The Enid Blyton Society

I have now completed Journal 51, and what a fine issue it is!

I thoroughly enjoyed Angela Canning's piece on the Beckenham day. It made me wish I had gone along! Fancy discovering the 'Poison' bottle, too! What a lovely couple the Wilsons must have been. I'm not sure I'd relish 25 strangers tramping all over my house!

Rob Houghton wrote a fascinating article (Part 4) on Those Dreadful Children, many points he raised I hadn't considered, but really thought provoking. I loved Enid's The Jobbernools and The Ball of Golden Fire. So lovely to read a new [to me] Blyton. Did the poem contain an original typo (although it was repeated once) or was it cryptic?

"Two-legged creatures may not go
Through the whole where nettles grow,
But within the hole there lies
Something that will make you wise!"

In A Letter from Scamper, the little dog writes, "I'm the dog that belongs to the Secret Seven. Fancy my being a member! I don't expect any dog has been a member of a Secret Society before." Hmm, sorry old thing, but it would have been the Secret Eight were you to be a member. Having said that, didn't he have temporary membership when George was temporarily dis-allowed from belonging?

Poppy. How interesting your article was. You retold your adventures so well - I felt as if I were there at Seven Stories with you! You included some lovely pictures and I liked the colour ones on the centre pages. However, maybe your hair was a little too long to be mistaken for a boy! A very well written article, even if you were a tiny bit zealous with your exclamation marks!

Seven Stories continued in David Rudd's informative article - as well did Poppy's photograph! I must definitely pay a visit to Newcastle in the near future.

Smuggler Ben is one of my favourite stories, so I was interested to read Julie's take on it. I must agree with you, Julie, I too prefer E H Davie's illustrations to G W Backhouse's. That hat with the feather! You have inspired me to re-read this delightful story.

A Journal without a Bensoussane article would be like Rabbit Pie without rabbit! It was fascinating to read of the differences in modern to original editions of Noddy stories. I needed a dictionary at times, as Anita does like to squeeze in some long words! I should know the meaning of onomatopoeia by now, as Anita has used this before - alliteration though.... If Enid was accused of using limited vocabulary, Anita certainly won't be For someone who admits to not loving the Noddy books, it was a fascinating article and well illustrated.

Both Terry Gustafson and Leo Francis Hoye provided interesting reading, and I loved reading Enid's A Wakeful Night. Even the ads were a delight - and the Sunny Stories on the back page are certainly on my "to buy" list!

A fantastic Journal -- thanks to all the contributors and to the Editor for putting it all together. As for your waffle, Tony, another Journal highlight!

Thanks for your comments on my Noddy article Nigel, John and Nick. Glad to know you're not neglecting your dictionary in favour of Google, Nigel!

Moonraker wrote:In A Letter from Scamper, the little dog writes, "I'm the dog that belongs to the Secret Seven. Fancy my being a member! I don't expect any dog has been a member of a Secret Society before." Hmm, sorry old thing, but it would have been the Secret Eight were you to be a member. Having said that, didn't he have temporary membership when George was temporarily dis-allowed from belonging?

I always forget whether Scamper was made a temporary member when George's parents stopped him belonging to the Secret Seven or when Jack resigned, but whichever it was I expect Scamper's letter dates from that time.

Yes, I meant to mention how Scamper refers to himself as a member in his letter. I checked the dates and both letter and the book in which Scamper is made a temporary member (Go Ahead Secret Seven) were written in 1953.

Glad you enjoyed my article, Nigel! Next time, I'll keep a firmer hand on my exclamation marks! Yes, my hair did look quite long there; I've had it cut since. Perhaps I should have had it shortened before I went as George.

