Journal 70

[Eddie Muir]

I hope all goes well for your Dad, Pete. Thinking of you.

[mikki]

Sending my good wishes for your Dad too Pete, hope all goes well.

[Jack400]

Best wishes to your Dad Pete.Hope all goes well.

[number 6]

All the best to your Dad, Pete.

[pete9012S]

Many thanks for your encouraging messages Courtenay,Eddie,mikki,Jack & number 6 they really cheered me up!
As I was explaining to Anita earlier, Dad will be having a big op soon - hopefully after Xmas as he's so tired at the moment.

But, back to the splendid Journal 70!



I wasn't able to read as much as I would have liked, but dipping into the Journal is a fantastic distraction from all the hubbub of this modern world.

Always love Tony's editorial, and it was thrilling to learn that Noddy & The Chinese Communist Party both got their start in the Autumn of 1949.
I know a good Doctor who is sadly no longer with us who could have devoted a whole chapter or two of a book about the parallelisms of that!
And yes, Tony, I am always in awe of your centrespreads - I always find them marvellous, usually I will look at them first before 'attacking' The Journal.
(They are one of the few centrespreads I can confidently share with my wife without getting into any lumber!)


. A Farming Family by John Henstock (4)

Always enjoy John's articles. I too enjoyed The Children Of Cherry Tree farm reading it very late on in my collecting of Enid's work.
It was a book I was sure I wasn't going to like as much as all the mystery/adventure books, but I was wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Time for a re-read of that one I think.

. The Feasibility of Adventure by David Martins (10)

What a great angle to look at the Adventure books from - One I really enjoyed. I very much agree with David's conclusions too.
Has David written for the Journal before? Does he post here?
Thank you David anyway for a scintillating fresh take on books we know inside out.

(My spell checker can't seem to decide whether it's Feasibility/Feasability - I'm sure someone learned here will know the answer!)

. Buying Books for Children by Enid Blyton (14)

Half way through this article - what a fantastic choice for this time of year...

A great Journal so far and I must really thank you very much indeed Tony for producing such a fine one for us.

I'm going to carry on reading the rest of the Journal tomorrow morning after I have fed the birds, exercised the dog, got the coal fire in the kitchen lit and made a large steaming mug of coffee with some hot buttered toast!!!

[Fiona1986]

Mine arrived today too. The only bit I've read so far is Buying Books for Children by Enid Blyton. Anyone care to guess which of her own books she selected for her bus-friend?

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm only commenting on a small portion of the Journal for now but I'll have more to say at a later date.

...dipping into the Journal is a fantastic distraction from all the hubbub of this modern world.

Agreed! What a smashing Journal - and congratulations to Tony on having produced 70 of these superb publications (so far!) No mean feat! I realise a great deal of work goes into them but they really are a cracking read and this one has a particularly attractive cover with all the hips, haws and autumn leaves.

And yes, Tony, I am always in awe of your centrespreads - I always find them marvellous, usually I will look at them first before 'attacking' The Journal.
(They are one of the few centrespreads I can confidently share with my wife without getting into any lumber!)

I agree with John Henstock's views on the "Cherry Tree/Willow Farm" books and the differences between the three. I've always appreciated the slower-paced, more innocent world to which Enid transports us.

Enid's article on 'Buying Books for Children' is extremely interesting and rather amusing as, like Fiona, I picture her choosing a number of her own books! If I were to pick some of Enid Blyton's books (sticking to titles published before the article was printed in December 1947), I think I might go for the following:

Picture-book for a four-year-old - Billy and Betty at the Seaside (1944)

Book of illustrated short stories for a six-year-old - The Enid Blyton Holiday Book (1946)

Adventure story with hidden treasure, secret caves and passages for a nine-year-old - Five on a Treasure Island (1942), though I'm not absolutely sure that caves feature in that book, come to think of it!

School story for a nine-year-old about children at a co-educational school - The Naughtiest Girl in the School (1940)

Book about birds, written round two or three children who go looking for them, for a nine-year-old - Birds of Our Gardens (1940)

Book for a nine-year-old about circus life - Mr. Galliano's Circus (1938)

Aeroplane-spotting book for a boy of twelve or thirteen - No Enid Blyton title fits this description. Maybe someone could suggest one by another author?

Adventure story for a boy of twelve or thirteen - The Valley of Adventure (1947)

Family story for a girl of twelve or thirteen - The Family at Red-Roofs (1945)

Girls' school story for a girl of twelve or thirteen - Fifth Formers of St. Clare's (1945)

Great stuff and I'll return to this thread at some point!

[Julie2owlsdene]

Thanks, my Journal was waiting for me to get home from Somerset.

Thanks to all contributors in advance. I've only read a small section at present. The Editorial which I always read firstly, and Anita's account of Malory Towers the play. Apparently, for two days early Sept of this year, a BBC production team came down to the Bodmin and Wenford Steam Railway in Bodmin, to do some filming for a new programme based on Enid's Malory Towers. The station was used as Paddington. The BBC props dept brought along all the items they needed for the new programme which they say will be shown in early spring of next year. Some of the staff were posing as extras.

