Enid: May 1, 1949

[Green Hedges]

On a spring day in 1949, Enid had a photographer around to Green Hedges and seems to have changed her clothes for the photoshoot AT LEAST ONCE AND POSSIBLY TWICE.

The reason I know this is that the 4 books (The Second Holiday Book, The House at the Corner, The Island of Adventure and The Mystery of the Missing Necklace) spread at her feet while she wears costume one...are the same 4 books that then appear on her swing seat as she wears costume two. A real Fatty trick!

Anyway, these photos that exist in a fair number, are an excuse to for me catch up on Enid at a pivotal point in her creative life. As you'll see, if you dip into the piece: https://bit.ly/35pR2oP" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That is unless you've got better offers on a dark November night in 2020.

Any corrections, points of information or comments, please let me know.

Duncan

[pete9012S]

Thank you very much, Duncan. I shall look forward to reading this tomorrow after work.

It's been too long. How have you been? I hope you have been managing ok through this extremely strange and trying year?

Regards

Pete

[Green Hedges]

Actually, Pete, it's been weird. I fell while walking in a wood last December (shortly after posting about Panto Cat, etc) and tore my quadriceps tendon which required surgery. I was just getting use of my leg again when lockdown came along in March! I'm just glad I didn't fall a few months later or I might have been limping still.

Anyway, apart from that I've had a good year, writing about a spoof Brideshead Festival, but am in Blyton mood again, zeroing in on The Mystery of Banshee Towers by the latter half of next week.

What have you got to report?

Cheers,
Duncan

[Fiona1986]

Enjoyed that very much. More than enough fact to make the conjectures seem absolutely believable.

[pete9012S]

Really sorry to hear about your fall in the woods and subsequent operation Duncan. That sounded really painful.

My Wife and I watched the 1980's adaptation of Brideshead Revisited for the first time the other day, so I
will now want to read the book.

I believe there's a brand new adaptation in the pipeline - don't know if you are excited about that?

A busy year. My parents and also my father in law all still struggling with cancer.
Helping my wife change jobs after twenty years in the previous one as well as running my own business as I am self-employed.

Dear friends around me losing their jobs, houses and sadly in the case of one or two, their minds.
Then lockdown..

Yet still, we battle on!!

Your article was great. Really enjoyed it. I was longing to see what some of the pictures would be like colourised and have included just one (below).


Don't seem to be able to recall any info about this statue??

Enid: "Gillian, do you know YOU'RE SITTING ON The Mystery of the Missing Necklace?
Gillian: "You hum it, Mum, I'll play it."

Good one! That really made me chuckle. Yes, it could well have happened on a Sunday after thinking about what you have posted.

Can we look forward to more Blyton analysis please Duncan. I know Chrissie would like more, much more from you especially if it is Find-Outers related!

So thank you once again. I got a really decent bottle of plonk and expensive chocs off one of my clients for Xmas today, so as I chomp, sip, slurp and feast whilst reading your article life doesn't seem quite so bad after all!

Best Wishes

Pete

[Lenoir]

Thanks, I enjoyed that. Good way to end off the working week and start the weekend.

[Eddie Muir]

I’m really sorry to hear about your accident and hope that you’ll soon get the full use of your leg again, Duncan.

[Green Hedges]

Thanks, Eddie (don't worry, I can still skip). And thanks for your nice words, Fiona and Lenoir.

Sorry I didn't get back to you Pete, I've been away for the weekend. I'll send you my email via a PM so we can exchange more on the personal side of life.

As for Enid, great to see that colorised image. The distinct shape cut in the hedge behind her tells us that the view is of that part of the garden, to the east of the house, that Enid painted a watercolour of in her 60s, and which is on the cover of Imogen's A Childhood at Green Hedges.

I've now updated the Spiteful Letters analysis here: http://www.enidblyton.me.uk/styled-51/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I urge you to sit back with a choc or two and a glass of wine and enjoy it to the max!

The Strange Bundle page and the Strange Messages page have also got some new perspectives added as from last week. As I say, I'll post about Banshee Towers shortly.

More soon,
Duncan

[Boodi 2]

Thank you so much for the analysis of the Spiteful Letters, which I really enjoyed, especially the comparisons of the illustrations. I am so looking forward to reading the analysis of Banshee Towers!
Cheers,
Boodi

[Julie2owlsdene]

It's nice to see the coloured photo of Enid in her garden. Is there any chance that the others could be coloured, especially the one inside Enid's home, Pete.

[Lucky Star]

Pete already put up lots of them in this thread Julie.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/for ... f=3&t=8698" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Julie2owlsdene]

thanks for pointing that out, John. Those photos are amazing in colour.

[Judith Crabb]

I thank Green Hedges for alerting me to 'Looking for Enid', an extraordinary idiosyncratic smorgasbord of a book impossible to categorize - travel? spoof? fanfiction? literary criticism? biography? All of them?
I went to the South Australian Public Library database and found to my delight that two copies still reside within their enormous collection, both in libraries in driving distance, so I hopped in my car and, narrowly avoiding entrapment in a miles-long stationary covid drive-through queue, borrowed the book just in time before the state's lock-down went into effect.
I read it over a couple of nights. From time to time words such as 'wild geese' and 'long bows' came to mind, but I cannot pretend that I didn't enjoy it. I've never been as interested in other people's sexuality (let alone gynecological problems) as the book assumes of the reader, but I've feel that I don't have to read anything I don't want to, so it wasn't a problem. What I did enjoy was the good humour towards and profound understanding of the strange and gifted woman who was Enid Blyton. And there are little gems throughout. I share the Author's appreciation of the book as physical object, and many hours of my life have been spent searching for the elusive titles in the charity shops. The passages on 'The Little Girl at Capernaum' and the chapter on George MacDonald are especially touching.
Best of all Duncan McLaren has sent me back to The Five Find-Outers and Dog.
But first I will finish Mark Twain's 'A Tramp Abroad' (the greatest travel book ever written??)

[Judith Crabb]

Goodness, it's almost two years since I posted last on this topic. I chose this topic again just for the date 1949.
I thought that I should thin a few books from my shelves and I took down 'The Floral Year' by L.J.F. Brimble, a very thick book (ripe for plucking) full of photographs, drawings and lovely coloured plates of British flowers, published in 1949. As often happens, I find I can't get rid of a book after all, this time because it is dedicated to 'To Three Friends ... in recognition of their individual and unique contributions to education', the first of whom is 'Miss Enid Blyton Children's Author'. Googling, I find that Brimble was a botanist and fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. I'm sure Enid would have been well pleased with his compliment to her achievements.

[Moonraker]

It sounds like right up Eileen Soper's street!