Journal 62

What did you think of the latest Journal?
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Moonraker
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Re: Journal 62

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Tony's post is obviously being ignored, even my our moderator! :shock:
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Rob Houghton »

Moonraker wrote:Tony's post is obviously being ignored, even my our moderator! :shock:
But we wouldn't have been talking about 'Bananas In Pyjamas' if an article about Enid's nephew hadn't appeared in The Journal...so in my opinion, its very much on topic! :? As was the talk on daffodils, as poems and illustrations of daffodils feature in this month's Journal. 8)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Tony Summerfield
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Tony Summerfield »

I was actually trying to put in a quote from Carey Blyton myself, from his article in Journal 4, but I found I didn't have a Word file of it, only images of the page and I can't copy and paste from these.
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Courtenay »

Rob Houghton wrote: But we wouldn't have been talking about 'Bananas In Pyjamas' if an article about Enid's nephew hadn't appeared in The Journal...so in my opinion, its very much on topic! :?
That's just what I was saying. 8) It does tie in with the fact that Carey, at the time of his correspondence with Enid as published in the Journal, had lost his job and was trying to find his way in the world of music writing and publishing, and Enid acknowledged it wasn't an easy field to break into but some "great success" might just come along for him... which it did eventually, if not quite in the way he expected!

I would have had no idea that the original Bananas in Pyjamas song (which virtually every child in Australia has grown up with over the past few decades) was written by Enid Blyton's nephew, if we weren't having this discussion. It's remarkable sometimes what a small world it is! :wink:
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Re: Journal 62

Post by John Pickup »

I haven't commented on Journal 62 yet because I haven't started to read it. After a rather hectic few days I'm hoping to make a start today or tomorrow.
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Like Courtenay and Rob, I consider the discussions of 'Bananas in Pyjamas' and daffodils to be on topic because they relate to comments made by Enid in letters/articles in the Journal.
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Re: Journal 62

Post by mikki »

My Journal 62 arrived here in the west of Ireland today! :D

The cover is beautiful and the issue looks packed full of exciting articles, as usual. So far I've read Tony's Editorial, the letters by Enid and Carey and John Henstock's article Enid is so Versatile, and enjoyed them all very much.
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Rob Houghton »

Yesterday I read Anita's article on Tales of Long Ago - excellently written as always. I love to read articles that are informative, as Anita's are, but also have some personal memories (such as reading the Dean books on the steps with her friend at school). It gives the books an extra dimension when personal experiences are included.

I had a copy of the glazed board Tales of Long Ago with the boy holding a helmet, as pictured in Anita's article, and it was a book I enjoyed, and did read a few times - but I always felt a bit 'cheated' that it wasn't a 'proper' Enid Blyton book. I preferred her usual short stories about pixies and magic and children at the time, although I do remember thinking that Tales of Long Ago was much more 'adult' than the other EB books I was familiar with back then.

I agree with Anita about the old-fashioned phrases and archaic words that Enid uses in these retellings - they make them seem more exciting and they pull us into the stories and give them a real 'classical' flavour which I enjoy. I also loved the Brer Rabbit stories for the same reason - it gives us a glimpse of a different writing style and also shows how versatile Enid Blyton really was.

I sometimes found the illustrations by 'Anne and Janet Johnstone' a little scary somehow. I was never a big fan of their style as a child, but now I'm older I can appreciate their talent a lot more. However...as these illustrations were meant to appeal to children rather than grown-ups, they failed dismally to impress me at the age they were intended for!

I also read Angela Canning's 'Five Go To Smuggler's Top' - which I quite enjoyed...although when I read articles that have vast swathes of quotations from the book being written about I tend to scan over the quotations and search for what the article writer has actually added themselves. I prefer to read their thoughts, rather than lengthy quotes from Enid Blyton...after all, I can read the book for myself. This isn't a criticism...its just my own personal taste. In between the quotes. Angela has some very interesting stuff to say, and I enjoyed those parts tremendously.

I now mainly have the fictional sections still to read - by Enid and Daisy! :-D Also Nick's article, which I will get to later. So far its been a brilliant issue as always. I love seeing all the illustrations too, and the adverts for the Famous Five jigsaws, Chivers Noddy products etc.

I also enjoyed Enid's poem, 'April Beads' but felt she made a mistake in the line ''In green and pinks and blues' -- surely it would have sounded better if she'd written 'In greens and pinks and blues'? ;-) Just me being picky!