I have almost finished the journal; only the 'Those Dreadful Children' article and the 'Front and Centre' article to go. So far the highlights have been Anita's Noddy article; a very interesting read. It's great how every time I read your articles I finished with so much more knowledge, I can hardly remember it all! I agree, your pieces are always a highlight for me. Angela Canning's piece was also very interesting; it was fascinating about the bottle of Whooping Cough medicine found under the floor boards. Enid's 'From my Window' is always a treat, as well as the story. I could mention everyone's article, but I'll finish on Julie's enjoyable article: Smuggler Ben. Really interesting, and I am eager to re-read Smuggler Ben!

Moonraker wrote:I loved Enid's The Jobbernools and The Ball of Golden Fire. So lovely to read a new [to me] Blyton. Did the poem contain an original typo (although it was repeated once) or was it cryptic?

"Two-legged creatures may not go
Through the whole where nettles grow,
But within the hole there lies
Something that will make you wise!"

Not cryptic at all I'm afraid, just yet another 'Tony Typo'! Time I was put out to grass!!

To atone for my sins I have been adding more uncollected stories from Teachers World to the Periodicals Section in the Cave. We now have 182 of the 205 uncollected stories available to read, so there are only another 23 to add!

Not cryptic at all I'm afraid, just yet another 'Tony Typo'!

A good example of how useless a spell-checker is in cases like this!

As always I have found the journal to contain articles I know I shall enjoy reading and others which I am less drawn to because of the subject and yet once again I'm converted! I have thoroughly enjoyed Anita's Noddy articles even though I was never drawn to the little fellow myself - I was too old for him when he was born! I a have few of the books though, left with me when my children grew out of them and have now read them for the first time. I must confess I quite enjoyed them! (Second childhood did I hear anyone say?)
The outing to Beckenham was excellently documented by Angela Canning - I was almost there with you as I read the account. In fact as usual, every page was worth its weight in gold - so many goodies for so little a price. Thank you once again Tony for your ability to attract the contributors and the beautiful presentation you always achieve.

tix wrote:Leo Hoye draws me to his excellent article about Bom's illustrator because he brought up the youthfulness of drummer boys.

A considerable number of underage lads took part in the fighting side of battles because many of them would have lied about their age. A "mascot" drummer was also par for the course, but that was a few hundred years ago and even the boys recruited back then seem to have been round the early to late teenage mark. Would Captain Bang pursue a 10 year old right through the series with such vengeance? Could he win his case in a military tribunal when it's declared the boy is too young to have signed up.

In the Fifties ... No!

Bom is well established in that particular decade - double-decker buses existed, bicycles had progressed from penny-farthings, and 'little' drummer boys would have long been faded out. If the position was still a valid one though, I think the recruits would be a good deal older ... but it's quite possible EB specifically asked for Bom to be drawn as a 10 or 11 year old because the series is orientated towards younger readers. Anyway, a story of the type Bom starred in can well do without a boy in his late teens who'd compromise the innocent flavour.

Enid Blyton mixed the old with the new and this makes so many of her tales stand apart from other authors' presentations. It's not Mrs. Wooky who owns the circus monkeys, it's "Madame;" and it's "Dame" Spells rather than "Mrs." Spells who happens to be sold a box of stolen property (It Happened One Afternoon).

Castles on hills with blue smoke blowing from the chimneys, a little girl who turns into a paper version of herself, a child who puffs thirteen o'clock from a dandelion, and even an underage drummer-boy are all part of the quaintness that is the trade-mark of an EB story; and artists such as Eileen Soper and 'RP-H' have kindly supplied us with the images to satisfy our curiosity.

tix

Hope you don't mind, Tix, but I'm quoting your post from another thread because I think it's more at home here. Isn't Bom a toy drummer-boy? Such toys may have been popular in 1950s nurseries, along with sailor dolls etc., so it doesn't really matter that drummer boys were no longer seen in real life in that period.

Anita Bensoussane wrote on July 28th,2013:

"Hope you don't mind but I'm quoting your post from another thread; isn't Bom a toy drummer-boy?"

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No I don't mind at all as the content seemed to be degenerating a little.

