The Enid Blyton Society

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?

Hi,
I think that you mean Barney's monkey Miranda and not Mirabel?

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

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 ....

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

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

There wouldn't have been an adventure at all if Micky and Kiki hadn't had a fight over the ship in the bottle!

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

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.

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.....

1.Noddy & Martha Monkey
2.The Organ-Grinder's Monkey (Sunny Stories)
3. Miranda (Barney)
4.....

1.Noddy & Martha Monkey
2.The Organ-Grinder's Monkey (Sunny Stories)
3. Miranda (Barney)
4. Mischief (Tinker)

1.Noddy & Martha Monkey
2.The Organ-Grinder's Monkey (Sunny Stories)
3. Miranda (Barney)
4. Mischief (Tinker)
5. Micky (Philip, Ship of Adventure)

(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! )

Read the story here:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... =16&t=7419" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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

Make sure you read it in EXACTLY 20 minutes!