The Secret Island – How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition?

Posted on July 18, 2014 by Fiona

As promised here I am starting a new text comparison, this time of the first book in the Secret Series, The Secret Island. My original copy is a sixth impression from October 1949 (and has an inscription in the front from Christmas 1949 when the book was given to Pamela, by her ‘Uncle Wendy,’ or at least that’s what it looks like!) The paperback is an Award one from 2009.

By E.H. Davie

By Val Biro

Starting, as you do, at the very start of the book, the first difference is that there is no end-paper illustration in the paperback, or vignette on the title page. Modern books so rarely have these lovely pictures which is a shame. Also, the Roman numerals have been removed. There are no chapter numbers in the paperback in fact, though all twenty-one chapter titles are unaltered.

CHAPTER ONE: THE BEGINNING OF THE ADVENTURES

The first change, which seems to be quite common is that the double quotation marks for speech are replaced with single ones. I always think double ones are clearer.

For some reason the single line after the first paragraph has been merged into the opening paragraph in the paperback. I can’t really see why.

Very quickly we get into the problem that the original text refers to Nora being slapped. She says Aunt Harriet slapped me six times this morning because I didn’t wash the curtains well enough. Look! This is replaced with yelled at me six times. Look! Originally she then shows Jack her arm, red with slaps. This is changed to her hands which were red and sore from all the washing.

Later when Mike says he hates to see the girls slapped and worked hard, it becomes bullied and worked hard.

And later, another line is drastically altered from Nora got a few more slaps and Peggy was scolded so hard she cried bitterly into her overall, to Nora got shouted at again, and Peggy was in such trouble she cried bitterly for hours. So slaps becomes a shouting-at, that’s expected really, but why has a scolding becomes trouble? And why can’t a girl doing cleaning wear an overall? It could easily have been changed to an apron or dress, why make it a time period instead?

Not all mentions of violence are removed though. In both copies Mike says that his uncle shook me so hard I couldn’t stand up afterwards. Likewise, the phrase no unkind aunt and uncle to slap them appears in both. I’m not sure either of these can be seen as any more acceptable to the editors so I assume they were somehow missed somewhere in the process.

The rest of the changes are quite minor really. The usual hyphenations become one word like to-day, good-bye and to-night, hallo Jack becomes hello Jack, and Granpa becomes Grandpa. I’m sure you can argue many ways that Grandpa is more correct but surely people are allowed to choose their own names for their grandparents? Be it Grandpop, Pop-pop, Paw-paw, Grandad, Granddad, Grandaddy… Granpa is pronounced a little differently from Grandpa and is a different name. Finally, some emphasis and excitement is lost when we must, must, see the secret island becomes just must, must (the second must losing its italics).

One change which may turn out to be a simple error comes when the children are being described. Nora is described as having a head of black curls originally, which matches the illustrations in both books, but in the paperback she is blonde in the text. Peggy also has blonde hair instead of yellow. It will be interesting to see if the hair colour changes back later.

CHAPTER TWO: AN EXCITING DAY

A few more references to slapping are removed. Instead of looking forward to being safe from the slappings and scoldings, it becomes from shouting and unhappiness. Also, Peggy originally says she doesn’t care how much we are slapped or scolded now and this becomes shouted at now.

A spelling error is corrected too, as Jack in the hardback has them bale out and baling out the water from the boat, this is altered to bail out and bailing out. I admit I did a quick Google just to check, and the difference is explained as bale is correct for bundles of hay for example as it is from an old German word connected with ball. Bailing out is spelled so because it’s from the French for bucket – baille.

Somewhat unusually (in my experience anyway) the paperback has a fair number of illustrations. There is one decent sized one in each of the first two chapters (compared to six small ones in the hardback). Unfortunately, in my opinion, they are fairly poor especially when compared with E.H Davie’s originals. The cover is lovely, as expected as it was by the great illustrator Val Biro (who sadly passed away recently aged 92), but the internal illustrations are by a chap called Dudley Wynne. I’ll take a few photos of them just to show you what I mean.

By Dudley Wynne

By E.H. Davie

Wynne’s are much more heavily drawn and shaded and the children (especially Nora) have odd-looking faces. E.H. Davie manages to put much more detail in too. I’ve had a flick through the paperback and the illustrations don’t seem to improve so I will probably share some of the worst in later posts.

Anyway, I make that sixteen changes to the text (if you count all hyphen removal as one). It will be interesting to see if there are as many in later chapters as they will be removed from the slappings and shakings and scoldings then. This updated text doesn’t seem to go as far as some others does in terms of gender equality (at least not yet) as Mike still takes on the burden of making the decision about running away despite the fact Peggy is the oldest. And he sits and wonders if the girls will manage, roughing it on the island without proper beds.

And I will leave it there for this week.

Posted in Updating Blyton's Books | Tagged Dudley Wynne, E.H. Davie, The Secret Island, The Secret Series, Updated Text | 28 Comments

The Enchanted Wood Review by Laura

Posted on July 16, 2014 by worldofblyton

[Apologies to everyone, especially Laura as this was meant to go up at 9 this morning. My only excuse is I’m off work so I’ve lost track of the days again – Fiona]

I loved the Faraway Tree series when I was a kid, but I unfortunately lost my own copies a few years ago and the new editions didn’t quite cut it. Then one day my mother-in-law told me she had a set in her garage that belonged to my husband. I happily accepted them and immediately started re-reading them (when I should have been helping with the garage cleanup).

It was so good to read them again that I thought I’d do a few reviews, starting with the first book in the series: The Enchanted Wood. I’ll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but you have been warned.

Published in 1939, the book starts with Jo, Bessie and Fanny moving from a town with their parents, as their father has now got a job in the country. The cottage is not far from a wood, which looks ordinary except that the trees are ‘a darker green than usual’ and sound as thought they’re whispering secrets. After finding out that its name is the Enchanted Wood, they naturally have to explore.

On their first trip into the wood, they help out some brownies and find the Faraway Tree. The brownies warn them that it’s dangerous and aren’t happy to find out that the children mean to climb it on their next visit. They try to stop them, but Jo throws an acorn at one, who thinks he’s been shot.

Since it’s growing acorns, you’d assume – Bessie did – that it’s an oak tree, but it soon begins to grow chestnuts a bit higher up. That’s one of the many peculiar things about the tree; one minute it’s growing lemons, the next it’s growing cherries or oranges.

Another are the folk living in the tree – there’s the Angry Pixie, who throws soup or ink over people who look in to see him, Mr Whatisname, who can’t remember his own name and doesn’t have a very pleasant temper either, and Dame Washalot, who lives up to her name by doing washing in the tree and emptying her soapy water down through the branches and onto any unsuspecting person climbing the tree.

There’s also Silky, the beautiful golden-haired fairy who becomes friends with the children and introduces them to pop-biscuits – when you bite into them, you find your mouth full of new honey – and of course the aptly-named Moon-Face, who lives right at the top of the tree and owns the famous Slippery-Slip, which is the fun way of getting to the bottom of this huge tree if you don’t feel like climbing down and have some toffee on you. These two appear more than any other character in the tree, apart from someone else who arrives halfway through.

And then, just past Moon-Face’s house, is a ladder leading up into the clouds. When the children climb it – you’d just have to – they find themselves in Roundabout Land, which always spins around to music and only stops in a blue moon.

Like my post (sorry), the book does take a while to get into the actual adventures, but the early chapters help the readers understand who everyone is and what the tree is like. And this is just the first of many adventures, as the girls and Moon-Face travel on the train through the woods to ask the three bears for help when Jo gets caught in the Land of Ice and Snow.

They all visit the land of the Saucepan Man – which results in this funny, deaf little man who wears pots and pans living in the tree, singing his strange songs and taking part in their adventures – and end up at Dame Slap’s school after escaping from the Land of Take-What-You-Want, which just shows that even the nicer lands can be dangerous.

One of the hazards of having strange lands arrive at the top of the tree is that the inhabitants aren’t always pleasant and some may want to visit the Faraway Tree and cause problems. In this case it’s the red goblins, who lock everyone up inside their houses and won’t let them out until they tell them some magic spells. But the help of the whispering trees and the brownies – even though they were scared of the tree – the children and the tree folk manage to trick the goblins and take them prisoner.

There’s always a nice land for the children and their friends to visit at the end of the books and this time it’s the Land of Birthdays. It (luckily) happens to be Bessie’s birthday and their mother agrees, but insists they wear old clothes as their adventures up the tree have damaged some of their good ones by this stage – she has been fairly relaxed about their strange friends coming to visit, so it probably isn’t too much to ask.

