ENID, 1924

[timv]

Thanks, Duncan; fascinating and a glimpse into a bygone era. I remember that the Lyons Corner House at the corner of The Strand and Duncannon Street, just opposite Charing Cross Station, was still there in the late 1970s when I was a student; my parents took me there once in the late 1960s. Interesting that Enid and Hugh used to go there. Lyons was bought up by a larger firm c. 1977 and closed in the 1990s.
The use of the area N of the Strand by publishers, eg George Newnes, was well-established in Victorian times; also magazines were based there, eg 'The Lady' for High Society which was a few hundred yards from Newnes. This was winding down in the 1970s, I think due to a mixture of high rents, the cramped nature of tall but narrow buildings with small rooms that didn't fit the 'open-plan' style of modern offices, and the expansion of the fashion industry and posh restaurants and boutiques when nearby Covent Garden was gentrified. Also there were a lot of mergers between firms. A lot of firms then migrated West to the Soho /Leicester Square area, where the publishers where Bridget Jones in the 1990s BJ books and films worked was supposedly placed (you can see BJ walking to work round Piccadilly Circus in the nearby films) .

[sixret]

Very interesting, Duncan. Especially your side notes to explain further.

Entry Saturday, February 2

Shopped with Mums??? Enid’s mother? Why plural? We knew Enid had a cold relationship with his mother.

Entries Feb 3, Feb 5, Feb 6 and Feb 7 along with Duncan’s usual detective work are the most fascinating! We see the initial moves by Enid(wow!) to win Hugh’s love.

We also can see how busy Enid was to build her name as a published writer. Her schedule was pack with meetings and work related events/issues.

Thank you so much, Duncan.

[pete9012S]

Enjoying your output (literary) Duncan - grateful thanks.

[Green Hedges]

The March diary and essays is here: http://www.enidblyton.me.uk/styled-35/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for your reminiscence about Lyons Corner House, timv. I wonder if it was a common hang-out for artists and writers. In those days most writers/artists were men and they probably preferred to chat in pubs.

And, yes, many publishers were in a small area of London, close to the Strand. At some stage I might draw up a map of Enid's publishers in the 1940s and 1950s, though I won't do that for this piece as Enid was just setting out on her collecting of publishers.

Sixret, thanks for your enthusiasm. As mentioned in the notes re January 6, Mums was Mabel Attenborough.

Funny thing is, Pete, I edited/wrote this stuff a few months ago and I'm into something else now re Evelyn Waugh. Does this mean I have a low attention span? Or attention deficit disorder? Anyway, the 'output' is yours now. Do with it what you will. Though maybe you have to see all eight months before you really get the picture.

Duncan

[Eddie Muir]

Thank you for your latest offering, Duncan.

[John Pickup]

Many thanks Duncan. Very interesting, I'm enjoying reading this.

[Lenoir]

It's interesting and I like Duncan's commentary.
But after reading a few entries I started to feel I was reading something private that wasn't really meant for me, or for everyone to see. It's just the way I felt.

[Green Hedges]

Here's April, 1924. The month that Enid gave up teaching for good. Because she was about to get married to Hugh? Because she wanted to write full-time and could now see that working?

http://www.enidblyton.me.uk/styled-36/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Duncan

[Katharine]

I believe that female teachers weren't allowed to be married at that time. I think the law was changed in the 1940s.

[Boatbuilder]

Many jobs didn't employ married women in those days. My mother worked for Bryant & May - the match makers - in the 1920's/30's and had to give up the job to marry in 1937.

[Eddie Muir]

Thanks for your latest post, Duncan.

[Jack400]

I believe that female teachers weren't allowed to be married at that time. I think the law was changed in the 1940s.

Correct, Katherine. Hence it is, even now, normal to call female teachers "Miss"- even if they are married.

[John Pickup]

Thanks Duncan.

[Green Hedges]

So in April, not only did Enid have to give up her teaching career because she was getting engaged to Hugh (because of the Marriage Bar), her diary reveals that though she'd been living at 34 Oakwood Avenue, Beckenham, for four years, she hadn't had a key of her own.

On giving up her teaching job and living at 34 Oakwood Avenue during the week as well as at weekends, she still wasn't being given her own key. The decision being made by Grandpa Attenborough, the head of the household. Mabel Attenborough did intervene on Enid's behalf and she got her latchkey.

No feminist thinking reflected in Enid's diary of the time. Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own didn't come out until 1929. That might have got Enid thinking about 'A Job of One's Own' and 'A Key of One's Own'. But probably not, she wasn't political as such. She had other fish to fry.

[Eddie Muir]

Very interesting. Thanks, Duncan.