The Enid Blyton Society

Too easy?

This type of question is probably only Tony or Anita could answer it.

Hope Tony or Anita or someone else will solve this riddle. I really want to know the title of that Famous Five serial.

It's impossible to know the serial Enid was talking about unless we know the date of the letter - and even then it would be impossible because Enid doesn't give a date to when this happened and when this boy wrote to her. As she was writing Famous Five serials as far back as the 1940's in Sunny Stories, and into the late 1950's in EB Magazine, there would be quite a lot of serials to consider!

You're right, Rob but having known Anita for so long, it's possible she may know the answer.

Good points Rob.

It would be interesting if it was one of the later Famous Five's - as some feel looking back now that Enid went off the boil a bit with the series towards the end.

I never felt like that as child reading them at the time.I just felt extremely sad when I got down to the very last two books and realised there would be no more coming....ever.

I also distinctly remember reading Five On A Treasure Island for the very first time in the early 1970's and asking my Mum about this wonderful new author I had found.

I was extremely sad when she told me that Enid had passed away a few years earlier in 1968.
My Mum could see how sad I was.Then she said,"But cheer up Pete,Enid Blyton has written lots more books about The Famous Five if you want to read more."

I was quite literally overjoyed to hear that and thus began my lifelong passion reading and collecting Enid Blyton's work.

I'm glad your mum was able to cheer you up, Pete - and encourage a passion that would turn out to be lifelong.

Since Michael thought Enid Blyton was extremely old and likely to die at any second, perhaps it was one of her later serials. Readers may have heard the reports of her suffering ill-health around 1957. Was one of her Famous Five books being serialised at that time, I wonder? I don't know the dates off-hand. Mind you, a child might think that anyone over 50 or so is ancient!

As we're pretty sure that Enid Blyton wrote an entire Famous Five book before it was serialised, the whole thing could still have been published in book form even if Enid had died and the magazine had folded.

I was similar, Pete - although I never read any Famous Fives as a child (except Smugglers Top and Mystery Moor) and so I didn't have the thrill of reading all the series as a child which would have been great! However, instead, I had the thrill of discovering a new set of EB books as an adult that I'd only met briefly as a child!

As a child I discovered Enid Blyton via Binkle and Flip, The Book of Brownies, Faraway Tree, Wishing Chair, Amelia Jane, etc and then slightly later Holiday House, The Mystery of the Missing Necklace and Rilloby Fair. I wish I could have read a few as serials. How exciting that would have been! No wonder Enid's books were so popular when her readers had to wait a fortnight for each new chapter!

Well, in 1957 Billycock Hill was still being serialised...or maybe it was Five Get Into A Fix.

Don't forget that three Famous Five books were serialised in Princess in the 1960s. One thing that has always intrigued me is a mystery that has never been solved - and I know there are plenty here who like mysteries!

Of the last eight Famous Five books, seven of them were serialised before they were published as books. We have always believed that the appropriately titled, Five Have a Mystery to Solve, was surely also serialised somewhere, but if it was we have yet to find it and not for want of searching!

Going back to Pete's original discovery, that is a bit of a mystery too. I don't believe that it was from a letter as I have seen dozens of letters written by Enid Blyton and she would never have finished one with just a signature - so I wonder what this was?

Tony Summerfield wrote:Don't forget that three Famous Five books were serialised in Princess in the 1960s.

But using my Great Detective Powers, I was presuming a boy might not read 'Princess' and so he would be talking about a boys and girls publication...

Perhaps as Rob goes through the fortnightly Enid Blyton's Magazine to review them he might uncover a reference to Michael's letter from Enid herself in her editorial/letter page within the magazine.

Tony Summerfield wrote:Of the last eight Famous Five books, seven of them were serialised before they were published as books. We have always believed that the appropriately titled, Five Have a Mystery to Solve, was surely also serialised somewhere, but if it was we have yet to find it and not for want of searching!

Intriguing!

Tony Summerfield wrote:Going back to Pete's original discovery, that is a bit of a mystery too. I don't believe that it was from a letter as I have seen dozens of letters written by Enid Blyton and she would never have finished one with just a signature - so I wonder what this was?

It is curious. Maybe it's the final page of a note to a publisher, magazine editor, agent or librarian - or to a bookshop or other venue where Enid did a signing or gave a talk? Enid Blyton might not have bothered with either a formal or friendly signing-off if it was just an enclosure with a manuscript, or a quick note.

pete9012S wrote:Perhaps as Rob goes through the fortnightly Enid Blyton's Magazine to review them he might uncover a reference to Michael's letter from Enid herself in her editorial/letter page within the magazine.

That would be great!

Anita Bensoussane wrote:

pete9012S wrote:Perhaps as Rob goes through the fortnightly Enid Blyton's Magazine to review them he might uncover a reference to Michael's letter from Enid herself in her editorial/letter page within the magazine.

That would be great!

I'll keep a look out!

Rob Houghton wrote:

Tony Summerfield wrote:Don't forget that three Famous Five books were serialised in Princess in the 1960s.

But using my Great Detective Powers, I was presuming a boy might not read 'Princess' and so he would be talking about a boys and girls publication...

I am not so sure about that - If a boy knew that it contained a new Famous Five serial he might have been tempted with his torch under the bedclothes!