Exhibition at Seven Stories

[Poppy]

Thats the one, Tony. The article was certainly in our local newspaper as well, though. Ah - great - great!

[Colette]

That is not Timmy! Timmy lives inside the books!

A sentiment echoed almost word for word by a lady I spoke to at the exhibition yesterday!

Wow! It was amazing - I think half of me was enjoying it as I would have as a child (though also thinking 'Why wasn't there something like this when I was a child?' -- I really, REALLY wanted a go on that slippery slip) and then the other half as an adult - wondering if he PC-ing of Enid's work could be regarded as a negative thing: no, no we can't have two men sharing a bed..

All in all, a fantastic morning in an Enid Blyton bubble -- it was a bit of a shock going back into the 'real world'!

[Poppy]

Glad you enjoyed yourself Colette! Sounds like you had a wonderful time! Which bit were you most impressed with?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Wow! It was amazing - I think half of me was enjoying it as I would have as a child (though also thinking 'Why wasn't there something like this when I was a child?'...

As I walked round the exhibition, I kept thinking back to when I was about nine or ten. At that age I was intrigued by the woman who had written the books I loved so much, and was eager to know more about her. Back then it would have been a dream come true to visit an exhibition like the one at Seven Stories, and I would have learnt a great deal from it. As a young child I had no idea that Enid Blyton had been a teacher or that she was such a knowledgeable naturalist, or that she had enjoyed sketching and painting. Most of all I'd have been thrilled to discover that she had produced her own magazines and communicated so warmly with her readers, and that the family and pets in Bimbo and Topsy were based on Enid Blyton's own family and pets.

[Katharine]

Anita, all your comments pretty much sum up how I feel about Enid Blyton. I hope very much I'll be able to visit the exhibition at Seven Stories at some point.

[Poppy]

It certainly is a rather 'enchanting' feel as you walk round. To think how much you could learn there and how much history it holds is rather overwhelming. Some people will take forgranted the history and the information the exhibition holds because of internet and how much you can find out online, however, to learn it there in such a fascinating, magical place, I feel I am much more likely to remember more facts/info visiting the exhibition, than learning as much as I possibly could online.

[Tony Summerfield]

I am not sure whether these are in the exhibition or not, but they are not in our Secret Passage. Enid's notes for Last Term at Malory Towers.

[Moonraker]

Sorry, but I gave up reading that after the first sentence or so. I tried to transpose (?) it, but there were so many words I couldn't read, I gave up!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks for scanning the notes, Tony. I've seen them before, but they're interesting in that they contain references to characters and episodes which didn't make it to the published book (e.g. Juanita the spiteful Spanish girl, and Gwen and Amanda becoming friends). I believe a few people have commented that the existence of notes for some books shows that, contrary to what she said, Enid Blyton did plan out a story before writing it. However, the notes are very sketchy and some proposed plot elements weren't used at all while other ideas were modified, or introduced from scratch as she wrote. So it seems to me that Blyton had a basic framework in mind but didn't let it restrict her. I can well imagine her typing rapidly away, probably not even bothering to stop and consult her notes as the words of the story flowed from her mind.

[Anita Bensoussane]

For Nigel:

Awful girl in 2nd form. Josephine. Comes from rich, uncultured home - Has too much money. Miss Grayling confiscates it. She steals. This is why the 2nd formers are watching for thief. Do not catch her - but she is scared - owes bill - decides to run away - & take with her another girl. Bravadao & cheek personified.

Magnet trick.

Noises up chimney in 6th form by June.

6th formers have own studies for 2, besides common room with wireless etc.

Spanish girl come to learn language too. Juanita - angry at having to come - refuses to be friends. Spiteful - hates Moira particularly. Looks down on everyone.

Also a girl from another school destroyed by fire. Brilliant athlete. Conceited. Disdainful. Says she is going in for next Olympic Games. Refuses to work. Gives Gwen & Maureen fearful time, & the 2 foreign girls. Disobeys orders. Swims out to sea disobediently, gets caught in current, is dashed against rocks & has her leg hurt. Finish to athletic career. She & Gwen both learn bitter lessons & become friends.

[Moonraker]

Thanks for that, Anita. Uncultured was my first stumbling block, and that is where I gave up! Incidentally, I'm sure I'm not the only one to find the writing pretty indecipherable!

[Lawrie]

Thanks Anita! I've just been struggling to read the notes and then scrawled down to see you've done it for me. Fascinating to see how the final book differs from the notes - I would love to have seen Gwen and Amanda buddying up. All I knew about Enid Blyton when I was a child was that bit at the end of the Blue Dragon Malory Towers and St Clares book about Marvellous Enid Blyton. "Enid Blyton could turn her hand to almost any form of writing" - I almost know it off by heart.

[Katharine]

I was interested to see the notes, I'm grateful for the 'translation' as I don't have time at the moment to try and decipher the words.

I was surprised to see such notes though, as I too was under the impression that Enid just opened the flood gates of her mind and that the words poured out.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Just been thinking about this and I have a feeling that there were one or two more pages of notes for Last Term at Malory Towers in which Enid Blyton had planned that Gwen's father would die, Belinda would creep out to give money to her brother (who had lost his job) and Connie would slip down to have a look at an exam paper. None of these incidents actually made it into the book which indicates that, even if she did dash off a few sketchy notes, Enid Blyton simply went with the flow once she began writing. Some of the initial ideas for Last Term at Malory Towers may have been rejected because they were so similar to episodes from other Blyton books.

[Fiona1986]

I could only read bits of the notes, so thanks Anita. I rather wish Juanita had been in the book, but I'm not sure I can see Amanda and Gwen as friends.