The Famous Five Card Game played by Fiona

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Fiona

I didn’t get around to listening to an audio drama for the blog this week (I think that was what I was meant to have done, at least!) so as Stef has arrived in Dundee tonight we decided to play the card game I got for Christmas. Unfortunately it is missing the instructions, but those are available to view on the Enid Blyton Society website so it’s not a disaster.

GAMEPLAY

The instructions are fairly complicated for what isn’t that complicated a game and the first time we played I think we played wrong. We were drawing a card with every turn and thus always having seven cards in our hand. It came to score up after Stef won – the winner gets 20 points minus the number of cards they hold and all the others get 10 minus the cards they have. As you can see, there’s no point in that if everyone always has seven cards.

So we started again and played five rounds to see who would end up with the most points. Whenever Stef shuffled she seemed to end up with all the #1 cards which have to be played first! And when I shuffled I ended up with dreadful hands like this one

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THE CARDS

The cards themselves are beautiful Eileen Soper full colour illustrations, showing the stories from Five on a Treasure Island, Five Go to Smuggler’s Top, Five Go Off in a Caravan and Five Get Into Trouble. The goal is to lay them out in order, and the winner is whoever places the eighth card – the happy ending – in any storyline. Roadblocks can be thrown up in the form of danger cards, either general danger ones which can be played on any story or one of the four dangers specific to each story. For Treasure Island the danger is the men after the ingots, in Smuggler’s Top it is a watching enemy (Block), Caravan has poisoned meat for Timmy and Trouble has the gates of Owl’s Dene closing on the Five. To continue the story after one of these has been played an All-Safe card must the added to the sequence.

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It was a fun game anyway, once we figured out what we were meant to be doing! Some rounds took longer than others depending on what order the cards came out in. One round was very short as we completed the storyline to Smuggler’s Top without starting any of the others.

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THE ILLUSTRATIONS

After we played we got to talking about the illustrations and decided to compare them to those in the books.

It turns out some of them aren’t from the books. It would appear that all are brand-new despite having a passing similarity to those in the books. There are also a few that appear to have been drawn purely for the game. For example, the below illustration of the Five on their bikes doesn’t appear in Trouble.

280high+8743633These two from Smuggler’s Top show the differences between the versions.

ONE NITPICK!

Lastly, I can rarely write a blog without pointing out a mistake.

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The caption reads Richard, when really, it should be Dick.

AND THE FINAL SCORES

As I’m sure Stef will want me to mention, she won!
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The Twinniest Twins: The O’Sullivan Twins from St Clare’s

Posted on June 12, 2015 by pippastef
Egmont Front Cover of The Twins at St Clare's.

Egmont front cover of The Twins at St Clare’s.

This week’s Twinniest twins is all about the O’Sullivan twins from the St Clare’s series. They are the second lot of female twins we’ve looked at, but the first set of identical girl twins.

The O’Sullivan twins, Isabel and Pat start off their series and their time at St Clare’s around fourteen years old, and have become rather spoilt and lazy. They assume that they are going to be sent off to a posh and expensive big private school with their friends, and are disappointed when their parents inform them that they are going to St Clare’s to get their corners rubbed off ( I don’t think this is actually said so bluntly, but their father implies it!) So the twins are sent off to St Clare’s and vow to be so bad that they are sent home and have to go to the other school (I think its called Red Roofs or something similar, I can’t be sure!)

The twins do make for interesting reading, especially with the first book because they feature in it so much. They are absolutely identical which means that they can play tricks on people by pretending to be the other twin, which is the complete contrast to the Batton Twins of Malory Towers who aren’t alike enough for tricks like that. Part of the story involves Pat pretending to be Isabel.  Pat doesn’t believe she should have to run around after the bigger girls, but Isabel isn’t so sure that disobeying them isn’t wrong and so answers the summons. She is then allowed down to the town to visit the shops while Pat isn’t. They hatch the plan that as long as only one goes at a time, Pat can go too, pretending to be Isabel.

To begin with you’re not really supposed to like the twins, at least I don’t think so. They’re fairly arrogant and rude, and dismissive of anyone apart from themselves. I think this is a little more true of Pat than Isabel, and she does seem to be the more dominant twin throughout the series. I do feel that Isabel gets left behind somewhat, and is perhaps the nicer twin.

The girls play a big part in the first two stories and then seem to waver in and out of the others, finally ending up as joint head girls of St Clare’s, but beyond them deciding that they quite liked St Clare’s really and wanting to stay, the stories become less about them and more about the other girls in the form. Like many other sets of twins in Blyton’s series they seem to get left behind somewhat, at least that’s how I see it.

They are never quite the same strong female leads in  twins throughout the rest of the books I’ve read by Blyton, and its a shame to see Pat and Isabel fall by the way-side so much. They have a rival of kind in Darrell Rivers of Malory Towers as she’s a strong female lead but the added mysticism of twins is hard to pick up again in any other female based story by Blyton.

The twins, when they settle down, become likeable, funny and intelligent, as well as very no-nonsense. They are always in the background of the books, providing some stability to the story, and the basis, but we don’t visit them so much. Partly due to this and partly because I read these books in my early twenties, they are probably my least favourite set of twins. There’s no connection with them for me, and even though they are superb characters for children to be reading about, they just don’t connect with me.

I have yet to read Pamela Cox’s Sixth Form at St Clare’s to see what the twins are like when they’re in charge of the whole school, but as by the fifth book, they’re around but somewhat invisible, perhaps they come into their own again in the sixth form, I don’t know. I shall just have to read the book and find out!

Read about more Twinniest Twins here.

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The Castle of Adventure reviewed by Chris

Posted on June 10, 2015 by worldofblyton

Having recently reviewed my top three ‘Famous Fives’, I’m now beginning a series on my top three of the ‘Adventure’ series, of which the first, at number three in my ranking, is The Castle of Adventure. The series are very different: there were some twenty-one Fives, published between 1942 and 1964, and only eight Adventures, published between 1944 and 1955. In general, the Adventures have more detailed and complex plots, and I assume were aimed at slightly older readers.

Both series feature four children, two boys and two girls, but in the Adventures these are two pairs of siblings whereas in the Five they are three siblings and a cousin. As so often in Blyton there is a weird family set up. In the Adventures, one pair of orphaned siblings (Jack and Lucy-Ann Trent) are adopted by the widowed mother of the other pair (Philip and Dinah Mannering). There is no father or uncle in the Adventures, but instead Bill Smugs (Cunningham) is the male adult, who later in the series marries Mrs Mannering. Unlike Uncle Quentin, Bill joins in rather than gets in the way of the adventures, partly because he is a policeman or even, it’s sometimes implied, an intelligence officer.

In both series there is a fifth member of the team: Timmy the dog for the Five, Kiki the parrot for the Adventures. And here I have to make a declaration: I think that Kiki spoils the Adventures (whereas Timmy adds to the Five) because I find her completely implausible both in the range of her language and her capacity to make sense in context. Timmy is believable and wonderful; Kiki is absurd and ludicrous. There – I have said it and won’t repeat it in my future reviews.

So, now, to Castle. It is the second in the series and was first published in 1946 by Macmillan. I have the 1953 reprint of the first edition, in hardback but sadly without its dustjacket. Illustrations are by the wonderful Stuart Tresilian. The first edition dustjacket is pictured below (all images in this review taken from the Enid Blyton Society website).

First edition dustjacket by Stuart Tresilian

First edition dustjacket by Stuart Tresilian

My unjacketed cover is exactly as depicted here:

Illustrated boards by Stuart Tresilian

Illustrated boards by Stuart Tresilian

There are other reviews of the book on this site, by Fiona and by Stef, two reviews on the EnidBlyton.net site and another on the Enid Blyton Society site. So, unlike my reviews of the Fives, I am not going to summarise the plot in detail. Briefly, the children discover that in a ruined castle near their holiday home there is a gang of foreign agents using it as a base to spy on an adjacent secret military research site (so secret that even Bill does not know what goes on there). Instead of a plot summary I will identify the good and bad aspects, as I see them.

