Journal 54

[Anita Bensoussane]

Bimbo is a poor name for such a regal cat; I much prefer Patabang.

Same here. When I was a child my mum used to clean for a lady who had two Siamese cats, Simba and Shansi, and I thought such regal-sounding names were very apt.

The Boy Who Said "Shan't" was another fascinating story. I must start using the word, as it seems to have been replaced by "won't" these days.

My son and I had a discussion about that yesterday, after I read out part of the story to him. We agreed that "Shan't" is used much less frequently nowadays.

Journal 54 is up there with the very best of the Society Journals. It again shows the inexhaustible talents of all of the contributors (I believe Anita has contributed to every Journal), and of course, the tremendous work our esteemed Editor puts into the task of this quarterly production - especially the quality of the cover and other colour pictures/illustrations.

Yes, Tony takes an enormous amount of trouble with the presentation of the Journal and this issue, like the others, is a feast for the eyes as well as the mind. Incidentally, my first Journal contribution was for Number 18 (Summer 2002) and since then I've contributed to every issue except Number 32 - I was particularly busy at the time and wasn't able to write anything.

I always enjoy John Lester's articles. He has a knack of choosing subjects which are either very close to my heart or which I find immensely interesting.

I feel the same about John Lester's contributions. I enjoyed his piece on Barney and I agree with him that it's useful, plotwise, to have Barney as a free agent with no relatives to rein him in. And of course Barney's desire to belong to a family and his ongoing quest to find his father add an extra dimension to the series.

I was pleased to see a mention of 'The Peasant Boy and the Prince' in Terry Gustafson's article. A while ago I was trying to recall Enid Blyton tales which resembled Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper. I remembered 'The Princess and the Cottage-Girl' but I knew I'd also read one about boys swapping places – and 'The Peasant Boy and the Prince' was the one! That's a gorgeous cover for The Princess and the Goblin (page 53 of the Journal) - and what a shame that the Stella Polaris was accidentally sunk in 2006.

Reading Kari Dorme's description of the unveiling of the Beaconsfield plaque, it looks like an attractive setting for the plaque and I like the idea of an Enid Blyton story time.

Good to see the item from the Press Pack for the 1970s Famous Five TV series. The captions on the "Snakes and Ladders game" are quite amusing. I'd heard about the press pack but had never seen any of the contents before.

Looking at the Editorial, I was trying to work out whether the thatched cottage shown in the sketch (taken from Enid Blyton's Sunny Stories, I believe) is Old Thatch. I've compared it to photos of Old Thatch but can't seem to make it match.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Looking at the Editorial, I was trying to work out whether the thatched cottage shown in the sketch (taken from Enid Blyton's Sunny Stories, I believe) is Old Thatch. I've compared it to photos of Old Thatch but can't seem to make it match.

Just realised that the same picture appears on the cover of the book Tales of Old Thatch (1938):

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... Old+Thatch" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Tony Summerfield]

This is the first time the image was used in issue 1 of the new series of Sunny Stories in 1937.

[Moonraker]

I too puzzled over this. It looked like Old Thatch, but then again, something seemed wrong. Thanks, Tony, for supplying some evidence! Incidentally, we often walk up Southampton Street - I must check where Newnes used to be. I wonder if Tower House still exists.

Edit: I have Googled, and it seems there is a Tower House Properties group.

[Courtenay]

Angela Canning's The Mischievous Golliwogs was an incredibly interesting article. However, I differ from views posted in that I felt quite uncomfortable reading it. I know most (if not all) of you will disagree, but I well remember how people thought all black people looked alike, back in my childhood, and couldn't help making a comparison. I have never seen the Golly as a caricature of a black person, but in adulthood I can see how many see that he is. The fact that all three Gollies looked alike smacked of this early prejudice. I also cringed at the frequent use of the words, Woggie and Nigger. I know this should be read in historical context, but I thought a mention should have been made that this is not acceptable language today. Angela makes a comment towards the end of the article that we should remember that "they were not associated with people as we would have been lucky to have set eyes on a coloured (ouch!) person", the fact remains that they are today (rightly or wrongly) by many people. For that reason, I felt this article added fuel to the racist-claims fire. I only hope Society members weren't put off, as I find Enid gets enough criticism over her use of gollies - especially when you consider they didn't feature in that many of her stories. I know this paragraph will get quoted and I know all the objections you will make to my views. However, it is just my view, but a view shared by many people in multi-cultural Britain in 2014. And this is from me, a lover of the much maligned golliwog!

I'm quoting this only to agree with you entirely, Nigel!

I did stop and think, after my earlier post, that the idea of the three golliwogs appearing identical could be a reflection of the old assumption that "all blacks look alike", and that does make me uncomfortable. And I, too, wish that the article had pointed out that however well-meaning the stories may be, the names Woggie and Nigger are totally unacceptable today, and with very good reason - those terms were insulting to black people even in Enid's time, much though people like Enid may have used them casually without realising how offensive they were being. I also felt the ending of the article in particular was a bit of a brush-off, where it would have been better to have a more considerate acknowledgement of why golliwogs are so controversial today. As it is, it does imply somewhat that the author and (by extension) other Blyton fans either don't realise this or don't care.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I must admit that article didn't grab me. Several stories from The Three Golliwogs were summarised but very little analysis or opinion was offered. That might be because Angela Canning had already written an article on golliwogs for the Journal about two years ago (looking at the portrayal of gollies in the Noddy books and elsewhere) and didn't want to repeat anything she'd already said.

