The Enid Blyton Society

People change with age, the experiences they made and malfunctions/adjustments of the body. So which Enid Blyton would you like to meet? The one in her twenties, thirties, forties, fifties or sixties?

That's a very good point. I'm not actually sure I'd want to spend a day with Enid, as I think I'd irritate her. I think perhaps I'd have liked to have met her when I was a child and she was writing the FF and Noddy books. Either that, or I'd have loved her to be my teacher.

Well, not in her 60s, as she was suffering from dementia at that time. I'd say the Enid of about the mid-1950s, when she was at her peak and had produced much of her best work and most of the stories and characters we most love. But of course, at that stage in her life, she probably would have been far too busy to fit in a day trip to the 21st century!!

If Enid came into the present day for 24 hours I think she would probably demand to spend time with modern-day children for a few hours and then sit down and write a new story based on what they'd told her. I can't see that she would have been a woman who would have wanted to spend precious time wandering whimsically about the countryside with a bunch of adoring adults. Time with kids, maybe a business meeting (hopefully to read the riot act to her modern publishers) and then some writing is how I would envisage Enid in the present day.

On the plus side we would get to see what a 21st century Blyton story would look like.

I don't think that 24 hours are enough to catch up...

Which is why I think she would far rather spend them learning about children's attitudes and interests in this new century than discussing the past with adults.

Yes, I think I will pass on this too. It would have been smashing to have met her when I was about 10, though.

Lucky Star wrote:Which is why I think she would far rather spend them learning about children's attitudes and interests in this new century than discussing the past with adults.

I actually agree...and I think some Blyton fans would be shocked. Enid was a modern woman with a business head and knew what sold and what didn't. I'm sure her writing style would be very different if she was alive today. She would still avoid nasty or unpleasant subjects, but she would have used all the sayings like 'cool' and 'hot' and 'awesome' etc (as well as many more modern sayings I can't recall!) and would have no doubt used mobile phones, computers, television and all kinds of technology in her books. She would as Lucky Star suggests be more interested in gauging modern children's ideas and interests than chatting with a bunch of adults!

It would have been better for all of us if we had met Enid when we were children. I'm sure she would have appreciated it more than having a load of adults mooning after her. Katharine made a good point that she would probably irritate Enid. I hadn't thought of that but I agree. I'm capable of irritating anyone with the daft questions I come up with.

I don't even have to ask a question to irritate someone.....

Yep, same here!

Moonraker wrote:I don't even have to ask a question to irritate someone.....

What an irritating post!

Somehow I don't think we'd like each other very much if we met. Awful tempers and my tendency to be socially awkward. She might not mind my brother though.

Robert Houghton wrote:

Moonraker wrote:I don't even have to ask a question to irritate someone.....

What an irritating post!

It reminds me of a comment made when I was on my paramedic course. We had all been given names of drugs that we used, to get a real feel for them (not literally) and to give a talk on them. I was to be sodium bicarbonate. The instructor said that he had given me this drug as it's main side effect was so applicable.

The label said - Sodium bicarbonate - an extreme irritant.

Moonraker wrote:I was to be sodium bicarbonate. The instructor said that he had given me this drug as it's main side effect was so applicable.

The label said - Sodium bicarbonate - an extreme irritant.