Blyton References on TV

[Boatbuilder]

I'm still feeling awful with a terrible cough and cold that's lasted for weeks so far, ......

In this colder weather you need to spend less time in your shed with the two cats, Bertie, as I would guess that hasn't helped you. I hope you feel better soon.

[Bertie]

Thanks, Boatbuilder. And I'm sure you're right.

There seems to be a lot of it about, and a couple of other friends and close family have had something similar, but they've all got rid of theirs by now whereas mine keeps getting worse.

Like you say, spending so much time out in the shed during this cold spell has probably been the worst thing for it. At least the weather seems to be set to warm up a bit for now.

[Boatbuilder]

.....At least the weather seems to be set to warm up a bit for now.

Thankfully!

[GloomyGraham]

Don't have the time to scroll through this entire thread so apologies if it's already been discussed.

Just happened to see a bit of 'Antiques Roadshow' (probably an old one from years ago) where a guy showed up with Enid's typewriter.

He said his parents worked (Dad as gardener, Mum as domestic/cook) in the 60s at Green Hedges until Enid's death (which he mistakenly said was in 1971).

He had some photos of Enid too - some I hadn't seen before.

The 'expert' valued the (1935) typewriter at £5000.

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's always interesting to hear from people who worked for Enid Blyton. There's a thread about that episode of Antiques Roadshow here:

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8013&hilit=typewriter+antiques

[timv]

Not a direct Blyton reference, but one to the 1995 Famous Five series locations. On 'Only Connect' on the evening of 26 February (Monday), Victoria Coren Mitchell had a series of four 'Picture Clues' , in this case four photos of grand buildings, with a common theme running through them. One of them was Neuchwanstein Castle in Bavaria, the Gothic fantasy castle built by Ludwig II ; another I recognised as Woodchester Mansion near Stroud, in Gloucestershire, which was the main setting for the 1995 FF episode 'Five On a Hike Together' as 'Two Trees' - with its nearby lake as 'Gloomy Water'. A third was the Calton Hill neo-Greek monument 'Greek Style Pediment Arch' in Edinburgh. All of them are also pastiches of out of date building styles; Woodchester is one of those C19th Late Medieval/ Early Tudor mansion pastiches, in stone, though it is taller than most of the real mansions of that era. A bit like Knole in Kent, the home of the Sackville-Wests, Penshurst Place, the home of the Sidneys (as in Philip S the poet), or Hever Castle (home of the Boleyns).

The common theme was that all of them were uncompleted; though Woodchester Mansion is so little known or advertised that it would be very difficult to work the answer out from that alone, unless you had been inside; is it even open to the public, though I think its grounds are?? All of them look as if they could have been complete and were left as they were to make them look more romantic or authentic; in the FF episode there are shots of the Five wandering around inside the house and it looks architecturally complete and just left without furnishings. I remain amazed at how the OC teams get the answers to some of the questions as they are so obscure!

[Bertie]

That's very interesting.

I watched the Only Connect episode of course, and didn't get that connection as all. And I haven't really seen many of the 70's and 90's TV adaptations so didn't pick up at all on that FF link to Woodchester Mansion.

Like you, it's amazing how good some of those OC teams are. Though in these old specials they've been repeating of early series winners, they've had both Mark Labbett and Jenny Ryan on them - both of whom have gone on to be Chasers on The Chase! So it shows the calibre of quizzers that they have on.

[Bertie]

On 'Richard Osman's House of Games', they have a round where each person has to write down an answer to a given topic - they only get a point if it's right, and if no one else said it (including Richard). On yesterday's show, one of the topics was 'Members of Enid Blyton's Famous Five or Secret Seven' (but George wasn't allowed - they often rule out something, and George would have appeared in both lists of course).

Richard Osman said he '"used to love the Famous Five books" - which, apart from the 'used to' bit, was good to hear. Though after that it was a bit mixed. All said they didn't know the Secret Seven names at all, and one didn't know either series and guessed a completely wrong name. Richard went for Timmy, and another chose Dick. One fluked a right answer just guessing Peter. Another went for Fanny, thinking it was one of the children, so got it wrong. So 3 out of 5 right (one lucky), and one of the wrong ones at least did name a FF character.