More later...
Last edited by Rob Houghton on 22 Mar 2017, 12:59, edited 1 time in total.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Journal 62

Post by Tony Summerfield »

mikki wrote:My Journal 62 arrived here in the west of Ireland today! :D

The cover is beautiful and the issue looks packed full of exciting articles, as usual. So far I've read Tony's Editorial, the letters by Enid and Carey and John Henstock's article Enid is so Versatile, and enjoyed them all very much.
Very nice to see you posting about the Journal as you are one of the select group of people who has been a subscriber since Journal 1- over twenty years ago now!
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Yes - it's nice to see you posting, Mikki!

Thanks for your comments on my article, Rob. I also like it when people include personal anecdotes and childhood memories in their articles.

I know what you mean about Janet & Anne Grahame Johnstone's illustrations being a little scary. As well as Tales of Long Ago and Alice in Wonderland I had a book of nursery rhymes illustrated by them - Dean's New Gift Book of Nursery Rhymes, 1971. I used to be thrillingly scared by the grotesquely twiggy Man in the Moon with his windswept, straggly beard and hair - and by the some of the pinched, leathery, vinegary-looking old women in "The gossips of the village". But other pictures were beautiful and dreamy, e.g. the ones for "I'll tell you a story of Jack-a-Nory" and "Wynken, Blynken and Nod".

Eileen Soper's Pennant Readers illustrations rarely get a mention but they're always a delight. She draws young children beautifully and that's why I like her Famous Five illustrations best when she doesn't make the children look too old. Her older children are often quite angular with hulking shoulders. Even Anne looks rather mannish in some pictures.
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Re: Journal 62

Post by mikki »

Tony Summerfield wrote:Very nice to see you posting about the Journal as you are one of the select group of people who has been a subscriber since Journal 1- over twenty years ago now!
Thank you Tony! Wow, is it really 20+ years! :shock: I know I don't post on here much, but I am always so happy to see the Journal arrive, it is like a friend dropping in.

Thank you too Anita.
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Re: Journal 62

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Anita Bensoussane wrote:Like Courtenay and Rob, I consider the discussions of 'Bananas in Pyjamas' and daffodils to be on topic because they relate to comments made by Enid in letters/articles in the Journal.
Okay, I've got the message now. Silly me, I thought BiP was a relatively new children's tv series!
JP wrote:I haven't commented on Journal 62 yet because I haven't started to read it. After a rather hectic few days I'm hoping to make a start today or tomorrow.
Maybe I should have followed you hear and I wouldn't have raised the anger of The Gang of Three! :roll: I keep on meaning to read the new Journal 'tomorrow', but something else always crops up. I might have a small window on Saturday, otherwise I am away for most of the time. Maybe Monday.... :D
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Rob Houghton »

Moonraker wrote: The Gang of Three! :roll:
:lol:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Tony Summerfield
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Tony Summerfield »

Moonraker wrote:Maybe I should have followed you hear and I wouldn't have raised the anger of The Gang of Three! :roll:
Gosh, am I a member of a gang? How exciting - it comes as quite a surprise to me at my time of life! I don't think there was any anger raised, but you would have realised that the posts mentioned were pretty relevant if you had read the Journal. In particular in Enid's letter to Carey where she tells him that something might come along by accident as it did with her and Noddy - and she was right with the Pajama guys. As for the daffodils, they feature heavily in three things by Enid as well as on the cover.
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Re: Journal 62

Post by John Pickup »

I've read half of the journal, starting with Rob's continuing summary of the two versions of Strange Ruby. I've read both and agree that the original by Enid is by far the best. The book is one of my favourite stand alone novels mainly because it was the first of Enid's that I read. It was also the first and last book that I borrowed from the library that was completely new, I was the first person to take it out.
I enjoyed Enid's letters to and from her nephew and Angela Cannings review of Smugglers Top.
Tales Of Long Ago is a book I've never read and one I've never been drawn to. Anita's article gets off to a brilliant start by mentioning her old schoolfriend and her memories of reading to each other at playtime. I'd heard of some of the stories such as Midas and Ali Baba but I was quite taken with the story of the old man and the black dogs. The younger man's wife, the fairy, seems such a brutal person wanting to kill the older brothers or sink their ship before transforming them into two black dogs. Just like a horror story!
Anne Kirrin's Journal is amazing. A Famous Five prequel from a hundred years ago. I was fascinated by reading about the causeway and then the storm and the subsequent shipwreck. When I read that Anne's niece was called Josephine and was considered of lowly birth, images of Ragamuffin Jo came instantly to mind. I can't wait for part two. Well done, Daisy, this has to be one of my favourite articles in a journal.
Hopefully, I shall complete the journal this weekend. Many thanks to all the contributors and to Tony for compiling another excellent publication.
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