I've also read Angela Canning's article on Alfred Burgess Sharrocks. Very interest to learn he was born in Stockport, the place of my birth also, and that he went to Stockport School of Art. Living in 165 Dialstone Lane, too, which when I was a child was the 'posh' part of Stockport, so I guess when he was living there from 1919, it must have been extremely posh! hahaha.

Will finish the rest of the Journal later today. Again thanks to all who contributed and to Tony for another excellent Journal.

[timv]

My Journal has now arrived, and it's certainly a classic - many thanks to Tony and the other contributors. Full of interesting stuff and some new angles on Enid's work and illustrators that I had not thought of. The letter that Enid wrote to Alfred Bestall (pp 66-7) reminds me of the early connection between this definitive illustrator of the Rupert Bear stories and Enid in the 1920s. If he had only been hired to do some of her more 'grown-up' books from the late 1930s, starting with Secret Island and Cherry Tree Farm, we might have had some iconic and sumptuous Blyton landscapes to match his portrayals of Rupert's 'Nutwood'! I assume he was too busy doing the Rupert series , which he took over from creator Mary Tourtel c. 1935?

I agree with John Henstock's assessment of the differing portrayals of country life in the Cherry Tree/ Willow Farm series - first introducing the reader to the countryside and wildlife with Tammylan in Book 1, then a slightly idealised view of 1930s farm life in Book 2 and more realistic things going wrong in Book 3. I wonder if Enid always planned to do the series that way or developed it as she wrote it? I think that by book 3 Enid had vaguely settled on the location as the Chilterns, as she used local names around Princes Risborough eg 'Christmas Common', but originally Cherry Tree Farm's location seems to have been kept vague like Kirrin. The deep valley it's shown in (p 4 of the Journal) could be anywhere, possibly Devon or Somerset or the Cotswolds. The thick thatch on the roofs of both farms seems a bit idealised! Notably, as with Secret Island and Spiggy Holes (Harry Rountree) Enid's initial illustrator for the series drew all the protagonists as younger children in 1920s clothes, as used for her 1920s-30s stories for younger children.

It's interesting to read about Secret Seven illustrator Alfred Burgess Sharrocks; I've seen the Royal Cambrian Academy's original building in Conwy in N Wales (p 40 illustration), on the coast east of Caernarfon, and it's a rambling Tudor town-house with odd towers at the corners a bit like Enid's Craggy-Tops. Winfried's article on Blyton book-collecting in Germany gives a new perspective on Enid's international impact, which helps to add depth to the enthusiasm for her TV adaptations in the 1970s there which I have heard about. The Malory Towers play sounds really good, and thanks to Anita for her review - hopefully it will get more people thinking positive thoughts about Enid's 'community' and 'kindness' values to counter the automatic PC knee-jerk comments about racism etc. The posting up of quotes from Enid around the theatre should provide useful 'sound-bites' to use in her defence when someone trots out a glib comment; perhaps we should have an archive of these?

On the feasibility of the Adventure stories - I go into this in my book, but I reckon that the Island of Adventure crooks would have had to bring the heavy print-machinery in by motor-boat as it would have sunk Jo-Jo's sailing-dinghy! The islands in Sea of Adventure seem to be the Outer Hebrides, across the sea from Skye etc, so this would have been fairly isolated and had few tourists in the late 1940s; and the underground caves in Mountain I assume to have been an adapted mine-working in Snowdonia.

Thanks to Tony for his well-chosen 1978 Famous Five film stills to add to my article; the one of the 'countrywoman' in Secret Trail (played by Diana Lambert) talking to the children (p 18) is the one I used to fix the image of the field and the adjacent woods in my mind as I looked for its site. Place this against my photo on p 21 and you will see the identical line of trees , SE of Sowley Pond, that gave me the main clue on the location! I am waiting for part of this wood to be opened up for a public footpath in the new South Coast heritage path (Mudeford to Calshot section) to get a closer look.

[Chrissie777]

Notably, as with Secret Island and Spiggy Holes (Harry Rountree) Enid's initial illustrator for the series drew all the protagonists as younger children in 1920s clothes, as used for her 1920s-30s stories for younger children.

Tim, I just finished reading "The Secret of Spiggy Holes" (1946 copy) and thought as well that the children look a few years younger than they are described in the books.

Winfried's article on Blyton book-collecting in Germany gives a new perspective on Enid's international impact, which helps to add depth to the enthusiasm for her TV adaptations in the 1970s there which I have heard about.

Can't wait to read Winfried's article!

The islands in Sea of Adventure seem to be the Outer Hebrides, across the sea from Skye etc, so this would have been fairly isolated and had few tourists in the late 1940s; and the underground caves in Mountain I assume to have been an adapted mine-working in Snowdonia.

