The Enid Blyton Society

pete9012S wrote:

Courtenay wrote:.. ale is more relevant to Enid Blyton (or indeed to the topic of this thread) than tea..

Hope you don't mind Courtenay,I corrected the small typographical error in your otherwise excellent post!

pete9012S wrote: *now runs surprisingly quickly after a large roast dinner for cover*

You're running after a large roast dinner, Pete?? Better hurry before it gets away from you...

More seriously, Anita — do you think it would be possible/worthwhile to change the name of this thread to make it a sort of general weather discussion thread? It did start with posts about a predicted "storm of the century", obviously, but since then it seems to have become the go-to thread for any comments or discussions about weather of any sort.

Now changed.

Ah, Britain's favourite topic!

Yes! Yes! Let's Talk about the weather!

Gilbert and Sullivan fans will know what I mean!

Oh for those long hot hazy days of Enid Blyton's summer. Or even those massively snowy days of Enid Blyton's winter. Dreary days of cloud and muck were no part of Enid's world!

floragord wrote: Noooooooooooo - horrors = "batten down the hatches for the storm of the century" - did I narrowly escape being hauled before the beak on a serious disciplinary charge under the "Misleading Titles Act 1937"

Sorry if the change came as a shock but it's an award rather than a penalty - it's a popular thread that has flourished and grown beyond the original title!

Robert Houghton wrote:Yes! Yes! Let's Talk about the weather!

Gilbert and Sullivan fans will know what I mean!

Pirates of Penzance. I was in it at school. A video was made of it and I've been trying to track it down in recent years to get a copy for myself. I finally found someone via Facebook who had a copy, but although he promised me several months ago he'd get it copied for me, so far he hasn't got back to me, even though I asked him a week ago if he'd had any success with getting a copy.

Robert Houghton wrote:Yes! Yes! Let's Talk about the weather!

Gilbert and Sullivan fans will know what I mean!

How beautifully blue the sky
The glass is rising very high...

(But on whom are we eavesdropping while we're at it? )

Frederick and can't remember who else. I could tell you the names of the children who played the parts in our version though.

On Classic FM yesterday they played the overture to the Pirates of Penzance. Brought back some happy memories.

It's Frederic and Mabel as they start to fall in love - Mabel's sisters "talk about the weather" in order to give the two some space, while still keeping an ear on what's happening! The Pirates of Penzance was the first G&S production I was ever introduced to and is still one of my all-time favourites (second only to The Mikado, really).

Of course, how could I have forgotten.

It's Mabel

Yes, it's Mabel,
It's Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabel

I was one of the sisters. We had to make me a nightdress out of an old white sheet and a mob cap.

Katharine wrote: It's Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabel

That's the one!!

I was just trying to find a clip of the 1980s film version starring Linda Ronstadt as Mabel (the first version of Pirates I was ever introduced to) — she sings that rather tough line beautifully. Unfortunately the only ones I can find on YouTube are amateurs whose attempts at it could just about grind one's ears off. I won't subject you to any of that.

when I was in Pirates, back in 1994, I played a pirate in the first act and one of the useless policemen in the second act! Great fun - especially as the producer decided we should be like 'The Keystone cops'!

Aha, I've found the one I was looking for! Watch through right to the end of this clip...

(This film version was a relatively non-traditional production with a lot of sight gags and hamming it up, but the singing is mostly very good. I think I had a bit of a crush on Frederic with his nice curly hair when I was little! )

Courtenay wrote: Unfortunately the only ones I can find on YouTube are amateurs whose attempts at it could just about grind one's ears off. I won't subject you to any of that.

Allah, be praised.