The Rubadub Mystery

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Rob Houghton
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Favourite book/series: Rubadub Mystery, Famous Five and The Find-Outers
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by Rob Houghton »

I know I'm always talking about 'the Mystery of the Island' by Isobel Knight - but I think my liking of this book has dimmed my liking for 'Rat-a-Tat' somewhat. In a way some aspects of the plot are the same - about a 'curse' and some scary going's-on - but Knight does it so much better! Unfair to compare the two, I guess, but I had read 'the Mystery of the Island' quite a few years before Rat-a-Tat and I guess my impression was coloured by the earlier experience. :-D
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Stephen
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by Stephen »

Well I've just finished The Rat-A-Tat Mystery, and bearing in mind it was effectively a new book for me, I thought it was pretty good. Not the greatest Enid Blyton out there, but perfectly enjoyable in its own way. Full of unintentionally hilarious lines such as one of the villains saying "What's the meaning of this foolery?" And Roger's utterly sublime "But - Mrs. Tickle - you must know that a snow-man doesn't walk!"

However, I was reading a first edition hardback (minus dust jacket), and I was intrigued by some of the illustrations by Anyon Cook. You have Roger and Snubby standing outside in the snow wearing shorts! Surely boys didn't dress like that even back then?
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Rob Houghton
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Favourite book/series: Rubadub Mystery, Famous Five and The Find-Outers
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Location: Kings Norton, Birmingham

Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by Rob Houghton »

I think the shorts thing has been mentioned before, with older members affirming that indeed boys would have worn shorts even in winter, up until at least the mid 1950's. The Secret Seven are also depicted in shorts as late as 1961 in 'Shock For the Secret Seven' -

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'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Daisy
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by Daisy »

Quite correct Rob. Boys wore short trousers until their early teens. Knee length socks were also the norm for boys and girls who wore skirts. I remember the younger brother of one of my friends being thrilled to get his first pair of 'longs' on his 14th birthday.
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Eddie Muir
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by Eddie Muir »

How well I remember getting my first pair of long trousers (grey flannel with turn ups) at the age of 13. I was overjoyed as it marked the transition from childhood to adulthood - or so it was considered by my grammar school contemporaries. :D
'Go down to the side-shows by the river this afternoon. I'll meet you somewhere in disguise. Bet you won't know me!' wrote Fatty.

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Rob Houghton
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by Rob Houghton »

Even my generation, at Primary School from 1975, can remember a time when grey shorts were part of the 'uniform' for boys (though by this time only in better weather). In the infants, most boys wore shorts for school, and it wasn't until later on (aged about 7 or 8 maybe) that shorts suddenly dropped off the radar completely except for sports and PE.

After the age of 8 I never worse shorts again, even in hot weather and on holiday, until I was maybe 18 or 20. Boys just wouldn't be seen dead in shorts during the late 1970's and early 1980's, even for leisure!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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John Pickup
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by John Pickup »

I wore short trousers for school until I went to Grammar School. I can remember all of us boys wearing short trousers during the big freeze of 62/63 with socks to just below our knees. We were tough in those days.
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Stephen
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by Stephen »

I've never been a shorts person. At First School, they were an optional extra for summer and my mum did sometimes make me wear them, but even back then I was never keen.

Several years ago, I went on a 'safari' tour around Cyprus. The tour guides filmed the event, and out of a group of about 20 - 30 people walking along this dusty, arid trail, I was the ONLY one in long trousers. I looked like I was ill or something! :D
timv
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by timv »

Confirming what Rob, John and others have said, shorts were part of my normal school uniform at primary school in the late 1960s. The change to long trousers came when you went to secondary school. I normally wore shorts in the summer holidays too until that point, but it was not seen as normal for boys over eleven or so (except at the seaside) by that date and was liable to arouse comment from your contemporaries.

Another thing that is noticeable in the illustrations for the early editions of the main Blyton series from the 1940s and 1950s is the wearing of 'school' blazers and raincoats in the school holidays, in place of what we would now consider normal leisurewear. This is the case for (mostly) boys over the age of eleven the series books set in non-summer holidays, eg some of the Find Outers series, as well as for juniors like the Secret Seven; the text illustrations of such books as the Burnt Cottage show Larry and Pip in either blazers or 'grown up' long-sleeved jackets. (This can also be seen in contemporary comics, story books, and annuals illustrations). The Famous Five also wear (school?) blazers in some Eileen Soper pictures. At the time I read second-hand annuals dating from the 1950s in the late 1960s-early 1970s I thought this a bit odd as it was after clothes rationing had ended, but was told it had been normal practice at a time when there were fewer and comparitively more expensive non-school overcoats available and a lot of parents' budgets went on compulsory school items. Another bit of evidence of how social norms have changed - and for using early Blyton book illustrations as valuable social history?
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Rob Houghton
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by Rob Houghton »

