Unrecorded Tale?

[tix]

It's down as:

<Enid's only known retelling of a Shakespeare story - "Shock For The Thrilling Three.">

Does anyone recall this particular tale as it doesn't seem to appear on the lists, although EB definitely liked her 'Shocks.'

There's 'Shock For The Secret Seven,' 'Shock For Freddie,' 'Shock For James,' 'Shock for Mr. Meanie,' 'Shock for Sheila,' and 'Shock For Lucy Ann.'

Spot (who's presumably a dog) also gets a shock, as does Mr Meddle but it seems the only 'Brer' to receive a shock was Brer Bear.

'Ronnie,' and 'Sly the Squirrel' were also victims. Simon received many shocks in his life, but that's only to be expected ..... and we all know that even Santa Claus received a shock in the delightful tale where Fred and Betty rescued him from their pond (Happy Story Book).

Can't visualise Enid and William together but maybe a genre has been overlooked - and therefore assistance is required.

Incidentally, one of the characters is named as 'Juliet!'

So .... has anyone heard of 'Shock For The Thrilling Three?'

[Anita Bensoussane]

Nope! Where did you come across it, Tix?

[tix]

The odd part is this:

"Enid's only known retelling of a Shakespeare story."

Enid's?

Doubt it. I think we could categorise "Shock For The Thrilling Three" as Fan Fiction but it might be worth singling out due to the author who's described as:

"Critic, playwright, songwriter, and three-times winner of the prestigious Guide Book of the Year award from the British Guild of Travel Writers." The name's 'Laurence Philips,' and he's even written songs for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

"Enid's only known retelling of a Shakespeare story" has Juliet, Tybalt (is that a name?), and Paris (I think that's one) forming a club. 'Romeo,' with the fairly unromantic surname of 'Montague,' is a next door neighbour whose vocabulary includes such words as 'Super' and 'Smashing.'

Like Kit and Co, the 'Thrilling Three' possess Red Indian costumes, and their adventures include the exploration of a mausoleum and the tracking down of any secret passages the catacombs have to offer them.

Catacombs!

The excerpt in question was on 'Heather's Blyton Pages' which is a site known to many Blytonites, and five or more years ago it was reported that Heather, a resident of Australia, " ...... has left for Baronia to rescue princes from locked tower rooms ......"

Unfortunately, it looks as if just over a thousand words of the tale were recorded on her site.

Other established authors have contributed FanFic to various publications before securing success in their chosen field and we need look no further than right here because, for those who aren't in the know, after composing some very successful FanFic, EBS member 'Julie' produced a book in 2017.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Ah yes - Laurence Phillips used to be a member of the Blyton Yahoo Group and he entertained us with all sorts of Blyton-themed stories and sketches.

[Domino]

"Romeo,' with the fairly unromantic surname of 'Montague,' is a next door neighbour whose vocabulary includes such words as 'Super' and 'Smashing'."

He didn't work for Sunshine Desserts, did he?

[tix]

On Jan. 11th, 2019 Anita Bensoussane wrote that Laurence Phillips used to be a member of the Yahoo Group, who contributed Blyton-themed items.

**************************

That's an interesting remark. I'd never heard of the writer before but he has a profile and was obviously an active contributor. Below are a smattering of comments ('roughly' laid out) that include some of his remarks. 'Michael' would be Michael Edwards, another contributor, and the Webmaster was of course Matt Roberts who used to conduct his own Enid Blyton site -

*************************

March 8th, 2002

"Matt Roberts" <webmaster@...>

[Laurence Phillips:]

Sheer joy.

I can hardly believe that it has taken me all these years to stumble across this group.

Matt:

Welcome! It's nice to have a new member, and hopefully some stimulating discussions will follow (as Michael said, this group has been extremely quiet recently). This group (or rather, the old "Enid Blyton" group, the members of which have now moved to this group because of the amount of spam we were receiving) used to be a hive of activity and we had some interesting discussions. (You will have noticed that I have adopted Michael's way of replying to messages - it is very effective!)

**********

[Laurence:]

My favourite book? Now that's tricky.

[Michael Edwards:]

Yes, it is tricky: by choosing a favourite, you are excluding everything else (by definition), and I don't always find that easy. But I'm inclined to think that what you grew up with will be at least an equal factor in deciding what your favourites are with the intrinsic characteristics of the books.

