Secret Seven Readathon for Bonfire Night

[pete9012S]

By the way, someone came in.. yesterday wanting to know which SS book had the character Stumpy Dick.

This old chestnut had me stumped!

[Courtenay]

By the way, someone came in.. yesterday wanting to know which SS book had the character Stumpy Dick.

Actually, now I think about it, maybe they were thinking of the equally subversive-sounding Dirty Dick from one of the FF books...

[Rob Houghton]

Lol!

There is a character called One Leg William in Secret Seven Adventure.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Stumpy Dick is one of the characters invented by Susie in Secret Seven on the Trail when she and her friends cook up a pretend mystery for the Secret Seven.

[Courtenay]

Oh right, so it's all Susie's fault.

[Rob Houghton]

Stumpy Dick is one of the characters invented by Susie in Secret Seven on the Trail when she and her friends cook up a pretend mystery for the Secret Seven.

I knew there was a Stumpy Dick somewhere, lol!!

[Daisy]

Yes, it rang a bell with me too, but I'm not so familiar with all the Secret Seven stories as some people.

[Rob Houghton]

I'm currently rereading 'Secret Seven Fireworks' and really enjoying it. Despite having all the early editions in dust wrappers, I'm actually reading the paperback with Derek Lucas illustrations, because I prefer them, despite the annoying monetary updates - 15p for cleaning out the garage, lol!?

Reading these stories in the versions I originally read them lends a whole lot more to them than I get from reading the original hardbacks, for some reason. They even seem more detailed, probably because they have less illustrations and more text per page. Derek Lucas' illustrations are far superior in my view - always showing the action in a scene, even when the Seven are just sitting in the shed. Burgess Sharrocks tends to have illustration after illustration of some indeterminate members of the Seven just standing around doing nothing!

[pete9012S]

A good choice Rob - I grew up with my brother Mike's Derek Lucas illustrated paperbacks.

He's a good illustrator and his books show the Secret Seven just how I imagined them in the 1970's

11. Secret Seven Fireworks - Derek Lucas Knight paperback illustrations 1972:

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I must also grudgingly admit that he may be just as good a artist as Betty Maxey too!!!

[Rob Houghton]

He's much better than Betty!!

I really identified with the way Derek Lucas portrayed the Seven. I love the fact he gave them all individual characteristics. I could name each one without looking at the reference plate at the front of each book, because unlike the original illustrators, he gave the children very individual looks.

The book pictured above was one of my favourite covers.

[Nick]

Stumpy Dick is one of the characters invented by Susie in Secret Seven on the Trail when she and her friends cook up a pretend mystery for the Secret Seven.

I’m pretty sure this is the novel that suggests that the hometown of The Seven is Kepley.

The descriptions of the grimier parts of Kepley in Trail, Good Work and Well Done, really stand out and help create one of Enid’s best locations for me.

[Courtenay]

I really identified with the way Derek Lucas portrayed the Seven. I love the fact he gave them all individual characteristics.

... Which is more than Enid herself managed to do! Sorry to be nasty about a series I know many people enjoy, but one of the reasons I've never been drawn to it is that apart from Peter as the leader, Janet as his sister and Jack as the one with the annoying sister Susie, the characters have almost no distinguishing features whatsoever.

[pete9012S]

...It's a while since I read Good Work SS, and I still fell for Suzy's trick. This episode takes up about a quarter of the book and I think it is very well written. There is the urgent and earnest desire of the SS for something to happen, and Suzy baits them nicely. I've read my Green Knight PB and I enjoyed the Derek Lucas pictures. In particular the pic of Suzy and co stalking out of the shed and the sheer fury on the faces of Peter & co!

Viv

Here's the illustration Viv's referring to:







Bruno Kay's versions.

This book was originally serialised in Enid Blyton's Magazine from No. 22 Vol. 1, December 23rd 1953 to No. 17 Vol. 2, August 18th 1954. As well as the title picture each chapter had one illustration by Bruno Kay

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/boo ... ustrations" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rob Houghton]

Interesting comparison, Pete. For me, its the Derek Lucas illustrations EVERY TIME. They are so much more lively, full of character, expertly drawn, and - as Courtenay said above - they actually improve the stories no end, because of the added characterisation they lend to the narrative.

I think I would have been less of a fan of the Secret Seven if I'd first encountered them in the original versions. I really was surprised when I started reading 'Secret Seven Fireworks' in the paperback version this week. It seems like a completely different book to the hardback version. I was put off reading The Secret Seven recently because I'd only been reading the original hardbacks, but now I've read a paperback version again, the characters have really come alive for me. I'm actually really astounded because I never expected the two reading experiences to be so markedly different! I guess nostalgia is playing a large part in this, obviously.

I agree with you Courtenay, to a certain extent, about the badly-written characters in The Secret Seven. Only peter and Janet and Jack really stand out - but as I've said in the past, I tend to think this was partly deliberate on Enid's part. It means that young readers can easily imagine themselves as being a part of the group, because there are some more shadowy members who don't feature so highly. It helps the reader to become a part of the story, I feel.

On the other hand, in Secret Seven Fireworks, Enid does give most of the characters a fair slice of the action. Janet and Peter and Jack feature prominently as always, but so does Colin, whose granny is robbed, Peter, George and Pam go to buy the fireworks, and Pam provides the 'guy' with her father's old clothes. The only one who really doesn't feature much is poor old Barbara - as usual!

[Daisy]

I've just read "Secret Seven Fireworks" - and discovered there are 4 missing pages from my copy! Never mind... I got the gist and quite enjoyed the story which I hadn't read for at least a couple of years. (I must have forgotten about the missing pages). As Rob says, most of the characters manage to get a small part of the action! I don't agree that some are 'badly written' - just that the action hasn't been evenly distributed. When you consider the age group these stories were aimed at, it's a pretty exciting tale. It was good to see Susie and friends being included in the festivities at the end.
I wonder what Enid had in mind when she wrote about the exciting "moon rocket" fireworks! I remember one of my favourites being "Vesuvius". I also liked the Catherine wheels - when they were fixed firmly enough on the fence but I was never keen on the cracker type that shot randomly across the ground. Drawing patterns in the air with a sparkler was also great fun.