Enid and Monkeys

Use this forum to discuss the author herself.
Post Reply
Green Hedges
Posts: 253
Joined: 28 Jan 2005, 12:09
Location: Tayside, Scotland
Contact:

Enid and Monkeys

Post by Green Hedges »

I'm always slightly surprised when I come across monkeys in Blyton books.

They crop up in several of the Noddy titles, though not the early ones. They play a role in two of the last three Five books, and there's a big chimp in Five Go Off in a Caravan which is from 1946. And then there's Barney's Mirabel in the 'R' Mysteries starting from 1947.

I'm wondering where Blyton got a chance to study their behaviour. Maybe she didn't, maybe it was an imaginative thing, as it perhaps was for the bunnies she wrote about in early work. But I suspect, as with the dogs she never stopped including in her work, that first-hand knowledge was involved.

There's 'Monkey World' near Swanage these days. Ideal for studying all things ape. But I don't think it was there when Enid was holidaying in that area.

Any 'Enid and the Monkeys' knowledge locked up in those human heads out there? :shock:
Maria
Posts: 1
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 20:40
Location: Cheshire

Post by Maria »

Hi,
I think that you mean Barney's monkey Miranda and not Mirabel?
Maria
oldBourney
Posts: 45
Joined: 29 Dec 2004, 14:19
Location: Bournemouth Dorset UK

Post by oldBourney »

Monkey World is only "near" Swanage in a relative way. you wouldn't want to walk it :D

living in this neck of the woods myself, i can only remember it being mentioned in the last 20 years or so (but i could be wrong).

Enid Blyton's Zoo Book (one of her first published in 1924) featured an ape of some description wearing clothes (like a Brooke Bond Chimp) on the front board

probably wouldn't be allowed nowadays ....
They have their dreams and do not think of us ....
User avatar
HeatherS
Posts: 395
Joined: 03 Feb 2005, 03:50
Favourite book/series: Mystery
Favourite character: Fatty
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Monkeys

Post by HeatherS »

Just to add to the topic - monkeys also play large parts in the various circus books.
Raci

Post by Raci »

Also a monkey plays a huge role in 'The Ship of Adventure'

:wink: There wouldn't have been an adventure at all if Micky and Kiki hadn't had a fight over the ship in the bottle!
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26768
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Enid and Monkeys

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I came across a reference to monkeys in Enid Blyton's introduction to The Big Enid Blyton Book (Hamlyn, 1961.) She writes:

"...maybe a comical monkey will suddenly come into a story I am writing, and I stop and exclaim out loud, 'Little monkey - you are the one I saw years ago with the man who had the barrel-organ. You sat on top, and twisted your tail lovingly round the man's neck, and whispered in his ear. And here you are again, large as life, though I'd forgotten all about you! You've been hidden deep in my mind until today!' "

Anita
User avatar
booklover
Posts: 249
Joined: 23 Mar 2005, 10:30
Favourite book/series: Whyteleafe, Faraway Tree, "Barney" books
Favourite character: Elizabeth Allen, Fatty, Barney and Snubby
Location: Australia

Enid and Monkeys

Post by booklover »

I would add to the list the following stories:

The Rilloby Fair Mystery - the children meet two chimps at the fair;

Five Go to Demon's Rocks - the children meet Tinker Hayling and his monkey Mischief; and

the last Famous Five story, Five are Together Again - Tinker Hayling and Mischief appear again, and the story also features Mr Wooh the magician and his chimp, Charlie.
User avatar
pete9012S
Posts: 17568
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 15:32
Favourite book/series: Five On A Treasure Island
Favourite character: Frederick Algernon Trotteville
Location: UK

Re: Enid and Monkeys

Post by pete9012S »

How many monkeys real or otherwise feature in the books?
I will start us off..


1.Noddy & Martha Monkey
2.The Organ-Grinder's Monkey (Sunny Stories)
3.....
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

Society Member
User avatar
Carlotta King
Posts: 2828
Joined: 15 Mar 2013, 19:01
Favourite book/series: Adventure, Barney, Secret Series, Famous Five
Favourite character: Bill Smugs,Lucy-Ann,Snubby,Mr King,Diana,Kiki,Paul
Location: England

Re: Enid and Monkeys

Post by Carlotta King »

1.Noddy & Martha Monkey
2.The Organ-Grinder's Monkey (Sunny Stories)
3. Miranda (Barney)
4.....
"Fussy Gussy! Polly, Polly, Polly-gize!"

Society Member
User avatar
Poppy
Posts: 5725
Joined: 24 Apr 2012, 16:06
Favourite book/series: Famous Five/ Adventure Series/ Malory Towers
Favourite character: George Kirrin, Andy, Jack Trent & Diana.
Location: UK

Re: Enid and Monkeys

Post by Poppy »

1.Noddy & Martha Monkey
2.The Organ-Grinder's Monkey (Sunny Stories)
3. Miranda (Barney)
4. Mischief (Tinker)
"Beware of young men with long hair - that's what dad says, isn't it?"
Pat, Holiday House


Poppy's Best of Books

Society Member
User avatar
Daisy
Posts: 16632
Joined: 28 Oct 2006, 22:49
Favourite book/series: Find-Outers, Adventure series.
Location: Stoke-On-Trent, England

Re: Enid and Monkeys

Post by Daisy »

1.Noddy & Martha Monkey
2.The Organ-Grinder's Monkey (Sunny Stories)
3. Miranda (Barney)
4. Mischief (Tinker)
5. Micky (Philip, Ship of Adventure)
'Tis loving and giving that makes life worth living.

Society Member
User avatar
Courtenay
Posts: 19274
Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
Favourite character: Lotta
Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire

Re: Enid and Monkeys

Post by Courtenay »

(I've just removed the spoiler I posted here some time ago, now that Pete has given us the whole story of The Three Strange Keys! :wink: )
Last edited by Courtenay on 27 Nov 2016, 18:14, edited 1 time in total.
Society Member

It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
User avatar
pete9012S
Posts: 17568
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 15:32
Favourite book/series: Five On A Treasure Island
Favourite character: Frederick Algernon Trotteville
Location: UK

Re: Enid and Monkeys

Post by pete9012S »

Read the story here:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... =16&t=7419" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

Society Member
User avatar
Rob Houghton
Posts: 16029
Joined: 26 Feb 2005, 22:38
Favourite book/series: Rubadub Mystery, Famous Five and The Find-Outers
Favourite character: Snubby, Uncle Robert, George, Fatty
Location: Kings Norton, Birmingham

Re: Enid and Monkeys

Post by Rob Houghton »

But...but...aren't turkeys normally black? :?

Make sure you read it in EXACTLY 20 minutes! ;-) :lol:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



Society Member
Post Reply