Famous Five top the polls

[Anita Bensoussane]

I don't have copies, sadly, but it would be interesting to know if anyone does.

[Splodj]

Apparently there was no ban in 1927 when the BBC broadcast 'The Magic Broom'.

https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/e213ba5e868 ... ab29703da3

[Aussie Sue]

I have hard copies of all the BBC site letters. BUT my whole Blyton collection, including all my letters, are in storage at the moment as I recently sold my house & can't move into my new one for a couple of months. As soon as I can get my collection out again I will load the BBC site letters on here. Thank goodness I printed them, just so it was easy for me to read them, I certainly didn't think they would be removed from their site.
I must admit I am struggling being separated from my books, but it will be fun re-sorting/displaying them again, in my new office/library room.

cheers Sue

[Jomo]

I have hard copies of all the BBC site letters…

Good work Sue!!!!
I guess we can’t take it for granted that anything on the web is permanent, even those marked as a permalink. I looked on the wayback machine at archive.org, but there was no sign of the letters.

I am very glad you had the foresight to save and print them. Champ!

I did find this program about the letters - first broadcast in 2010, still available online. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p00mczm2

[Jomo]

Apparently there was no ban in 1927 when the BBC broadcast 'The Magic Broom'…

No, the ban came later, in the 30’s, when Enid enquired about some of her material being used in educational programs that were aimed at younger listeners.
The ban was all about the ego, entitlement and envy of Miss Jean Sutcliffe. Her campaign against Enid was disgraceful.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Apparently there was no ban in 1927 when the BBC broadcast 'The Magic Broom'.

https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/e213ba5e868 ... ab29703da3

Yes, Enid Blyton had a number of stories and poems broadcast in the 1920s. As Jomo says, the anti-Blyton feeling came later.

I did find this program about the letters - first broadcast in 2010, still available online. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p00mczm2

I can't remember whether I've ever listened to that - I'll have to give it a go in the near future.

I have listened to the following audio clips which can still be accessed:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/enid-blyton/zfn2cqt

I have hard copies of all the BBC site letters. BUT my whole Blyton collection, including all my letters, are in storage at the moment as I recently sold my house & can't move into my new one for a couple of months. As soon as I can get my collection out again I will load the BBC site letters on here. Thank goodness I printed them, just so it was easy for me to read them, I certainly didn't think they would be removed from their site.
I must admit I am struggling being separated from my books, but it will be fun re-sorting/displaying them again, in my new office/library room.

It's great to hear that you made copies of the letters, Sue, and it would be brilliant to have them on the website whenever time allows. Good luck with the move! Moving house involves a lot of work but, as you say, arranging your books in your new place will be fun.

[Fiona1986]

Well done, Sue!

[Jomo]

I have listened to the following audio clips which can still be accessed:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/enid-blyton/zfn2cqt

I have tried to access all of these clips both audio and video, but none of them are available in my location - I suspect they are restricted to the UK, or perhaps the UK plus Europe, all other regions would be potential markets for BBC content, so no freebies allowed as a blanket policy.

[Jomo]

There is this ‘Great Lives’ interview with Janice Turner and Nadia Cohen which is available, a really unpleasant one though it starts off nicely.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000cmrz

[Anita Bensoussane]

Ah yes - I've heard that clip before. It trots out the usual rubbish about Enid Blyton's leading characters being "always white and middle class" and about her gollies being "always villains and criminals".

Those of us who have been reading Enid Blyton all our lives will immediately think of leading characters who aren't middle class such as Jack of the Secret series, homeless boy Barney, Mr. and Mrs. Twiddle, the children who climb the Faraway Tree (Jo, Bessie and Fanny), Jimmy and Lotta and various other circus people. And Enid Blyton was living in a society that was predominantly white so it's not surprising that her main characters tend to be white (the same would apply to most other British authors of her era) but she does have a handful of non-white characters who play a significant part - e.g. Mafumu in The Secret Mountain, Oola and Tala in The River of Adventure, Jo-Jo in The Island of Adventure and Sam in The Mountain of Adventure.

As for gollies, there are numerous gollies in the short story collections, Amelia Jane, Noddy, the Faraway Tree series, etc. who are wise, kind, honest, brave, resourceful and looked up to as leaders.

Oh, and Enid Blyton is far, far more than "a humongous global reading scheme for the world's children"!

I have listened to the following audio clips which can still be accessed:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/enid-blyton/zfn2cqt

I have tried to access all of these clips both audio and video, but none of them are available in my location...

Sorry you can't access them, Jomo.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I did find this program about the letters - first broadcast in 2010, still available online. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p00mczm2

I can't remember whether I've ever listened to that - I'll have to give it a go in the near future.

I've now listened to this clip and it is familiar to me. It's hard to believe that anyone could describe the dialogue in Enid Blyton's books as "stilted". Lively, natural-sounding dialogue is one of Enid's great strengths!