The Enid Blyton Society

It's really heartening to see Enid at number 20, above quite a few people who might normally be higher...including Queen Victoria and Margaret Thatcher.

Courtenay wrote:

Moonraker wrote:But how on earth were Enid and the likes of Queen Victoria beaten by Mo Farah????

He ran faster than they did.

For the record, that was Lucky Star's quote.

Sorry, Nigel — I've corrected it in my earlier post.

I think it will be interesting to see what a list would be in say 20 years time. People like Winston Churchhill, Enid Blyton and Florence Nightingale may well still be there, but will people still remember Mo Farah or Paula Radcliffe? Even someone like Simon Weston, who I think is a remarkable man, may well have slipped out of many people's memories.

As for Diana, The Princess of Wales, I doubt she'd be there in a generation or two. I know my children are only vaguely aware that she was mother to William and Harry, and have no concept of the impact her death had at the time - the same way that I wouldn't appreciate Kennedy's assassination in the same way as my parents' generation would (not that Kennedy was British).

Whereas hopefully Enid Blyton's books will still be as popular as they are today.

I have to admit I'd never heard of Simon Weston until I looked him up just now (my excuse is that I didn't grow up in Britain)... I definitely agree he is more deserving than some in the list. I was a little disappointed to see several recent sporting champions there too — as you say, Katharine, they are considered famous and inspiring now, but will they be remembered as "greatest Britons" in a few decades' time?

And yes, I also hope Enid Blyton will still be just as popular then as now!

Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah are people of the moment much as Bobby Charlton and Bobby Moore were back in the 60's to my generation. I agree with Katharine, these sporting greats wouldn't figure in a list in 20 years time, it will be a new batch of sportsmen and women entirely. But, as Enid's books continue to sell at a remarkable rate, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her still riding high in the list. I hope she is.

Courtenay, I can quite understand that Simon Weston might not be well known outside the UK. To be honest, I probably wouldn't know that much about him myself, but my husband is very interested in anything connected with the armed forces, and so I remember watching the original documentary about Simon's treatment because he had the TV on.

As for sporting heroes, I would have included Torvill and Dean myself, but then I guess that shows what generation I belong to!

A couple of years ago at Sports Day, one of the children made a strange pose when receiving his winner's medal, when I commented on it, I was told he was doing the same as (someone) Bolt did - I'd never heard of him, still not sure what his first name is!

Here's an older list of 100 greatest Britons.I notice even Boy George gets a mention...

http://alchemipedia.blogspot.co.uk/2009 ... -2002.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well, I couldn't find Enid on that list but I did see Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols on it. Amazing.