Chief amongst the bad aspects is Tassie. Described as a “gypsy”, she is the usual stereotypical Blyton outsider who is dirty, dressed in rags, can’t speak English properly, and lives like a semi-wild animal. She does aid the children in the Adventure but she is also presented in pretty demeaning ways. Another negative to me is the device, used often in the series, of having Philip’s uncanny ability to tame wild animals play a part in the plot. Here, Button the fox plays a key role in carrying messages. As with Kiki the parrot I just don’t find that realistic (if you disagree, just try taming a fox cub to carry messages for you).

But there are so many good things in this story! First and foremost, the castle itself. The idea of finding a remote and semi-ruined castle – with secret rooms, old suits of armour and underground passages – is exciting for children and still has an appeal for adults. Later in the series we are told that the setting is Scotland, but there is no particular sense of that in the book. Even so, the picturesque rural location, including an archetypal cottage, do give Castle a classic holiday feel. At the same time, the mundane details in the background, such as trains and lunch in a country hotel (see illustrations) make for a cosy atmosphere.

But we want more than cosiness, we want an adventure – and we get it! There is a gradual build up as the castle is explored and Jack has the adventure – but not Adventure – of trying to photograph the eagles nesting there. Soon mysterious lights and traces of human occupants in the castle herald the beginning of the adventure proper, and events begin to move more quickly. Key moments of excitement include Philip very bravely standing up to the baddies (see illustration), even in the face of genuinely vicious treatment.

The chief baddy, called Mannheim but known as Scar-Neck, is a great villain, indeed even his nom de guerre is perfectly chosen. And the denouement, with a wild thunderstorm breaking out right on top of the castle could hardly be bettered. In a splendid example of the literary device of ‘pathetic fallacy’ the next day brings “clear morning sunlight”, a resolution to the adventure and, even, reference to those Blyton perennials the “burly policemen”. The castle, alas, is all but destroyed but it will always be for us as Jack describes it in the closing sentence – the Castle of Adventure!

Overall, a fine story and easily in my top three Adventures. But compared with my top two (which I will cover in future reviews) the plot is a shade more simplistic and the sense of place a little less strong. With marks knocked off for Tassie and Button as well, Castle gets what Dick and Ju’s schoolmasters might have described as ‘beta-plus-query-alpha-minus’.

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Just Another Manic Monday

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Fiona

Here we are again, another Monday, and another manic one for me as I have to work when I don’t usually. At the end of this week, I also get the joy of going up to Bonnie Scotland to see Miss Fiona for a week of frolics! Hopefully we’ll have some pictures, stories and new blogs ready for you when we’ve had chance for a chat.

Our contributor this week will be Chris with the Castle of Adventure, in which he looks at why it is one of his top three Adventure books.

Fiona will be comparing chapters from the Island of Adventure for the text updates, and I will be bringing you the Twinniest twins that I failed to bring you yesterday. Failing that for a second week running, I shall try for another 90’s TV series episode.

Happy reading! I’ll leave you with a few pictures from my recent trip to Kew Gardens with Corinna, one of our past contributors. I hope you like them! The rest will, in time be found on Two Points of View.

 

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An Evening of June – A poem by Enid Blyton

Posted on June 7, 2015 by pippastef

Today I bring you another of Blyton’s poems from The Enid Blyton Poetry Book called An Evening of June, which is somewhat appropriate for we have just entered the month of June. I hope you enjoy it!

Slowly the sun slips over the hill,
The Shadows of the trees are long,
The blackbird opens his gleaming bill,
And whistles an evensong,
And slowly lumbering down the lane
The hay-wagon comes with its load again.

The hedges look on a the horses pass
And fling out a mischievous spray,
They catch at the burden of scented grass,
And pull little pieces away.
And by all their booty ’tis easy to know,
The way that the lumbering hay-wagons go.

Past the wild roses, delicate, frail,
Whose petals fall soft on the breeze,
Down the long hillside and into the vale
Beneath all the shadowy tress,
Past all the poppies that dance by the road
The hay-wagon carries its very last load.

Its a shame you don’t really get hay-wagons anymore isn’t it, but you do get the same thing with tractors almost when they move the hay!

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My sixteenth Noddy book: You’re a Good Friend, Noddy!

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Fiona

So we’re back to #16 in the series this week, for my 16th review. I was supposed to do this one last time but got the order wrong!

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This is a strange little story, I have to say.

We begin with the postman instead of the milkman, and Noddy receives an invite to a party at Big Ears’ toadstool house. Tessie Bear, the grown up Tubby Bears, the Wobbly Man and Miss Fluffy Cat are also invited according to the postie who has a lot of gossip to impart along with letters.

After a minor incident with a Toy Soldier and his gun Noddy gets himself ready for the party and uses his car to ferry some of the guests there. It turns out that it’s the birthday of Whiskers (Big Ears’ cat) and that’s what the party is in aid of. Everyone is glad that Tessie Bear has left Bumpy Dog at home they know he would cause chaos.

You can see where this is going, can’t you? Yes. Suddenly there’s barking in the distance. The Bumpy Dog then gatecrashes the party and Whiskers runs off.

Big Ears is absolutely furious and does a lot of shouting before using his stick to hit Bumpy Dog – which I’m sure will have been edited out in newer editions. Saying that, it’s illustrated on the back cover and I wonder if that’s been changed as well.

Big Ears blames Tessie Bear for not locking Bumpy Dog up securely and the party breaks up with very bad feelings between Noddy and Big Ears.

Of course nobody holds grudges very long in Toy Land and the next day Noddy goes to check on Big Ears, to see if Whiskers has come back. He hasn’t and Big Ears has gone to search for him.

Noddy and Big Ears end up in Toy Cat Town as they think that’s where Whiskers might have gone, even if he is a regular cat and not one who talks or wears clothes. Some of the Toy Cats look down on “common” cats who walk on four paws and only say miaow and hiss.

Anyway, Whiskers only passed through Toy Cat Town on his way to Wizard Town. Noddy is apprehensive of tangling with wizards, but being a brownie, Big Ears is unfazed. Wizard Town is full of houses with towers and quickly find a shop selling black cats, which of course, are good for helping wizards with spells.

Big Ears faces off with the first wizard he comes across and snaps his wand (I wonder if he had problems after that, like Ron Weasley, and ended up dribbling slugs.) He then finds out the shop has sold Whiskers to Wily Wizard for sixpence.

Naturally they then seek out Wily Wizard, who turns out to be not that wily at all. He just talks and talks and goes on and rambles and doesn’t let anyone get a word in edgeways. Between that and his ardour for Noddy’s car it means Big Ears is able to fetch Whiskers with little trouble.

I’m not going to give away the ending but it’s not as simple as Big Ears just walking, or driving, off with Whiskers. Wily Wizard not being that wily and Noddy being very generous contribute to the solution, as well as some rather un-Blytonian trickery from the good guys.

So there you have it! I prefer the Noddys with an element of mystery to them and in general I would place the magical or fantasy tales (from any of Blyton series) at the bottom of my preferences.

 

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The Wishing Chair Again reviewed by Laura

Posted on June 3, 2015 by worldofblyton

Out of the two Wishing Chair books I owned as a child, I always preferred the second – The Wishing Chair Again (published in 1950) – because the adventures were longer and seemed more interesting. It also introduced the character Winks the brownie, whose sheer naughtiness led them into some very unusual situations. So I was delighted to find this book in my husband’s childhood book collection and wrote this rather-long review (I just really enjoy this book!).

