Antiques Roadshow - Enid Blyton's Typewriter

[timv]

Thanks for the information, Kate Mary. I usually dip in and out of Antiques Roadshow when it's on depending on whether there's anything interesting on it, but I made sure to watch this time until the 'Blyton item' had been on.

Like others, I was surprised nobody on the BBC team seemed to have noticed that Enid died in 1968, not 1971, though I assumed this was just a slip as the man was remembering that she died aged 71. Shouldn't they have looked it up to be sure? The episode seemed to suffer from a lack of detail - on other occasions the expert valuing an item has been far more insistent on knowing the exact provenance and saying that this is essential to knowing if the item is genuine. (Eg, is there a letter to the person who's presented the item by the Famous Owner or their heir, or a photo of the Famous Owner that 's definitely with the item?) It was more of a headline-grabbing 'gosh, look at this unique window into the household of a Famous Person' than including exact details. It looked a bit larger than the ones I've seen in photos of Enid - and if he was 'given it by one of the daughters' did they actually tell him if all Enid's books had been written on it? Logically Enid would probably have had more than one typewriter, to use a back-up to get manuscripts completed on schedule if her main one broke down and she only had a day or two left to finish the item?

[Katharine]

I've just watched the Enid Blyton clip. I was surprised to hear about the typewriter, as I thought I'd seen Enid's machine at the Seven Stories exhibition in Canterbury a couple of years ago.

While I respect Tony's expertise on all things Blyton related, I couldn't see anything in the programme to doubt it might have been Enid's typewriter. It certainly looked the same as the one in the photo they showed. Unfortunately I can't find my Enid Blyton reference books at the moment, other than the paperback version of The Story of My Life. In that there is a photo of Enid and a typewriter which doesn't look the same as the one featured on Antiques Roadshow, however the photo was taken outside, whereas the one on TV showed an indoor photo. Could one have possibly been a smaller more portable version?

As to whether or not the gentleman's parents genuinely worked for Enid at Green Hedges, I would have thought that could be easily proven if he decided to sell the machine. Perhaps he did give the Antiques Roadshow their names and more information, but didn't want them put out on air for fear of being bombarded by people if they found out where he lives?

As for saying she died in 1971, I note that Green Hedges was auctioned in 1971, and he said his parents looked after the house until it was sold. So I think that's an easy mistake for him to have made. I know that I wouldn't be certain of being 100% accurate if I was trying to tell someone about items belonging to my parents that they acquired over 40 years ago!

[Julie2owlsdene]

I must admit I did think it was rather unlikely, but I guess without any kind of provenance he really can't sell it to a dealer.

Yes, Anita, you must be right, that Enid did have more than one typewriter for her work.

[Tony Summerfield]

Before I posted last night I had been sent an email, but it wasn't there when I switched my computer off, so I only read it this morning. I quote from it:-

"'I've seen some of the posts on a forum regarding Enids typewriter on the Antiques Roadshow...I'm the daughter of the man who was on TV with it.
We recently realised we also have the table that Enid is pictured with the typewriter on....My dad uses it to have his meals on!"

When I was doing my research at the Darrell Waters offices in the early 1990s, Enid's typewriter was there and I took a photo of it. I believe this is the one that Seven Stories have now.

This whole saga has reminded me of something that happened about 15 years ago. I was contacted by someone who said that Enid Blyton's typewriter had come into their possession and they weren't happy about it as they strongly suspected that it was stolen property. They said that they would like to return it to whoever was now the proper owner of it. I phoned Gillian about it immediately, but she wasn't all that interested and I hadn't thought about it again until now.

[Katharine]

Tony, interesting to see you've been contacted by the family, and to hear they also have Enid's table. I wonder if they would be willing to share any memories/anecdotes of Green Hedges they might have?

"The Mystery of the Stolen Typewriter" - sounds like a job for the FFO.

[Alipresland]

Hi, my Dad is the man who appeared in the episode of Antiques Roadshow, with me as moral support. Since the typewriter came into our possession following a family bereavement, I have been looking forward to sharing details of the typewriter and the rest of the memorabilia we have with the members on here as we were so excited to have acquired an item with such a wonderful history.
However while Katherine has been supportive with her comments, others have been quite rude and frankly, rather hurtful, with their comments, making me rather reluctant to discuss any details. John pickup 'didn't like the guy at all', Pete 90125 said we had 'no provenance or facts' and Tony Summerfield said 'who were these people'.
Well my dad has a genuine story, Tony, which was researched before we were asked to bring the items to the roadshow by a book historian/ expert, and evidenced by all the memorabilia we have.
And yes it was investigated before the programme aired to ascertain its provenance, Pete, only a few items from the many we have were selected to be used on the programme (which we had no control over) and my dad is one of the nicest, kindest gentlemen you could ever wish to meet, John.
My dad is in his eighties, was incredibly nervous and his memory isn't what it used to be, that is why he got the date of Enid's death wrong on the day, and no, we are not keen to sell it, Pete.
I'm left feeling quite deflated that some people are so quick to judge, make assumptions and form opinions without knowing anything about us.
Alison

[Anita Bensoussane]

Welcome to the forums, Alison. It would be good to know more if you feel able to share things with us. I watched the Antiques Roadshow segment on iPlayer and felt it was rather brief and lacking in detail, though that's probably inevitable in a programme which moves rapidly from one piece to another, aiming to show as many items of interest as possible.

Barbara Stoney says in Enid Blyton - the Biography (1974) that, after the death of her husband Kenneth in 1967, Enid Blyton was cared for "by her faithful housekeeper, Doris Cox, who had been with the family since 1945, and other members of her staff who had also known Enid in happier days." It would be interesting to learn more about people who were in her life in the 1960s.

[Rob Houghton]

Hi Alison! Hope you do stay around as it would be interesting to know more.

I think most people who watched the programme were put off by the presentation rather than anything else - the antiques expert suggesting that all Enid's books were typed on one typewriter, for example. I would imagine this wasn't the case, as in such a long period of time I would presume she might have two or three type-writers at least - and the fact that he said Enid was pictured in front of a bookcase showing 'all the books she'd written' - which obviously wasn't true, as she wrote over 800!

But I still think we would be very interested in hearing your own story about your Enid Blyton memorabilia - its very interesting to hear about personal belongings of Enid's, and also about your father's parents time at Green Hedges. As Anita has said, the Antiques Roadshow segment was only short and didn't give much detail - but I think you and your father would be able to give us a much more detailed account, which would be extremely interesting!

[Tony Summerfield]

As Alison had sent me an email, I replied to that rather on here.

[sixret]

Welcome Alison! Thank you for sharing more details with us.

I possibly would have made the same mistake under the same circumstance and I am not in my eighties! All the nervousness, not used to be in front of the camera and all that.

[Moonraker]

Interesting to hear from you, Alison. Sadly, there are so many fakes and unscrupulous dealers about that some of us do possibly take a sceptical view on things. Maybe there is a moral in this that we could all learn from. Thank you for putting us straight and I hope it hasn't put you off these forums and wonderful website.

I too would love to hear more about your Blyton-related memorabilia.

[Eddie Muir]

Welcome to the forums, Alison. It would be great to hear more about your Enid Blyton memorabilia.