The Enid Blyton Society

Francis wrote:The French have always made a lot of authors etc - even when they are down on
their luck. They used to issue charity stamps for distressed intellectuals! They
also fully appreciate writers of children books and comics - think what a fuss they
make of Tintin and Asterix.

Francis,

There were abundant German childrens/youth books in the sixties when I grew up, but I was more interested in British childrens books authors like Blyton and Norman Dale, French childrens books authors like Jean-Paul Bonzon or American childrens books authors like Jean Craighead George and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
What bothered me early on was the fact that the German childrens books authors got more praise and attention than the British, French and American childrens books authors.
later when I was an adult, I noticed the same about German novels. It must be a typical German thing !

Francis wrote:...think what a fuss they
make of Tintin and Asterix.

"Tintin" has recently been made into a movie by Stephen Spielberg, so the Americans are finally becoming more aware of French autors/comic books.
Now if they could only rediscover Enid Blyton!!!

I enjoyed watching the French clip. I thought she looked ill somehow here? In some sense less well than in the later 'Swedish interview' photographs. Something about her face and eyes. Despite having lost a great deal of weight by the time of the later interview ironically I thought she looked perkier somehow and her face more vibrant?

She also looked tall and upright walking around the garden in the 1964 French clip - yet she was only 5'6" (from memory)?

Another thought about the Swedish interview. Who made the appointment and arranged for them to come? Surely if so ill interviews - especially from the Press etc - wouldn't have been encouraged by family or Doris Cox?

She seemed a lonely figure at the time of the Swedish interview, what had happened to all those hoards of children who often dropped by Green Hedges by then? Can you imagine if J.K. Rowling had an open house policy ? She would be besieged even if ill. If Enid had lived today would we have had a 'Pottermore' equivalent? What would that have been I wonder? 'Famous Five world'?

If I and any of the other forumites were young children at the time and knew Enid received visitors I have a feeling we'd all be on first name terms and would frequently meet at weekends at her gate having done whatever it took to get there .

Chrissie777 wrote:Quoi or croix ?

Depends if you are a fan of The Wombat Squad or not!

Merged with an older topic which contains links to several of these colourised photos.

I haven't seen this picture/painting of Enid before.The hair colour doesn't look natural,unless its a blue rinse?

I'm sure you recognise the brooch though....

http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art ... nid-Blyton" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have never seen that picture before either, it must have been taken in the very early 1960s I reckon. I can just see the spines of some Noddy books at the top of the picture and three Seagull Library titles on the left; The Treasure Hunters, Shadow the Sheepdog and The Boy Next Door. Thanks for posting this Pete.

Kate

I think it is Enid, but a poor quality photo. Probably a black and white photo tinted up.

Merged with an older topic which contains links to several of these colourised photos.

I'm very sure this photo must already be on here somewhere and I've missed it, but I've never seen it before - a nice photo I thought.

It's reassuring to see Enid's bookshelves are as untidy as mine!

I've seen a photo of Enid in front of her bookcase, but I don't think it was in colour, and I can't remember if Enid was the age she looks on this photo.

A super photo, Rob. I don't think I've seen it before either.

Here's a link from earlier in the thread, for those who haven't seen it.

http://www.pictorialpress.com/?s=%22eni ... 22&site=pp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brilliant! Thank you for the link, Anita.

I couldn't see that her hair looked an odd colour, as Pete had pointed out earlier...to me, it's just how very dark hair does look when going grey.

I love it as a photo - and the other photos in the link from Anita are also interesting.

Julie2owlsdene wrote:I've seen a photo of Enid in front of her bookcase, but I don't think it was in colour, and I can't remember if Enid was the age she looks on this photo.

Julie, was it maybe this photo?
Erika Klopp Verlag used it for one of their German translations of "The Story of my Life":

http://www.amazon.de/Blyton-erz%C3%A4hl ... biographie" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And if you click below the cover on "Dieses Bild anzeigen", it gets larger.

Is there any evidence that this colour photo by the bookcase is indeed 'colourised'? I guess it could be, but to me it looks a natural colour photo of the period. Surely if it was colourised, the colourist wouldn't have gone to the trouble of perfectly matching all the colours on all the book spines? It looks to me like a typical coloured photo of the 1950's.