Cover by Hilda McGavin

Cover by Hilda McGavin

It starts with Mollie and Peter coming home for the holidays and wondering where Chinky and the Wishing Chair are, as they can’t be found in their playroom at the bottom of the garden. Chinky has been looking after the chair while they’re at school and since he couldn’t get into the playroom because the door was locked, he had to keep hiding it in the garden all morning!

In the first book the initial adventure is quite short, but this time they end up on a much longer first adventure (starting in the second chapter) when Peter tells the chair to take them to “Goodness Knows Where” – apparently it’s a real place – but the chair first takes them along a moonpath and then to Chinky’s cousin Sleep-Alone.

From here, they go to consult Goodness and then find the chair has been stolen, so they have to spend a couple of chapters first getting home and then finding their chair in Pin Village. But life’s never that simple and after a goblin called Tricky gets to it first, it takes until the end of chapter six before they finally have their chair back.

This is, of course, only the first adventure of many, with the chair taking them to the Village of the Slipperies and having its wings cut off. The growing ointment they get to solve this problem soon leads to another when the children use it to make their toys and Chinky’s wand grow wings and they take off for Toyland. The children and Chinky set off after them and find that the toys have ended up at Mister Grim’s School for Bad Brownies!

toys with wings wishing chair hilda mcgavin

This is where they meet Winks and Mister Grim, who appears to be the male version of Dame Slap from the Faraway Tree as he asks ridiculous questions – if he takes 52 hairs from his floor-length beard, how many will be left? – and deals out strokes with a stick for punishment. The stick is actually Chinky’s wand and the pixie soon devises a plan to get it back and use it to escape, so they can lead an army of toys to the school (led by a Golliwog – I’ve got one of the older versions that hasn’t been changed) to rescue the toys belonging to Mollie and Peter.

The children and Chinky rescue Winks at the same time and the brownie simply can’t stay out of trouble. There’s a visit to the Land of Goodies (one of my favourites from the Faraway Tree books), with delicious-sounding jam tart flowers, a ginger-beer stream and ice-cream growing on another plant in the cool valley. Winks first orders red pepper soup to be funny and then starts breaking and eating someone’s house, so he’s left behind and has to find his own way out of the chocolate cake prison.

The brownie is some help when Chinky and the chair disappear while the children are at the seaside – apart from dyeing his hands blue when they go to Mr Spells for help – but soon afterwards he steals a wand from Witch Wendle and turns Chinky into a puff of smoke. He in turn becomes a horrid smell as Chinky cast a spell with his own wand at the same time and the children have to go to Witch Wendle to find out how to get them back.

Witch Wendle says that the still smelly Winks really has to go back to school, but Mollie pleads for him to stay until she and Peter have to go back to boarding school. On their last day of holidays they make another attempt to get to the Land of Goodness Knows Where before deciding to land on Island of Surprises instead.

Like the last land at the end of each Faraway Tree book, the Island provides them with mostly nice surprises, like the car race and the ice-cream fountain. Winks tries to misbehave several times, but here the magic punishes him for being greedy or naughty and when he finally manages to annoy a witch, he’s sent back to Mister Grim then and there. Peter feels sorry for him and gives him the Tidbit Dish that he won in the car race, so he’ll get enough to eat at school – every time you lift the lid there’s a tidbit there, like a sausage or a bar of chocolate. Winks is sent off on a swan and the children and Chinky have to leave too, as the Island of Surprises always disappears at sunset.

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First Monday of June

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Fiona

Wow, where has the year gone? It will be summer before we know it! We’ve had a great week on the blog, and smashed our best daily views record too. This is what our stats page looked like that night.

65views

Hopefully we’ll have another good week this week, here’s what we’ve got for you to read:

blogdays

P.S. Thanks for the get well soon messages. I’m feeling much better now!

I will just end with a few pictures from my last walk (from before I fell ill!)

Wildflowers
Tulips
Wildflowers
Flowers
Butterfly
Tulips
Blossom
Padlock
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The Ship of Adventure

Posted on May 31, 2015 by pippastef
The Ship of Adventure I bid on. Picture taken from eBay listing.

The Ship of Adventure I bid on. Picture taken from eBay listing.

I finally got around to finishing The Ship of Adventure for this week’s blog, at approximately 8pm yesterday (Sunday) and then had to sit down and write the blog. It was a good thing that I re-read the book as although I could remember vague details I didn’t remember enough to write a review on the book.

Just to summarise the story for those who don’t know, The Ship of Adventure starts with Dinah, Philip, Jack and Lucy-Ann trying to decide what they are going to do in their summer holidays, and wondering what Mrs Mannering has planned for them as she’s being all secretive. The children are excited to find out that she’s taking on a big cruise ship around the Mediterranean where she can “keep an eye” on them so they don’t fall into any more nasty adventures.

First of all, I would like to admit to something, something I only realised with this re-read. Now I have only read The Ship of Adventure once before, so I hope you can forgive me for not realising this until now, but I assumed that the Ship that was referenced in the title was the Viking Star, the big cruise ship that the four children and Mrs Mannering join to go on their cruising holiday. However in fact I believe the ship is actually the one that is found in the bottle that Lucy-Ann gets Philip for his birthday, as that is the one that starts off the big adventure.

Anyway so off the children go on this big ship with not a whiff of adventure in the air. This reminds me a little of one of the Famous Fives, Five go Down to the Sea I believe, where Julian makes them all promise (for Anne’s sake) that if an adventure comes their way, they shall just leave it and walk away. Its a similar feeling for the Trents and Mannerings in this adventure, because the first half of the book is a little slow paced, like nothing is going to pick up. Its not until just after half way through the book that things start to happen.

Naturally before Lucy-Ann finds her ship in a bottle for Philip’s birthday, the aforementioned boy finds himself another pet. This time a monkey called Micky that he rescues from a group of unkind children. Micky the monkey then plays a big part in the adventure and discovery of the all important treasure map. He also, strangely enough, gets taken home to England, allowed through customs and taken home. I don’t think Mrs Mannering would have been too impressed. I suppose Micky being allowed home with Philip is maybe a sign of how different things are now. Perhaps in the updated versions he’s left at the last place they visit or something. I don’t have a modern copy handy so I can’t check.

So the children are settling into their cruise when a boy joins them, Lucian who is accompanied by his Aunt and Uncle, Mr and Mrs Eppy. Mr Eppy always wears dark glasses and doesn’t like his nephew or the children. This makes him one of those grownups that has to be avoided and quite naturally (and rightly) the bad guy. We find out that Mr Eppy is extremely rich and likes to buy and sell islands in search of treasures, which for this treasure hunt makes him the perfect adversary.

There are lots of ins and outs in this adventure, lots of little things that add up quite quickly to a big adventure. Part of the reason everything seems to happen in the second half of the book is that poor Mrs Mannering has to leave to go and look after Aunt Polly, who you will remember from The Island of Adventure, (and oddly enough is described in this book as Mrs Mannering’s aunt rather than that of Philip and Dinah – have I missed something here?) Anyway, Bill offers to look after the children for Mrs Mannering and comes out to join the cruise. So far the children have found the map to the treasure and done a little investigating but are being stalled and stalked by Mr Eppy who is keen to know their secret.

Whereas they do not tell Aunt Allie what is going on, the children agree to let Bill into the secret. (Note that the Famous Five never tell a grown-up until its time for the police to be called in!) Bill agrees they should see if they can get to the bottom of the mystery and in the end, they all end up on the island of Thamis where the map is showing the treasure is buried. Bill seems intent on ignoring his promise to Mrs Mannering by letting the children drag him into an adventure and this turns out to be have been the worst thing he could have done because they get stranded on the island; something rotten abounds.

I won’t give away anymore, but all I can say is that this is where the real excitement and page turning begins. Bill saves the day in a way, through having brought a colleague who tracks them down on the island, and Philip’s monkey Micky also helps save the day. Its lucky Philip adopted him really!

