The Enid Blyton Society

Well I have finally finished Journal 52. It has taken me much longer than usual mainly due to my forgetting to pack it for my trip to Ireland and so having to wait till I got home; then a hugely busy and tiring return to work left little time for relaxation.

But well worth the wait as always. I turned first to Julie's review of The Secret of Cliff Castle. I have the same book as Julie, the double feature with Smuggler Ben as the other title, and I thoroughly enjoyed both books and both reviews. I only read these books as an adult so did not have the benefit that Julie had of remembering them through a child's eyes but Cliff Castle is a very exciting and fast moving book and Julie's lively review did it great justice.

Next up just had to be the intriguingly named The Manky-Petoddles. What a brilliant little story. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is wonderful that through the society we get to read these forgotten stories from so long ago. It really would be a shame to lose them completely. This one showed off Enid's genius for quirky names and characters as well as an early example of her habit of building in a little life lesson to each story. In this case the moral was that if you can manage to laugh at yourself you can laugh at anything. Oh and did anyone else notice the similarity between the Twisty Way (and the method of travel upon it) and the later and more famous Slippery Slip?

Onwards to Anita's superb review of The Enid Blyton book of Brownies. This was classic Anita; giving away just enough of the story to really whet the appetite without actually giving away the secrets of what happens. I have just managed to buy a copy on ebay for less than £3; I simply must find out how the brownies outwit the wise man. I can't actually think why this book bypassed me so completely. I think it may have something to do with the rather unexciting title. It will be rectified in a couple of days.

As usual I enjoyed John Lester's article. He is another contributor who always chooses interesting subjects and his analysis of Faraway Tree visitors was really good. He rated The Enchanted Wood as the worst book of the series though; for me it's easily the best. One man's meat etc. Poppy did a great job with the lesser known FFO story Just a Spot of Bother; she is a really talented little writer and I am sure we will hear a lot more of her someday.

David Chambers and Terry Gustafson are another pair of writers who always turn in fine pieces (indeed there are never any "bad" articles from any journal contributors) and I read avidly their contributions this time round as well. Together with many articles from the lady herself and some superb colour sections including Eddie's pictures which are sadly as near as we now get to seeing Green hedges, this was yet another resounding success. Thank you again Tony and please never give up the hard work. The fruits of your labour are far too enjoyable.

I'm glad my article has tempted you to try The Enid Blyton Book of Brownies, John (and Eddie). You're right that the title of the book doesn't do justice to the contents, John. I hope you both enjoy adventuring with Hop, Skip and Jump!

Hi - I've subscribed to the EBJ ever since no. 1 but am not much of a writer so advance apologies for any goofs. I really just wanted to belatedly add my thanks for such a wonderful mag and website to Tony and all of the contributors - unfailingly good stuff, I just finished no. 52 an hour ago. But in this one I thought Anita surpassed herself with her Brownie dissection (pardon me!) Being more of an Adventurer I've never read any of them but with her detailed writing style she made it so engrossing it held me in thrall in what was a fairly long - but not long enough - fascinating article. To risk mixed metaphors, all the contributors know their onions but she takes the biscuit! Well done to all from a usually silent appreciator and long may the success continue!

Thanks very much, Gary. If biscuits are in the offing I'd love a chocolate one, please! It's always nice to hear from Society members/Blyton fans and it's great that you've been with the Journal since number 1. Here's to many more enthralling issues!

Lucky Star wrote:Poppy did a great job with the lesser known FFO story Just a Spot of Bother; she is a really talented little writer and I am sure we will hear a lot more of her someday.

Thanks very much Lucky-Star! I'm really glad you enjoyed my article.

Welcome to the forums, Gary! I'm glad you enjoy the journals; they are certainly worth every penny of the subscription fee and more! A "must have" for all Blyton enthusiasts!

Onion biscuits, eh? Welcome to the forum, Gary!

My copy arrived yesterday and I read the first article last night. Interesting to see the newspaper cuttings with the war news and the stories fitted into the gaps.
Thanks to the contributors and editor!

