Journal 46

[Kate Mary]

Excellent Journal as usual. I found a couple of articles particularly interesting. Tony's look at Carnegie Medal winners and the lack of awards for Enid and other popular writers of her day, and John Lester's Tales of Enid Boyten. I collect School Friend and Girls' Crystal Annuals and knew a little about the men who wrote for AP papers and annuals, but this piece and the letters published in Journal 44 has taught me a bit more. A bonus is the nice mix of poems, stories and letters by Enid herself. Another winner, my thanks to the editor.

Kate

[Anita Bensoussane]

Quick Question (and a groan from Fiona no doubt ) But how would/could one go about writing an article for the journal?

It helps to be familiar with what has already been published in the Journal (if in doubt, check with Tony) and articles need to be written in good English and preferably submitted electronically (I always produce mine as Word files and send them as email attachments). Tony can usually provide the illustrations but if you need to include things like personal photos, letters or illustrations from books by other authors, high quality scans are appreciated. Sending in an article is no guarantee of publication, but if you've got something to say it's certainly worth a try.

[Moonraker]

I bet that's put her off!

[Sally]

Agree with everyone that Journal 46 was an excellent read. Thanks to everyone. Loved the articles about the Put-em-Rights, Julie's expedition to the site of the former Green Hedges (also did it myself, Julie, on one occasion), Rilloby Fair and particularly Bill's Diary. This is a really excellent piece of work and it just shows how the material in EB's novels produces such imagination and potential tangent stories. We never did really hear Bill's perspective as an adult in the books (natually, as they were targeted to children) but he of course had a great story to tell. Please carry on with the series, Terry - will be particularly interested to read Sea and Mountain. I am just feeling impatient that if one book is covered by three articles, it may take another five years to get to the end of the series! Great stuff.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I bet that's put her off!

Didn't intend to! Reading back through my reply it does sound a bit impersonal but that's because I was aiming it not only at Stef, but at any potential contributors to the Journal.

[Didgeridude]

Hiya I recieved my second journal yesterday, and was really pleased to find a booking form for the Enid Blyton day in it. The cover is brilliant and has put me in the festive mood. These journals must take a lot of hard work and dedication to put together which i appreciate and im sure others do as well, thankyou to those that are responsible .

[Nick]

I'm on annual leave next week and can't wait to settle down with a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake and read it from cover to cover.

[Lucky Star]

I missed both Robert Houghton and David Cook, who have contributed many pieces for the Journal over the years, and I hope we're going to see more articles by them in the future.

Yes I must say that I missed these two very prolific contributors this time round. Hopefully we will indeed hear more from them.

I've polished off the whole thing now and must just say that I found Paul Austin's article on school series' very interesting and thoroughly enjoyed Terry Gustafsson's final part of Bill's Diary. It had a most excellent ending, very cleverly done I thought.

My oh my, Enid did not enjoy those American comics did she? I also had to raise an eyebrow at her Teachers World article in which she describes a boy called Kenneth as "the dearest, fattest, solemnist little boy you ever saw..." Poor Kenneth, I think I would have died of shame if I knew that I had been thus described to every other kid in Britain.

[Tony Summerfield]

I also had to raise an eyebrow at her Teachers World article in which she describes a boy called Kenneth as "the dearest, fattest, solemnist little boy you ever saw..." Poor Kenneth, I think I would have died of shame if I knew that I had been thus described to every other kid in Britain.

I suspect that Kenneth was only a toddler at the time so I don't think he would have been too effected by this. Interestingly when I was talking to Imogen a few months ago she told me that Kenneth was staying with her, so they are still in touch after all these years!

[Fiona1986]

I missed both Robert Houghton and David Cook, who have contributed many pieces for the Journal over the years, and I hope we're going to see more articles by them in the future.

Yes I must say that I missed these two very prolific contributors this time round. Hopefully we will indeed hear more from them.

No offence meant to either Robert or David but I couldn't for the life of me work out who the missing regular contributors were

[MJE]

The Enid Blyton Newsletter is the one produced by Darrell Waters Ltd.

