Article in The Times - An Enid Blyton Christmas

[Francis]

Mary wrote

Imogen Smallwood has also written a description of Christmas with Enid, which does sound idyllic 'our mother was very generous and our Christmases at Green Hedged were so happy'. Perhaps rather different to the impression I gained from 'Childhood at Green Hedges!'

When we get older we tend to appreciate our parents even more and learn to recognise their positive points away from our own struggles to grow up which tend to colour are earlier opinions.

[Francis]

Many thanks to Tony who as usual bought it to our attention first of all - where would we be without
him?

[Katharine]

I also popped out when I this thread. Thankfully there was still a copy at the local news agents. Of course I haven't read the article yet - it's still in the bag.

[Eddie Muir]

An excellent article. Thanks for letting us know about it, Tony.

[Tony Summerfield]

It is really thanks to Jon Appleton at Hodders who left a message on my phone - I didn't get there in time to pick up!

[Moonraker]

Sadly, you have to subscribe to see the article, but here is a taster.

[Tony Summerfield]

For those who have been unable to read the bit in The Times, but who possibly have a copy of Imogen's book, A Childhood at Green Hedges, I think you will find that her article has just been paraphrased from the book and was probably done by Hodders rather than by Imogen. In a conversation that we had several weeks ago, Imogen told me that she had been asked to write an article on Christmas by Hodders and she wasn't sure she could do it. I suggested to her that she should look at her book as she wrote about Christmas in that and as a result she sent Hodders a copy of her book referencing the relevant pages.

As has been mentioned in a previous post, the story, 'A Christmas Wish', is currently in print in a Bounty book, despite The Times implying that you could read it 'exclusively' there. It is also available as a separate book on its own, though that is no longer in print.

[Courtenay]

I did manage to find the Times2 section last night while on shift and took it with me afterwards — just read the article this morning. Lovely story and I enjoyed Imogen's reminiscence, even if it was cribbed from A Childhood at Green Hedges — which I haven't read, but I'm relieved to see her account of her mother wasn't entirely bleak after all!

Really, it's wonderful to see a major newspaper publish an entire Enid Blyton short story without a trace of cynicism or anything negative — only the "How to have an Enid Blyton Christmas" suggestions are tongue-in-cheek, of course, but in an affectionate way, not a sarcastic one. I quite like the front-page illustration of the Famous Five unwrapping modern-day presents too! (But I hope the next "updated" versions of the books won't seriously have the children receiving Amazon deliveries and iPhones for Christmas. )

[Courtenay]

I might just add — the headline "How to have an Enid Blyton Christmas (now)" has been stuck in my head since last night and has finally come out as a new Christmas carol. This is dedicated to all my fellow Blyton fans at the EBS forums (with apologies for one or two slightly clunky bits).

Here it is — you all know the tune...

♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
Have yourself an Enid Blyton Christmas
Read her books tonight
As we read, our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself an Enid Blyton Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
As we read, our troubles will be miles away

Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends from our fav'rite tales
Are alive and real once more

Through the years we all have loved our Blyton
And we still do now
Her books make the world a better place somehow
So have yourself an Enid Blyton Christmas now
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

[Rob Houghton]

Love your ,Merry Little Christmas Now' version, Courtenay!

I must say I enjoyed the article, and agree it was great to see something written about her in a major newspaper without any cynicism and no mention (even once!!) of her being racist or sexist or any other 'ist' they might like to accuse her of being.

It was great to see a Blyton story reprinted also.

Like a few others, I was quite surprised by Imogen's upbeat memories of Christmas at Green Hedges. I certainly don't remember those descriptions from 'A Childhood At Green Hedges', which I can only remember as being a truly negative read in every way! I have a copy, but have no wish to read it again, so I can't say for sure that the newspaper passages were taken from Imogen's book - I will just have to take Tony's word for it! I was certainly surprised that Imogen had happy memories of her Christmas Days as a child and I'm very pleased if that was the case, as the majority of her book was so depressing and negative

[Anita Bensoussane]

For those who have been unable to read the bit in The Times, but who possibly have a copy of Imogen's book, A Childhood at Green Hedges, I think you will find that her article has just been paraphrased from the book and was probably done by Hodders rather than by Imogen. In a conversation that we had several weeks ago, Imogen told me that she had been asked to write an article on Christmas by Hodders and she wasn't sure she could do it. I suggested to her that she should look at her book as she wrote about Christmas in that and as a result she sent Hodders a copy of her book referencing the relevant pages.

Yes, bits and pieces have been taken from Chapter 5 ('Christmas and Holidays and Wartime') and linked together.

A great song, Courtenay!

[Francis]

Well done Courtenay - all you need to do now is record it and post it on the internet for us all to hear!

[Eddie Muir]

An excellent song, Courtenay!

[Lucy-Ann]

Good lyrics Courtenay! I hope i can find the article link.