The Enid Blyton Society

Nigel mentioned The Parson's Nose a couple of days ago but I don't think Julie did. Julie and I had previously talked about Langstone Rock.

Thanks for the video link, Nigel — I'm also delighted that not only did GWR think of the Famous Five as capturing the spirit of adventure, but they're also helping to promote literacy in schools with the FF books! (Also delighted to see that most of the copies they showed in the video — with only one exception that I noticed — were editions with Eileen Soper covers and illustrations. Fans of Betty Maxey, of course, may feel rather let down here. )

Lovely to see the posters they've designed to go with the campaign too... gosh, now I may need to find an excuse for another holiday in the West Country so I can look out for the FF posters at all the stations.

Thanks for the link, Nigel, very informative. I like the posters too.

Thank you for the link, Nigel.

That is a brilliant advert, I love it! Now why can't the books be illustrated like that if they must be updated? At least the children look like children and Timmy looks like a proper dog That is a good and respectful way to use Enid's wonderful characters, unlike using them for certain twopenny-halfpenny tawdry tales of debauched depravity .

I agree. If only the new edition Famous Fives were illustrated in this way. The advert is sensitively done. However, I guess its meant to appeal predominantly to adults rather than children, so the publishers would be unlikely to use these more traditional depictions.

On the other hand, as I mentioned, nearly all the books shown in the "behind the scenes" video, when they were talking about the literacy programme in schools, had the traditional Soper covers and internal illustrations. So that would suggest they're still selling as well. Or else they just shipped them in for the video (because the style matches the ad) and the ones with the modern illustrations are what's really being given to schools...

It is slightly ironic that GWR are showing the Five travelling to the alleged inspiration for the books, Corfe Castle, Swanage, Poole - all places where the GWR never reached. Their line from Bristol did go to Maiden Newton, Dorchester West and Weymouth, though. To reach the Isle of Purbeck, the Five would have set off from Waterloo on the Southern Railway.

As for the confusion over The Parson's Nose, I had the wrong location in mind. The archway in the original post was thought to be Horse Shoe Rock. I was getting my rocks muddled!

Julie wrote:There is an arch along that route, Courtenay, but it's not as big as the cartoon one. Hubby thinks it's called Horse Shoe Rock.

I thought of that too, Nigel — I'm not an expert on British railway companies, but I was aware that even when there were trains from London to Purbeck, they weren't GWR. Anyway, if Southern still ran trains to Swanage et al, the ads might have to be Five Have Their Holiday Cancelled Due to Another Rail Strike.

Moonraker wrote:It is slightly ironic that GWR are showing the Five travelling to the alleged inspiration for the books, Corfe Castle, Swanage, Poole - all places where the GWR never reached.

Are they? That completely escaped me! I never noticed any of those locations depicted in the advert! Maybe I'm just not very observant...

I didn't see any of those in the advert either — I was wondering if they're on some of the tie-in posters, although that wouldn't make sense either. I was simply thinking in the context of Purbeck being more or less the "official" Famous Five Country, and yet it's not GWR territory.

Moonraker wrote:It is slightly ironic that GWR are showing the Five travelling to the alleged inspiration for the books, Corfe Castle, Swanage, Poole - all places where the GWR never reached.

Like Rob and Courtenay, I didn't see any of those locations. If the advert follows a real route (which it might not), maybe it's the London Paddington to Penzance route. I thought I saw St. Michael's Mount near the end, which is near Marazion not far from Penzance, and the train would also pass Langstone Rock arch in Dawlish. My son and I took a GWR train travelling from London Paddington to Penzance just the other week, though we got off at Bristol Temple Meads.

Yes - I checked it again today and did think I saw St Michael's Mount - but certainly I didn't see Corfe or Swanage on the advert - so maybe these are on posters I haven't seen.

They definitely featured an aerial shot of St Michael's Mount in the "making of" video — not sure anyone's ever put that forward as the "real" Kirrin Island, mind you, much though it is an island with a (decidedly non-ruined) castle on top! I love St Michael's Mount. You do get a good view of it from the train just before you pull into Penzance Station — I went there by train earlier this year, which is always a treat. Didn't see the Famous Five anywhere, though... maybe they'd already gone on to Tremannon Farm.

I love St Michael's Mount too! It always reminds me of Smuggler's Top - though I know this has often been suggested as Rye. But St Michael's Mount has a similar feel to it in my opinion.