60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine - 1959

[Rob Houghton]

Here we are at the start of a new years and a new batch of Enid Blyton Magazines.

1959 was a sad year for Blyton fans, as it saw the closure of our favourite magazine, with only 12 issues, and a large break over the summer months due to a printer's strike. Then Enid decided to give up writing her magazine - supposedly because of other commitments and because she wished to spend more time with Kenneth - amongst other things.

So here we are with issue 1 of 1959 - and a very nice one it is, too!



The cover shows an illustration from the first uncollected short story - which you can read, thanks to Tony's scans, by following the link. A Boy In A Thousand is an entertaining story, although its not exactly suspenseful or exciting - basically about a boy who makes bird tables. I do think some of the details in this story are a bit unlikely though - and I've thought this before, whenever Enid suggests making a bird table and tells her readers how to do it...

For one thing, all we supposedly need is a broom handle and a square piece of wood, which we nail onto the top of the broom handle. I'd have thought this in itself was easier said than done, without splitting the broom handle, or missing it altogether. Then there's the fact that all you have to do is drive the broom handle into the ground...but I can imagine this wouldn't be very sturdy - it would need to be driven in quite a way to be self-supporting...and even then it would probably topple over after a day or two of use. Also, the boy in the story buys a rake handle and saws it in half, making two bird tables...can't imagine those tables would be any higher than a couple of feet off the floor by the time they were embedded in the soil! Anyway - its a nice tale, with some great illustrations.

In Enid's Editorial Letter we have the usual news from Green Hedges, mainly about Enid's clubs. The last few issues, I get the feeling Enid was running out of things to say in her editorial. She repeats herself a lot lately about the good work her clubs do, and I'm feeling convinced that she doesn't seem quite so interested in the magazine, even judging by her editorial.

The Ragamuffin Mystery this fortnight continues with chapter 12 - and really, the mystery has only just started. Snubby receives a mysterious coded letter - something I really enjoyed reading about as a child, when I first read this book on holiday in North Wales.

PUZZLE PAGE

Sunbeams Prize Puzzle -

There is a bird hidden in each of the sentences below - can you find them?

1) Isn't Mr Horner a venerable old gentleman

2) There is another one!


Famous Five Prize Puzzle -

Separate the group of letters below and you will find the names of two animals - one found in America, the other in Australia - What are they?

WABLLIASBOYN


A Puzzle For My Busy Bees -

What am I?

I've no tongue, so I cannot talk,
I've got four legs, but I cannot walk,
I've two arms, but I cannot throw,
If you sit on my seat, I cannot go.


next we have the continuing saga of The Goblin Shop - all good fun, as a new adventure begins for the intrepid goblins of the title!

Bonfire Night for the Secret Seven continues with Chapter 7 and an illustration that I really do like - quite atmospheric. A version of it was included in the novel, but in my view it isn't quite so well drawn -









Another serial - Adventure of the Strange Ruby follows with chapter 18. I mentioned before that these last few magazines seem to be loaded with serial stories...which is okay - but its always nice to have a couple of short stories too, and with all these serials, there was never room for much else. Obviously this was being done consciously by Enid, in order to cut down on her workload.

Once again R Paul Hoy gives us an illustration that wouldn't win any illustrator prizes -




Meanwhile the brilliant Roger Payne gives us one of his usual excellent depictions. What a pity he was never used in an Enid Blyton book again!




The one good thing about having all these serial episodes is that we get a few single pages with interesting articles. This issue we have Police Signals and Traffic Light Signals All very informative - especially from an historical point of view! Its not something we ever see in this day and age. You can learn the signals too, by following the link below, as Tony has kindly scanned these extra pages.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/mag ... ?magid=954

Till next time!

[Courtenay]

Thanks as always, Rob and Tony, though it's sad to know this will be the last lot of EB Magazines we'll get to explore here.

Yes, that was a nice story about the bird-tables, although I also wonder just how easy it would be for the average child's (or adult's) carpentry skills! There's a rather similar story in the EB Magazine Annual No. 3, I'm aware, in which a boy makes a bird-table for his own garden and then another one for the bedridden gentleman who lives next door. This one, though, has an even stronger message about giving some kindness and help to older people who are lonely and can't get about easily — a very relevant theme today, too.

Nice to see an Aussie animal hidden in there with the American one — and not the all-too-obvious kangaroo, either, but a smaller relative!

[Anita Bensoussane]

An interesting write-up as always, Rob - and thanks for doing the scans, Tony!


