Teachers World Letters, Jan 1930 - July 1934

[Anita Bensoussane]

I wonder how many thatchers there are still practising their craft in this country.

It would be interesting to know. Old Thatch was re-thatched quite recently, but Norfolk reed was used instead of straw.

[Courtenay]

I'm sure there must still be a few such craftsmen around — as long as there are thatched houses in Britain, we'll need thatchers to re-thatch them!

Lovely letters, as always, and all the more so for the unusual theme. I also loved the way Enid described the thatcher's work and his dedication to his job, and encouraged her readers to become "craftsmen and craftswomen too, no matter what your job is".

[Kate Mary]

In this week's letter we learn that Patabang has had a litter of five kittens, unlike Pat's last little 'mistake' these are pure Siamese. It implies that Bimbo was the father; 'Bimbo was ... proud to think that he and Pat had such a beautiful family'. I'm sure we'll hear more about the kittens in the coming weeks.

Another super picture of the thatcher working on the roof of Old Thatch and the poem was most likely written for baby Gillian. Thank you for continuing to put these letters on the website Tony.

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/blyt ... &perid=922" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Courtenay]

Lovely to hear of the new litter of kittens! The reference to Bimbo being "such a big cat now" is perhaps another subtle hint that he's the daddy — I had assumed he was still a kitten, as it doesn't seem so long, even as we've read these letters one week at a time, since Enid first got him!

I was surprised to read Enid's description of Siamese cats as "half-albino", but having done some quick research online, I see she's correct! Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

Point coloration in cats is a form of partial albinism resulting from a mutation in... an enzyme involved with melanin production. The mutated enzyme... fails to work at normal body temperatures, but becomes active in cooler areas of the skin. As a result, dark pigment is limited to the coldest areas of the body, that is, the extremities. Pointed kittens are born white, since the womb is uniformly warm. As the kitten ages, the cooler areas darken while warmer areas remain cream to white in color.

Incidentally, that's why, if a Siamese cat is injured on a darker-coloured part of its body, the hair in that area will often grow back pale, because of heat from the wound. This of course plays a key role in a certain Five Find-Outers mystery that I'm just about to start re-reading...

Reading on in the same Wikipedia entry, it also explains why Siamese cats (and similarly "pointed" breeds like the Birman) always have blue eyes — I didn't know this:

Because of this restriction of pigment, pointed cat's eyes are always some shade of blue, because the top layer of the iris is not covered in another color, letting the blue show through. The back of the eye also lacks pigment, giving these cats' pupils an eerie red reflection in the dark, unlike a normally pigmented cat's green to blue shine.

Very sweet poem, too — I can imagine Enid inventing it to introduce little Gillian to all the animals at Old Thatch!

[Moonraker]

I was surprised to read Enid's description of Siamese cats as "half-albino", but having done some quick research online, I see she's correct!

And Enid knew without having the resources of Wikipedia!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I hadn't known about point colouration in cats being a form of partial albinism either. It's amazing that we're still learning new things from Enid Blyton!

[Poppy]

It's great to see these photographs which illustrate Enid's descriptions of the roof-thatching going on around her house around that time. I have always been quite interested in this process ever since I first read about it in the book The Children of Willow Farm.

And it's lovely to hear about the new kittens at Old Thatch!

[Courtenay]

And Enid knew without having the resources of Wikipedia!

Well, I get the impression she had a number of Siamese cats over the years, so I've no doubt she read up on them a lot and was in contact with professional breeders. I just find it interesting, though, that it was known for sure at the time that the Siamese colour-pointing came from partial albinism, since obviously there have been so many advances in the understanding of genetics and biology in general since the 1930s.

I've just started reading The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat for the second time, and can't help noticing a little bit of name-dropping that also struck me the first time I read it:

"Siamese cats have bright blue [eyes]," said Fatty. "I know, because my aunt once had one — a beauty, called Patabang. They are valuable cats."

I had no idea Fatty was Enid's nephew!!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I get the impression she had a number of Siamese cats over the years, so I've no doubt she read up on them a lot and was in contact with professional breeders.