Bessie, understandably, isn’t too thrilled about wearing old clothes to her party, but not to worry, there are fancy-dress costumes for everyone once they get there. There’s also games and prizes, a table where the birthday girl can wish for her own food and a wishing cake – which can only be trouble in the hands of the deaf Saucepan Man, leading to another easily solved problem.

These books were probably intended for younger readers, but they still hold up for adults years later – the lands, the characters and the tree itself are so imaginative. The only fault is that some of the ways they escape from lands or solve problems sometimes feel a bit to convenient – what if there hadn’t been a plane in the Land of Take-What-You-Want or if Rocking Land had tilted another way – but I guess that’s so they get to visit more than one land instead of spending the whole book escaping the first.

Dustjacket illustrated by Dorothy M. Wheeler.

Next time I’ll take a look at the second book, The Magic Faraway Tree.

We also have reviews of this book by Fiona

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Faraway Tree Series, The Enchanted Wood, Written by Laura | 1 Comment

Monday

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Fiona

So it’s another week, and the weather seems to be up to all sorts of tricks at the moment. It’s been awfully muggy today but now it seems to have cooled down a bit.

Anyway, we’re back on track with MONDAY posts, because I’m sure you noticed Fiona’s little mishap last week. This week we have Laura with a review of The Enchanted Wood, and Fiona tells me that she’s going to start a new book to do her chapter by chapter changes analysis of, which just leaves me, as always.

Well I might get around to reading the next St Clare’s book, The O’Sullivan Twins, or I have in my possession the Hodder book, The Adventures of George and Timmy so I could review that for you. Or do a recipe or review The Castle of Adventure or another TV episode… so, you might just have to wait and see.

And because I haven’t edited my pictures from the last walk I did, I shall treat you to some ones I don’t think I’ve shared with you from earlier in the year, of Hampton Court.

The gates

The Tudor front

The Tudor chimneys

The kitchens

The kitchen gardens

The Georgian square

The fountain

The formal Georgian gardens

The front of the Georgian extension

William and Mary symbol on the house

Chandelier

Tudor chimneys over the Georgian Extension

Posted in Blog talk | Tagged Hampton Court, July, Monday | 2 Comments

Article Review: Rivals Or Allies? Malcolm Saville and Enid Blyton by David Cook

Posted on July 13, 2014 by pippastef

The article is written by a man well known to those at the Enid Blyton Society, David Cook is a well known and liked member by all, but we all know his terrible secret (well, its not that terrible!)…

He also likes Malcolm Saville!

Now, we’re over the shock, and now aware that most of us do like other authors as well, I should explain to you how I’ve come across this article in particular. You won’t find it in the Enid Blyton Society Journal (of which you can subscribe here) but in the Malcolm Saville Society’s journal, Acksherley! (Issue 12, Dated November 1999).

In this article Cook begins by writing about his surprise at being asked by the editor of Acksherley, Jonathan Calder, to write an article comparing Blyton and Saville as Cook notes “whilst he [Calder] is a gread admirer of Malcolm Saville, he is equally vehement in his dislike for Enid Blyton” (pg 23).

So, surprises out of the way, on we go! It’s interesting to read of the similarities between the two authors especially their love of nature. Cook does point out however that they did go about sharing their knowledge in different ways. “While Malcolm was renowned for his ‘sense of place’ in his stories… Enid gave greater botanical emphasis to her stories, mentioning many common plants by name…” (pg 23). This is something I’ve noticed between the two authors as well: I have immersed myself in Saville’s locations and enjoyed Blyton’s factual nature stories.

Cook briefly compares the religious childhoods of Saville and Blyton, perhaps to show that they had fairly similar backgrounds when they were children. However there is one element of Blyton’s early life that does not match with Saville’s at all, and that would be her father walking out of the family home when she was young, and I believe that Saville certainly had no such drama in his early life.

Blyton eventually trained as a teacher, where as Saville worked for the Oxford University Press, and its around this time that they seem to drift apart in the comparison. Cook goes on to point out that in 1936 Saville was part of the publishing company Newnes, who had started to publish Blyton ten years previously with a book called The Bunnies*. Newnes also asked Blyton to edit the magazine Sunny Stories, which she did, and continued until 1952 when she was succeeded by Saville.

Cook brings attention to the fact that Saville helped Blyton’s first full length novel The Adventures of the Wishing Chair into print, and to quote Cook, “So you see, Malcolm Saville actually kick-started Enid Blyton’s career…”(pg. 24) something I believe we are all thankful for indeed! So you may not actually know who Saville is but you now know that he helped make sure Enid Blyton was such a big household name! Who’d have thought it?

From this astonishing fact we follow Cook as he explored the two authors publishing habits and similar story lines. In fact it is noted quite clearly that Saville was believed to have become friendly with Blyton and showed her some pictures or described Rye in Sussex, where he based his third Lone Pine Book, The Gay Dolphin, and she may have taken influence from that to write her fourth Famous Five, Five Go to Smuggler’s Top.

A difference noted in Cook’s article is the difference between the writers at their peak in popularity. Blyton was always a full time writer, unable to take criticism, with six publishers demanding stories for publishing, whereas Saville was very much a part-time writer at the beginning of his career and became a full time one later on.

To conclude, Cook takes us on a summary of the authors’ later lives, remarking on Blyton’s literary inconsistencies and tentatively linking them to the early onset of dementia that finally claimed her when she was 71 on 28th November 1968. Whereas Saville was regarded as being old-fashioned because of the publishers demands to shorten and compress his work, left it without much of the character development and descriptive passages of his earlier work. Saville died aged 81, on the 30th June 1982.

Cook provides us with a comprehensive overview of the two authors that are close to many hearts. I think he does a good job at summing up the careers of Saville and Blyton and picking out similarities, but I feel he didn’t really answer the question in his title – were Blyton and Saville, rivals or allies?

(L-R) Malcolm Saville, Clark Ramsey, publicity manager for George Newnes, Enid Blyton and Richmal Crompton.

Well, from what I’ve read and a recent discovery when flicking through my works copy of Blyton’s biography by Barbara Stoney, I spotted a picture of Blyton and Saville, with Richmal Crompton at a showing of the stage show Noddy in Toyland at the Stoll theatre in 1957, and I would like to believe that they were more friends than rivals. Its possible that Saville was one of the few adults who knew a bit about Blyton.

However I do have my doubts a little as Saville worked for the same publishing company Newnes as Blyton’s first husband, Hugh Pollock, so it is completely possible that Blyton didn’t see or speak to Saville much after her divorce from Pollock if the two men were quite companionable.

In many ways its a hard question to answer without speaking to either of them, but at the same time, I would most definitely like to believe they were allies. What do you think?

*The article doesn’t furnish any other details about this book. There is no Blyton book with that name, but there is The Enid Blyton Book of Bunnies published by Newnes in 1925. It may be that there is a compendium of different authors’ work titled The Bunnies though.

Posted in Other Authors | Tagged Acksherley!, David Cook, Enid Blyton Society Journal, Malcolm Saville, Newnes, Noddy in Toyland, Richmal Crompton | 1 Comment

Comic Strip Presents… Five Go Mad in Dorset – A Review

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Fiona

I recently discovered that 4 on Demand has all the episodes of the Comic Strip Presents show available to watch, and found myself watching Five Go Mad in Dorset. It was the very first episode of the show made and was originally aired on the second of November, 1982.

Like last time I had a document open and typed up some notes and thoughts as I watched (pausing it frequently so I could make it a bit more coherent.)

On the whole I thought this was a better episode than Five Go to Rehab and I will hopefully be able to explain why as I talk about it.

CERTAINLY STILL A SPOOF, THOUGH NOT OVERLY CRUEL

Aunt Fanny is very made up and full of figure, not the homely scientist’s wife we expect though at least she isn’t played by a man! And Timmy’s a decent sort of dog. The initial banter is all in good fun, Aunt Fanny saying she’s made them a slap up meal and there are plenty of goshes to go around.

Less than a minute in we have Dick say I say Ju, that man looks foreign!, pointing at the porter, and George suggests his name might be Golliwog and they perhaps ought to call the police.

And someone must, because the poor porter is arrested after running all the way to Kirrin Cottage with their cases.

This is an obvious jest at the inherent racism of Blyton’s books. I’m not daft on those sort of “jokes” as they perpetuate the idea that Blyton was an all out racist and she wasn’t. However the joke is played and is over quickly so it doesn’t overshadow the rest of the episode. Later though, Julian spots a car that has no road tax and George asserts it must belong to an illegal immigrant.

