Margaret Thatcher and Enid Blyton

[Julie2owlsdene]

There are many other unfortunate sufferers in nursing hiomes across the country.

This is true L.S. My own Father was in one of these homes. A very sad place to visit and witness what happens to a parent.

[Belly]

Just picking up on what Anita says about Enid trying to hitch a lift back to Beckenham. Just so terribly sad. I think it was sad Theresa and Enid couldn't have understood each other better. I also think it terribly sad that her father, who must have loved her dearly due their closeness when she was a young girl, never sought her out as an adult?

Reminds me of Hugh Pollock being a silent observer at Gillian's wedding and making a slight attempt to get in touch with his children. When Imogen answered the phone (I think from memory) and said it was a secretary why not try again to make contact more decisively? (Interestingly many friends of mine who have had parents separate at a young age often never saw their father again until they were adults & are resentful as a consequence later in life. 'Dad' did attempt to get in touch once or twice as children but sensing they were not forthcoming didn't try again). Not easy I know.

Also thinking how young 68 is to die...She died from a heart attack? Was this brought on because of the dementia? She always seemed pretty fit, supple & taking exercise through the golf?

Julie, sorry to hear about your father.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Sorry your father had to go through that, Julie.

I think it was sad Theresa and Enid couldn't have understood each other better. I also think it terribly sad that her father, who must have loved her dearly due their closeness when she was a young girl, never sought her out as an adult?

Enid Blyton did continue to go on outings with her father after he left, and meet up with him at his workplace, and presumably Hanly and Carey did too. However, Enid felt hurt by her father leaving them for Florence, with whom he started a new family (again a girl and two boys, funnily enough), and she never met Florence or her half-sister and two half-brothers (one of whom died as a baby.) And Thomas died in 1920 of course, when Enid was still only 22 or 23.

Also thinking how young 68 is to die...She died from a heart attack? Was this brought on because of the dementia? She always seemed pretty fit, supple & taking exercise through the golf?

Enid died in 1968 (probably that's why "68" stuck in your mind!) but she was 71. I read somewhere that she died of a heart attack but I'm not sure whether that's accurate, as Barbara Stoney says she died peacefully in her sleep. Does anyone know any more about that?

Anita

[Belly]

Thanks, Anita, yes you are right 68 was stuck in my mind because of 1968! 71 is still a young age these days, my father in law is still very active and working aged 74.

I had forgotten about Enid's father and their continuing relationship/other family also.
Is it not surprising that Enid wasn't closer to her siblings? Sometimes when there is trouble at home the siblings bond together? The children she writes about have very close bonds, Jack/Lucy Ann, Dick/Julian etc.

I think that dementia can effectively 'shut' your body down as body 'forgets' how to function and eventually cause organs etc to fail but am no expert. My grandmother died from congestive heart failure and suffered from dementia. Dementia was given as the first cause of death and congestive heart failure the second.

Thank you again for refreshing my memory about Enid.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I had forgotten about Enid's father and their continuing relationship/other family also.

I don't know whether you've got a copy of Journal 17, Julia (Spring 2002) but it contains a very moving article by Barbara Stoney titled "Thomas Blyton's Other Family." Barbara Stoney didn't find out the details contained in the article until many years after the publication of her Biography and I wonder why she didn't revise later editions of the Biography to include this information (plus anything else that may have come to light)? I don't think the Biography even gives the name of Thomas Blyton's "other woman," Florence Agnes Delattre. As with his first family, the eldest of the three children in Thomas's second family was a girl (Florence Carey Blyton - so Thomas even reused the name Carey which was the name of one of his sons by Theresa!) and the other two were boys. Barbara Stoney doesn't give the name of the first son, who died in his cot aged six months, but the second was called Gebir (for some reason changed to Leslie after Thomas's death.)