I saved the last few articles for a bit and finished this week.

gary170459 wrote:Being more of an Adventurer I've never read any of them but with her detailed writing style she made it so engrossing it held me in thrall in what was a fairly long - but not long enough - fascinating article.

I also fall into that category and agree. I found the article engrossing and it whetted my interest.

I should make a resolution to get Smuggler Ben and Cliff Castle, after reading the reviews.

I have "Just a Spot of Bother" short story and it was good to read a review of it. I thought it was written in a different style to the full length novels, and this jarred a bit with me, but it was great to be able to read it.

The index has been updated up to the latest journal. Available here...
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Thanks very much indeed for updating the Journal Index, Lenoir. I find it very useful and have just saved the latest version to my computer. Great stuff!

Many thanks, Lenoir. Like Anita, I have saved it to my computer.

Thanks, Lenoir; I have saved it as well!

Only got my copy a few days ago (having joined the Society just last week). What a delightful publication - I'm enjoying savouring it slowly. So many Blytonesque treasures, including all those short stories and snippets that might be forgotten otherwise. Well done and thank you to Tony and all the contributors!

May I please raise an interesting issue from p. 52, in Terry Gustafson's run-down of an obviously rather disastrous film of The Circus of Adventure?

Is the parrot a casting department success? Well, it's difficult to say because Kiki's a hard case and just determining her sex would be a task. Kiki's a 'she' yet she has a crest and that directs her towards the male of the species....

I'm confused, too, as to what type of parrot Kiki is supposed to be - in the books, let alone on the screen - and would like to share some thoughts, if no-one minds an off-topic ornithological ramble!

The "big crest" does almost certainly point to her being a cockatoo (actually considered a separate family from "true" parrots, though closely related). However, among all the cockatoo species that have crests (which is most of them), both males and females are crested, so that feature doesn't have any bearing on her sex after all.

On the other hand, in most cockatoo species there's very little visible difference at all between males and females, so in Kiki's case it could still be an open question, unless she's been seen laying eggs!

The mystery thickens further, though, with the description of Kiki as "scarlet and grey". The only kind of cockatoo that would fit that bill (pun not intended!), as far as I know, is the Gang-gang Cockatoo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang-gang_Cockatoo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; The snag is that in this case, there is an obvious difference between the sexes - it's only the male Gang-gang that is both scarlet and grey! What's more, the Gang-gang's crest is smaller than most other cockatoos', so that also casts some doubt...

In Stuart Tresilian's illustrations, especially on the 1st edition dustwrapper, Kiki looks much more like a Major Mitchell Cockatoo:





However, the Major Mitchell is mostly pink and white, with a scarlet and yellow banded crest, so that doesn't fit the "scarlet and grey" description either!



Maybe Tresilian knew his exotic birds a bit better than Blyton did, and made Kiki resemble this real-life species rather than the description that doesn't quite fit any type of parrot or cockatoo?

It's still a mystery, but there you go! Thanks, again, for an excellent read, and I look forward to many more EBS Journals in the future.

(To the moderators - please feel free to move this post elsewhere or edit it if it's too far off-topic for this discussion.)

Warm regards,

Courtenay

When I first read Island of Adventure as a child of about 7ish, and read Kiki's description, I always imagined her to be an African Grey parrot. As a child, I had only ever seen pictures of an African Grey, never one in real life, but that's what I thought she was. Even though Stuart's illustrations depicted a type of cockatoo-looking bird, the description of her stuck in my head more than the illustration if that makes sense.

My friend's mum had an African Grey a couple of years ago, so about 23 years after I first read about Kiki, I met a real African Grey! He was grey all over with lovely bright scarlet tail feathers, and he would have a chat if he was in the mood.

I wonder if Stuart just drew her as a cockatoo type bird because cockatoos were perhaps more widely-known about than parrots at that time, and he felt that children of that era might recognise a cockatoo more?