In The Story of My Life Enid Blyton says:

I couldn't tell you how many cats and kittens I have had since I was grown up. I love Siamese cats, with their creamy coats, dark brown points and strange, brilliant blue eyes. I bred them for years, and many a time I have had as many as ten or twelve small Siamese kittens racing about, plaguing the life out of Bobs or Sandy. They are most amusing, and are really more like dogs than cats.

They look a bit like monkeys, they act rather like squirrels in the way they sit up and hold things, they have some of the nature of a dog - and yet they are cats! What a peculiar mixture!

I just find it interesting, though, that it was known for sure at the time that the Siamese colour-pointing came from partial albinism, since obviously there have been so many advances in the understanding of genetics and biology in general since the 1930s.

That reminds me of a magazine or newspaper article I read about six or seven years ago, concerning research on swifts. According to the article, scientists had just discovered that swifts hang themselves up by their hook-like feet to sleep, rather than sleeping on the wing as previously thought. I was certain that that hadn't only just been discovered as I remembered my grandad telling me about the hook-like feet, and how swifts slept, when I was a girl. The same fact can be found in Round the Year with Enid Blyton - Summer Book (1934), so that information was already known at the beginning of the twentieth century and probably earlier:

The swift's feet are no more than hooks! There is no backward-pointing toe as other birds have, but all the toes point forward, so that the swift has great difficulty in balancing itself when on the ground.

However, it has no need to use its feet, for all the day long it is on the wing, quite tireless. It is marvellous to watch it in flight; it wheels here and there, it darts to the side to take a flying insect, it soars upward, it shoots forward, it races by so fast that we hardly see it go! It is master of the air, and some people say that it even sleeps on the wing! But for a few hours each night it hangs itself up by its hook-like feet and rests its wings in sleep — then at the earliest glimmer of dawn it is off again, strong and tireless, screaming with joy and delight.

[Courtenay]

Thanks, Anita. I had a feeling I'd read somewhere that Enid kept and bred many more Siamese cats than just Patabang and Bimbo, but couldn't remember where it was — I must have seen that quote from The Story of My Life before. Siamese cats are my favourite as well. I've never had one of my own, but my grandma has had several, and two of the three cats we had ourselves when I was growing up were half-Siamese — not with blue eyes or colour-points, but with the same elegant shape, wailing miaow and intelligent and adventurous nature.

That reminds me of a magazine or newspaper article I read about six or seven years ago, concerning research on swifts. According to the article, scientists had just discovered that swifts hang themselves up by their hook-like feet to sleep, rather than sleeping on the wing as previously thought. I was certain that that hadn't only just been discovered as I remembered my grandad telling me about the hook-like feet, and how swifts slept, when I was a girl. The same fact can be found in Round the Year with Enid Blyton - Summer Book (1934), so that information was already known at the beginning of the twentieth century and probably earlier...

Now that is interesting. Many sources — including the RSPB! — still seem to take it as gospel that swifts sleep on the wing, though without citing anything to prove it. But I do remember a newspaper article from the UK that we had up on the wall at a bird conservation organisation I used to work for in Melbourne, and I've just managed to find it again — it was the Telegraph:
Revealed: how the swift keeps to its course at 10,000 ft — even as it sleeps

Despite the title, the article isn't 100% clear on whether or not swifts do actually sleep in the air — I get the impression the consensus is that, when flying very long distances, their brains partially shut down some of the time. So they wouldn't be completely "asleep" as such, but conserving some of their energy while in motion. I'm not surprised to learn that they still definitely do need to "hang themselves up" by their feet to sleep properly!

[Domino]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlQYqQs0R3w" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Anita Bensoussane]

Interesting further information about swifts, Courtenay. They're fascinating birds.

[Moonraker]

Good old Anita. Our very own Blytopedia!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Coo - that sounds grand, so it does! I'll 'ave to put on me best 'at, to look the part!

[Anita Bensoussane]

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/blyt ... &perid=923" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I love the photo of Bimbo sailing off in the boat, and the delightful poem telling of his escapades!

It's interesting to read (in Bobs' story) about children coming to Old Thatch and making the little boat. Barbara Stoney mentions in Enid Blyton - the Biography that many of Enid Blyton's friends, relatives and acquaintances (the ones who were of a similar age to Enid) had started their families while she was having difficulty conceiving, so their children would be a few years older than Gillian.