Some Photos of Enid I hadn't Seen :)

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks for the tips, Eljay. The following page has a number of photos I don't recall having seen before, including a striking one of Enid Blyton by the window at Green Hedges:

http://www.topfoto.co.uk/fotoweb/Grid.f ... rch=blyton" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Moonraker]

What a great set of pictures. It is fascinating to compare the 'child-like' Jemima with the sultry goddess we all know and love of today.

To me, the cast of the 90s series are really underestimated by most of us here. Taking nothing away from Marcus, Gary & Co., Laura was a fabulous Anne and Jemima made an incredible George. I sometimes felt that Marco rather 'spoofed' up Julian's character, which was a pity. The series even had a decent theme tune! [ducks to avoid missiles from York]

[Eljay]

Only Jemima has really continued in acting (and done very well for herself!), while the others have faded into obscurity. Paul Child has plodded on a bit since FF, with some small 'guest' parts here and there, the most recent being in a short film a couple of years ago. He played four different characters in 'The Bill' between 1998 and 2007! The others don't seem to have done anything at all since FF. I know that Marco has been to university, as a friend of mine met him there. All four are on Facebook. Laura's profile links to this: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paul-Chil ... 1916560471" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So it appears that Paul is now an unsigned "singer-songwriter" (no mention is made of his acting!). He looks so different, and rather scruffy - I hardly recognise him from the pictures! What happened to that angelic blond kid?! Marco and Laura haven't changed much facially though.

It does make you realise how much time has passed since the 90s FF: fifteen years (almost as old as the 70s series was when the 90s one launched!!). Yet the 90s series has hardly aged at all, whereas the 70s one looked pretty ancient in 1995. I think the 90s version has definitely benefited in that respect from being filmed 'in period'. It feels a lot more timeless as a result.

[Moonraker]

So it appears that Paul is now an unsigned "singer-songwriter" (no mention is made of his acting!).

I see he's appearing at the Camden Barfly at the end of June. I have been there many times to see our two boys' bands play there. Funny if Paul was also on the bill!

Yet the 90s series has hardly aged at all, whereas the 70s one looked pretty ancient in 1995. I think the 90s version has definitely benefited in that respect from being filmed 'in period'. It feels a lot more timeless as a result.

Yet another reason why updating a period work is futile!

[Eljay]

Yet another reason why updating a period work is futile!

Yes, although I suspect there's more to it than that. Fashions, technology and cultural trends seem to have changed far less in the last fifteen years than in the previous fifteen. So even if the 90s FF *had* been set in the 90s, I doubt it would look as dated now as the 70s series did by the mid-90s.

I recently watched a film from 1999 and didn't even guess it was eleven years old until I saw the date at the end!

[Ming]

Those are some beautiful photos, Eljay, thanks for the link. I agree with you, Anita, that the one by the window is very striking. Photography was really great in those days, digital cameras don't really seem to produce as good ones.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Photography was really great in those days, digital cameras don't really seem to produce as good ones.

Better quality photos can be produced on digital cameras in my opinion, but other things also matter a great deal - e.g. composition, background, lighting and the ability to make your subject feel relaxed. Many of those photos of Enid would have been taken by skilled professional photographers using the best equipment available at the time.

[Ming]

Perhaps it's just us, then, but we've got some marvellous photos taken with old Nikon than several of our digital cameras, it turned out that we hardly ever print digital photos - but I have to admit that digital cameras seem to be the only way to take photos underwater.

[Tony Summerfield]

Nice to see these photos, but I am not sure that I will be buying too many prints as they are asking £25 for each copy!!

[Moonraker]

Perhaps it's just us, then, but we've got some marvellous photos taken with old Nikon than several of our digital cameras, it turned out that we hardly ever print digital photos - but I have to admit that digital cameras seem to be the only way to take photos underwater.

Not sure that Armand and Michaela Denis would agree with that!

You're so right thought that we don't print off many pictures. We have thousands on the computer!

[Eljay]

It's refereshing to see some some spontaneous newspaper shots, instead of the usual meticulously posed publicity ones. The wheelchair photograph looks a bit 'paparazzi' like, as does this one:



The reason I post it is to ask who the bald man to Enid's left is? It looks very much like Lew Grade (later Sir), a famous TV producer of the 50s and 60s. Perhaps they were leaving some 'showbiz' party. Enid would have had a connection to the television industry through her daughter Gillian, after she married Donald Baverstock in 1957. Baverstock worked at the BBC.

Does anyone know when the dog attack occured, or if Enid wrote about it in her magazine at the time? As it was public knowledge, she may have felt obliged to do so. I gather she rarely wrote about the darker side of animals, which is a shame, as she could have used her position to warn children about things like not approaching stray dogs.

[Moonraker]

I would definitely say that that was Lew Grade, Eljay.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Does anyone know when the dog attack occured, or if Enid wrote about it in her magazine at the time? As it was public knowledge, she may have felt obliged to do so. I gather she rarely wrote about the darker side of animals, which is a shame, as she could have used her position to warn children about things like not approaching stray dogs.

Barbara Stoney writes in her Biography that Enid Blyton was badly bitten on the leg by a stray dog in 1952. She had to spend some time in St. Stephen's Hospital, and it was her husband Kenneth who repaired the injuries to her leg. I think Enid did refer to the incident briefly in Enid Blyton's Magazine , saying that one of her fans had quipped that the dog wouldn't have bitten her if it had known that she was Queen Bee of the Busy Bees (a club which raised money to help animals)!

[Viking Star]

Many thanks Ragamuffin Jo. And Anita!

[Rob Houghton]

some interesting photos

I really like this one:

http://www.topfoto.co.uk/fotoweb/Previe ... EA022490A1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Probably one of the most 'glamorous' photos I've seen of Enid: very 'film star like'!