     How many issues of that were there altogether?
     And was Darrell Waters a kind of ancestor of Chorion, or related in some way?

Regards, Michael.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I also had to raise an eyebrow at her Teachers World article in which she describes a boy called Kenneth as "the dearest, fattest, solemnist little boy you ever saw..." Poor Kenneth, I think I would have died of shame if I knew that I had been thus described to every other kid in Britain.

I suspect that Kenneth was only a toddler at the time so I don't think he would have been too effected by this. Interestingly when I was talking to Imogen a few months ago she told me that Kenneth was staying with her, so they are still in touch after all these years!

It's nice that they've kept in touch. Kenneth was the grandson of "Old Tapping", the gardener who was fired by Enid Blyton (unfairly, Imogen implies in A Childhood at Green Hedges) for taking vegetables from the garden. Kenneth's mother, the cook, was called Frances Tapping. Her husband, a soldier, was killed in North Africa in 1942 so Kenneth must only have been about three when his father died (he was two in November 1941 when Enid Blyton mentioned him in her Teachers World letter).

How many issues of that were there altogether?
And was Darrell Waters a kind of ancestor of Chorion, or related in some way?

I think Tony said earlier that there were 21 issues of the Darrell Waters magazine.

Darrell Waters Ltd. was formed in 1950, using Kenneth's surnames, to handle Enid Blyton's business affairs. After Kenneth and Enid died in the late 1960s it continued to be run by Eric Rogers, who had been a director/chairman of the company from the beginning. Sadly Eric Rogers was an unscrupulous man, according to literary agent George Greenfield in his book Enid Blyton, and he used company money to feather his own nest. He even borrowed £150,000 from the company and never repaid it, and the debt had to be written off after his death in 1980. Rogers had nominated Margaret Eve to take his place, but she resigned her directorship in the mid-1980s. From that time the family tried to run the company "with varying success," says George Greenfield. George helped them out briefly, as did Alasdair Milne (one time Director-General of the BBC). But Gillian Baverstock and Imogen Smallwood both led busy lives and eventually they sold Darrell Waters Ltd. to Trocadero PLC in February 1995 and it was renamed the Enid Blyton Company. I'm not sure how long Trocadero ran the company before it was sold to Chorion.

[MJE]

I think Tony said earlier that there were 21 issues of the Darrell Waters magazine.

     Oh, sorry - I overlooked that. I did see Eddie's comment about having several copies up to issue no. 21, but that seemed to be citing what he personally had, not necessarily what was the last issue. Somehow I overlooked Tony's reference to "all 21 copies that were issued".
     A pity what happened to the various companies looking after Enid Blyton's work. I'm afraid my mental picture of Chorion isn't the best, as they not only allow all these awful alterations of Blyton's text, but seem willing to approve any outlandish or outrageous adaptation of Blyton's work for T.V., and so on. By giving the seal of approval to these things, they almost make them look like the "official" version of Blyton's work now, and it seems to me this endangers the real "original" versions.

Regards, Michael.

[Tony Summerfield]

Another slightly related thing of possible interest here. After Enid married Kenneth Darrell Waters both Gillian and Imogen had their surnames changed from Pollock to Darrell Waters, but Enid herself never used this name. She just called herself Enid Waters as can be seen on her passport and certainly all the staff at Green Hedges just called her Mrs. Waters. I have actually been told that Kenneth was really just Mr. Waters and he added the Darrell to make himself sound more impressive as a London surgeon!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I have actually been told that Kenneth was really just Mr. Waters and he added the Darrell to make himself sound more impressive as a London surgeon!

Imogen says in A Childhood at Green Hedges that Darrell was originally one of his middle names, his full name being Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters.

I don't know whether you know, Michael, but it was announced a few weeks ago that Chorion are breaking up. They're in the process of selling off everything, including the rights to Enid Blyton.

Do you know how long Chorion have owned the Enid Blyton rights, Tony?