**SPOILER WARNING for 'A Boy in a Thousand!'**


Reading 'A Boy in a Thousand!', I found myself wondering how elderly Mrs. Hughes, who could barely walk and was confined to her flat, got items like fruit, vegetables, meat and milk. There are 101 steps up to the door of her flat and she tells Jack she hasn't seen anyone for a fortnight. I concluded that milk and groceries must be left just outside her door by the milkman and by the errand boys/girls who worked for various shopkeepers. There's a strong feeling of neighbourliness in the story and it's lovely that that neighbourliness gradually extends to encompass Mrs. Hughes.

[Jack400]

The cover shows an illustration from the first uncollected short story - which you can read, thanks to Tony's scans, by following the link. A Boy In A Thousand is an entertaining story, although its not exactly suspenseful or exciting - basically about a boy who makes bird tables. I do think some of the details in this story are a bit unlikely though - and I've thought this before, whenever Enid suggests making a bird table and tells her readers how to do it...

For one thing, all we supposedly need is a broom handle and a square piece of wood, which we nail onto the top of the broom handle. I'd have thought this in itself was easier said than done, without splitting the broom handle, or missing it altogether. Then there's the fact that all you have to do is drive the broom handle into the ground...but I can imagine this wouldn't be very sturdy - it would need to be driven in quite a way to be self-supporting...and even then it would probably topple over after a day or two of use. Also, the boy in the story buys a rake handle and saws it in half, making two bird tables...can't imagine those tables would be any higher than a couple of feet off the floor by the time they were embedded in the soil! Anyway - its a nice tale, with some great illustrations.

I can remember this being made by one of my brothers, It seemed to work- though cutting the broom handle in half would be a gift to any of the neighbours cats!

[Jack400]

An interesting write-up as always, Rob - and thanks for doing the scans, Tony!


**SPOILER WARNING for 'A Boy in a Thousand!'**


Reading 'A Boy in a Thousand!', I found myself wondering how elderly Mrs. Hughes, who could barely walk and was confined to her flat, got items like fruit, vegetables, meat and milk. There are 101 steps up to the door of her flat and she tells Jack she hasn't seen anyone for a fortnight. I concluded that milk and groceries must be left just outside her door by the milkman and by the errand boys/girls who worked for various shopkeepers. There's a strong feeling of neighbourliness in the story and it's lovely that that neighbourliness gradually extends to encompass Mrs. Hughes.

Clearly no proper Jack

[Kate Mary]

I'm glad I don't live in Mrs Hughes flat, 101 steps!! I'm not surprised she doesn't get any visitors.

[pete9012S]

Many, many thanks for the excellent review Rob - I do hope your Magazine reviews along with Tony's brilliant scans will continue after this series concludes!

[Rob Houghton]

Here we are with the next issue of Enid Blyton's Magazine. I'm a little late, due to various hospital visits etc (my dad has a skin cancer on his nose - not life threatening thankfully but involves a few hospital trips!) Plus, we changed internet providers, and our internet was offline most of yesterday!

Here's the latest issue -



Many people will be pleased to see the cover, which depicts a Mr Twiddle story, as I know he is very popular. This time its Mr Twiddle and the Rabbit - an uncollected Twiddle story, which can be read by following the link below.

Its a fun story, as all Twiddle stories are - although I find these stories a little predictable. We always know Twiddle will do something wrong - that's the fun of the story - and as a child I enjoyed the absurdity of what he did - but as an adult I sometimes find it all a bit ridiculous It has some nice illustrations by Hilda McGavin, though.

In her Editorial Letter Enid complains about the fact that January is a long cold month with few flowers. I've never felt that way about January myself...I've always felt its a month full of hope, as we notice the days growing slowly longer again. February has always been my least favourite month - no wonder they gave it as few days as possible!

Enid somehow seems at a loss for subjects to talk about in her letters this year...she mentions the Noddy pantomime, and also about the film of the pantomime, which she says will be shown all around the country. I can remember seeing a snippet of it at an Enid Blyton Day and thinking it didn't look very good...but that may well have been the quality of the video we watched rather than the play itself!

Enid does tell us a rather amusing story about a little girl named Judith who went to Owen Owen in Liverpool to see the Noddy grotto there, and ended up getting lost when she tried to return on her own. Owen Owen! That's a name I'd forgotten!

PUZZLE PAGE

Sunbeams Prize Puzzle -

How many words can you make out of the name 'SUNBEAMS'? If you can find TEN words, send them to me on a postcard and the first one to arrive will receive my prize!


Famous Five Prize Puzzle -

Take the letters in the word square below and make as many things to wear as you can. Each letter must be used only once. If you use all the letters you can make six articles to wear.

T S H C T
I I O C R
E A S H H
T O S K S
A T E S O


A Puzzle For My Busy Bees -

Can you find the name of a country hidden in the following sentence?

"Where are the saucepans we dented?"