[Laurence:]

The Barney series is always very very special too me. Ring O'Bells was always vividly real at every re-reading,

[Michael:]

I'm 47, so you're not the only adult member of the list. I actually don't know how many members are of similar ages, and how many are still very young.

Matt:

I think there are more adults on this list than children, though I can't say for sure. I myself am seventeen years old.

**********

[Laurence:]

But the truly touching, magical, and cruelly underrated (and ignored by publishers) classics, are the one-off novels. Red Roofs, Six Cousins, and Six Bad Boys would all have been classic 20th century literary legends had they been issued under a pseudonym.

Matt:

I agree. "Red Roofs" and another, "House-at-the-Corner", are brilliant stories, very touching and inspiring, the way the families pulled together.
"Six Bad Boys" was an interesting one for Enid to write and certainly a refreshing change, though I'm not sure if it is a great success. Did you know that some of the scenes in that book are autobiographical?

[Laurence:]

In the Five Findouters (my current re-read) I came across a couple of hiccups in Banshee Towers: Fatty, we are told, understood a little French and was able to recognise occasional words and phrases. yet in Holly Lane he is virtually bilingual and even interviews suspects in fluent French so that PC Goon will not understand the answers.... And Superintendent Jenks - promoted in the previous book - seems to have been relegated to the rank of Chief Inspector, hmm...Not to mention the strange habit of Mrs Trotteville (several of the books), calling her son Fatty instead of Frederick. Most improbable.

Matt:

Recently wrote a piece about the errors and inconsistencies in Enid's books, entitled "Changing the Sacred". If I can, I'll email the editor of the magazine and see if I can get a copy of the article and post it on the Group's shared files page or something. By the way, Michael - and Laurence too, come to that - have you considered joining the Enid Blyton Society, or subscribing to "Green Hedges Magazine"? One mistake made in the Sevens was when Enid referred to the name of the town in which they lived as Peterswood - I can't remember which book; one of the later ones - when this is obviously the home of the Find-Outers.

************************

Also found was an interesting and humorous comment by Tony - relating to the fact that many people think Enid Blyton is still alive:

7.1.06 'Fans of Enid Blyton' -

"In my position I also get letters from young children which start 'Dear Enid Blyton' and normally go on, 'I am writing to you as my teacher told me I had to write to my favourite author'. These letters are fine, but they sometimes have a quick note from the teacher with them which indicates that the teacher is unaware that EB died 37 years ago!!! I look upon this as sloppy. The ultimate prize in sloppiness however must go to a young editor at Hodders - possibly the main publishers of EB books. She phoned Barbara Stoney about some alteration in a book and asked if she could speak to Enid Blyton!!!!

Perhaps she was trying to set up a seance."

[Moonraker]

Also found was an interesting and humorous comment by Tony - relating to the fact that many people think Enid Blyton is still alive:

7.1.06 'Fans of Enid Blyton' -

"In my position I also get letters from young children which start 'Dear Enid Blyton' and normally go on, 'I am writing to you as my teacher told me I had to write to my favourite author'. These letters are fine, but they sometimes have a quick note from the teacher with them which indicates that the teacher is unaware that EB died 37 years ago!!! I look upon this as sloppy. The ultimate prize in sloppiness however must go to a young editor at Hodders - possibly the main publishers of EB books. She phoned Barbara Stoney about some alteration in a book and asked if she could speak to Enid Blyton!!!!

Perhaps she was trying to set up a seance."

Ah, on one of my infrequent visits to the forums, this made a connection. Thank you, tix, for your post. Pure nostalgia! I used to love the old Yahoo! Group which was (I think) exclusively about Enid Blyton. I loved the "Round Robins" we used to create. I seem to remember there were two Chrissies which confused me somewhat! Happy days!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thank you, tix, for your post. Pure nostalgia!

.
Yes, a blast from the past!

I seem to remember there were two Chrissies which confused me somewhat!

I think it was Chrissie (our Chrissie) and Cassie!

[Wolfgang]

I seem to remember there were two Chrissies which confused me somewhat!

I think it was Chrissie (our Chrissie) and Cassie!

I think you are right, Anita.