to go see the circus passing by. As he does so a figure is thrown from a caravan and lands in the road. Its a… part monkey and part BUNNY. A bunkey! It’s also rather hurt and miserable so Noddy takes him to Big Ears’ house for a bit.

Neither Noddy or Big Ears have ever heard of a bunkey before and the bunkey tells them how he has been mistreated by the circus (unusual for a Blyton tale) and gets jeered at by regular toys too. Noddy’s all for taking care of this curious creature but he scares Big Ears’ cat and so can’t stay in the toadstool house. Naturally Noddy ends up taking him home instead.

I got a rather bad feeling about the bunkey from the start. He’s so, so complimentary to Noddy for one thing. An an adult I read that and think ulterior motive! It seemed like a bit of emotional blackmail earlier as well, when Big Ears didn’t want him to stay and the bunkey did a whole routine of preparing to go out into the cold and rain and be all alone. Anyway, he’s super nice to Noddy and extremely helpful too. I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and things to go wrong.

I didn’t have to wait long! The bunkey persuades Noddy to teach him how to drive and then goes off in the night to steal lampposts. Why? Because Tessie Bear wished for a light at her gate so her Uncle Bear could see where he was going, and Tessie Bear is a dear friend of Noddy’s.

As usual Mr Plod turns up and blames Noddy – a car was heard in the night and it appears Noddy is the only car owner in the whole of Toyland. Mr Plod doesn’t take things any further but he does incur the wrath of the bunkey who is furious that anyone would be unkind to his dear beloved Noddy. Tessie and Noddy do discover who was responsible for the lampposts being stolen and they seem to find it rather amusing, as they feel the bunkey’s heart was in the right place.

The bunkey continues to be very over-protective of Noddy and when Bumpy-Dog jumps over the wall into the garden he gets into a fight with the dog. They manage to wreck Noddy’s flowers and his bench and Noddy is very cross with them both.

The bunkey’s solution is to steal flowers and benches from the park to put Noddy’s garden right, and then to polish Mr Tubby Bear’s shoes with gravy so that dogs will follow him (he complained that Bumpy-Dog didn’t come when called.)

Noddy and Tessie take the bunkey to the police station when they find out what he’s done, and on the way Noddy makes a flippant remark about wishing for a fire engine to come along, to point out how silly it is for the bunkey to try to grant everything Noddy wants.

Well of course, he then blocks a chimney at the police station and brings a fire engine there. Mr Plod reveals the bunkey is in fact only a monkey – the ears are stitched to his hat! – and the circus threw him out for being so troublesome. With that, while Noddy and Tessie are clearing up the mess the bunkey does a bunk and runs off with some clothes he’s taken from Noddy and the Tubby Bears.

I’m not sure how I feel about all that. Are we supposed to feel, like Noddy does, that the bunkey is essentially kind-hearted and therefore to be pitied that no-one understands him? Or is he supposed to be an incurable trouble maker? There’s no satisfying ending, really as we don’t know which and he doesn’t get any comeuppance for his actions.

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Making Blyton’s Food: Gingerbread by Katie Stewart

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Fiona

Its been a while since I did you a recipe blog, but I’m making up for that now. I know I’ve done ginger biscuits, but at the same time I’m sure gingerbread comes into the stories quite a lot.

As I was baking any last weekend, I decided that I would try a gingerbread, a sticky gingerbread in fact from a recipe book my mother has. We have used it throughout the years to make a wonderful honey cake, which everyone agrees with me, I’ve manged to perfect. However we’re not here to talk about the honey cake, but the ginger cake.

The book is simply called the Katie Stewart’s Cookbook and is a book I adore cooking from. This is the second time I’ve made this gingerbread and it it got very good results. A man came to do some work in our garden today and I let him have a slice  (or three) and he said it was amazing. I’m hoping that it gets the same reaction elsewhere.

So to make this cake you will need:

  • 8oz or 225g of plain flour
  • 1 level tablespoon bicarbonate soda
  • 1/2 level teaspoon of salt
  • 3 level teaspoon of ground ginger
  • 1 level teaspoon of ground cinnamon
    (I also added 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg as well)
  • 3oz or 75g of white cooking fat – I used butter. Seemed to work as well
  • 4oz or 100g of caster sugar
  • 4oz, 100g or 2 rounded tablespoons of golden syrup
  • 4oz, 100g or 2 rounded tablespoons of black treacle
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 tablespoons of milk
  • 4oz or 100g sultanas (I didn’t use these. We don’t go much into dried fruit in things in our house– but you can add them if you wish!)

Now the method, I’m going to lay it out in simple bullet points for you.

  1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, 180 degrees Celsius or gas mark 4.
  2. Grease a 7 inch (17.5 cm) square baking tin and line the base and two opposite sides with a strip of greased greaseproof paper long enough to overlap the sides.
  3. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and the nutmeg (if you’re copying me) into a mixing bowl and set aside.
  4. Gently heat the cooking fat (or butter), sugar, golden syrup and treacle in a saucepan until the fat has melted, then blend together.
  5. Allow to cool until the hand can be comfortingly held against the side of the pan.
  6. Lightly mix the eggs and milk and stir into the melted mixture.
  7. Add the mixture to the sifted flower and beat with a wooden spoon until batter is smooth. (Then stir in the Sultanas if you’re choosing to add them!)
  8. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and spread level (This should happen naturally in the tin).
  9. Place in the centre of a preheated oven and bake for 50 – 60 minutes until well risen and firm to the touch.
  10. Allow to cool in the tin for 30 minutes.
  11. Loosen unlined sides and, holding the paper ends, lift out cake and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
  12. Wrap cake in kitchen foil and store for 2 days before serving, or store for 1 week if you prefer a sticky gingerbread.