Next we have chapter 8 of Bonfire Night for the Secret Seven. Another 'new' illustration in this chapter - but why did Sharrocks like drawing the Secret Seven just standing around? His illustrations are often lacking in action. This is why I prefer the later illustrations by Derek Lucas. - each illustration he drew showed action, even when the children were sitting around!

Here's the magazine illustration -



The book doesn't even have an illustration for this chapter.

It's Like Magic is another uncollected short story, which you can read by following the link. Its a suitably wintry story - although it shares similarities with other such tales, such as Father Time and His Pattern Book or The Beautiful Pattern.

Next we have the latest installment of The Goblin Shop - which as always can be read by following the link. Great stuff! I even like R Paul Hoy's illustrations, as they suit these whimsical types of stories very well.

Of course, his illustrations aren't quite so suitable for Adventure of the Strange Ruby which follows next. I think as a child I would have assumed 'Strange Ruby' was very much for younger children, if I'd seen the R Paul Hoy illustrations. Here is this weeks offering - in fact, there are two -





Strangely, Roger Payne doesn't offer us any illustrations for this chapter in the novel version.

Next we have an advert for the book Noddy's Own Nursery Rhymes - a book which I owned as a child, though it was the later version from the 1970's. It was one of my favourite books as a child, and I knew many of the poems off by heart - especially 'Oh What Shall I Eat at the Party?' - which featured in one of the Noddy books, as did all these 'nursery rhymes' - though I can't recall which Noddy book it was. Answers on a postcard please!

The Ragamuffin Mystery continues with chapter 13...and really, not much has happened so far. Now we have the two strange visitors arriving at the inn...and obviously they are up to no good...

I find it interesting that the illustrations Gilbert Dunlop provided for the magazine are exactly the same as those that went into the book.

in Our News Sheet - as well as the news about her various clubs, ENid promotes three of her books, which she suggests children spend their book-tokens on, if they haven't already spent them - Noddy's Own Nursery Rhymes, The Animal Lover's Book and The Nature Lover's Book.

Here's the link to the stories and scans kindly supplied by Tony, as always -

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/mag ... ?magid=955

[Courtenay]

Thanks as always, Rob and Tony. I enjoyed reading the uncollected stories, although I have to admit I tend to find the Mr Twiddle stories more tiresome than funny. "It's Like Magic!" was nice, though. I've only ever barely glimpsed the six-sided patterns in snow crystals — I've never managed to catch any on a dark background and use a magnifying glass to look at them like the story suggests. Very typical of Enid to encourage children to find inspiration in nature for their homework!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Sorry to hear about your dad's skin cancer, Rob. I had day surgery to remove a basal cell carcinoma from just beneath my eye three years ago, with a flap reconstruction, and the scar is barely visible now.

In Enid Blyton's Editorial, it's interesting to read about how she chooses letters for the Letter-Page. Like you, Rob, I was struck by the mention of Owen Owen. When my sister and I were young, our mum used to work at Owen Owen in Colwyn Bay on a Saturday.

I'm very fond of Mr. Twiddle - it's always a joy to enter his cosy but muddled world! It's Like Magic! is a charming story too, presenting a fact about nature in an interesting way and encouraging young readers to check it out for themselves. Great stuff!

Thanks as always to Rob for the write-up and Tony for the scans.

[pete9012S]

Thanks for the review Rob - hope your Dad's ok. I'm glad he has you to care and look after him.
Both my Mum & Dad are battling with cancer at the moment, so I understand it must be a worrying time for you.

Best Wishes

Pete

[Courtenay]

My best wishes to your dad too, Rob — sorry to hear about what he's going through but I'm glad the cancer isn't life-threatening and I hope the rest of his treatment goes well.

[Rob Houghton]

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words about my dad. Like Anita, he has a basal cell carcinoma on the side of his nose. He's had it a couple of years but finally decided to get it checked out. He was offered surgery or radio therapy and we opted for the radio therapy because its less invasive (he's on anticoagulants etc and so would have had to stop them to have the surgery). Apparently radio therapy has a 93% success rate, so hopefully it will be completely cured - but its five days-worth of treatments.

Many, many thanks for the excellent review Rob - I do hope your Magazine reviews along with Tony's brilliant scans will continue after this series concludes!

Well...with that I have a slight problem, as I do't think I have all the magazines for other years. I started in 1956 but I only have half the magazines for 1955 and 1954 and only a handful for 1953.

[Courtenay]

Well...with that I have a slight problem, as I do't think I have all the magazines for other years. I started in 1956 ...

Didn't know you'd been around that long, Rob.

[Kate Mary]

I love Mr Twiddle, an uncollected story is a treat. Thank you Tony and Rob.