Anyway, this is all very thrilling, but my romantic soul enjoys the very last chapter the best where Mrs Mannering hears the whole story and tells Bill she won’t be able to trust him again. Distraught at the idea of losing Bill from their lives, Lucy-Ann comes up with a plan! Why don’t Aunt Allie and Bill get married? Then they can all keep an eye on each other and the children get a new father. It seems a very sudden arrangement, because apart from Allie and Bill being seemingly fond of each other, I never picked up on anything more than that, but right there in the last chapter is the moment where you can feel that there is something more in the air.

I could tell you what the outcome of this is, but I shall leave you to read the book yourself… you won’t be disappointed.

Overall Ship isn’t one of my favourite Adventures. There are some beautifully classic moments in it, and I do enjoy the romance at the end, but it takes a long time to build up even though the exotic setting is enjoyable because its somewhere new and back in the fifties that sort of holiday would have been out of the reach of most of the children reading the book.

So go and read The Ship of Adventure and let me know what you think of it!

Next review: The Circus of Adventure

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Five Fall Into Adventure: An Exciting Dramatised Adventure

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Fiona

I’ve been very good this week and actually listened to this in advance of blogging day. I was also a bit forgetful and forgot to turn off the shuffle feature at first, so started with a random chapter. Oh well!

Trouble/Adventure Audio

I sometimes wonder if there are any two recordings with the same voices for the Five. This one has George played by someone who has voiced Anne in other recordings; she’s a bit too girly for George and it makes me think Anne’s speaking when she’s not. Timmy is back to sounding like a very small, yappy dog unfortunately. Dick is voiced by the same actor as he is in Five Go Off to Camp (the only Blyton cassette tape I had as a child) and even though he has rather a lisp (he’s really imprethed at one point) he’s Dick to me. Julian and Anne are perfectly fine, but I can’t recall which recordings if any they have been heard on before.

I did notice, though, that we don’t hear Anne at all until the face appears at her window (chapter three in the book). She’s mentioned by the narrator but I didn’t hear her make a peep before then.

Some updatings have crept into the story – George and Jo both wear jeans instead of shorts and Julian is no longer Master Julian when Joan speaks. I think some of the descriptions of Jo and her father have been tampered with too, but I didn’t have the book to hand while I listened so I can’t be sure.

Plenty has been left though – they still talk about how boys shouldn’t hit girls, and Dick and Jo still come to blows.

There isn’t a huge voice cast in this recording, but then there perhaps aren’t as many incidental characters. There’s the Five, obviously, plus Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin (briefly so they don’t make too much of an impression). Then there’s Joan, Jo, Jo’s father Simmy, Jake, Markhoff, Red Tower and one policeman.

Markhoff and Red Tower are both given stereotypical Russian sounding accents. Votch instead of watch and so on. It’s almost like Grandad in Only Fools and Horses doing his best German. “Vot is your name?” and all that. Both of them sound pretty similar. As do Simmy and Jake when it comes down to it, I just assume Jake has dialogue towards the end at the house on the cliff as it was hard to tell who was talking sometimes. Simmy/Jake may also have been in Five Go Off to Camp, actually, as it sounds rather like Wooden Leg Sam.

Anyway, Jo’s decent if a bit girly and Joan does a good ‘country woman’ accent.

There’s one big omission that I’m quite disappointed in. The whole chapter where the Five have to put out one of Uncle Quentin’s notebooks to be collected is just narrated. So we don’t get to heard Sid at all. I would have liked to have heard his ‘coos’ and about him being ‘partial to chocolate mould’. I know, it’s a fairly inconsequential part of the story and there isn’t room for everything but I just really like that part!

Normally I don’t notice all the little bits that are cut to make it fit into an hour, it’s not until I’m flicking through the book that I go “oh yes, they missed this, or that,” but I really noticed the lack of Sid. Poor lad.

And that’s all I really have to say about it, I think! A good listen, even for one of my less favourite Fives. But then, you can’t really go wrong with the Five, can you?

 

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Famous Five Go to Hogwarts, chapter 3

Posted on May 27, 2015 by worldofblyton

CHAPTER THREE: DIAGON ALLEY AND PLATFORM 9¾

It had been two weeks since the argument. Still no answer from Uncle Quentin back at Kirrin. They were now residing in The Leaky Cauldron, London. Aunt Fanny had said to them that they were going to Hogwarts, no matter what.

They bought all their school equipment, except for their wands. They didn’t buy their wands because they didn’t need them just yet; they were practising doing very simple potions with Aunt Fanny and so far they didn’t need wands to do them.

Most days, Anne and George spent much of their time in Magical Menagerie, helping take care of the cats, owls and toads. Anne also bought three-legged and part-blind cat, Apollo, when she found out that it had been living in the shop for a whole year and nobody even considered buying her. Julian bought an owl, Ook, so they could communicate with his parents. As for Timmy, he would be going to Hogwarts on one condition: He would have to stay with Hagrid and Fang, not go into the Owlery and return to Hagrid’s in the evenings.

On July 15th, a letter arrived. It was delivered via owl; Julian had sent Ook to Uncle Quentin. His letter was very damp (possibly Ook had done a little wee-wee or Quentin had been crying) and very short. It said:

Dear Fanny, Georgina and the cousins
I am very sorry. Please come back. I’ve missed you. I was shocked, that’s all. I am very proud of you, Georgina, and Julian, Dick and Anne too. Fanny, dear, I was only offended that you told Joanna but not me. Come back home to me.
From Quentin

Suddenly, Aunt Fanny burst into tears. ‘Sorry, my dears, it’s just that I d-did not expect this from Quentin. Julian, can you send a letter to your uncle saying that we’ll be home tomorrow? Anyway, I have to pull myself together! I need to get your wands!’

Fifteen minutes later, they were in Ollivander’s Wand Shop, waiting for a wand to Choose them. George was up first. Mr. Ollivander was at the counter. He handed George a wand. ‘Thirteen inches. Cedar. Unicorn Hair. Brittle. Just give it a wave.’ She did so.

Immediately after, Mr. Ollivander’s glasses chipped. He was slightly shocked, but seemed to forget it a second later.

‘No, no, that is not the one for you, my boy!’ he croaked, putting the wand back in its case, putting it away and picking another one. Julian, Anne and Dick giggled slightly. ‘Thirteen and a half inches. Dogwood. Dragon Heartstring. Unyielding.’ Once again, George gave it a wave.

Suddenly, wind flowed around her hair and light flooded into the room, like a spotlight. It was as if a dragon had ripped the wall off.

‘Ah, that is the wand for you! It looks perfect with you, my boy! That’s eleven galleons,’ he beamed. After Aunt Fanny handed over the money, the process went over again until everyone had a wand.

 

‘Aunt Fanny, can we go into Quidditch Quality Supplies? Oh, look at that beautiful broom!’ Anne begged.

‘Sorry, m’dear, first-years don’t do Quidditch. Anyway, we have to go pack and go back to Uncle Quentin!’

With that news, the children tried to pack as fast as possible but it was quite hard as Timmy kept chasing after Apollo, messing up their trunks. ‘Oh, Timmy, go annoy someone else, I need to pack otherwise we’ll never get home!’ George snapped.

Eventually, the trunks were packed, even fuller than before. Many times, one of them would have to sit on the top while the others clipped it back shut. To make the bag matter worse, they now had a three-legged cat, an owl plus Timmy to look after.

Fanny had hired a taxi, to get them back to King’s Cross Station, then on to Kirrin.

However, the driver gave them some very weird looks because of Ook’s constant squawking but he was just a Muggle, so he would do.

‘Aunt Fanny, where in fact is Platform 11¾?’ Anne asked curiously.

‘Don’t you remember from when we actually got off the train when we came here?’ Aunt Fanny asked.

