Blyton References on TV

[Katharine]

Yet another reference - this time in the programme 'Saving Lives at Sea'.

It featured a German mother and her daughter who got cut off by the tide and had to be rescued by the RNLI. The mother said something about choosing the cove so they could have a picnic like the Famous Five.

[Jack400]

On 'The Chase ' the question: "In the FF who was Aunt Fanny the mother of". Correctly answered by the contestant as 'George'.

[timv]

On the Wednesday 29 March episode of 'Finals Week' on the 'Great British Menu' chefs' competition to create dishes for a banquet celebrating British Tv/ film animation, the 'Main Course' final, the celebrity guest was comedian/ actor Sir Lenny Henry. When asked what his childhood influences were in books, he replied that he loved the Famous Five and Secret Seven. (This would presumably have been in the late 1960s/ early 1970s - I remember him as a teenager appearing on TV talent show 'New Faces', probably in the late 1970s.)

[Anita Bensoussane]

That's good to know. It's heartening when people in the public eye speak of their love of Enid Blyton.

[Moonraker]

I think it was on Eggheads (Ch 5) that a question was asked as to what was the first Famous Five book. There were three options, but the contestant picked the wrong title.

[Ice_Gemz]

On yesterday's House of Games, in the emoji round, one of the clues to a children's story was:

(big gap)

It doesn't show very well here, but it was The Magic Faraway Tree.

[Jack400]

On The Chase the question "how many get into trouble in the 1949 (?) book - pretty sure of the year, Enid Blyton. Answer correctly given as 5.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The question is ambigous because, despite the book title, Richard Kent gets into trouble along with the Five (I know Timmy is a dog, but he's always counted as one of the Five)!

[Moonraker]

Yes, I think I would have said 'six'. If the question was, "how many get into trouble in the 1949 book-title?" then I would have said five.

[Bertie]

Regardless of whether the question clarified title or not, I'd have definitely answered 5 as by far the most likely answer they were requiring. The Chase is a quick fire quiz, not a trick / cryptic one, so they would almost always be just meaning 'complete the title' rather than it being a trick question.

But that's a good spot from Anita - if the question was worded poorly, then you could certainly make an argument for 6 also being a valid correct answer.

[Boatbuilder]

I've just spotted this on ITV1 at 9-pm tonight.

[timv]

I watched this; a bit chaotic (especially for those who do not know the geography and are looking for where exactly the presenters went) and jumping around suddenly from one place to another, with jokey 'Bake Off' style riffs by Mel and the usual celeb road trip air of high-powered jollity to show they were having a good time. (I didn't even know that Martin Clunes and Mel knew each other.) There was a steam train trip from Norden Station past Corfe Castle which we got occasional shots of through the windows, with the presenters eating sandwiches and chatting about Enid's books while brandishing a copy of, I think, 'Five Go Off To Camp' in a modern PB edition - and the inevitable references to 'lashings of ginger beer'. The woman guard on the train mentioned Enid, but their interview was cut off by having to get the train off on time and Martin then got Mel giggly by mispronouncing 'Kirrin'.

No actual filming in Corfe that I saw, or of the end of the journey in Swanage; but a section later on the sea in Lulworth Cove with Martin reading from a relevant bit of Thomas Hardy. Those who don't know the setting for the climax of Rubadub Mystery could get an idea of what inspired the gripping scene where Barney and Mr Marvel are out in the boat near the shore and Stair Hole and B is thrown overboard, as the segment was filmed at approximately the right location and you get a good idea of how choppy it is out there! Also an interesting bit filmed on Eggardon Hillfort, which appears in Hardy and for those who know Dorset is visible on the N side of the main road from Dorchester to Bridport, and Mel dressed up as the 'French Lieutenant's Woman' / Meryl Streep on the Cobb breakwater in Lyme Regis.

The idea of a literary Road Trip is a good one and I could provide a whole list of interesting locations across the UK. I shall see how this progresses with interest, but I expect the TV bigwigs will insist on featuring the usual best-known authors - Jane Austen, Dickens etc- rather than trying anything new. There seem to be a whole raft of celebs criss-crossing the country and the world by rail and road these days etc, and I half expected Michael Portillo or Joanna Lumley to pop up and have a stand-off with the team over who got there to do filming first!

[Julie2owlsdene]

I did see this, and did enjoy watching, as I do love Dorset, having had a holiday caravan over there at Durdle Door for 16 years before selling last year.

I would have loved to have heard what the guard on the steam railway was going to say. She said she stayed in the room that Enid used when in - and then they had to get on the train. Was she going to say the Hotel in Swanage, now long gone, or the Knoll House Hotel, where Enid stayed also. Her room facing the sea. As shown in pictures inside of the Knoll House Hotel.

Martin read the first few lines from the book - Five Have Plenty of Fun - but never read Enid as a child, because his mother preferred them to do more 'adult' stuff like visiting antique shops!

Mel mentions that Enid wrote all her Famous Five books in Dorset - which we know many she wrote from home, as well as on holiday.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The programme was so high on froth and low on fact that I just watched it for the scenery! I thought the whole thing was very poor indeed.

[Kate Mary]

The Dorset scenery was beautiful but the programme was rubbish. Just the usual inaccuracies about Enid, location of Kirrin Castle etc. and not a mention of Jane Austen’s Persuasion when they were in Lyme.