Kirrin Cottage is very cute and there’s a nice tea-time scene alongside the porter’s drama. It’s mentioned that Anne’s happy to just be a girl, a little ‘joke’ about Blyton’s misogynistic qualities but it’s just a brief reference again. Funnier are the little things like them having lashings of cream, and the surprisingly blasé conversation about how Uncle Quentin has been kidnapped.

I didn’t want to spoil your holiday but I’m afraid… your uncle’s been kidnapped again, says Aunt Fanny.

Bad show! the children groan.

That must be a bit of a blow for you Aunt Fanny, Julian comments casually.

Yes twice in six months? someone else says (I can’t work out who though.)

Yes, well I expect it’ll all sort itself out, Aunt Fanny says calmly.

Uncle Q isn’t kidnapped quite as often as that in the books but far more often than anyone would ever expect to be!

There is an odd subtext though that there’s something going on between Julian and Aunt Fanny though. It’s hard to pin down what it is, something in their facial expressions and the way Aunt Fanny says something about Julian being very mature now. I’m not sure what it’s all about and it’s not referenced again in the episode as far as I could tell (except perhaps at the very end but I can’t explain that without giving it away).

THE CAST

The actors are all much younger (and thinner!) here as it’s more than thirty years earlier, which makes it all more believable and realistic. The Five could easily be in their late teens here.

The Comic Strip cast

LASHINGS OF GINGERBEER

Later we get a perfect Famous Five picnic, complete with heaps of tomatoes and lashings of gingerbeer (not lashings and lashings though!) Poking fun at the Five’s ability to fall into trouble, we have some criminal types behaving oddly not ten feet from the picnic rug. They have big noses, thick lips and mean little eyes as well as unshaven cheeks, ergo, they must be up to no good! They’re not exactly quiet either and mention how they’re out of jail and must lie low. The Five automatically assume they are escaped convicts or traitors to the country, as opposed to recently released prisoners. Another cliché is revealed later, as one of the baddies is called Jake. Blyton did have a lot of baddies by that name.

I like their list of food which almost gets chanted at every meal. Hard boiled eggs, bags of salad, heaps of tomatoes and LASHINGS of ginger beer. It’s almost a quote from a book that. Almost.

Perhaps the Five have had just too many adventures as they barely react when the men poison Timmy. Anne casually says Oh look, Timmy’s fallen over, and instead of George’s usual over the top panic she simply says, Oh crikey! in a less excitable manner than the words might convey. She at least sounds a little upset as she goes over to check on him and says He’s been poisoned! Later she very casually asks Do you think someone’s got it in for Timmy?

To which one of the boys, Julian I think, says Never mind George, we’ll get another.

One quick telephone call later and they’re being congratulated by the police for helping them catch the two criminals red handed. The criminals are none too happy and one calls Julian a little b******! Not Blytonian language at all!

FAMILIAR NAMES AND FACES

Robbie Coltrane appears as the ice cream woman this time, and is very ominous as he talks about Strange comings and goings in this village. Secrets and signs and threats.

We then run into another familiar face, if you’ve seen Rehab, Toby Thurlow. I mentioned last time how the name is

an amalgamation of names used in the series. Toby is the boy from Five Go to Billycock Hill and Thurlow is actually Richard Kent’s father’s first name.

He wants to join them on their cycling holiday but they aren’t too keen. Sounds a lot like Five Get Into Trouble to me (again). We’ve also got Dirty Dick (Five on a Hike Together) who works for Toby’s dad.

I admit I giggled when they all said look! because a man had parachuted down, and we weren’t allowed to look. Obviously the budget didn’t extend to stunts!

It was around now that my other half made a comment along the lines of

Is it odd that this doesn’t sound any different to the audio books you listen to?

Which I thought was quite appalling! But Dawn French does do a good job as George a lot of the time.

The Five are also very casual after Toby is kidnapped. (At least they get the right boy this time, unlike in the book!). It’s said it serves him right for being Jewish and nouveau riche. Presumably another dig at Blyton’s attitudes.

I’m not sure about the baddies. They seem a trifle too silly even for this show. They go through their plans and keep adding BLAH BLAH BLAH to the end of every other line, as the boys repeat all the important phrases they can clearly overhear. This does get explained in the end, however.

The names on the map are funny though, Kneecap Hill. Crutchley. Thigh Woods. Ankle on the Water. And we get to see the original Coltrane gypsy scene which they redid in Rehab. Coltrane’s on top form again here. No telephone. No eelecticity. No gas. No water laid on. Just secrets, and signs and THREATS.

More jokes are made about how predictable the adventures are.

Perhaps there will be a secret way in, just like there has been in our previous adventures! Yes I’m sure this will be no exception!

and

I wouldn’t be surprised if this ladder led up to a little cupboard with a hidden room beyond full of government secrets and strange machinery.

Are two good examples but they’re delivered with such honest enthusiasm it makes them very funny rather than annoying.

The ending was pretty good I thought. I won’t give it away but the boss surprised me, and he got some very funny lines explaining how it all came about.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I think the episode benefited from being thirty minutes instead of an hour, so there were no unnecessary sub plots needed to flesh it out. Some jokes fell flat for me, such as a lot of the scene at the camp where they argued about Toby staying or not, based on the fact that Julian and Dick always shared a tent. A lot of it was very amusing though as you could see exactly why each joke or line had been included. It seems like the writers had a decent knowledge of the books.

So, if you don’t mind a few roll-your-eyes moments as they over-do the casual racism, I recommend this as a fine way to spend half an hour.

Posted in Blyton on Screen | Tagged 4oD, Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Five Go Mad in Dorset, Jennifer Saunders, Peter Richardson, Robbie Coltrane, The Comic Strip Presents, The Famous Five | 6 Comments

The Treasure Hunters by Fred

Posted on July 9, 2014 by worldofblyton

Is it totally unfair to say that Enid Blyton’s books are fairly interchangeable with each other? Well, yes it is, but that doesn’t stop the majority of her work being thoroughly enjoyable and decent reads in their own right.

Such is the case with The Treasure Hunters, a standalone story published in 1940 that bears the bog-standard Blyton-treasure-plot of a handful of children, John, Jeremy and Susan, setting out to discover lost treasure before their beloved Greylings Manor is sold on to the nasty Mr Potts. Even with its well-tread plot, The Treasure Hunters is still one of the more enjoyable standalone books in Blyton’s bibliography.

First edition dust jacket

The book has some marvellous pacing that keeps the reader interested and rarely lags in its story-telling. The core trio of characters are enjoyable as well – John and Jeremy come across as being two sides of the same coin, but Susan is a hoot. She radiates the strong-willed nature of George with the demure sweetness of Anne.

The supporting cast of adults round off the adventure nicely – Mr Potts constantly popping up unexpectedly as the children hunt for the treasure and the grandparents offering additional tension towards the end when the refuse to let the children complete their hunting.

The scenery depicted throughout the book is another feather in its cap. While Blyton was hardly the most descriptive of writers, the locations she evokes are all wonderfully film-worthy. The woodland, the river, the secret house are all laid out in their bare forms that allow the reader to fully visualize how they might want these places to look.

The plot itself offers enough twists and turns, much like the river the children hunt alongside, to reward multiple readings. As the plot thickens, so to do the locations – the three children, and Rags the dog, continually become entrenched in soggy marshes, brittle woods and claustrophobic underground passages.

The climax is, ultimately, something of an anti-climax. Its not quite as action based as other Blyton books, relying on the children racing back home (or at least the Timble’s farm) before Mr Potts can ruin their adventure. But there’s still some build-up of suspense, which lies in whether or not the grandparents will believe the children’s version of the story or Mr Potts’ version. Having been scolded by their grandparents earlier, it becomes easy for the reader to cast doubt as to whether or not the grandparents will side with the children.

My copy, a 1983 Armada paperback, features some lovely illustrations by Barbara C. Freeman which do much to bring the characters and locations alive. I recall having this copy on my bookshelf for years, but sadly it was one of those Blyton books that I never got round to reading during my initial Blyton phase. I finally gave the book a go last year, and I wasn’t disappointed – the search for the treasure across the winding river is a particular favourite scene of mine, just for the scenery it evokes.

Frontis from later reprints by Barbara C. Freeman

Overall, The Treasure Hunters is a corker of a Blyton book – fabulously paced, strong characters, and an engaging story. Well worth a read!

Armada 1983 edition

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Stand Alone Titles, The Treasure Hunters, Written by Fred | 4 Comments

Tuesday is the new Monday

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Fiona

It’s my belief that Tuesday is the new Monday. This could be ascribed to the fact that I forgot to write a Monday post this week until it was too late (ie late Monday afternoon) or it could just be a coincidence.