‘Well, I was a bit tired and a bit preoccupied, given that we’d just been told we were wizards and we were heading to London, so the answer is no, I don’t remember.’

‘It’s between Platforms 11 and 12. The Hogwarts train is between 9 and 10, on Platform 11¾, which is where you’ll be very soon. Anyway, we need to hurry, because we’re awfully late and our train leaves very soon!’

Aunt Fanny started to walk towards Platforms 11 and 12 with a much faster pace until she eventually came into a halt in front of a plain brick wall.

‘Now, to get to Platform 11¾, you must run straight at the wall,’ Fanny said simply.

‘What?’ George and Dick said in unison. Their eyes were almost popping out of their head in surprise.

‘Yes, you run at the wall. Don’t worry, though, you won’t hurt yourselves. This is the way to get to Platform 11¾, so unless you want to walk home, you must do as I say.’

‘This just gets madder every day,’ Dick whispered.

‘Oi, I heard that, young man!’ Aunt Fanny scolded. ‘Now, as you were so cheeky, you will be the first to go. Make sure you’re subtle, or the Muggles will notice. Oh, go on!’ Dick was very wary.

However, when the moment was right, he charged at the wall and, to everyone’s disbelief, disappeared.

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Muddle Up Monday

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Fiona

I know what you’re going to say! “How come Stef’s doing the Monday post? It’s Fiona’s turn!”

Well, our dear Fiona isn’t feeling her best today and last night so she asked me to blog on her behalf so she can get some rest and hopefully feel better sooner! I’m sure we all wish her the best and a speedy recovery!

Also this week, though unconfirmed we might be switching blog days around with me blogging about The Ship of Adventure on Thursday and Fiona listening to the Five Fall Into Adventure Audio book on Sunday. Or we might keep to our own days, it’s a little up in the air at the moment.

Our contributor this week, making her long awaited return (and we may have to wait a little longer for the next chapter) is Abi, with the third chapter of The Famous Five go to Hogwarts! I hope you’re all as excited for it as we were when Abi got back in touch with us with the chapter. If you need a refresher, check here.

With that, I shall leave you with some pictures from my last trip to London. Enjoy!

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Adventures with George and Timmy 4: The Footprint in the Sand

Posted on May 24, 2015 by pippastef
Adventures with George and Timmy containing the first three Just George stories.

Adventures with George and Timmy containing the first three Just George stories.

This is the third story in the omnibus that I have of George and Timmy adventures. The Footprint in the Sand as a title doesn’t really have much to do with the story, unless I missed something very important. However I shall get on to that. As you may remember I haven’t been the biggest fan of Sue Welford’s George and Timmy stories,  which is a shame because if I was a child I think I would really enjoy them, but I’m just too old so that the excitement of them doesn’t catch me.  I would recommend them as a way to ease children into the Famous Five novels though, and shall certainly be doing that at work when I take the book back on Tuesday.

I wish I could say that The Footprint in the Sand was a nice story to finish on, but it felt the same as the other two stories, very samey and unfortunately we face very much the same problems as before with George not liking Holly, the little girl. There is a lot of disobedience from George and judging going on as she makes up her mind not to like Holly even before she sets her eyes on her – just because she is a girl. George does a lot of pre-judging in these books, and makes decisions based on what people look and sound like. This doesn’t feel like the George we love and know who in usually is fair minded enough to give everyone a chance.

Welford also keeps reminding us that George is ‘a little girl’. As an adult I sort of sighed and wished there were other ways to describe her. Blyton came up with a good few, stubborn girl was one that always worked well with George.

Anyway, the main story is about Aunt Fanny (I will always call her that) being nice to the new people in the village who have a little girl, and wanting George to play nicely with Holly. Holly is a bit scared of everything, and also wears dresses. George just can’t stand anyone who wears dresses and also never really gives the girl a chance because she doesn’t like Timmy.

George begins to act in her very selfish way by putting what she wants over being nice to Holly, and forces the girl to retreat as she plays with Timmy. The next day she even skips out of playing with Holly by going off to Kirrin Island with Timmy. This is where the adventure really takes off and George discovers people trespassing on her island.

She overhears the men planning to rob a house “with a blue door, behind the church” and Timmy breaks cover to nip at the men’s ankles meaning that they discover George and hold her prisoner. She has a little cry when she thinks the men have left her on the island and taken Timmy away from her, but the little puppy has chewed his way through his rope and creeps back to chew through the rope for his little mistress.

The head back to Kirrin cottage to tell a grown-up that there will be a robbery, but Aunt Fanny is not at home, she’s visiting the Barrett’s. George hurries along, all dirty from her capture and her mother is appalled to see her daughter in such a state.

We go through the whole rigmarole of George not being listened to by the grown-ups and then the girlie girl, Holly being the only one who listens and tries to help George prevent the robbery.

I feel the need to keep apologizing to Sue Welford for my reviews of her books. I really do try and find things I love about them, but I’m just not the age group she was writing for, and because they’re not the Timmy and George I know and love, its hard for me to see them in such a different way. But as I said at the start, I would recommend these to people who want to maybe introduce younger children to the five; they would see the magic I’m lacking I’m sure. I shall certainly do my bit for recommending them to readers in the library because as we know, Blyton never goes out of style! 😉

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The Island of Adventure – How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? part 9

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Fiona

As planned, and after a month since the last post (where does the time go?) I’m back to looking at the changes to The Island of Adventure. It is chapters 17 and 18 this week, as we move into the second half of the book and the real adventure begins.

Earlier posts: parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight.

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

Reading two copies at once
Island of Adventure Millennium edition by Larry Ronstant

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: JO-JO IS ANGRY

As noted in the first post the chapter title has been updated to reflect Jo-Jo’s new name.

The red/reddish rocks and stream continue to be corrected to green or at times bright green.

One instance of queer becomes strange, but the other two are left alone. This happened in the last few chapters too, as if all of a sudden the editor changed their mind about having to update it, or just became sloppy and stopped paying attention. Jo-Jo’s black face still becomes his face, though.

That leaves us with only three new changes in the chapter. The first is another word added that changes the meaning of a sentence, in a way that seems to confuse things. He (Jo-Jo) opened that inner door and went into the back cellar with the boxes – the cellar where the trap-door is -… is what Dinah says originally about Jo-Jo. In the newer edition the part in parenthesis begins and the cellar. The parenthesised part is supposed to simply add to the description; saying that the back cellar is the one with trap-door. With an and there it becomes “he went into the back cellar, and into the one with the trap-door,” as if they were two places.

The other two changes have been made to Aunt Polly talking to and about Jo-Jo, in a similar way to what has been done in earlier chapters. Her original words are you must be mad,  and then, he’s a bit crazy. She becomes somewhat kinder to Joe and says you must be imagining things and he’s very bad tempered instead.

There was one thing left in that stood out to me – Jo-Jo saying you ought to be whipped. So many references to violence have been removed or made weaker.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: OFF TO THE ISLAND AGAIN

This chapter feels the editor’s pen several times in relation to the gender roles of the boys and girls.

It has Philip say you know boys shouldn’t hit girls in both editions, yet the following line is cut.

Jack, although he never did hit a girl, couldn’t help agreeing that Dinah deserved what she often got.

It is replaced with Jack couldn’t help giving Dinah some advice.

Also cut is “Clear out and get over your bad temper,” said Philip, his ear stinging and going very red. And then “Go on, clear out,” said Philip. I don’t know why Philip can no longer tell Dinah to get lost when he’s angry.

In both editions the boys still debate Should they take the girls this time – or not? But instead of saying We may as well take the girls when they’ve decided, it becomes We can take the girls as well.

Lastly on that topic Philip no longer thinks How silly girls were! They never could find anything. Surely lots of boys think girls are silly, and vice versa, without it being so offensive or sexist that it can’t be included in a book?