We've visited Eilean Donan Castle in May and could see Skye in the far background. However, we didn't have enough time left to drive all the way to Skye.

There are also caves in France like the "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" (documentary by Werner Herzog) which is the Cave Chauvet near Pont d'Arc, a huge natural stone arch at the Ardèche river where I did some white water rafting way back at boarding school in the mid 1970's.
Cave Chauvet was not even discovered before 1994:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauvet_Cave" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In the beginning at 01:20 minutes you can see Pont d'Arc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki8lcjDSYjI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chrissie777]

My EBS Journal arrived with our mail this afternoon, just a few minutes ago.
Now I can even read it, before we'll go on vacation.
Thank you, Tony!

[Daisy]

I have now read and thoroughly enjoyed the Journal. I too was intrigued to read about the feasibility of the adventures in the Adventure series. I'm sure the intended audience - mainly under 12 according to Enid (although maybe she extended that opinion when it became obvious she had older readers too) would just accept the various scenarios as I did! As an adult I did take them more with a pinch of salt but they're jolly good stories, nevertheless.

I also very much enjoyed part 2 of Winfried Secker's article from Germany, not only for his appreciation of the books, but for his humourous remarks about driving on the "wrong" side of the road on his visits to England! I wonder if it is harder to do so in a hired car, or in your own when the steering wheel is on the other side!

Notably, as with Secret Island and Spiggy Holes (Harry Rountree) Enid's initial illustrator for the series drew all the protagonists as younger children in 1920s clothes, as used for her 1920s-30s stories for younger children.

I thought the Secret Series (first 2 books at least) were illustrated by E.H Davie the initials being discreetly placed on each illustration. The children were very young when the series begins.

I enjoyed reading Anita's views about the Malory Towers play. I'm not sure I would have been able to get my head round the very different looks of Darrell and Sally! I'm pleased it was such a success though. I hope it may encourage more to read the originals. I wonder what the typical average age of the audience was over the time of its run.

I like the way the story "The Christmas Pony" and the Letter from Santa Claus were taken from the same issue of Sunny Stories - one I must have had new as I took Sunny Stories until it ceased publication a couple of years later. Needless to say I had no recollection of the story though!

Buying books for children was an interesting little piece- as I read it I was assuming all the recommended books would be Enid's, and tried to guess what they might be. (I like Anita's selection.)

Well, I think I found every article of interest as well as Tony's editorial which I always go to first and enjoy. Thanks once again Tony for all your hard work in producing such a great Journal.

[Lucky Star]

Great to read everyone's comments. I have just come home from a trip to find the Journal on the mat. I shall settle in with it this coming weekend and write more afterwards. It looks absolutely splendid as always.

[Chrissie777]

So shortly before our vacation I might not be able to read the entire EBS Journal, but this afternoon I've indulged into 3 articles.

First of all, I really enjoyed Winfried's article and photos on collecting EB books.
I can relate to Winfried as I've made similar experiences. I found many missing FF books on flea markets in several German cities between 1975 and 1985. I even unearthed the 22nd and 23rd FF books written by Brigitte Blobel (which EB's heirs didn't accept and therefore forced Bertelsmann to stop selling them, but then a few years later French author Claude Voilier was all off a sudden allowed to write FF continuation stories which never made much sense to me).

From 1995 on I did book search through a bookstore owner in Fowey who supplied me within less than 5 years with all the old red hardcover copies of the FF books plus the Barney, Mystery and Secret Seven series.

As much as I love to read the Adventure series and FF in German in the old Lena Stepath/Dr. Werner Lincke translations, I once read several Adventure series books chapterwise in German and parallel in English, just to compare. And I noticed that quite a few sentences were missing in the German translations.

However, when I did the same with "Five on a Secret Trail" (Fuenf Freunde wittern ein Geheimnis) not too long ago, I noticed that the translation was perfect and nothing was missing from the original English text.

Several EB books like "The Secret Island", "The Secret of Spiggy Holes", "The Hollow Tree House", "The Adventurous Four" and "The Adventurous Four Again" were new discoveries for me since 2008. They were either not translated into German at all or have been turned into different stories in order to create a new book series.

As a big Adventure series fan I also enjoyed reading "The Feasability of Adventure" by David Martins.

Last, but not the least I love Daisy's "Lawdler Twins at Kirrin" short story (especially since I'm so fond of "Five on a Secret Trail" ). Thank you, Daisy.

[Chrissie777]

I also very much enjoyed part 2 of Winfried Secker's article from Germany, not only for his appreciation of the books, but for his humourous remarks about driving on the "wrong" side of the road on his visits to England! I wonder if it is harder to do so in a hired car, or in your own when the steering wheel is on the other side!

Daisy, in 1995 I drove 10 days by myself in our German car (an old Citroën) through Devon and Cornwall and had a hard time finding out if I could pass a slow car in front of me or not, because I was sitting on the "wrong" (left) side.
It's easier to drive through the UK with two people in a car, so the passenger can let you know if you can pass the slow poke in front of you safely.