Our contributor post this week is going to be by Fred, who has reviewed one of Blyton’s stand alone titles: The Treasure Hunters. I plan to write about Five Go Mad in Dorset (an old episode of the comedy programme The Comic Strip Presents) or if I don’t manage that I may start a new series of text update comparisons or review another Noddy book. And Stef hopes to have a look at an article called Rivals or Allies? Malcolm Saville and Enid Blyton, which sounds very interesting.

I can’t think of any other news from us at the moment so I will leave off with a few photos from my short holiday.

Chaffinch on a feeder

Burning up

Foxgloves

Reflected boat

Shadow

Norrie

Flames

Big bubble

Tree

Red poppies

19th century folly on Loch Rannoch

Garden fire

Loch Rannoch

I’ll hopefully be putting up some more of the pictures on our other blog, Two Points of View, later in the week.

Posted in Blog talk | Tagged July, Monday, Tuesday | 3 Comments

Enid Blyton’s The Enchanted Village

Posted on July 6, 2014 by pippastef

Welcome to Bekconscot

The Front Cover

Fiona and I visited Bekonscot last year, to see the scale model village and especially the scale model of Blyton’s house. It was an enchanting little place, except I wasn’t quite as excited by it all as Fiona was! On this visit, we picked up this little book, The Enchanted Village that Blyton wrote during the time she was living in Beaconsfield (from 1938 until her death in 1968.) According to the little note from Gillian Baverstock (Blyton’s elder daughter) in the front cover of the book, Blyton was friendly with Roland Callingham who founded Bekonscot and so she wrote The Enchanted Village.

The Enchanted Village starts with Blyton asking the reader if they would like to accompany her around a village that will make you feel like a giant. Blyton compares it a fairyland, which is quite appropriate, because it feels like that when you step through gateway. Its quite magical seeing all the little buildings, and fascinating at the amount of detail that went in the little shops is astonishing, there is even a little Marks and Spencers and a cinema showing ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’.

Anyway, back to Blyton’s story. She uses the names John and Mary as the children to guide us around Bekonscot with her. They go for a wander through the houses, planted with flowers around the path, exclaiming at the detail, I’ve already described, and how the buildings only come up to their waists. Blyton remarks on the detail in the church and airport and miniature railway, which will be exciting for those interested in model trains. Blyton makes the world of Bekonscot come alive as she works her magic, making Bekonscot seem like a beautiful bustling little town. She says things like How are the tiny folk of Bekonscot to get about if they have no railway? which in a way makes your imagine the tiny people rushing around when you’re not looking.

The other things that are noted in the book are the manor house, the zoo, the farm, and the seaside village, Little Splashing. These places add to the charm of the village. There’s not much of a story to go with the description, just the use of the children to carry the readers through the walk. Blyton talks about coming back to Bekonscot at a later date, and how wonderful it is for it to have been created. There is one little extra in the book that is a nice addition, and its on the back back, mentioning the visits by the members of the Royal family to Bekonscot. Royal visits include HRH Queen Elizabeth II, her father King George VI, the Queen Mother, Queen Mary and Princess Margaret. So I think we can safely say that Bekonscot has the royal seal of approval.

List of royal visitors, with a picture of HRH Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret

On the back page of the little book is a darling picture of Blyton’s house Green Hedges which was torn down after her death. Incidentally behind Bekonscot is Blyton Close, where Green Hedges used to stand.

The Model of Green Hedges on the back cover.

Blyton Close signpost

So, I hope you’ve enjoyed my look at The Enchanted Village. If you get a chance to visit Bekonscot, I suggest you do, it’s better if you have children with you, in my humble opinion, though I know Fiona believes otherwise!

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Beaconsfield, Bekonscot, Green Hedges, Model Village, The Enchanted Village | 1 Comment

My sixth Noddy book: Noddy Goes to Sea

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Fiona

My sixth Noddy book should have been #15, Do Look Out, Noddy! which is the next in the series actually, and the one which was mentioned in the Monday post. However, me being the eejit that I am, I grabbed the wrong book on Saturday when I was packing for my holiday. So, my sixth Noddy book shall be #18 Noddy Goes to Sea. (At least I managed to bring one I hadn’t already reviewed, that’s something!)

Noddy Goes to Sea was also bought in Alton. It’s ever so slightly less tatty than some of the others I got so it cost a whopping £2.

We are back to Peter Wienk as illustrator (he illustrated You Funny Little Noddy!)

THE STORY

This starts off like several others, with Noddy getting up and getting on with his usual activities and thinking it’s a wonderful day. And, as always, it goes quickly wrong and he manages to get himself in trouble with Mr Plod who seems to always turn up at the worst moment for Noddy. This time it’s because Tubby Bear next door is being naughty and waters his mother’s washing and Noddy’s too. Being a childish toy, Noddy retaliates and ends up soaking the police man, naturally.

Matters are cleared up much more quickly than usual though, as there was a handy witness in Miss Fluffy cat. Tubby Bear is duly punished – spanked in fact, though I’m sure modern editions will see him scolded instead – and he runs away in the night, off to sea.

Noddy is sent off in his car to try to head him off at the docks, and well, I think I can see where the story is going given the title. So off Noddy goes, stopping only for petrol where he has no choice but to take Bumpy Dog along for the ride. He gets to the jetty just as Tubby Bear’s boat is leaving, and manages to get on before it leaves. Unfortunately, Bumpy-Dog dives in after them and the car follows. Being wooden, the car floats, and Bumpy-Dog can swim, so it’s not a complete disaster though it’s not exactly ideal.

The car gets towed along behind, and Bumpy-Dog is hauled up via a rope, just in time to face the loud-voiced captain who thinks they’re all stow-aways. Tubby Bear signed up to be a deck-hand and gets put to work and Noddy ends up having to be a cabin-boy, though he’s told to STOP NODDING YOUR HEAD AT ME by the captain.

Noddy makes the best of it, even if he does look queer in his sailor’s outfit. Tubby Bear, on the other hand, is being worked hard and feels rather sick on the ship, so bitterly regrets running away. Bumpy-Dog doesn’t fair too well either as he keeps falling out of Noddy’s hammock and over-board.

Noddy meets some mermaids, and mermen, who enjoy rides in his car which is still being towed along behind the ship, before they land at Shell Island. Noddy drives the captain around for a while and tells him all about Toyland and his friends there. The captain is quite enamoured at the sound of it and so quite happily takes Noddy, Bumpy-Dog, the car and Tubby Bear back there to be reunited with everyone.

There’s a fair moral running through this – naughty Tubby-Bear certainly learns a lesson or two about behaving. It’s nice to get away from Toy Town too, and I particularly liked he illustrations of the mermaids and Shell Island as these are unlike what we normally see in Noddy books, but they fit perfectly. It’s also nice to see it being someone other than Noddy who gets into trouble and runs away.

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Noddy, Noddy Goes to Sea, Peter Wienk | Leave a comment

Secret Seven books at McDonald’s by Su, part 2

Posted on July 2, 2014 by worldofblyton

Part one of Su’s McDonald’s series is here.

Hurry, Secret Seven, Hurry!

This story comes from Enid Blyton’s Magazine Annual No. 4 first published 1957. It is a short story and therefore, unlike Secret of the Old Mill, has not been drastically shortened. There have been a few changes such as baskets become hampers, gate is now lever, Williams becomes Mr Williams, scared becomes worried, buck up is keep going and make haste changes to hurry up.

The main change is that the children no longer open the gates across the railway-crossing; instead they have to gain access to the signal box so that they can use a lever to open the gates. This causes quite a few changes to the text towards the end of the book although the signal box is still described as a pretty little place with a tiny garden of its own. It has a garden originally as it is a small cottage where Williams lives, next to the gate.

The line A surprised fireman looked out of the cab at the children on the line below has been completely missed out yet the illustrations depict a steam train and the train still whistles as it comes down the line.

Some of the old fashioned language has been updated such as Is there anyone at home! I say – is there anyone in? has been changed to Is anyone there? Also the more tense tearing down the line has been changed to coming down the line.

Any mention of the three girls being scared or worried or even the three girls listening to the boys talking about football has been changed to others, so as not to single out the girls being the weaker sex.

They have tried to make Peter not sound too pompous by changing the following sentence “No time,” said Peter, looking at his watch. Then, like a good leader, he made up his mind quickly. to “No time,” said Colin, looking at his watch. Peter made up his mind quickly. Anything that tones Peter’s mannerisms down is a good thing in my books.

There are one or two changes that I’m not too sure about and they are Peter just skipped to one side in time … is changed to Peter skipped to one side just in time … Why the change around of the word just, but maybe it flows better the second way?

