The Enid Blyton Society

Great photo, Anita. Did you speak to the driver of the truck?

No - nobody was in the vehicle, which was parked outside a house.

I'd say he is a collector of poor, neglected Gollies!!

They don't look very comfortable - especially the one stood on his head!

Viv

I'm surprised some self righteous idiot hasn't smashed his windows yet.

I think they look merry tumbling about in the back like that (that's the impression you get in the photo, though they're obviously in fixed position), as though they're larking about I love golliwogs - they're so smartly dressed and cheerful!

Lovely photo, Anita. I like the way they're all over the place in the truck.

This is another golly story I saw on the Bristol Post website yesterday. Basically, the shop was criticised by its customers for selling small key rings that looked like gollies close to the till. Due to the complaints about them being racist, the key rings have now been taken off the shelves of the shop.
It's quite interesting reading the comments below the article and the screenshots taken from Facebook. http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/outrage-at ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Very biased article and comments. I only read one that was 'pro-golliwog'. I wonder why they are being called 'golliwogs' as they aren't, strictly, they are more 'caricatures'. I wonder if there would be a similar "outrage" if there were key rings that depicted caricatures of white people? Probably not.

Although in principle I don't think there's anything wrong with this, I also find them less likeable than traditional golliwogs. So to me this is an entirely different issue. On one hand, they can't represent racist and historical characters because these are modern-day caricatures - to my mind they represent racism of today and are therefore less acceptable than golliwogs would be.

Well looking at the picture of them, "golliwog" is not the first name that would have come to mind. As Rob says, they are caricatures and far less acceptable than a true golliwog toy. I would happily buy a golliwog of the traditional type, but those things do not appeal at all!

I wouldn't call those golliwogs either. The clothes, headcoverings and jewellery put me in mind of Uthando dolls (see Facebook link below) except for the fact that the faces of the keyring dolls are more cartoonish:

https://www.facebook.com/Uthandoproject ... =3&theater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Peter and Jane were turning out their toy cupboard. It was nearly Christmas time, and they knew they would soon have plenty of new toys.

"We simply must make room for them," said Jane. "We must throw out any toy we don't want."

.............

"Oh look- here's that ugly little black doll," said Jane, suddenly. "I never did like her, with her mop of hair and her black face."

"There's nothing wrong with her except that she's so ugly and black. All the same I'll throw her away."

So into the basket went Mopsy the black doll. She fell beside the toy car and lay there on her face.


I guess, this little book will never see the light again.

Definitely the sign of the times. I believe that if Enid were alive Today, she'd would be a lot more tolerant. She'd be horrified that she had offended anyone. We must take her comments with a pinch of salt.

Wise comment, number 6.

The fact that Enid refers to Mopsy as a black doll not golliwog in this particular book has made me thinking that golliwog is only for a male black doll?

I'm not familiar with this story - though I might have read it before. Does it have any redeeming features at the end? Usually in stories where people or toys think a black doll is ugly, they are taught to like the doll for who they are, regardless of skin colour. In the 1940's that was quite a radical idea in England, which is why I always feel Enid wasn't racist - she was just British.