New Enid Blyton audiobooks

[Matthew Roberts]

Firstly, hello to everyone (anyone!) who remembers me!

*waves to Tony, Anita, Nigel, Rob Houghton, tix, and many other familiar names I see as I wander around the forums, feeling very nostalgic*

I’m Matthew (or Matt) Roberts, and for those who don’t know or remember, I used to be involved with the website and forums before Tony, Anita, Keith and others took the reins and really made the site and forums the wonderful haven for Enid Blyton fans and repository for all sorts of Blyton-related knowledge and information. I do pop in from time to time, even if I don’t always post, and it is great to see the community that has built up around the forums. I am so glad I made the decision to upgrade it from the simple nested-style message board it used to be—even if we did have some early criticism. Do you remember, Tony, Anita, Nigel? Was his name “sobres”? Where is HE now and is he eating his words? Not that I can take any of the credit, as I say.

Anyway, forgive me if I am posting a duplicate thread, but these forums have become a bit of a behemoth and navigating them is difficult. Please feel free, mods and admin, to tack this onto any existing threads about this topic—but I thought I would share my excitement for this news, and flag up for those who don’t know, that there is an abundance of new Enid Blyton audiobooks available on Audible (and presumably elsewhere?). I am particularly pleased with the “Five Find-Outers” being available as audiobooks, and the “Adventure Series” too, but there are also new recordings of the “Malory Towers”, “St Clare’s” and “Naughtiest Girl” school books, including the additions by Pamela Cox and other authors; not to mention the “Secret Series” (The Secret Island being among her best books, in my opinion, and a hard act to follow)—and even more obscure titles like the “Cherry Tree Farm” series and “Amelia Jane” books. I personally would love to see some of the “Family” books like House-at-the-Corner and The Family at Red Roofs put out at some point in the future, too. You never know.

I have been feeling quite nostalgic listening to these, especially the “Five Find-Outers” books, and I wondered if anyone else has been enjoying the new offerings? I have to admit some of the PC revisions do jar, even to the ears of someone who hasn’t read many Enid Blyton books in recent years. PC Goon referring to Fatty as “that big boy”, for instance, instead of “that fat boy”. I mean, they still call him “Fatty”, for goodness sake! And while they are editing her writing, couldn’t they make a few sensible changes to the text? On a number of occasions, Pip and Bets’s mother, Mrs Hilton, and even Fatty’s own mother refer to him as “Fatty”—highly unlikely, surely, and a presumably a slip on Enid’s part.

This is well trodden ground, of course: the revision, or bowdlerisation, of Enid Blyton’s work. While I used to be a purist, I can see the case for some of the changes that have been made over the use. However, some decisions I still think unnecessary and even ridiculous. But in spite of this I am able to enjoy the new audiobooks, and even if the voices aren’t exactly the ones I heard in my head while reading the books (and how could they be?), the narrators I have listened to so far have done a good job.

What do other forumites think?

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's great to see you posting, Matt! Hope all is well with you and yours. I don't keep up with audio releases but it's lovely that there are so many available. I agree that more attention ought to be paid to gems like House-at-the-Corner and The Family at Red-Roofs - also The Six Bad Boys and the Six Cousins books.

I have to admit some of the PC revisions do jar, even to the ears of someone who hasn’t read many Enid Blyton books in recent years. PC Goon referring to Fatty as “that big boy”, for instance, instead of “that fat boy”. I mean, they still call him “Fatty”, for goodness sake!

I imagine that the phrase "that big boy" might well cause older children to snigger!

Heh - who could forget Sobres?!:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/for ... sobres#p55" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Fiona1986]

Hi Matt, I did recognise the name!

I've so far listened to Five on a Treasure Island and The Secret Island from Audible. I'm not a fan of the updates I think whether reading on paper or listening a lot of the minor ones go unnoticed, unless you're looking for them. I will probably get some more, I'd like to try an Adventure series title and some of the others, but they are expensive! I have an Audible membership, but for £8 I can get a 20 hour book, or a 4 hour Blyton. Unfortunately I usually go for the longer books so they last more of the month.

[Rob Houghton]

Hi Matt - great to see you here!

I'm not a massive fan of audio books, although there was a time when I would play them in my car on long journeys. I must admit I'm put off when I hear about changes to certain aspects of the text! One thing that really, really jars with me, in these days of PC brigadery is removing the word 'fat' - especially as the character is still called Fatty! I personally believe that there wouldn't be such an obesity crisis with children these days if 'fat' hadn't been 'banned' as a word in the 1990's!

[db105]

I enjoyed listening to the Famous Five audiobooks (I love Jan Francis' narration in those books). I didn't know they were making other series available too. I just heard some samples, and they were fine, although the FFO books sounded a bit accelerated for my taste.

One thing that really, really jars with me, in these days of PC brigadery is removing the word 'fat' - especially as the character is still called Fatty!

Well, let's be thankful he's not called "Biggie" now.

[Matthew Roberts]

Or Freddie! Although of course that would spoil the little trick Fatty uses in The Mystery of the Secret Room to try to alert the others to his note being written under duress.