I've just remembered that, in The Story of My Life (1952), Enid writes about her childhood, "I had two brothers and no sisters, though I always longed for one." Strange to think that she did have a half-sister she never met, though Florence was born in September 1911 when Enid was fourteen, so even if they had been in touch from the beginning there was a large age-gap. Hanly met his half-sister Florence once, for lunch one day in 1936, but that was merely to discuss some money that had been left to Florence by their father. Apparently, it was only then that Florence learned that she and her surviving brother were illegitimate (her mother Florence had never married Thomas, since neither were able to obtain divorces from their respective spouses.)

Is it not surprising that Enid wasn't closer to her siblings? Sometimes when there is trouble at home the siblings bond together? The children she writes about have very close bonds, Jack/Lucy Ann, Dick/Julian etc.

It does sound as though Enid was reasonably close to her brothers in early childhood, reading them stories etc, though she didn't have the freedom to join in all their activities because, being the eldest and a girl, she was expected to do more domestic chores. Apparently, the three of them used to huddle together and comfort one another during their parents' violent rows. But Barbara mentions that Hanly attended boarding-school, and presumably Carey did too when he was old enough, whereas Enid went to a local day-school so would have spent long periods alone in the house with her mother, with whom she had a difficult relationship. Perhaps she withdrew into herself to some extent at that time, distancing herself emotionally from the whole family. It does seem surprising, however, that Enid broke ties so completely with her brothers as an adult, only seeing Hanly a few times.

Sorry this thread has gone so far off-topic! To get back to the original subject, I wonder who has had the most influence on people's lives - Margaret Thatcher or Enid Blyton?

Anita

[Belly]

Now there's a good question, Anita

I think that Margaret Thatcher is less popular than Enid. Would Enid have liked and admired Margaret Thatcher? I think so.

[Tony Summerfield]

I don't know whether you've got a copy of Journal 17, Julia (Spring 2002) but it contains a very moving article by Barbara Stoney titled "Thomas Blyton's Other Family." Barbara Stoney didn't find out the details contained in the article until many years after the publication of her Biography and I wonder why she didn't revise later editions of the Biography to include this information (plus anything else that may have come to light)?

Anita

I think Barbara did put some of this information into the latest edition of her Biography, and she was a bit upset when Tempus left it out by accident! They promised to put it right when the book was reprinted, but they haven't done so yet!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I think Barbara did put some of this information into the latest edition of her Biography, and she was a bit upset when Tempus left it out by accident!

I'd be fuming! Surely Tempus ought to have scrapped that printing, amended the text and printed the book again, even if it meant that copies were late hitting the shops? I wonder if Tempus print any fiction? It could make complete nonsense of a story if they missed a few paragraphs out!

Anita

[Ming]

Okay, somehow this makes me think, "Was it an accident or was it done on purpose?"

I just re-read Journal 17 and found Barbara's article very moving. Poor Flora, waving goodbye and not knowing that she would never see her father again, similar to Gillian.

I did get confused with all the similar Flora-Florence names though!

[Belly]

Who was Flora?

It does seem odd that a whole large chunk of text could be missed by mistake?

[Ming]

Florence Agnes Delattre was Thomas Blyton's second "woman", Thomas and Florence's child was called Florence Carey Blyton, Thomas' granddaughter is Flora Watson. According to Journal 17 Flora is a member of the Society and has attended The Enid Blyton Day "for the past five years" (article written in 2002).

[Belly]

Thanks, Ming

[Vic Nicholas]

It often seems that very strong-minded characters who 'over-used' their brains throughout their lives, suffer from dementia. Enid, Mrs Thatcher,Ronald Regan, Rita Hayworth etc.

Ronald Reagan over used his brains? Surely you jest?

I can certainly see a link between Margret Thatcher and Enid - both were ultra right wing conservatives.

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

I went to a Trade Show on Monday, and found a company that was selling Margaret Thatcher Nut Crackers. Just place your chosen nut between her thighs and squeeze the legs together...

It amused me greatly, but joined the long list of things that I liked but won't be selling in the shop

Viv

[Rob Houghton]

Ronald Reagan over used his brains? Surely you jest?

I can certainly see a link between Margret Thatcher and Enid - both were ultra right wing conservatives.

I was actually meaning when he learnt his scripts as an actor, NOT when he was president!