Ilsa's piece on the Lawdler twins from Five on a Secret Trail was thoughtful and gave Guy and Harry an interesting back story, while Tim Venning's discussion of the 1970s TV adaptations of Five on a Secret Trail and Five Go to Billycock Hill was extremely thorough as always. I was also interested in Angela Canning's article on Burgess Sharrocks, especially his connection with Conway, Bangor and Snowdonia because I grew up not far away, in Colwyn Bay. I'm not too fond of many of his Secret Seven illustrations but I very much like his elegant "London Street Scene", shown on page 41 of the Journal.
'The Flippetty Flops' was a wonderfully imaginative story (as a child I loved reading tales of girls and boys going to Fairyland), particularly the notion that loving things of beauty like "mountain snow, moonlight, gold from the heart of a crocus", etc. brings a person wisdom. Some elements of Enid's early Fairyland stories found their way into her first full-length novel, The Enid Blyton Book of Brownies (1926).
'The Christmas Pony' was a simple but charming tale, the reference to "television aerials" reflecting the fact that having a television in the home was becoming increasingly common. It was lovely to hear about the birds at Elfin Cottage too, in Enid's 'From My Window' column.
I used a magnifying glass to read the Ladies' Year Book ... 1929 entries, Nigel! It was well worth persevering as they gave a real insight into Enid Blyton's daily life at the time. She wrote of punting, catching fish, arranging flowers, doing the mending, going to the theatre, playing Bridge, getting a pet cat (Patabang), dealing with floods at Old Thatch, unwrapping Christmas presents (and going to Maidenhead to change some of them on 28th December!), spending time with Mabel Attenborough, Phyllis Chase and other friends - and, of course, working on her stories. She could be judgemental, describing an acquaintance's estate as "common, cheap and ugly", calling visitor Mr. Eyston "a frightful bore" and saying that employee Mrs. Withers was "getting too disrespectful for anything. She seems to think she is the mistress and I am the maid." I found it interesting to learn that Hugh engaged a gardener called Coventry not long before engaging Dick Hughes. Did they both work in the garden at Old Thatch for a while, I wonder, or did Dick Hughes perhaps replace Coventry - or did Coventry never actually take up the job? It's also amazing that Enid got through so many maids/cooks/housekeepers!
A gorgeously-illustrated Journal as always, packed with a variety of intriguing and informative stories and articles.
