The Enid Blyton Society

MummyRivett wrote:I love the Rainbow Communications Theatre Collection

I have all of them and over the Christmas have converted them all to MP3 thanks to a little gadget called the Super USB Cassette Capture.

I collected all of the series and all the Roald Dahl and Three Investigator ones too. I've been listening to them this weekend they have brought back loads of wonderful memories.

I had this secret seven set too. But I remember there being two tapes:



I can't seem to find them.

How many Three Investigator tapes exists? I know only of Terror castle and if I have it right in my mind of the parrot? Is that right?

Does anyone have an mp3 recording of the Secret Seven stories read by Roy Castle? I loved them as a child and used to have the cassettes. Unfortunately they disintegrated over time (or snapped through overuse, I can't remember) and I'd love to hear them again...

A quick query about the 26 Ditto Twin cassettes that were produced by Pickwick International in the 1980's.
Did the Cassettes have accompanying books which were also branded under the Ditto label?
I know that the artwork on the cassette cases corresponded to The Sunshine Purnell Library book editions but I'm wondering if Pickwick did a reprint of the books (Complete with the Ditto Logo on the front) which was sold in a pack with the books?

Has anyone ever come across these?

Jay

My apologies, Jay, I have remembered that you asked me the same question in a PM and I'm afraid that I hadn't managed to answer it yet, so I will do so here so that others may also benefit. Pickwick did not publish books, so the simple answer to your question is 'no'. Only a few of these cassettes came from the Sunshine Library anyway and they were not only still in print, but they were also reprinted a couple of years later with a new cover design by Purnell.

Many thanks for the reply. Good to know that Pickwick never re-published the books under their own title. I wonder did they market the already published books in a pack with the audio cassettes? I know that they did this with the Ladybird Books and the Disney Read Along Books too. The Blyton cassettes, like all the Dittos came in a card box which contained both cassettes and had cover art identical to the inlay card of the two individual cassettes. I wonder were they sold in a pack with the corresponding book? Has anybody ever come across them on Ebay in their original packaging?

I have a handful of these converted to Mp3....though the thorn in my side has been the Happy Adventure Tales twin cassette pack (which was my absolute favourite as a child). I have painstaking collected up three copies of both cassettes in this twinpack (and paid a fortune for two of the copies) but none have converted to Mp3 flawlessly All my other Blyton Dittos gave excellent Mp3's copies first time round....but not the two cassettes I really wanted I even had them professionally converted but to no avail.

Has anybody converted these two cassettes to mp3 successfully?

Yesterday two audio casettes arrived, "The valley of adventure" (Rainbow BOW105) and "Summer Term at St Clare's" (Rainbow BOW 108). I was surprised that the cover of "The valley of adventure" was the same as the German one in the late 80s, so I checked the Society for more information, but there's only one more adventure tape by Rainbow, "The Sea of adventure", the cover was also used for the German tape. Unfortuntely the German tapes don't give any details about the artwork of the cover, so I wonder about the remaining 6 covers.
The cover of the St Clare's adventure wasn't used for German tapes - Europa uses drawings the same artist who does the illustrations for the German books.

You could try checking the audio section of the Cave:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/audio-section.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can't remember whether cast lists (where known) are given in the Cave and unfortunately I can't have a look as my computer is too slow.

I have had a quick look in the cave and it seems that if the information has been available, it is there. Actors, narrators and so on. Take a look Paul - I think you will find the answer to your question.

Hey all, long time no post.

I'm on the look again...

Audiobooks of The Island of Adventure, and The Adventurous Four Series..
I've looked in the usual places, eBay Amazon, with no luck. Does anyone have these?

As a child I was given a few of the telegraph released Famous Five and Secret Seven CD's to listen to and I fell in love, I actually (contrasting to lots of other opinions) like the dramatisations of these, but since these recordings have now been lost I wish to build a collection of Enid Blyton Audiobooks up again. However I am having real difficulty, as a child of the modern era I don't use cassettes or CD's and I cannot find many of even these around. Does anybody have The dramatisations of the Famous Fave or Secret Seven as MP3's they are willing to share?

I think these
http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/audi ... dderfivetv" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
are the same type of recording I fell in love with as these
http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... raphfivecd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can buy the audiobooks on Amazon for digital download. It would be illegal to share the MP3 files as they are copyrighted.

JustMatt wrote:Hey all, long time no post.

I'm on the look again...

Audiobooks of The Island of Adventure, and The Adventurous Four Series..
I've looked in the usual places, eBay Amazon, with no luck. Does anyone have these?

Perhaps I can help with "The Island of Adventure"? I'm uploading my stock of MP3s to another site which specialises in digital reproductions. If you like I can give you particulars of this site. P.M. me?

hatmind wrote:As a child I was given a few of the telegraph released Famous Five and Secret Seven CD's to listen to and I fell in love, I actually (contrasting to lots of other opinions) like the dramatisations of these, but since these recordings have now been lost I wish to build a collection of Enid Blyton Audiobooks up again. However I am having real difficulty, as a child of the modern era I don't use cassettes or CD's and I cannot find many of even these around. Does anybody have The dramatisations of the Famous Fave or Secret Seven as MP3's they are willing to share?

I think these
http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/audi ... dderfivetv" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
are the same type of recording I fell in love with as these
http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... raphfivecd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As Fiona points out, the copyright still exists on the originals. However, if you are a member of Audible.co.uk you should (for a price!) be able to access their collection of audio downloads. Apparently, the copyright-holder(s) have agreed to some titles being digitalised? It's a great pity that more is not being done in this regard!!! It doesn't make sense as there would be millions of children out there who would like to hear these (and quite a few harassed parents!)

JustMatt wrote:Hey all, long time no post.

I'm on the look again...

Audiobooks of The Island of Adventure, and The Adventurous Four Series..
I've looked in the usual places, eBay Amazon, with no luck. Does anyone have these?

Apropos "The Adventurous Four" audio, I may be able to get my hands on one of these, if so I'll copy it and "post" it to you. Alternatively, if you have a spare $200 there are a couple of the tapes for sale on Amazon.com.

So much for the copyright laws, eh????

P.M. me if interested....

I'm on the look out for the Five Find Outers audio cassette 'The Mystery of Holly Lane'. I have all the other Five Find Outers audios and am willing to swap if someone can help me complete my collection.