I suppose we have to be grateful for small mercies and that Fatty’s name is left alone, even if it does seem ridiculous to have Mr Goon referring to Fatty as “that big boy” (how nice of Goon to be so sensitive to modern day PC values!) when his nickname is hardly flattering. It is an age-old question among us Blytonians, but I do wonder why it is deemed okay to wield the red editor’s pen so liberally when it comes to Enid Blyton but not other authors. I wonder what people make of “Piggy” from Lord of the Flies, or some of the attitudes in children’s “classics” by Edith Nesbit, Lewis Carroll, C. S. Lewis, etc. I have to say, like Philip Pullman wrote in his well-known critique of Lewis, I find the attitudes in the “Narnia” books far more troubling than anything found in Enid Blyton’s work. Is it the owners of the Blyton estate trying to make her more palatable to modern tastes and therefore sell more books?

I have noticed that, sadly, some of my favourite scenes from the Find-Outers books are missing due to the bowdlerisation of the originals—for example, the nonsense “foreign language” Fatty and Bets come out with in The Mystery of the Vanished Prince, and Mr Goon trying to “let his tongue go loose”. And there is one small edit that annoyed me so much because it ended up making absolutely no sense whatsoever: it is when Fatty says that “a fat Scottie is a insult to the eyes” or something similar, and Bets interprets Buster’s woofed retort along the lines of “a fat master is an insult to the eyes”—except that now it reads as “a master is an insult to the eyes”. What? Fatty then calls Bets cheeky, but this exchange loses all of its charm and humour and indeed cheekiness because of this daft editing decision.

As Goon would say, “Gah!”

Incidentally, you’ll notice it is still considered okay to call Buster “fat”! I wonder how long this will last. Now, I am an ethical vegan and an animal rights advocate, but I will be the first to roll my eyes to the heavens if the day ever comes when such politically correct sensibilities are extended to animals in fiction as well!

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone, and for the kind welcome back, Anita, Rob and Fiona!

[pete9012S]

Hi Matt!

I was a subscriber to Michael Rouse's Green Hedges Magazine in the 1990's/early 2000's and I remember him singing your praises about your computer skills back then.

You must be knocking on a bit now!

Regards

Pete

[Matthew Roberts]

Thanks, Pete! I am 34, but I feel much older!

I was around 15 or 16 when I first discovered the Enid Blyton Society and Green Hedges Magazine, where I was (very!) briefly joint editor with Michael Rouse for a few issues. Michael passed away a number of years ago now, but he is remembered fondly by me and, I’m sure, many others. He lent me the money to buy my first very own computer. I used to trek to and from the local library before that.

This was back when I had my own Enid Blyton website, which some people still remember and were very kind about at the time. I wish I had kept a back-up of it, to be honest, before I deleted it from the Web. I had sections publicising both Green Hedges Magazine and the Society. The Society’s section eventually morphed into the Society’s very own website and these forums, which I am very glad I started! I am amazed to see them still going strong, and I like to think I played a little part in the history of things—although it is, of course, thanks to those people who stayed the course, like Tony and Anita, that the website and these forums have become such a great resource for a huge community of Enid Blyton fans.

In my twenties, I found other interests, went to university in Edinburgh, and drifted away from Enid Blyton, but people tend to return to Enid Blyton in adulthood, sometimes late adulthood—or what might be known as their second childhood! I am sure I will do likewise. In the meantime, I pop by the forums every now and then, and sometimes feel compelled to post—and it is always nice to be remembered when I do.

[Lenoir]

Good to see you posting again Matt. I also wondered why they only seem to update Enid Blyton's writing.

[Matthew Roberts]

Thanks, Lenoir! I pop in and out. It’s nice to be remembered by those who were there at the start. When I left for university years back, I obviously went MIA for a while, and I doubt most members now know me from Adam! So it is nice to get a few friendly “hellos” when I do pop my head around the forum door—and, I have to admit, also nice to know that I am not completely forgotten! Or the work I did setting up the site and forums.

[Boatbuilder]

https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Stories-of ... 10282096PS

[Morgan Jones]

I’m currently working my way through the Famous Five and Secret Seven audiobooks.

I didn’t have to buy any of them. In the UK there is an app called BorrowBox which is linked to most if not all of the library services. You need to join, or be a member of your local library and they provide the necessary codes to access the service. It works like a virtual library where you can reserve, borrow, extend your loans etc. As well as audiobooks they have ebooks and e-magazines. Anyway, a good way to check out the Blyton audiobooks without breaking the bank!

[Fiona1986]

Speaking for the UK - the selection available on BorrowBox will vary from library to library. BorrowBox has a huge catalogue but the books any library has access to will depend on their subscription package. For example mine only has the three Faraway Tree books and the first Famous Five. There are also no magazines on BorrowBox where I am as we get ours though Libby from Overdrive.

Definitely worth signing up with your library, though, as many offer more than one digital service and some even take requests for additions to their digital catalogue.

If your local library's online selection isn't great then I know that London Borough of Bexley allows online members from anywhere in the UK, there may be others but they don't tend to advertise that fact.

Oh and to add to that if you have a Kindle you can't put library books on it in the UK (unless you can figure out how to illegally remove the DRM protection). You'll be able to read them on a tablet, smart phone or computer though.

[Morgan Jones]

I tend to find our library often has all but one book of a series - they have all the Five books except Demon’s Rocks - and I’ve just realised they only have nine of the Secret Seven books. Still, better than none at all!

[Katharine]

That's useful information - I might see if I can download some onto my tablet.