Everybody has the most enormous ice cream at the end of the book, which version do you prefer? I think I might choose the modern version, fancy eating ice creams with a shirt and tie on!

The Humbug Adventure

This story that I used for comparison comes from Enid Blyton’s Magazine Annual No. 1, first published 1954. It is no longer morning school but just plain old school now in the newer version but there haven’t been too many changes through this book. Television is mentioned in the original book and this has been kept the same. The word jolly is used quite a few times in the story and this has been kept, which surprised me a little, as well as the professor having a maid who shows them into the house. The names of twins at the fair are still Dickie and Danny and the bad guy’s name is still spelt as the original Jamey.

There are a few small changes sprinkled throughout the book, some of which I can’t understand why they warranted a change. These are to a different becomes in a different, great tube becomes great long tube, firing becomes setting fire and telephoned to the farm becomes telephoned the farm.

There are more changes when the story reaches the part about the fire at the farm. He gasped and choked, tried to call out something and pointed to the telescope becomes the shorter He gasped and pointed to the telescope. We obviously must not have children choking on a sweet in a story and this is followed by another sentence being cut. Peter gasped, not taking any notice of poor, choking Jack. His eye was glued to the big telescope. becomes Peter gasped, his eye glued to the telescope.

In the original the bad man they see through the telescope is described as a tramp but this has been changed to a man. He is initially described as having a limp and a beard and these facts feature later on in the story to form part of his description. The limp has been cut completely from the new version with the beard only being mentioned once. This is slightly strange as at the end of the book, when they describe the man as being short, this leads the farmer’s wife to declare Why – that would be Jamey! They could have at least mentioned the beard to make it sound slightly more believable or are there so very few short men nowadays?

Other small changes are that Buck up, idiot becomes Hurry up. In the original the others call Peter You selfish thing because he won’t let them look into the telescope. This has been cut out completely, they now just ask for a turn. When they are eating the humbug toffees their speech changes but even this “sweetie speech” has been changed. Peter says Uthing ooing which is translated as Nothing doing but in the new version it is Uthing oopening that translates as Nothing happening.

There is also a scene when the children are looking through the telescope, where the farmer is observed filling his pipe. This is kept in both of them but when it is exclaimed that Colin can see what tobacco he is using this is changed to newspaper he’s reading.

Not too many differences but there is a very big difference in the illustrations especially the size of the telescope. It is nice to see that they still know what a humbug sweet is though.

Next post: Secret Seven books at Mcdonald’s part 3

Posted in Book reviews, Updating Blyton's Books | Tagged Eileen Soper, Enid Blyton's Magazine Annual #4, Happy Meals, Hurry Secret Seven Hurry!, McDonald's, The Humbug Adventure, The Secret Seven, Tony Ross, Updated Text, Written by Su | Leave a comment

Last Monday in June

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Fiona

We’re half way through the year! I swear that time starts off slowly when you’re a child, because those two weeks at Christmas and six weeks off school in the holidays seem endless, they really do, but then as you get older, time almost spins faster and collapsing in on you so your days blur together and years fly by!

It’s been two years since I graduated from university, and only this last week have I managed to land myself a permanent part time job. Well it’s a start I suppose – hopefully this means I’ll have more time for blogging and writing!

Anyway, enough about me, I’m sure you’re all very keen to find out what we’re having on the blog this week! Well let me tell you that our contributor will be Su with the second of her blogs about the McDonalds’ Secret Seven books.

Fiona, who is on holiday, as the schools in Scotland broke up this week, will be doing another Noddy review for us. Do Look out, Noddy! this time, and I will… I will be doing… umm…

So I’m a little stuck at what I might do. I think I might make some scones this week, so perhaps you’ll get another recipe blog. Or I might get around to doing another episode of the Famous Five Tv series… but for now, I’ll just say that you have to wait and see!

I don’t think there is any blog news, but I will urge you to go and check out our photography blog if you haven’t already Two Points of View for our best pictures!

Which very nicely leads me on to the pictures for this week… I hope you’re not too fed up of rabbits just yet…

Posted in Blog talk | Tagged June, Monday, Rabbits | 1 Comment

Birds of Our Gardens

Posted on June 29, 2014 by pippastef

First Edition Dust-jacket 1940 by Roland Green, Ernest Aris and R. Westcott

This book is one I know I’ve spoken about before on here, when I received it for Christmas a couple of years ago (check out A Very Blyton Christmas for details), and I’m afraid I’ve only just gotten around to reading the book.

It is the fifth reprint, 1951 of the book, so it’s no surprise that the binding is a little loose and the jacket a little weathered. Some of the pages are coming out, but still, its a lovely little book, and not just for sentimental reasons.

The book follows two children, Tony and Mollie who are sent to live with a kindly aunt and uncle in the country for a year because their parents have gone abroad. Their Uncle Jack is surprised that the children cannot tell the difference between the birds singing in his garden and makes it his mission to educate the children about different types of birds and let them enjoy it.

The next day, the children and Uncle Jack make a bird table, and they fill it up with things that their Aunt Jane allows them to have from the kitchen scraps. The day after that they head into the village and buy seeds and nuts, hemp and sunflower seeds, peanuts, Brazil nuts, and coconuts for the birds.

Uncle Jack tells the children how to hang the coconut and string the peanuts together. When placed on the bird table the children retreat inside and watch for the birds from the window. Much to their delight birds descend and Uncle Jack begins to tell them how to spot each bird from its markings.

Soon the children are very keen to do new things for the birds, such as making a special seed cake to put out for the birds, and how to make nesting places for the birds in the cold weather and when they make their spring nests. Over the year they spend lots of time with the birds, learning about birds they haven’t seen from Uncle Jack who draws bird feet and beaks for the children.

At Christmas the children treat the birds to a special Christmas tree where they hang the birds favourite treats on the tree and give it to the birds on Christmas morning to enjoy. Its a good present for the bird who are more exciting than the children’s presents. When they do get around to opening their presents they are excited to find that their uncle and aunt gave them bird feeders to help entice the birds into the garden.

Its a nice story really, no real adventure, and its described by the Enid Blyton Society Cave of Books as a non-fiction book and so it is. The book is based around the birds, and telling the difference between them. There are chapters where Uncle Jack draws claws and beaks for the children so they can see the difference in birds beaks so close up.

With this book, Blyton is educating us about birds, and younger children especially. Although Mollie and Tony seem quite old really, the illustrations show them as very young, around five and six perhaps, when they read as they are about nine and ten. The chapters are small and manageable, best for a younger child and a good way of introducing them to birds.

If you can find this book, I recommend getting it as it is a lovely book to add to your collection and a good one for introducing younger members of your family to Blyton and birds!

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Birds, Birds of Our Garden, Nature | 3 Comments

First Term at Malory Towers – How has Blyton’s original text fared in a modern edition? part 8

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Fiona

I’m intending for this to be the last part to this series, though I’ve realised there are five chapters of the book to go so I will have to see how that pans out.

Earlier posts are here: parts one, two, three, four, five and six.

2000 Mammoth edition

First Term at Malory Towers dustjacket by Stanley Lloyd 1946

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: DARRELL AND SALLY

Only two changes in this chapter, now we seem to be past all the slapping/scolding/shaking.

Gwendoline is described as double-faced by Sally originally, which is changed to the more common two-faced. I’m not sure I’ve heard or read double-faced before but I think it’s fairly clear what it means especially in the context.

In the same piece of dialogue Sally also says that Gwendoline doesn’t care tuppence about anyone but herself. This is altered to doesn’t care a penny. I can’t say I’m aware that caring or not caring tuppenceworth is a particularly common phrase but there are sayings like just my tuppenceworth which essentially means a small contribution to something, usually an opinion to a debate or conversation.

It seems silly to make tuppence into a penny then, as tuppence is still being used in conversation. It would be another opportunity for a child reader to ask learn historical currency if nothing else.

CHAPTER NINETEEN: SALLY’S PLAN

There’s a bit of inconsistency in this chapter regarding whether it’s bathing or swimming. Bathe is changed to swim on two occasions, and Mary-Lou’s bathing-things become her swimming costume. However, the first-formers go down to the pool in their bathing costumes and beach-gowns in both editions. I’d say beach-gown was even more outdated than bathing any-things.

As usual queer is replaced with something else, though this time it also gets very added in front of it which is new. Every other time it has been a straight change from queer to strange, odd or weird etc.

And lastly for this chapter they still haven’t figured out that hie and hi are not the same.

The original hardback has an illustration of Mary-Lou rushing into the pool to save Darrell, but there are no illustrations in the paperback.