The majority of the remaining changes are nothing new. Hyphens are removed from ink-bottle and ink-pot  and replaced with spaces. (Surely those terms are too outdated and obsolete for today’s children anyway? Really, Uncle Jocelyn should have said “My Biro’s run out,” and Dinah could have fetched him a new one? No, wait, that’s silly. He should have said “My laptop’s battery is dying and I can’t find the charger.” That’s better, isn’t it.)

The red (and once copper) colours on the island get corrected to green still and references to Jo-Jo’s colour are removed. Twice queer appears and is not changed, though.

Lastly, and inexplicably, part of Jack’s line gets doubled up. Instead of Wind up, Tufty – here goes! He says Wind up, wind up, Tufty – here goes! 

That’s only nine changes this time (compared to 32 in the last two!) but it brings our total to triple figures – 101!

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Five on Finniston Farm reviewed by Chris

Posted on May 20, 2015 by worldofblyton

This is the last of my reviews of my top three Famous Fives, the others being Five Go Adventuring Again and Five Go Down to the Sea. It is the 18th in the series and was first published in 1960 by Hodder & Stoughton. My copy is the 1968 Brockhampton Press (a subsidiary of H&S) edition, but with the same illustrations and cover jacket (both by Eileen Soper) as the first edition, as pictured here. For other reviews, see those by Keith Robinson and by Nigel Rowe on EnidBlyton.net and by Terry Gustafson on The Enid Blyton Society site. Images in this review are taken from the Enid Blyton Society website.

finniston farm cover eileen soper

We are in Dorset for the summer hols. Unusually, there is no complicated back story of illnesses or other family problems. Also unusually the boys have arrived first and meet the girls off the bus at Finniston Church near Finniston Village because they are going to stay at … Finniston Farm. There are great descriptions of the countryside and a classic stop at the village shop for ginger beer and ice cream. Then it’s off to the farm where we meet “kind, tired” Mrs Philpot, her taciturn farmer husband and their children, the usual twins – in this case Harry and Harriet, analysed by Stef on this blog. The ‘Harries’ are unfriendly, and we later realise this is because they resent the strains put on their mother by having to take paying guests. We also meet the twins’ Great-Grand-Dad and it’s immediately clear that he is a crusty old character, with a low opinion of outsiders in general and the younger generation in particular.

No surprise, perhaps, when we meet the other paying guests. They are the brash American Mr Henning, set on buying up English antiques to take home, and his loathsome son named only as “Junior”. And boy – as he might say – is Junior awful. Fat and “pasty-faced”, greedy and sneering, he is obnoxious in every conceivable way. He has terrible manners, treats Mrs Philpot as a servant and, we later learn, mistreats the farm animals. Perhaps his father has spoilt him but, then again, even his father doesn’t seem to like him very much. The Five, Timmy included, loathe him on sight and, frankly, so do we readers.

The children settle into farm life, sensitive to and appreciative of its ancient accoutrements, and readily sympathising with Great-Grand-Dad’s hostility to selling these off to Mr Henning to be shipped to America. They are shocked to learn that the Americans expect to have breakfast in bed, and on their first morning George offers to take “lazy little pest” Junior’s tray up to him. In the process, she splashes boiling coffee on his arm and sets Timmy on him, with a nice illustration to accompany it. It’s really bullying of the nastiest sort and yet we don’t mind, since he seems so vile. At all events this episode puts the Philpot twins firmly on the side of the Five.

Breakfast excitements over, the Five are taken over the farm on a rackety old Land Rover – Junior tries to join them but Timmy chases him off – and  there are some great descriptions of the fields and a sense of their ancient history from Bill the farm hand. This history is later filled out by old William Finniston, proprietor of the village antiques shop. He tells them that there was once a Finniston Castle which was completely destroyed in the 12th Century. All that now remains is a chapel, now used as storehouse, but the old man believes that the dungeons and cellars of the castle must still exist, and might contain treasure. He also believes that there was a secret passage between the castle and the chapel. He says that he is descended from the Finniston family that lived in the castle. Puzzlingly, he says that Great-Grand-Dad is called Jonathan Finniston and that the two are great friends, and this is repeated several times later. Yet, surely, their shared surname suggests that they are relatives, not simply friends, and that Great-Grand-Dad is also a descendant of the castle-owners, as indeed he later implies to be the case? This is never properly explained.

What is explained is that Mr Henning is hell-bent on finding the secrets of Finniston Castle, and that he has an accomplice, apparently English rather than American, but at all events “a dried-up little fellow wearing thick glasses” called Richard Durleston. Later we are told that he is “surly”, and I like the pleasing euphony of ‘surly Durleston’. He is an antiques expert advising Henning on buying up old artefacts at knockdown prices. It’s important that they do not learn of William Finniston’s beliefs about the castle and its treasure but, alas, sneaky Junior has eavesdropped on the children talking about it. However, at this point, no one even knows where the castle once stood, and the children start to search for it. Soon they find what Julian says is a “kitchen-midden”, meaning a rubbish tip for the castle, which fixes its location as being nearby. But alas, Junior overhears this, too, and tells his “Pop” and Mr Durleston. Initially poor old Junior is given short shrift but when he drops in the technical term ‘kitchen-midden’ the adults take him seriously.

As a result, Mr Henning offers the Philpots the sum of £250 (about £4000 in today’s money) for the exclusive right to dig in the vicinity of the castle, without of course mentioning that he knows that this is the castle’s location. The impoverished farmers accept with alacrity and the next day Henning brings a gang of workmen to excavate the site. The children are now unable to explore it, but there is one piece of information that Junior hadn’t overheard, namely the possibility of a secret passage between castle and chapel. If the children could find this then they could use it to enter the castle literally under the feet of the American interloper.

And, what do you know, with shovels and spades they do find the passage, and it takes them into the castle cellars! There follow some great, atmospheric scenes of exploration as the children find gold coins, ancient armour and weapons even as above them the drills of Henning’s workmen get closer. There is a splendid illustration of Timmy sneezing at a dusty old wooden chest which is so decrepit that it promptly collapses, revealing the coins. After some difficulties when they are nearly trapped the children return to the farm via the chapel and tell the Philpots all about their discoveries, producing as evidence a couple of the gold coins and a sword. Great-Grand-Dad is especially delighted.

Treasure!

Treasure!

Now there is a final showdown with Henning. He has reached the castle cellars but has not at this point found any treasure, although he suspects he will find something valuable. He offers a further £250 for the rights to anything he finds but is refused, even when he raises the offer to £5000. This by the way seems to me an enormous sum (£80,000 in today’s money) to offer when he does not even know about the treasure. Great-Grand-Dad produces the gold coins and sword to show that there is treasure worth far more than that, and when Durleston dismisses these as “junk” William Finniston is on hand to contradict him with quiet authority. Utterly humiliated, Mr Henning is told to leave immediately without even being allowed to pack his things, and when he not unreasonably demurs Great-Grand-Dad chases him off with the sword. Meanwhile, Junior is subjected to vicious run-down of his character flaws (e.g. “cissy-boy”) and yet again has Timmy set on him. It has to be said that they are very harshly treated since they have not, after all, done anything wrong apart from being brash, grasping and, well, American. Never mind, we are pleased to see them go and the future of Finniston Farm assured, and with that the adventure ends.

This is a splendid Famous Five. It has a denser story than usual, with a really strong sense of place and history (it was based on an actual Dorset farm that Blyton owned). The relatively slow build up allows this to be established far more than in others in the series. The plot is tight with no loose ends except perhaps for another minor issue about names: why if Great-Grand-Dad is a Finniston is his grandson called Philpot? But that could be explained if his daughter was Philpot’s mother.

