Blyton in other fiction

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Blyton in other fiction

Post by Ming »

I was just reading The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton, when I came across this passage in Chapter 4.

It was too hot to go back outside. What she really felt like doing was reading. Escaping into the Enchanted Wood, up the Faraway Tree, or with the Famous Five into Smuggler's Top...

So perhaps Kate Morton was a fan of Enid Blyton!

Has anyone found any other references to Enid in any other books? Would like to see some. :D
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Famous Five reference in Dr Who

Post by Pippa-Stef »

A week ago I picked my first ever Sci-Fi book- Doctor Who The Stone Rose.

Haveing almost finished the book, and having made up my mind that I shall probably read more I came across an annacdote where the Doctor is talking to Rose about all the creatures that have tried to invade earth and got changed into Cartoons or Stories! See where I'm going with this?
Elves, pixies, gnomes- the Moomins, Chorlton and the Wheelis, Spongbobo Square pants- they all tired to invade you at some point. There was a galactic inquiry when Robocop came out. And as for the five famous justices of the future who diguised themselves as four children and a dog (Although I think the dog was a mistake) in order to wipe out the crimes of kidnapping and smuggling for all eternity- well, I think they're still trapped in a time loop somewhere with nothing but ginger beer and potted meat sandwitches to sustain them.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

They get everywhere don't they? :D
"You're so sharp you'll cut yourself one day!" Hunchy said going to the door
"So my Mother told me that when I was two years old!" said Julian and the others giggled.

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Re: Famous Five reference in Dr Who

Post by Viv of Ginger Pop »

I'm sure that a few series ago there was a scene with Maureen Lipman. The character herself was on a TV screen, and looked very Blytonesque. Lipman, of course, had played Blyton in Sunny Stories.

I'm sure that most of the viewing public missed this since Blyton's image is not well known. An alarming number think she's male!

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Re: Blyton in other fiction

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

An interesting topic.

Jacqueline Wilson refers to Enid Blyton in a couple of her books. In Double Act the main characters, who are twin girls, audition for the parts of Pat and Isabel O'Sullivan in a stage version of Blyton's St Clare's series. Gemma, in Best Friends, hides a letter from her friend Alice "between the pages of my best-ever book, The Enchanted Wood. It was Grandad's when he was a boy, and when I was little he read it to me. I wished that Alice and I could find the Enchanted Wood, climb up the Faraway Tree, and clamber up the ladder into the land above - and never ever ever come back."

In his latest Journal article, Terry Gustafson mentioned that there is a Faraway Tree reference in Jackie Collins' novel, Drop Dead Beautiful.

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Re: Blyton in other fiction

Post by Ming »

Reading The Forgotten Garden further, I noticed that Five Go To Smuggler's Top was referred to, when Cassandra visited a cave near the sea, in Cornwall, and it also talked to wreckers and smugglers!

Who says Blyton overuses caves? They're part of the magic! :lol:
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Re: Blyton in other fiction

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Not long ago, my daughter read a book called The Forbidden Room by Sarah Wray. A character named Stephen comments that his mum taught him to read and that he likes The Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton. Later on, he gives someone a copy of The Wishing Chair as a present.

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Re: Blyton in other fiction

Post by Mollybob »

The Forgotten Garden is a lovely book. I read it a few months ago. Are you enjoying it Ming?

I'm sure I have seen references to Blyton in a few books, but nothing springs to mind at the moment apart from the title you mentioned. I'll keep thinking though.
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Re: Blyton in other fiction

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

In Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz, child spy Alex Rider is "supplied with some books to read: Biggles, the Famous Five and Just William." However, they have been placed there for him by the enemy and we're told, "They weren't quite to his taste but he supposed he should appreciate the thought." He reads some of Biggles Investigates to pass the time.

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"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Re: Blyton in other fiction

Post by Ming »

"Not quite to his taste"?? :shock: What does he like, then, does it say?
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Re: Blyton in other fiction

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I don't think we find out what Alex Rider does like reading - not in this particular book, anyway. I can't remember whether his reading tastes were discussed in earlier titles in the series. Not that Alex has much time for reading, leading such an action-packed existence!

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"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
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Re: Blyton in other fiction

Post by Stephen »

Noddy is mentioned in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4. Adrian is anxious to paint over his Noddy wallpaper in black. But the paint isn't thick enough and the characters can still be seen through it when it dries however many coats he puts on. Even when he thinks he's done it, Noddy's hat bells are still visible, so he goes over each of them in black felt tip pen!

Then when his father sees the final result, he describes it as a "Surrealist nightmare"!
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Re: Blyton in other fiction

Post by Fiona1986 »

I've just read "No Through Road"the third in the Point Crime 'East End Murders' series by Anne Cassidy, the main character Patsy is investigating a boy's murder and his mum allows her to have a look around his room, where she notices an Enid Blyton book named 'Five on an Island'. A nice reference but not quite correct!
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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Re: Blyton in other fiction

Post by auscatherine »

Lots of Blyton references in this Australian YA novel that I wrote about in the 'other authors' forum:
I am reading a fantastic Australian young adult novel called Jetty Rats by Phillip Gwynne. Surprisingly, it contains quite a few references to the Famous Five and Secret Seven. I am only halfway through it and the Jetty Rats are about to embark on their big adventure to save the town's estuary. The five protagonists are called Hunter (aka Warrior), Jasmine and Storm (a pair of hippy twins also known as 'the photocopies'), the Skullster (real name Malcolm) and Miracle (his real name because he was a miracle baby). It also contains a really interesting cast of adults as well including Zappo the cross dressing fisherman and Warwick the 'bearded boffin' paleoicthyologist. I would highly recommend it to anyone but beware the Aussie slang flies pretty thick and fast in it. Was quite a nostalgia trip for me to hear one of the older characters referring to someone's backside as his Khyber (rhyming slang and short for Khyber Pass) which was something my dad used to say.
Also Class by Jane Beaton of course which I really enjoyed (there are a couple of threads on this book).
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Re: Blyton in other fiction

Post by Petermax »

A little while back I read Speak For England by James Hawes, a hilarious satire about a hapless reality TV contestant who discovers a group of survivors (and their descendants) from a Comet airliner that crashed in 1958. Reference is made to Enid Blyton when mention is made of a child in the lost English tribe reading a Famous Five book.

Speak For England is an enjoyable read, but I would not recommend it for our younger forum members or the faint hearted! :lol:
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Re: Blyton in other fiction

Post by Kirrin »

In High Jinx by Sara Lawrence Jinx the main character loves malory towers and reads them if she's feeling upset or depressed to cheer her up!
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