CHAPTER TWENTY: WELL DONE, MARY-LOU!

Little of note is changed here. Another reference to hard slaps is altered to scolding and crest-fallen becomes crestfallen.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: A SHOCK FOR DARRELL

Next to nothing is altered in this chapter either. Just a few hyphens are removed. Out-door shoes become outdoor shoes and pitch-darkness becomes pitch darkness.

Both Stanley Lloyd and Jenny Chapple depict Mary-Lou’s midnight search for evidence against Gwendoline, though in different chapters. Lloyd shows her looking in the cupboard in the locker room in chapter 22, while Chapple depicts her coming down the stairs in chapter 21.

Stanley Lloyd

Jenny Chapple

Both versions of Mary-Lou look rather similar in their pyjamas, don’t they?

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: THE END OF THE TERM

And the final chapter hasn’t got much to write about either. One last queer becomes funny, half-shyly ends up as half shyly, and in the silliest example yet, hie becomes hi again.

Hi, Mary-Lou! Good-bye! Utter nonsense!

I think that’s only four genuinely new changes, as I won’t count the hyphens being removed otherwise I’d be here all night. That makes a grand (and possibly not very accurate) total of 78 changes. That means we failed to reach the hundred changes I mused over in the last post, though I’m not sure whether to be glad or disappointed in that.

I’ve listed each and every alteration in my excel chart so I actually know there are 133 alterations there (though again, that’s not wholly accurate as I’ve only listed the first one or two times a hyphen is removed from a particular pair of words) but it is similar to the way I listed the Famous Five changes and Five on a Treasure Island only had 117 changes. That means First Term at Malory Towers holds the dubious honour of being the most edited title so far.

Most of the changes, if not all, seem unnecessary to me. There was nothing that a modern child should have been truly bamboozled by, and I didn’t see anything so offensive it had to be cut.

Posted in Updating Blyton's Books | Tagged First Term at Malory Towers, Jenny Chapple, Malory Towers, Stanley Lloyd, Updated Text | 2 Comments

The Marsh of Adventure by Poppy, chapter 18

Posted on June 25, 2014 by worldofblyton

Chapter eighteen:

Gurgle, gurgle

The children began to feel hungry half way down the hill, and decided to have lunch there again. They hunted about for a shady tree and were soon sat eating a delicious meal of ham sandwiches, pickled onions, hard boiled eggs and ginger cake. “Jane certainly does know how to cook,” Philip said, taking an enormous bite of ginger cake. “Is there enough cake for seconds, Lucy, dear?” he asked, looking over his shoulder to where Lucy-Ann sat nibbling her egg.

“Philip, you pig! Surely you don’t want another slice after the enormous one you just cut!” Dinah exclaimed.

Philip gave her a friendly punch. “Of course I do, honestly, this cake is simply wizard! Kiki, do stop pecking at the pickled onions!” Just as the girls were about to pack up, a strange noise was heard. It sounded like a groan at first, and the children thought it was just the tree they were sat under, groaning because it was old, but suddenly it got a little louder, and it began to sound more like a ‘gurgle’ as Jack put it.

“What on earth is that strange gurgle I keep hearing?” asked Jack, as they put away the bottles of ginger beer.

“It sounded more like a groan to me, probably just this tree. Looks quite old to me,” said Philip looking up into the trees branches. And then it came again, gurgle…gurgle…

It sounded rather like dirty water being let out of a basin. The children stared at each other for a moment, and it came again. They couldn’t quite make out where it was coming from.

Then it came again, gurgle…gurgle… Lucy-Ann shuddered. “What is it?” she asked, looking round. “There’s no water anywhere but the stream and we know the kind of noises the stream, because we’re camping right next to it,” Lucy-Ann said looking round. The children had a good sight of the marsh from this point, and it loomed in the distance behind the edge of the hill. Lucy-Ann pointed to it, a scared expression on her face.

“It’s the marsh,” she said, trembling. The distant gurgle sounded again. The others looked towards the marsh. It certainly did look like it came from there, for every now and again a ripple came across the smooth surface of it.

“Probably a noise the marsh makes quite often, but we’re not used to it,” said Jack, feeling rather puzzled. He’d never heard of marshes making any strange sounds before, but there was no other way of explaining it.

“We’d better get on,” Philip said at last. “And you girls can jolly well have a go of holding that bag, now that some of the food’s gone,” he said, setting off. Dinah picked up the bag, scowling after her brother. And the little party set off once more, down the steep hill, through the little rough path, beside the stream.

Eventually, the children reached the bottom, quite worn out. They sunk down in the cool shade for a while. It felt very refreshing compared to the blazing sun. They then began to look around for the large rock which covered the hole in the hill, to make sure it was still there. Yes, there it was, sturdily placed over the large gap in the hill. You could tell it had been moved a few times, for lots of dirt had fallen a little way down, scraped of when the rock had been removed. It really was a large one and the children marvelled the strength that must have been used to get it there.

“But surely it’s not for a good reason,” said Dinah, after the boys envied the people’s strength.

“Well, we don’t know that yet, do we?” Philip replied, “We know we have seen four men wandering down the hill in the dead of the night, but you never know, they could be up to anything.”

“Anyway, we must find a place for us three to hide tonight,” said Jack, turning away from the rock. “Lets look in the trees, first.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Fan fiction | Tagged The Adventure Series, The Marsh of Adventure, Written by Poppy | 1 Comment

Monday

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Fiona

June is nearly over and for me that means it’s nearly holiday time! Don’t worry though, it will be business as usual on the blog.

This week you’ll get to read the next chapter of Poppy’s Adventure Series fanfic, and what will hopefully be the last part of my look at the different versions of First Term at Malory Towers. Stef has a couple of options, namely reviewing Birds of Our Garden or looking at an article about Blyton in the Malcolm Saville Society Journal, Acksherley.

In minor blog news, we hit 64,000 views recently, so thank you to everyone who has visited.

I don’t think there’s much else to say so I will end on a few photos again. (Don’t forget you can see more photos from both Stef and I over at our other blog Two Points of View.)

Arbroath Abbey

St Andrews

Arbroath Abbey

Fox gloves

Oyster catcher

Flowers

Graves at Arbroath Abbey

The rock and spindle, St Andrews

St Andews Cathedral

Electric candle

The rock and spindle, St Andrews

Birds on a grave

Rabbit

Cliff steps

Water

The view from a war bunker

Rabbit

Railing

Railings

Saltire

Posted in Blog talk | Tagged June, Monday | 4 Comments

The Missing Papers: A St Andrews Adventure Epilogue

Posted on June 22, 2014 by pippastef

Epilogue

Christmas was fast approaching; the end of term loomed ahead of them. Their first term at St Andrews would soon be over. Teaching was beginning to wind down but there was still plenty of reading to do over the holidays. Sally had fully recovered from her experience at the top of the cathedral tower and had practically raided the campus library in an attempt to read as much as possible for the essay she had to write over the holiday. Darrell had been amused at her friend’s attempt at getting all the books into her trunk.

They were all travelling down to London’s Kings Cross by train on the next day to spend Christmas at their homes. The girls were only a short distance from each other and were confident in the fact that they would see a lot of each other over the festive period.

David was heading back to the heather clad slopes of Shropshire and Anatoly, who had been accepted into their friendship group, was heading back to London. He had assured them that he would be back next semester as he had ‘rather taken to all the physics’.

Julian had told them that he was spending the Christmas period with his family down in Kirrin. All three of his friends had warned him not to get into another adventure and Darrell had added jokingly;

“And don’t bring an adventure back with you either, Kirrin!”

They had all laughed. They felt like they could laugh now; the last few weeks with assignments and one thing and another, laughter had been thin the ground. Only when the boys’ last assessed practical and the girls’ last essays had been handed in could they even begin to look to Christmas. They had done some Christmas shopping in the town and had enjoyed hot toddies in the evenings.

It was the day before they were all due to start leaving for home. David and Julian were leaving a few hours before the others as they had more travelling to do than the girls. They met in the quieter common room in the girls’ halls as most of the girls had already gone home. The fires in the grates were still burning brightly and warmly. The rich red carpet and curtains shielded them from the worst of the cold outside.

A merry little Christmas tree in the corner of the room added to the festive cheer as they settled down in the warm chairs of the room, each with a small bag of presents to give out. Darrell fetched some hot chocolate and the five of them drank and talked for a while as the world outside the curtains got darker.

“What time do you two have to leave in the morning?” Sally asked, curling up in her chair, her cup grasped in between her hands as Julian leaned forward and threw another log on the fire.