Yes Bom's a toy. A toy in a "real" world though, so I thought I'd seize on the 'reality' rather than the 'fantasy' angle, and follow it through. The 'real' villagers may have thought it a bit strange that a 10 year old was being employed as an army drummer 'in this day and age.'

Moonraker wanted comments so I thought I'd better oblige!

Thanks, Tix. I've barely read any Bom stories so I'm not quite sure how he operates, or whether characters like Captain Bang are also toys or not.

Well, I've finally finished reading the journal, and it was a delight as always. I especially enjoyed Anita's Noddy article - for all that I've never read a Noddy book, it was interesting to see all the changes that had been made in the '80s - and Robert's concluding article on "Those Dreadful Children", which is a book that I've always enjoyed. Angela's article on the Beckenham trip made me wish that I'd been there, as it seemed like a lot of fun was had by those that went, whereas both David Rudd's article on the Seven Stories exhibition, and Poppy's article on being George for the day make me determined that I will go down to Newcastle before the exhibition ends. (There's no excuse, really - finally there's a Blyton event that I can go to and come back form in a day!)

Anyway, thanks to Tony, as always, for putting it together, and to all the contributors for contributing - the whole journal was a pleasure to read.

Anita Bensoussane wrote:Thanks, Tix. I've barely read any Bom stories so I'm not quite sure how he operates, or whether characters like Captain Bang are also toys or not.

I have four German books of Bom the little drummer, and there the characters aren't toys if I remember correctly.

Received my first journal today (many thanks!! ) and have had a really great afternoon reading it all, what a fantastic book it is!

The society outing diary was great to read and so interesting, the photos of all the houses were lovely, and the poison bottle was fascinating.

I liked reading about Those Dreadful Children - I have never actually read the book so this was a great insight and has made me want to read it!

The Jobbernolls story was lovely - and the illustrations were charming.

Poppy, it was great to hear all your adventures as George, looks like you had a great time and the photos are lovely - I really liked the one of the picnic!

The Secret Seven article was really interesting to read as I have recently been digging out my Secret Seven books to have a re-read of them, so that whetted my appetite! The pictures of all their faces at the top of the article reminded me of the big omnibus hardback I had and loved, which had those pictures in.

Smuggler Ben is a story that I really really want to read and never have. I read about it in the Cave the other day and now Julie's review has made me even more determined to get hold of a copy!
The illustrations are so charming - they really capture the times the book was written in, and the description of the beach is wonderful.

Like some other members, I probably discovered Noddy too late (ie too old) to be completely captivated but Anita has written a really great article and it was really interesting to hear the changes that had happened over the years.

I loved reading Front and Centre - I love reading other people's opinions of characters and their lists of favourites/least favourites so this was great to read!

From My Window was lovely - what a wonderful narrative of the dark hours, the exciting lamplighter, and the sounds of the birds! I've re-read it several times already because it's so great!

Tbc!

Sorry for having to put all this into two posts, I use my phone to go online and for some reason it will only allow posts and emails of a certain length before it says 'text too long' so if I'm writing a really huge piece of text I quite often have to post it as two shorter posts instead of one!

Continued...

Just a little thing - the Eileen Soper picture on p85 is exactly how I imagine Diana from the Barney books to look, I know the picture isn't Diana but it just struck me that that's how I imagine her! Just my two penneth!

A really wonderful read Tony, what a great job you do, I thoroughly enjoyed it and am so happy to be a member now

I think you'd like Those Dreadful Children, Carlotta. The way Enid explores the psychology of the characters is very interesting, and Grace Lodge's gorgeous illustrations are a delight. My copy is a 1967 Armada paperback but I love looking at the magnificent wraparound dustwrapper and frontis in the Cave.

As for Smuggler Ben, when I re-read it as an adult I was surprised by how good it was. For me, it's probably the best of the six "Mary Pollock" novels.

I do hope you manage to get a copy of Smuggler Ben, Carlotta, at my last glance on EBAY there was a few copies on the combined books of Smuggler Ben and The Secret of Cliff Castle.

Both lovely stories and well worth a read.