[Chrissie777]

Shouldn't it be "than"?

[Chrissie777]

Mine arrived by the mornings post. Will say it for my evenings read. Thanks Tony.

Mine arrived yesterday in the later afternoon. Thank you, Tony. It looks wonderful!
So far I enjoyed the Belgrade & FF article. It was very refreshing. Wish there would be more stories like this from different countries...I never thought the FF are known in Serbia.
Are there any British EBS members who had similar adventures with underground tunnels etc when they were kids?
I have an Internet friend (we will meet in person next year when André and I will go to Germany) who loves the old British CFF movies for kids as much as I do and who had a very blytonesque childhood in the country. He even found an underground tunnel way back in the 60's.

Tony, you were asking for input about what members would like to read about in the Journal.
Well, this member happens to be a big movie buff, so anything about EB and TV or the movies (the story of how the 1957 FF movie finally came to realization for instance) would be highly appreciated.
Or a list of old movies that have treasure hunts, secret passage ways etc as a topic.
Just my 2 cents .

Now I will read another article.

[Chrissie777]

Also really enjoyed "The Famous Five in Belgrade, Serbia" by William Ferguson. I had no idea until fairly recently that Enid Blyton's books were translated into so many other languages and are enjoyed to this day by children from so many different countries and cultures! It just goes to show how universal her appeal is, and how well Enid's stories and characters and adventures speak to children everywhere. I'm delighted to learn how much the children at William's school love the Famous Five and how those stories inspired their own adventurous excursion - with one child in particular thinking of his hero Julian when he was confronted with a real-life burglary that same day!

Strangely enough, the only country where EB is pretty much unknown are the US.
I tried to get our older grandson interested in the FF when he was 9 years old, but to no avail.
Well, it's his loss...

[Chrissie777]

Enid's letters to the librarian were very interesting too. And the photograph of her standing in front of her books jumped out at me as that is one I have framed on the top of my Blyton book shelf - complete with her autograph in greenish ink. She sent it to me in response to a letter I wrote to her. I wonder how many thousands she had printed!

Ilsa, how exciting!!!
Please tell us more about it.
Did EB answer your letter, too?
And when did all that happen?
Do you have a photo from your Blyton book shelf and the EB photo?

[Chrissie777]

... one librarian said in my hearing one day, "This tiresome Enid Blyton craze! I'm fed up with having her books asked for hundreds of times a week & having to keep a rota of children who want them. She causes more trouble than anyone else!"

It sounds as though the constant demand for Blyton books was simply too much for some librarians to cope with, and that they resented Enid Blyton for causing them more work rather than for anything to do with the quality of her writing!

Lucky England!
I grew up in the 60's in a large city in Northern Germany, Braunschweig (250.000 population). If it wouldn't have been for my best friend Kati who inherited the FF series from her older brothers, I would never found out about EB!
There was not one single EB book in the public library where I took piles of books home with me every few weeks.
There were no EB books in our elementary school library nor later on after 1966 in my high school library.
Don't know if Wolfgang had more luck in the town where he grew up (he's a lot younger than me, so maybe by then the German librarians, teachers and parents were not as narrow-minded any longer?)?

[Courtenay]

I must admit that article didn't grab me. Several stories from The Three Golliwogs were summarised but very little analysis or opinion was offered. That might be because Angela Canning had already written an article on golliwogs for the Journal about two years ago (looking at the portrayal of gollies in the Noddy books and elsewhere) and didn't want to repeat anything she'd already said.

I have to admit I got that impression too... while the article interested me because I hadn't read the book before (and it's one that must be hard to come by now), it was mainly a summary of stories from the book without much food for thought. I hadn't seen Angela Canning's previous article on golliwogs, which I'd be interested in reading. Which issue of the Journal was it in, and are there back copies available to buy?

[Chrissie777]

At the time that these 'Family' books were written, Lutterworth Press had owners with strong religious beliefs and Enid was commissioned to write a 'series' of books which had firm moral messages in them. I read somewhere that she didn't enjoy writing these books as much as her mystery and adventure books as she felt constricted by her brief and couldn't let the books flow in quite the manner that she would have liked.

Thanks, Tony. Now it makes sense to me why I did not really care for "Red Roofs" when I read it years ago on a long trip to the UK. It didn't create the magic and the atmosphere for me that the FF or Adventure series did.

[Chrissie777]

I had an enjoyable afternoon on Tuesday, in the summerhouse, reading the latest Journal.

Nigel, now I'm really curious about that summer house! Where is it?

[Chrissie777]

Bimbo is a poor name for such a regal cat; I much prefer Patabang.

Sorry for going off topic, but maybe Nigel or another (US?) member could answer my question.
For a long time I was wondering why young blond women in the US are called Bimbo. Doesn't make any sense to me. Back in the 50's and 60's Bimbo was still a name for an animal.