In particular, the context is very strong. This is an impoverished farm in a Britain that has ‘won the war but lost the peace’ and is coming to terms with being supplanted by the United States in terms of wealth and power. Finniston Farm is a microcosm of that, replete with the clash between new and old, materialism and virtue, price and value. We also glimpse the resentment of the farmers at having to take in paying guests, with a key plot line being the way that the twins warm to the Five because they, unlike Junior, are happy to help out with farm chores. This is quite unlike other Famous Five stories where farmers and other locals are usually characterless and blandly welcoming.

Unlike other Fives, the baddies are not criminals – Mr Henning seems a bit of a sharp operator, but his failings are moral rather than legal. In this way it is more realistic than the others in the series. Junior is splendidly obnoxious but he isn’t the grotesque outsider found in so many of the Five’s adventures. It’s true that there is a strong vein of anti-Americanism in the book, but at several points the children mention that they like Americans in general. About the only thing that is slightly below par is the food, which is slightly less commodious than that of some in the series. For example, on the first night they are given meat pie followed by stewed plums and cream. Nice enough, no doubt, but hardly the spread we might hope for, although there are some reasonable high teas provided. And I miss Uncle Quentin being on the scene. Other than that, with wonderful countryside, a perfect village shop, secret passages, a castle and treasure everything we love is there.

Other reviews, mentioned above, complain that this is an identikit Five, with too many repetitions of devices used in other books and thus being formulaic. I disagree. I think that with Finniston Farm Blyton brings all the elements of the series together in near-perfection, and in my view it deserves the accolade of being the best Famous Five adventure.

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Mid May Monday

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Fiona

So we’re half way through May already, and we accidentally forgot to publish Chris’s post on Wednesday, so this week we’ll bring you the review of Five on Finniston Farm that we promised last week!

Fiona is planning on reviewing the text changes in the next couple of chapters for Island of Adventure, and I’m hoping either to review the next Adventure book, which is Ship or the next Timmy and George story to round of my reviews of Sue Welford’s prequels.

Well we haven’t really got much news for you this week so I’ll leave you with some of the pictures I took in Twickenham on Friday! Hope you like them!

Along the Thames
Bridge to Eel Pie Island
York House Gardens
Almost tame squirrel
Bridge to York House Gardens
York House Gardens
Grass
York House Garden
York House Garden
Boats on the Thames
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Famous Five 90s Style: Five On Kirrin Island Again

Posted on May 17, 2015 by pippastef

I think that by far Five on Kirrin Island Again is the most faithful adaptation of the books in the 90s repertoire. Apart from the usual issue of it being a little rushed, the story is pretty much all intact, complete with villains which are not quite as comical as the ones in Five on a Treasure Island or Five Go Adventuring Again for example. In fact they give a very scary and dangerous feeling. 3

Given that Five on Kirrin Island Again was supposed to be the last Famous Five book that Blyton was to write, it is a fitting tribute that the 90s episode keeps so closely to the story. Obviously there are bit chunks missing, such as a lot of the falling out between George and Dick, and the meal between the Curtons and the Five, and Martin’s hurt ankle. This is clearly down to restraints on time. It is my personal opinion however that this episode would not have been made better by splitting it into two like some other episodes, but could have just done with being more feature length.

The detail is remarkable in a way, they even included the tunnel under the sea from Kirrin Island, which is necessary, but somehow it feels like it was the one thing that might have slipped. Another good feature is that the production team clearly felt that the lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper were important enough to stay in the episode. I mean let’s face it, as avid Blytonites and Famous Fivers, we all would have been a bit miffed if the old chap in the light house wasn’t around!

The only thing I think I have a problem with on the detail front is that the tower that is erected on Kirrin Island doesn’t really remind me of a tower. Its more like a workshop on stilts. Not to mention the fact that I always imagined the tower as tall and silver. There is a scene in the book where Blyton describes how the five had to really struggle to climb the tower and Timmy didn’t like the slippery surface of the stairs. This gave me the impression that it was a very tall tower. Unfortunately, the tower that was chosen for this adaptation has no real impressiveness to it, and its a gaudy shade of red. My inner child doesn’t like this very much.

2I think a notable acting credit needs to be pointed towards Christopher Good as Uncle Quentin in this episode. Usually he’s very good, if a little stereotypical in his portrayal of a nutty professor, but in this episode where he has to act serious as the children, his work, Kirrin Island and most of the bay are threatened to be blown up, he shows a remarkable depth to the character. The scene with Jemima Rooper when George finds him prisoner in an underground cave is particularly touching as the two really seem to connect as hot-headed father and daughter with a tenderness that shines through in those odd moments in the books. Its really nice to get an idea of how much Quentin really loves his daughter even though they’re too similar to get along normally.

Other good scenes include the one in the quarry when the Five meet Martin properly for the first time, and the boys aren’t sure how much to trust him with the information about George finding a secret passage. The whole quarry scene is nicely done and its nice to see that it was kept in, given that secret passages seem to mostly change where they are from book to screen.

Overall it’s a very satisfying episode of the bunch, probably the best adapted – there must have been some sentimental value somewhere when they did this one! Maybe it was someone’s first Famous Five? –  and that comes through on the screen. Once more Jemima Rooper’s portrayal of George really shines through, and her scenes with Christopher Good are touching and beautifully done as they reveal how much father and daughter really love each other and what an understanding they have deep down.

If you have to watch any of the 90s TV series, and don’t know which one would be the best, I recommend Kirrin Island Again as it stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of sticking to the story. Why don’t you have a watch and make up your minds and let me know what you think? I promise its 25 minutes well worth it! Go on, spoil yourself!

 

Posted in Blyton on Screen | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

My fifteenth Noddy book: Noddy Has an Adventure

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Fiona

A confession to start: this isn’t the book I was supposed to do this week. I’m trying to do them in series order so You’re a Good Friend Noddy should have come first. But Noddy Has an Adventure is what I promised on Monday and so that’s what I’ve read.

A second confession before we get into the book is that again I forgot to organise things for Wednesday, so you may have noticed there was no post. Chris’s review of Five on Finniston Farm will be rescheduled for next week! (Then I just have to remember to put it on!)

So, to Noddy now.

noddy-has-an-adventure

It seems tradition for Noddy books to start with him getting up in the morning and having his milk delivered by the milkman who takes payment in making Noddy’s head nod. This time however it begins with him going to bed at night, then sleeping right through the milkman’s visit the next morning.

His heavy sleep isn’t much of an alibi, though, when Big Ears comes rather angrily to his door, complaining that someone’s stolen all of his washing. What has that got to do with Noddy? you ask. Well, Big Ears happened to hear a car during the night, one that made a parp-parp noise just like Noddy’s little car does.

The next morning Mr Big-Bear discovers all his flowers have been stolen and again, Noddy’s car has been heard nearby. Mr Plod is soon on the case and you know what’s coming, don’t you? Yep – Noddy’s being blamed.

I have to say he seems a very poor policeman. Surely he knows by now that Noddy’s no criminal, no matter how many times he is accused of various crimes? You might almost put him on a par with Mr Goon, only he doesn’t have a hatred for Noddy.

DSCN2488

Thankfully Noddy has friends, and Bumpy-Dog (from Noddy Meets Bumpy-Dog) returns, taking on a Buster-type role and sending the annoying policeman packing. Tessie Bear is there as well, as she looks after Bumpy dog and they hatch a plan to prove Noddy is innocent.

His alibi this time will be that he has stayed at Tessie Bear’s house overnight. If any crimes occur then they can’t have had anything to do with him. Tessie Bear’s Uncle Bear is there, and he tells them the story of The Three Bears who he claims were relatives of his!

The upshot is that Mr Plod is ‘glad’ that Noddy’s not to blame for the theft of the plums from Mr Golly’s orchard that night, and drops all investigations into him.