So there we are, that’s how to make the perfect gingerbread. Lots of people have tried this cake and loved it. If you have a big enough cake tin for bake it in, and the mixture is fairly shallow it might take less time to bake. Mine took half the time.

So here are some pictures of the baking of the cake. And a big Thank you to Katie Stewart and her cookbook for giving me this fabulous recipe. Let me know if you have a go!

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The Valley of Adventure by Chris

Posted on July 8, 2015 by worldofblyton

In this final discussion of my top three Adventures I look at my number one choice, The Valley of Adventure. First published by Macmillan in 1947, it is the third of the series. The first edition dustjacket, by the ever-excellent Stuart Tresilian, looks like this:

valley of adventure

First edition dustjacket by Stuart Tresilian

My edition is a hardback without dustjacket, and is the 1957 reprint of the first edition:

The cloth board cover

As with the others in my top three (and the rest of the series) there are already many reviews of Valley: Keith Robinson’s on Enidblyton.net, Anita Bensoussane’s on the Enid Blyton Society site, from where the illustrations in the post are taken and on this site reviews by Fiona and by Stef. So I won’t give a plot summary but, in brief, the children are inadvertently flown to a valley in central Europe where they discover that a group of baddies are trying to recover looted art from the Second World War. This is hidden in subterranean caverns, guarded by elderly caretakers. Because access to the valley has been blocked by bombing, these caretakers do not know that the war is over. Philip manages to escape and alerts Bill Smugs, who flies his men to the valley, captures the baddies and reclaims the stolen artworks.

So here I focus on the positives and negatives of Valley. As regards negatives, that is easy: there really aren’t any. Well, perhaps there is one, but it is picky and is wrapped up inside what is undoubtedly a positive. That positive is that this Adventure has the strongest location in real events of any in the series, and perhaps any in the Blyton oeuvre apart from The Adventurous Four which I reviewed last year. It is set in ravaged post-war Europe (specifically Austria) and relates to a documented historical event, namely the Nazi looting of art. The picky negative is that Austria was not conquered militarily by the Nazis and so the bombing of the valley must have been the work of the Soviet army that liberated Austria at the end of the war, but in the story the earlier looting and the later bombing are depicted as having been by one and the same enemy. That the enemy were Nazis is confirmed by the fact that towards the end Bill says that the baddies – Juan, Luis and Pepi – are South Americans who had gained knowledge of the treasure from the many Nazis who fled there, again a documented historical fact.

Never mind, this is not a history textbook and at all events the baddies are more than plausible. What matters to us is the adventure and unlike other books in the series, Valley gets almost straight into it. The setup is very rapid, just enough to explain why the children are at an airfield and why they have plenty of clothes and blankets. Quickly they are stranded in the valley with only their own resources to rely on. True, the baddies have a huge supply of tinned food for the children to raid and so there is no need to worry on that score – Blyton always makes sure that meals are catered for – but otherwise things look grim.

Another positive is the absence of a negative. In the others in my top three the plot has in part relied on Philip’s taming of animals. Here, although his abilities are briefly mentioned, they do not form part of the plot. This is a real adventure, in which the children have no one to rely on but themselves. That is compounded by the fact that the sense of isolation in the valley is very strong, and the war-damaged buildings make for an eery setting. Again, this is a real adventure. And the nastiness of the villains is tangible, especially in the mistreatment of their prisoner, Otto, who gives the children crucial information. But the crowning glory of Valley is the fantastic description of the network of caves. Some of these give shelter the children and allow them access to a ledge behind a waterfall. Others turn out to house the treasure and its stay-behind guardians:

As in Castle and Mountain it is Philip who is the hero. He hides himself in the baddies’ aeroplane and in some of the best passages in the book finds himself in a remote Scottish village where he reports to an incredulous policeman, thus bringing Bill Smugs to the rescue. As with all Tresilian’s illustrations, this is a masterpiece. Look at the shocked expression on the policeman’s face, Philip’s dishevelled hair from the journey, but also the background detail of the notice about cattle behind the policeman and the Bakelite phone (which he presumably uses to call ‘the authorities’) at his right hand:

Philip reporting to the police

Philip reporting to the police

This is a densely-plotted, realistic, page-turning adventure. Even when re-read as an adult (as I did in preparing this post) it has genuine drama. But re-reading has also prompted another thought which is how much of my memory of the Adventures is bound up with the evocative quality of the illustrations. I don’t know if this is true for others but for me it seems to be the case.

Anyway, without any caveats at all Valley is by some way my favourite of the Adventure series, which are in turn my favourite Blyton books – with just one exception: the magnificent, yet overlooked, The Land of Far-Beyond which I hope to review in the future. It’s interesting that the other reviewers, mentioned above, all place Valley as their favourite or one of their favourites in the series. Using the same system of public school marking of the era that I used for the others in this review series, it is unquestionably alpha plus.

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