“We’ve got to be at Leuchars train station for about six to get the train to Edinburgh. Which means being at St Andrews train station for about five,” David said leaning forward to catch some of the heat off the fire. “Then, for me, the train to Crewe leaves about ten to nine.”

“Sounds like a long day!” Sally said giving a little shiver at the thought. “And I thought that six hours to Kings Cross was going to be bad!” she said shaking her head.

“It was just lucky that my leaving tomorrow means that I don’t have to head straight down to Kirrin,” Julian said rolling his eyes. “I wouldn’t be getting there until supper time if I had to do it all by one train!” They laughed at him.

“Be glad then that you are staying with your parents for a day or so before heading on down to Kirrin,” Anatoly said with a chuckle. Julian smiled at him.

“Don’t worry, I’m very glad that is how things have worked out,” Julian said with a chuckle. They all looked into the fire, for a moment.

“I wonder what it’ll be like next term,” Darrell said with a smile. “I hope we don’t end up in any more adventures. I hate to think how badly my university work has suffered thanks to Julian’s nose for a mystery,” she teased her friend, winking at him. Julian pulled a sarcastic smile at Darrell.

Anatoly tightened his arm around her shoulders. Everyone had been amused at how quickly Darrell and Anatoly had gotten closer. Sally had told David and Julian that Darrell had admitted that she had always thought there was something interesting about him.

“Very funny, Miss Rivers, I do believe that you came along under your own steam,” he chuckled at her.

Darrell laughed.“Did I give you that impression? How remiss of me. You must remind me not to do so next time,” she said with a chuckle. Sally, Anatoly and David were rolling their eyes at Julian and Darrell as this conversation was going on.

“Are we going to exchange Christmas presents or not?” Sally asked before Julian could retort. She had a feeling that given the chance this could last for a long time. David was laughing silently as Sally tried to bring things under control.

“Yes, Christmas presents!” Darrell said with a chuckle. She slapped her hands on her thighs and stood up. “Come on Sally, we should go and get them.”

Sally nodded and stood up.

“It is a good thing that we brought the presents we have for you with us isn’t it?” David said with amusement in his voice as the girls turned to go and collect their presents from their room. Julian leant back against the back of the chair he was sitting on and momentarily appeared to forget his manners and lounged in a rather undignified way in the armchair. His legs splayed out in front of the fire his head almost on the seat. Anatoly and David had to laugh.

“What on earth are you doing?” Anatoly asked in between bouts of laugher.

“Sort of stretching,” Julian said with a contented look on his face as he sat up properly in his seat once more.

“It looked fairly uncomfortable for stretching,” David told him firmly.

“Oh it was,” Julian assured his friend. There was more laughter at this.

“So what did you get the girls in the end?” Julian asked his friends after half a moment’s silence.

“Nothing too fancy,” David said with a shrug, pulling his satchel towards him and pulling out the presents, neatly wrapped in brown paper and string. “I just got them a notebook each. Something with a nice cover on it,” David added as Julian reached for his own bag. “What about you?”

“I got them some sweets,” Anatoly said, with a shrug.

“I just got Darrell a book,” Julian said, and he was about to add what he had got Sally when the girls came back into the room, each with a bag in their hands.

The girls took their seats again and the five of them exchanged presents. Darrell looked at her pile and then around at the others.

“Are we to save these for Christmas or can we open then now?” she asked with a wicked smile.

“We should really wait for Christmas day,” Sally said quietly to her friend. “Your lack of patience will be the end of you Darrell,” she added fondly to her friend. Darrell smiled at her best friend.

“I don’t see why we can’t open them now,” David said with a shrug. “If you want to that is,” he added leaning forward. “I mean that if we do open them now, we don’t have to take them home and take up space in luggage and things.”

“That is quite a clever idea, Morton,” Julian said with a loud laugh. He slapped David on the shoulder.

“The man makes an excellent point,” Darrell said, with a smile, turning her head to Sally. Sally relented and smiled.

“He is due another good idea at any rate,” Anatoly said. David chucked a cushion at him.

“All right,” Sally said with a chuckle. They all picked up a present each and began to unwrap; there were exclamations of thanks all around.

“That’s just what I needed, thank you!” David said to the girls who had got him a joint present of a new satchel. He definitely needed one, every one he had owned had broken under the weight of all his books.

“It’s actually made for hiking, it’s very strong,” Darrell explained as David turned the bag over in his hands.

“So it shouldn’t break!” Sally added with a laugh. David chuckled, getting out of his seat and giving each of the girls a kiss on the cheek.

“It’s magnificent. Thank you,” he said with a smile.

Anatoly was opening his present from Julian, which turned out to be a children’s book of spying.

“Thank you Kirrin,” said Anatoly rolling his eyes at Julian who shrugged with a laugh.

Julian was unwrapping his present from Darrell while this was all going on. He laughed when he saw that it was “The Science of Life” by H.G Wells.

“Thank you Darrell,” Julian said with a chuckle, also giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I shall enjoy reading this on the way home tomorrow.”

“Well I thought at least it would give you something to think about next term, and hopefully keep you out of trouble!” Darrell laughed gleefully as she unwrapped her present from Julian; a collection of works by Virginia Woolf.

“Just what the English lecturer ordered!” Darrell laughed happily as Sally opened her present from Anatoly.

“I swear Julian, you are a mind reader.” Darrell carefully pretended that she didn’t see Julian mouth the words ‘Thank you’ to Sally as he sat back down. Sally on the other hand wasn’t paying much attention as she was un-wrapping her last gift, her present from Julian. Sally opened the small cardboard tube at one end, under the wrapping paper and fished her fingers around inside the tube until she gripped on to the slippery paper inside. She grinned a little at Julian.

“I think I know what this is going to be!” she said with a laugh. Sally pulled the poster of the tube and unrolled it. She looked up at her friend with astonished eyes. Julian smiled nervously at her. Sally was very good at making him nervous.

“Is it all right?” he asked her raising his eyebrows, unsure whether her silence was a good thing. Sally nodded.

“It’s amazing! However did you find this?” she asked, as Darrell impatiently shared a look with the others.

Continue reading →

Posted in Fan fiction | Tagged Darrell Rivers, David Morton, Julian Kirrin, Sally Hope, The Missing Papers, The Missing Papers: A St Andrews Adventure | 2 Comments

My fifth Noddy book: Noddy and the Bumpy Dog

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Fiona

My fifth Noddy book is #14 (another big jump, I know,) Noddy and the Bumpy Dog. It was another Alton buy, and one of my £1 bargains. It’s fairly tatty and lacks a dustjacket but I don’t mind.

The illustrator has changed again, this time it is Robert Tyndall and Robert Lee, with a cover by Tyndall.

Noddy’s car-driving business takes him to Toy-Dog Town, which as the name suggests, is inhabited by toy dogs. One of them gets knocked over by a rude and hurrying sailor doll and Noddy and his passengers take care of him.

After a funny chapter with Noddy, Big Ears and a washing line of sheets, the little dog turns up again. He’s very boisterous, and as Noddy says, a very bumpy sort of dog, and although he feels sorry for him he gets cross at being bumped so often.

He gets so cross in fact that he shoos the bumpy dog out that night – and forgets to lock the door after him. A goblin is then able to sneak in and steal his hard-earned money!

Noddy shows he’s little more than a child the next morning and bursts into tears when he realises his money is gone.

Mr Plod looking like PC Goon

Bumpy dog misbehaves even more and spoils some of the Tubby Bear family’s plants so Noddy decides he has to go. He and Tessie Bear lead the dog into the dark woods with a bone so he will bury it and stay there, but instead he digs up something quite wonderful and redeems himself. He also captures a thieving goblin and takes him back to Toy Town to be dealt with by Mr Plod.

It was refreshing to have a new plot line, as most of the Noddys I have read so far involve Noddy accidentally getting into trouble. Saying that we’ve already had one story involving a theft from Noddy’s house – he should learnt a little home security goes a long way! Not an awful lot happens in this tale, all the books are short but somehow less seems to occur in this one than the others I have read.

The illustrations are lovely and there are masses of them, several full page ones like above and dozens of small ones scattered about the text. I can’t say I’ve seen much of a difference between illustrators as they are all ‘copying’ Van der Beek’s original style for the characters and scenes.

The bumpy dog is naughty

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Noddy, Noddy and the Bumpy Dog | 1 Comment

Five on Kirrin Island Again by Corinna

Posted on June 19, 2014 by worldofblyton

Stef laughed at me. This happens more often than you might think, considering we live at opposite ends of the earth. During our last Skype conversations, all I said was “After Smuggler’s Top, I can’t help but find Uncle Quentin a bit… welll… sexy!” I think she was lucky she wasn’t eating or drinking at the time, as she might have choked!

