'From My Window' in Teachers World

[Anita Bensoussane]

Insightful comments on "Opinions" this time. I must admit that Enid's "very mean" trick sounds most entertaining!

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... &perid=196

[Courtenay]

Well said, Enid — and I like the "very mean thing" too!

[Boodi 2]

Very interesting as always and in some ways prophetic with regards to her own work, where many seem to repeat negative opinions without being aware of her whole output!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I've just read Enid Blyton's Nature Lesson 'Along the Seashore II' (what a pity that we don't have access to Part 1) and I was utterly absorbed by her examination of shells. Enid's explanations are chatty and informative and her cheerful enthusiasm is infectious. I particularly enjoyed reading her descriptions of the leathery "mantle" and the "tooth ribbon".

Her 'From My Window' article about cinematography is delightful too. Enid was curious about all sorts of things and she had a real gift for fostering the same curiosity in others.

Thanks so much to David Chambers and Tony for making these wonderful articles available.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... &perid=197

[Boodi 2]

The description of shells is fascinating and most of it was new to me, thus amazing that Enid is still teaching me things after all these years!
I second Anita's thanks to David Chambers and Tony for making these fantastic articles available.

[Kate Mary]

It is said that you are never too old to learn and that's certainly true in this case, I've learned a lot from Enid's Nature Lessons and this one on shells is fascinating and told me things I never knew before.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Enid Blyton's description of "Puck's Church", a crannied cleft in a cliff in Sussex, is stirring and lyrical:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... &perid=198

It appears to have been in Seaford as it's mentioned in this tourist leaflet:

https://assets.sussexwildlifetrust.org. ... ebonly.pdf

Although now named Buckle Church, it’s thought that the
original name was Puck Church, and was possibly the site of
an Elizabethan hermitage. There was a cave below the cliffs
here called ‘Puck Church Parlour’ where a local lad named
John Costick fell to his death in 1881 whilst collecting gull
eggs. Another theory is that the name ‘Buckle’ may have come
from the old landowner, the Earl of Chichester, whose crest
was a shoe buckle.

[John Pickup]

Malcolm Saville lived in Seaford at some time. I wonder if Enid ever called in for a cup of tea!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I like it when Enid Blyton takes us on outings and lets us observe things along with her - especially to places like London Zoo, which I've visited several times myself. Monkey Hill was a new attraction when Enid wrote about it but it no longer exists as the design caused problems, as detailed here:

https://zoologyweblog.blogspot.com/2016 ... -1955.html

However, like Enid, I still love watching monkeys and apes whenever I go to a zoo.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... &perid=199

[Boodi 2]

Absolutely fascinating as always! I am amazed that Monkey Hill was so badly managed, as I visited a "Monkey Mountain" here at Salem near Lake Constance and all was well, although the inhabitants (actually Barbary macaques/apes) have a whole wood at their disposal and love to descend from the trees and accept food from visitors (the food is provided by the zoo). In addition to the Barbary macaques/apes there are also many storks in residence, so we spent a very pleasant day there. Like Enid and Anita I love watching monkeys and apes and on one occasion many years ago we missed our flight and had to spend 24 hours in Frankfurt airport waiting for the next one so to kill the time we went to Frankfurt zoo and the highlight of the visit was the almost human antics of the monkeys, which we watched for at least an hour and they really cheered us up in what was a rather unpleasant situation. At that time (mid-1990s) I was amused to note that a giraffe at the zoo was called after me!!!!

[Kate Mary]

Interesting that Enid mentions John Daniel the gorilla but a bit of a puzzle too because John Daniel was never in London Zoo and anyway he died in 1922. John Daniel was bought at a London department store and was brought up like a human child in a Cotswold village. Apparently he had his own bedroom and could use a light switch and the toilet, liked drinking tea and cider and did the washing up! When he was fully grown he became more difficult to handle and his owner sold him to what she thought was a sanctuary in Florida but poor John Daniel ended up in Barnum and Bailey's circus and died shortly after. Amazing what you can learn from Enid's columns.

[Anita Bensoussane]

According to the following website (zoochat.com), there was a John Daniel II who was kept as a pet in London from 1923 to 1927 and was taken on tours of Europe and America. Maybe that's the gorilla mentioned by Enid Blyton?

https://www.zoochat.com/community/media ... 920.29375/

At that time (mid-1990s) I was amused to note that a giraffe at the zoo [Frankfurt Zoo] was called after me!!!!

That must have felt quite special!

[Boodi 2]

It was surprising as my name is not very common. However, to my regret I bear absolutely no resemblance to a giraffe in terms of height as I am fairly short/small as opposed to tall and elegant!!!

[Boatbuilder]

Monique, I wouldn't have thought of your name as not being 'very common'. However, I just did a search on Google and discovered this bit of sad news from a couple of years ago about your named giraffe. I don't know if you were already aware of this or not, so I hope it doesn't upset you if you weren't.

https://newsbeezer.com/germanyeng/frank ... s-a-stand/

[Boodi 2]

Thanks John! While I did a search I could find nothing about the late "Monique" and although sad, I did suspect that she was probably no longer alive as we saw her sometime in the mid to late 1990s while we were still commuting on a fairly regular basis between Ireland and Germany...we only sold our house in Dublin and moved here for good in July 2002.