There’s still the mystery of the car that sounds like Noddy’s, though. And what’s even more mysterious is that he discovers his car is all muddy… as if it’s been driven through an orchard, perhaps. But it has been locked in his garage the whole time and he is very insistent that he always locks his car away safely at night.

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Unfortunately the juicy mystery is somewhat spoiled when Noddy suddenly announces that oh, yes, he did have two keys for the garage but recently lost one. It seems a bit of a lazy solution that didn’t require any effort on Noddy’s part to work out.

It’s somewhat redeemed by the idea he and Big-Ears come up with to catch the thief, however. In a sort of Blue Peter Make moment they use paper, paint and dustbin lids to create post boxes to hide in. They must do a good job as Mr Plod passes and doesn’t see anything amiss (even though two brand new post boxes have appeared on either side of the road outside Noddy’s house).

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The thief doesn’t realise, either, and ends up being chased by a pair of post boxes with legs.

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The book has some good points like the ending, and the three bears story but also has weaker elements like Noddy’s lost key. It’s not one of the best in the series for me, but it’s not a bad read.

 

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May Monday

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Fiona

We’re well into May now, and here we seem to have had nothing but showers! It hasn’t stopped me getting out too much though, but at times I was wishing for a sou’wester and galoshes!

Coming up this week:

WednesdayThose of you who follow us on Twitter may have seen our interactions with Susie Day, author of Pea’s Book of Holidays which I reviewed at length on Friday. For those of you who aren’t tweeting yet, here’s what she said:

Susie Day tweets usI always get so excited when properly famous people speak to us!

And with all that out of the way, I’ll end on a few photos from when it hasn’t been pouring with rain.

Looking over Perthshire towards the Cairngorms
Pheasant by Bridgefoot
Falls of Braan
Falls of Braan
Raindrops and a spider in gorse
Looking over Perthshire towards the Cairngorms
Money does grow on trees
Flowers by Rumbling Bridge
Red squirrel in Craigvinean Forest
Falls of Braan

 

 

 

 

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The Twinniest Twins: Guy and Harry Lawdler from Five on a Secret Trail

Posted on May 10, 2015 by pippastef
Five on a Secret Trail

Five on a Secret Trail

We’re back to the twins of Enid Blyton, and this week I’m going to look into one of the iconic sets of twins that she wrote about. Another feature of the Famous Five stories, Harry and Guy Lawdler probably represent a more traditional brother/brother relationship (I am assuming and basing this on my stereotypical knowledge because I neither have a brother or am a boy!)

Over this series of posts we have looked at the Philpot twins, or the Harries as they’re more commonly known and seen how they strived to be as ‘two peas in a pod’ as possible, and then looked at Connie and Ruth Batten from the Malory Towers books and how the relationship between them was bordering on dangerous. Now with only two pairs of twins left to look at, Harry and Guy present us with a new side of things. The only boy/boy twins I have come across in my (admittedly-narrow) readings of Blyton, their relationship is far from perfect.

For those of you who have ever read Five on a Secret Trail will know that we’re introduced to the Lawdlers in a very strange way, because for the first two thirds to three quarters of the book we are lead to believe that Guy is the only one.

The twins are not seen together at all until the mystery really is hotting up and in many a way Guy is the most well known of the two because he seems friendlier and the Five take to him much easier than Harry. However, the problem with Harry is that he neither introduces himself, for his mistake and then gets too readily annoyed when first the girls and then the boys mistake him for his brother Guy.

This makes the fact plain that the twins are completely identical and there is nothing (at least nothing that is mentioned) to indicate that they have anything to tell them apart. The Harries , apart from being non-fraternal twins are described as being totally alike, apart from the scar on the back of Harry’s hand which helps the five identify them. The Lawdlers are not mentioned to have anything like this until right at the end of the book when Guy has a sprained ankle which is strapped up tightly and George makes this point by saying, “I don’t know how I shall be able to tell one from t’other when Guy’s bad foot is better.” (pg 170, Five on a Secret Trail, 2000).

Having got that all sorted, and the fact that the twins are very much identical down to a ‘t’, now its time to look at the dynamic they have with each other, and with the Five during the adventure.

Anyone who has read Five on a Secret Trail will know how the drama of the twins plays out, but the fact that the twins do pretend that the other doesn’t exist seems to me (the only child) to be a factor of a relationship with a sibling.

Harry explains why they pretended the other doesn’t exist when the Five discover him after Guy’s disappearance. Harry says, “…we each pretended that the other didn’t even exist…we’re like that. We love each other the best in the world, and we hate each other worst – when we quarrel. We’re simply horrible then!”
From the outside perspective this seems very similar to lot of sibling relationships I’ve witnessed, especially when I was growing up about the way they antagonise each other to the point where they would refuse to speak to each other. Something similar happens to Ruth and Connie in  The Upper Fourth at Malory Towers where Ruth starts to despise her sister and Darrell remarks that, “It’s because you’re twins, I expect, Connie should have been your elder sister, then it wouldn’t have mattered! You could have loved each other like ordinary sisters do…” I think I have seen it written down somewhere that being a twin means that there is a different kind of sibling bond, like your bond is stronger or different in some way.

Also, its interesting to note that this kind of behaviour where the twins are falling out just isn’t considered in Blyton’s world. There is this overlying feeling that all families are supposed to get on, and the siblings aren’t supposed to argue. I mean even within the Famous Five, Julian and Dick’s spats are brushed under the rug fairly quickly. In the Secret Seven there is a bit more discord between Jack and Susie which is considered abnormal, this theme seems to suggest that the characters who don’t get on with their siblings have an underlying problem.

In the case of the Lawdlers there doesn’t seem to be much, apart from their tempers. The boys are always seemingly left along quite a lot as their father is a famous archaeologist, so perhaps the boys are lacking the parental intervention to make them “nice” and “normal” like the perfect family unit Blyton tries to create for her readers. If I were a student of psychology I might liken that to having her own family unit broken apart when she was a young girl, but I digress and literature doesn’t always follow true life.

Anyway, the Lawdlers have a big bust up, which results in them not being in the same place at the same time as they pretend the other doesn’t exist. Naturally this makes it hard for the Five, and makes their treatment of Harry as the ‘crazy’ one rather unfair. I get the feeling, although it is never stated, that Harry maybe the younger twin, because Guy seems a lot more in control and less sulky. Of course the interaction with the Five might make him seem more mature, because he is benefiting from their friendship.

It’s hard to really get a firm hold on the Lawdler twins because they spend so little time in the book together. When Guy is kidnapped Harry becomes so distraught at the loss of his twin that he would move the world to get him back, which shows how deeply he really cares for his brother. This is demonstrated clearly when Harry and the Five find Guy in the secret passage. Harry throws himself at his dazed brother, hugs him tightly and starts trying to make amends.

…Before he could say a word more, Harry was beside him, his arms around him, his voice choking.

‘Guy! Oh Guy! I’ve been a beast. I wouldn’t be friends! What happened to you? Are you really all right? Oh Guy, we are friends again, aren’t we?’

In the end the twins end up talking and being friends again, at least I suppose they do because they don’t pay a major part in the rest of the book.

As it stands the Lawdlers are probably the most underestimated twins in the Famous Five, possibly the whole Blyton franchise. The Harries have their notoriety because of their unlikeliness of being identical, Isabel and Pat O’Sullivan have the joy of being the main characters in the St Clare’s series and Ruth and Connie have quite a big story line with a possibly worrying outcome. Guy and Harry seem to get overlooked because of their disinterest in each other, and that they don’t even really act like twins for most of the book, more like brothers and even then like strangers.

At the end of the day the Lawdlers feel more like real people because of their flaws, and feel more like proper siblings. I mean, even Julian, Dick and Anne can’t even manage to be totally perfect all the time, so that means that everyone else is allowed a little normality now and again, right?

Read about more Twinniest Twins here.

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