It's sometimes hard to understand just how expensive clothes were in the past - even until fairly recently. I remember as a child/teenager that generally clothes were much more money than they are today - at least, relative to what people earn. I'm a terrible one for 'Primark' - I buy almost all my clothes from there - jeans for £10 and shirts for 32.50 - £5.00 etc...even coats only £35 or £40. This is how much I would pay for a coat even back in the 1990's - so generally the costs of things have come down, if we don't want to buy top quality items.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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IceMaiden
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by IceMaiden »

I remember our school uniform was really expensive, even more so if you were a boy as you then had to have an £18 sports kit as well. The uniform itself was a shirt and jumper that was around £25, which on top of shoes, trousers, skirts and gym kit, was a lot of money (especially if you had more than one child) and many parents found it expensive, including my own. To make it worse, the cuffs of the jumpers were terrible for unravelling, this left you with a messy uniform which you got pulled up for and meant an otherwise perfect jumper, brand new that term, had to be binned because the cuffs were too noticeable to leave and you weren't allowed to wear anything else.
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by Rollercoaster »

Rob Houghton wrote:
Lucky Star wrote:The Rubadub Mystery is truly one of Blyton's most atmospheric and emotional novels. The vaguely menacing atmosphere of the seaside resort, the old Inn, the diverse cast of intriguing charcters and the dark plot all make it one of those books which one is simply glued to till the end. At least thats how I felt as a child and, re-reading it now as an adult, it still hasn't lost that feeling. The heartbreaking dissapointment suffered by Barney towards the end may well be the most tragic scene Enid ever wrote and the way in which she builds the expectation and suspense up to that terrible moment is amazing. Though I enjoy the final two books of the series, it could never again live up to Rubadub.

That's exactly how I feel about Rubadub: well said. :D It truly shows Enid at her peak, and a 'master' (or mistress) of her craft. 8)
I agree with you 100% Rob, this is my very favourite book in the Mystery series. I love the rambling old Inn where they stay in Rubadub, the sinister and evil Mr Marvel, the Professor pretending to be deaf, Mr Tubby the pub's resident dog forever at grips with Loony, and the lovable Dummy who provides so much information about Barney's mother and circus background. The end of the story was heartbreaking with Barney fooled into believing the spy who handed over the package to him was his father, and the wonderful ending to the story when Barney is reunited with his Dad at last and they walk off together. Enid Blyton at its best.
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by pete9012S »

Enid can get the line of inheritance/ancestry/lineage correct when she wants to!
‘Please, Snubby, behave yourself here. I’m almost sure I knew Mrs Glump as a child, and I don’t want her to put you down as a lot of hooligans and think that I can’t manage you all.’
‘Gosh - did you really know Mrs Glump when she was a girl?’asked Snubby in wonder. ‘Was she older than you?’
‘About the same age,’said Miss Pepper. ‘She was a funny shy little girl then. See - what was her name now - oh yes - Gloria.’
Gloria Glump!’exclaimed Diana, in delight. ‘It can’t be true.’
‘Sh!’said Miss Pepper, afraid that Mrs Glump might hear Diana. ‘She wasn’t Glump then. Her name was Gloria Tregonnan, as far as I remember. Her. family have had this inn for hundreds of years, so it’s said.’
Mrs Glump suddenly appeared at the door. ‘Have you enough tea?’she inquired in her ponderous voice. ‘Oh dear - why, there’s hardly anything left. Er - shall I send in some more?’
Tregonnan - sounds Cornish!
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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by Lucky Star »

pete9012S wrote:
Tregonnan - sounds Cornish!
"By Tre Pol and Pen shall you know the Cornish men". Quote from Julian in Five go down to the Sea (I think).
"What a lot of trouble one avoids if one refuses to have anything to do with the common herd. To have no job, to devote ones life to literature, is the most wonderful thing in the world. - Cicero

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Re: The Rubadub Mystery

Post by pete9012S »

Just finished my re-read. Outstanding. Easily 9/10, maybe more.

Are the songs Snubby played at the show real? One was called 'If I could only give you the moon'. Can't seem to find it anywhere.
Think the other song was 'What time is it when it's 12 o'clock'..again, can't seem to find it.

On pages 172 & 173 original edition Miss Pepper says that Peke dogs 'often see off much larger dogs' and 'aren't afraid of anyone or anything'.. is this true??

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https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/boo ... ub+Mystery" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Took a look in the cave to view the more modern covers of this title. This 1986 cover (above) is quite dramatic and certainly depicts the action of the exciting closing events of the story rather well.

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Is this the 1990 Armada edition not in the cave? Not a good quality pic, but it's not a bad cover in my humble opinion.

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Not as impressed with this 199? cover - strange choice of scene from such an exciting book?

The book doesn't seem to go past 2003 according to the cave which surprised me. I thought this book would still be being published in ever new and zany covers, but it seems not!

A quick look online revealed:

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International edition??
https://www.amazon.com/Rubadub-Mystery- ... 1444952676" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They've take a few liberties with that cave and blow hole there!
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

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