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Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 18 Apr 2012, 22:52
by Francis
Enid seemed to have a particular interest in circus and travelling
people. They crop up several times in the Famous Five series and
I am sure in other books as well. The "Circus of Adventure" must
be one of the most exciting of these.

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 21 Apr 2012, 18:26
by Ming
70s-child wrote:I don't know how many Tintin fans are there on this forum, but the description of Tauri Hessia always reminded me of the country in King Ottakar's Sceptre, and that was definitely meant to be Eastern Europe.
I hadn't thought of that before, but yes, now that you mention it, Tauri Hessia is certainly very similar to Syldavia. And your reasoning about the greetings, etc do point to Eastern Europe.

Tony, when did you visit Romania? And out of interest, when did you stop globetrotting?

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 10:31
by Moonraker
Ming wrote: Tony, when did you visit Romania? And out of interest, when did you stop globetrotting?
What a fascinating book that would make. Tony Summerfield: A Personal Anecdotage. :D

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 10:49
by Tony Summerfield
Ming wrote:I hadn't thought of that before, but yes, now that you mention it, Tauri Hessia is certainly very similar to Syldavia. And your reasoning about the greetings, etc do point to Eastern Europe.

Tony, when did you visit Romania? And out of interest, when did you stop globetrotting?
I was last in Romania in 1985, Ming. I actually had Transylvania in mind - Dracula country! I visited Bran Castle which actually advertises itself as Dracula's castle.

As for globetrotting, my last holiday of any sort was 23 years ago and I haven't even spent a night away from here for 15 years! Stuck in a rut!! Although I have been to about 60 countries (the count went up when Yugoslavia split up!) it is really Europe that I have travelled widely in. I have just missed out on four countries in mainland Europe, the three Baltic states, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and also Albania, which was closed to outsiders in my travelling days - although I did drive to the border!

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 11:36
by Fatty
Speaking of which, the name 'Pilescu' sounds very Romanian (the suffix -escu means 'son of' in that language). It may not be too far-fetched if we put Baronia in eastern Europe then. Harder to do the same with Tauri-Hessia -- the first part of the name could be Slavic but the second half sounds like a German province.

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 12:03
by Katharine
60 countries! That's only 58 more than I've visited, unless I can include Scotland and Wales.

I thought I was being adventurous booking my Enid Blyton Day trip. :D

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 12:13
by Moonraker
Fatty wrote:Speaking of which, the name 'Pilescu' sounds very Romanian (the suffix -escu means 'son of' in that language).
I know I've asked this before, but how do you pronounce Pilescu?

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 12:23
by Fatty
As a child I read it as pill-ess-koo and I still think it's a fair approximation. :)

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 12:26
by Katharine
Sounds/looks the same as I've always read it.

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 12:28
by Anita Bensoussane
Same for me. Pill-ess-koo, with the stress on the second syllable.

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 12:51
by poddys
60 is pretty amazing!

I think mine is 43, but that includes Wales, Scotland (drove a mile inside the border just north of Berwick on Tweed), Holland (5 hours in transit in Schipol airport).

I still haven't been to most of Europe, and unfortunately 15 years in the USA really only counts as 1 country, plus Canada, and there I only count because I went to a wedding in Windsor, which is across the river from Detroit.

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 12:56
by Lucky Star
Moonraker wrote:
I know I've asked this before, but how do you pronounce Pilescu?
Pill-ess-coo is how I pronounce it. Hessia does indeed sound like the German province Hesse and indeed the language spoken in that region is referred to as "the Hessian dialect". From Enid's description of the place though I have always considered it to be set in the balkans. Its described as being a rather backward place and Hesse, in western Germany, would have been a modern place. Foe some reason I have always thought of it as being like Serbia although since Serbia and Romania are neighbours I suppose it could be either.

Baronia seems to be even more remote still. Perhaps its somewhere like Macedonia or Montenegro, both of which are, or were, small mountanous kingdoms in the former Yugoslavia.

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 13:34
by Ming
Tony and Poddys, I am insanely jealous of the both of you! :D

I've been to, in order, Singapore, the UK, the UAE, Hong Kong, China, India, Nepal, South Korea, Qatar (6 hours in transit!) and South Africa... and I thought I was adventurous. :roll:

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 13:40
by Fiona1986
You're all putting me up shame! The only country I've ever visited is England!

Re: The Circus of Adventure

Posted: 23 Apr 2012, 13:47
by Katharine
Fiona, seeing as Scotland has such beautiful scenery - who needs to travel anywhere else? :D