I did allude to this in previous blog where I said Uncle Quentin looked rather handsome. With this in mind, I thought my next Five should be one that features Uncle Q, and Stef (once she had finished laughing) suggested Five on Kirrin Island Again.

My edition of Kirrin Island Again is a 1965, 14th impression. So not a terribly early one, but it does have a dust jacket in very good condition. I also have my 1990s knight edition from the first serious I collected (referenced in previous blogs). By the way, my Famous Five “originals” (or as close as I can get) set is coming along rather nicely:

Corinna’s Fives collection.

Still a few gaps, but I’m getting closer to having the whole set in beautiful dust jackets.

Since I’m mainly going to talk about things that relate to Uncle Quentin, I’d refer you to Fiona’s summary for the plot details. I also need to warn you that this reflection will contain SPOILERS – so if you haven’t read the book, and don’t want to know what happens, please stop reading now!

The story begins with George finding out that her father will be using Kirrin Island – her island – for some mysterious experiments, which require him being surround by water. Being Quentin, he never thought to ask his hot-tempered, possessive daughter for permission, which causes some familial friction – another occasion where I really do feel sorry for the long-suffering Aunt Fanny! However, this does paint Quentin as a man who is extremely clever, mysterious and very firm when he needs to be… what’s not to like about this?!

Also, although you don’t discover the nature of his experiences until much later in the book, it turns out that he is working on something for the good of mankind:

I’ll tell you what my experiments are for, George – they are to find a way of replacing all coal, coke and oil – an idea to tie the world all the heat and power it wants, and to do away with mines and miners.

From this, you might reasonably infer that he is not only very clever, but selfless, environmentally aware and a humanitarian!

Uncle Quentin and George

Some time later in the story, when Quentin ends up shut down in the dungeon by the baddies, he shows a rather crafty, unexpectedly practical side when he first hides his notebook with all the details of his secret experiments in it, and then gives it to George to smuggle it out and away from the bad guys. I liked this resourceful side of him.

However, I do have to say that I did not like that he did not go and rescue poor Timmy – I know he didn’t want to leave his notebook behind in the hiding place in case the baddies found it, and neither did he want to carry it on him in case the bad guys found it there either, but still… Timmy was there to protect him and leaving him shut up in the dungeons seems rather harsh.

By the way (and this is a non-Quentin-centric digression), I really didn’t understand why the baddies didn’t just shoot Timmy. Of course – I understand that it is simply not in the nature of the Famous Five stories that Timmy could get hurt! But it seems to me that bad guys who have no hesitation in blowing up an island and it collapsing on top of the people they’ve captured and shut in the dungeons, would have absolutely no qualms about shooting a dog. I’ve often wondered this in the Five books. Sometimes Timmy runs away, or the baddies don’t know he is there, but when he is there I’m always wondering why they don’t just take him out of the picture as it seems inconsistent with their other despicable behaviour. However, like I said, there is no place for dog-killing in a children’s book so I wouldn’t want this to happen! I couldn’t help but notice the seeming inconsistency, however.

Back to Uncle Quentin: another stand-out Quentin moment is when he rushes up to the top of his experimental tower to smash up the equipment there – to stop the explosion that would destroy the island and everyone on it! This was a very exciting moment in the book and Quentin is quite the hero.

Uncle Quentin saving the day

There were so non-Quentin-centric things about the book that I also really liked (just before you think I’m completely mad). I found Timmy’s reaction to Mr Curton and his son very interesting – I don’t recall another time where Timmy simply ignored a “baddie” – rather than obviously disliking/distrusting them (although I’m sure someone will set me straight if there were other occasions). I also really liked how Timmy seemed to know he must stay with Quentin on the Island to protect him, even though his mistress is clearly upset at the prospect. Good old Timmy!

Another aspect of the story that I really liked was the links back to Five on a Treasure Island and the old map of Kirrin Island and village. Of course, I think it is wonderful that Quentin found the alternative entrance to the dungeon when the children couldn’t! I also really liked that the tunnel under the sea was finally found – it’s funny, I felt like that had always been part of the story and had forgotten that it wasn’t until this book, the sixth in the series, that this was discovered.

So, how did this story, with its generous helping of Uncle Quentin, fare amongst the rest? Well, I’ve put it in third place, behind Smuggler’s Top (which wins out on some many counts – I think it will be quite difficult to topple from top spot) and Five Go Off To Camp, which has always been one of my very favourites. They felt more action-packed, too. Kirrin Island Again still rates ahead of Billycock Hill and Mystery Moor. I’m not convinced it will retain its “top three” spot – but we shall have to wait and see!

Five Go to Smuggler’s Top (#4)
Five Go Off To Camp (#7)
Five on Kirrin Island Again (#6)
Five Go To Billycock Hill (#16)
Five Go To Mystery Moor (#13)

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged Corinna's Famous Five Pick'n'Mix Reflections, Five on Kirrin Island Again, The Famous Five, Uncle Quentin, Written by Corinna | 3 Comments

Monday’s Post

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Fiona

It’s Monday again! Happens every week!

So this week we have a new blog from Corinna about Five On Kirrin Island Again, and Fiona says she will review another Noddy book for us.

I shall try and review a book, maybe The Conjuring Wizard or Birds of Our Gardens, that has been sitting on my shelf for a while, or The Queen Elizabeth Family. But we shall see.

As I’ve almost finished sharing The Missing Papers: A St Andrews Adventure, I hope you’re looking forward to reading the epilogue!

Anyway! Here’s to another week!

Moonlight

Early Morning

Sunset

Rain Clouds

Dawn

Dawnish

Dawn

Posted in Blog talk | Tagged June, Monday | 2 Comments

The Missing Papers: A St Andrews Adventure, chapter 23

Posted on June 15, 2014 by pippastef

So here we are, Chapter 23, the last proper chapter before the epilogue, so I hope you enjoy the penultimate part of The Missing Papers.

Chapter 23

The next day the four of them were sitting in the san around Sally’s bed. She was tucked up under thick blankets with two water bottles by her sides and one under her feet. Sister had let them in for a short while to discuss the happenings of last night.

“I feel such an idiot for falling asleep,” Sally said quietly.

“No one blames you,” David said, giving Sally’s hand a little squeeze. “I found it more amusing that you fell asleep on Julian so he couldn’t see what was going on!”

Sally blushed a bright pink as Julian gave David a shove between the shoulder blades.

“It wasn’t a problem,” Julian said, glaring at David.

“All that matters was that we got him,” David said with a laugh, sitting back on the bed next to Sally’s.

“We did,” Sally agreed.

“Well technically, armed police officers caught him,” Darrell pointed out as Julian laughed at David.

“Shame that he’s not telling them where the rest of the papers are though,” David said with a sigh. “I wonder if Professor Doaty will ever get his precious papers back.”

“I suspect he will, Ainsworth won’t last long under interrogation will he?” Sally asked, giving a little cough. “Beats me how Ainsworth got into all of this to begin with.”

“Apparently it was to do with reading Karl Marx quite early in life and taking an interest when Russia took to communism. Ainsworth must have decided that he preferred communism to democracy,” Julian said with a shrug.

“And how did he know about the Professor’s experiment? And I’m guessing it was him who tried to steal your uncle’s papers?” Sally asked. She felt bad that she had fallen asleep last night, she had missed all the explanations.

“His father is the minister of science,” Darrell told Sally. “The police think that Ainsworth may have overheard something to do with the project and informed the Russians, who wanted Project Sahara for themselves.”

“So he must have tried to get into Kirrin cottage before he got up here then?” Sally asked.

“Yes, he did, but it was only picked up by the papers five days later, when we were here,” Julian said with a smile. “I asked my aunt.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Fan fiction | Tagged Darrell Rivers, David Morton, Julian Kirrin, Sally Hope, The Missing Papers, The Missing Papers: A St Andrews Adventure | Leave a comment

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CHAPTER ONE: THE BEGINNING OF THE ADVENTURES

CHAPTER TWO: AN EXCITING DAY

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CERTAINLY STILL A SPOOF, THOUGH NOT OVERLY CRUEL

THE CAST

LASHINGS OF GINGERBEER

FAMILIAR NAMES AND FACES

FINAL THOUGHTS

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THE STORY

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: DARRELL AND SALLY

CHAPTER NINETEEN: SALLY’S PLAN

CHAPTER TWENTY: WELL DONE, MARY-LOU!

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: A SHOCK FOR DARRELL

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Chapter eighteen:

Gurgle, gurgle

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