Journal 72

[Judith Crabb]

I agree. I recently re-read the Malory Towers series and while I don't think they're in quite the same league as Antonia Forest's school series they were excellent entertainment. I was surprised how little I remembered after sixty years, but the experience of re-reading them took me back to my first year of High School and think that the characters in the Malory Towers series seem to be as real as the girls I knew back then, including the ones who generously lent me their copies to read. I would love to see the TV series Anita recommends in the Journal. I wonder whether it'll ever come out on DVD. If so I've got a chance of getting to see it through our brilliant Public Library system (best in Australia, best in the world maybe). Chrissie's post alerted me to a 1957 film 'Five on a Treasure' and I've ordered that DVD through the library.

[Chrissie777]

Judith, let me know if you enjoyed it, please.

Chrissie's post alerted me to a 1957 film 'Five on a Treasure' and I've ordered that DVD through the library.

[Moonraker]

I meant in the city centre, Nigel. When the High Street post office was closed, there was a notice on the door giving the addresses of the two nearest post offices. One was only a 15-minute walk from where I live but was inside a large supermarket (not one I normally use). It took 20-odd minutes to walk to the other post office, which was inside a small store at a petrol station. Thankfully, that didn't have much of a queue at all.

Yes, I thought that was what you meant! We often use the PO in Waitrose as it is open when the supermarket is open. The PO at the filling station is very close to where we live, so we use that one often as well. After all the walking you did, you should have called in for a cuppa!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks, Nigel, but I couldn't because people from different households weren't allowed to visit each other at all at that time!

Judith, Antonia Forest is in a league of her own when it comes to boarding school stories as we get to know the Marlow family so well and there are books revolving around the family at home too. I love the way certain activities and topics of interest run through the series - e.g. boats, falconry, Guiding, Judaism, books and acting (oh, and cricket, though that doesn't hold my attention quite as much!)

[John Pickup]

How can anyone not like cricket? I've got a lovely copy of The Cricket Term by Antonia Fraser in a Girls Gone By edition.

[Judith Crabb]

After all, if the writing is good enough, almost everything is worth reading about.
As a child I did not read Antonia Forest's series but as an adult I suspect that I am more informed in my appreciation. 'Peter's Room' with its Emily Bronte connection is what I think is called 'intertext' these days and is fascinating.
Back to Journal 72 from which I learnt a lot. After reading 'The Magic of Mary Gernat' I'm confident I'd recognize her distinctive pictures. I looked at the jacket of 'The Six Bad Boys' and find no disparity with the illustrations inside. Mary Gernat would not be the first author or artist in old age to disclaim work completed years before.
I enjoyed 'Five get into a Fix part 2' and sympathized with Anita's relish for a well-made book. I particularly liked the deep-blue illustrated endpapers on many Famous Five books of my childhood. I discovered much later that the very early editions compensate for their lacking such embellishments with lovely coloured frontispieces.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm afraid I've never been a fan of sport, John - though I do like playing a casual game of table tennis or badminton and I love countryside rambles and swimming in the sea, rivers or lakes.

Of course, sport is only one of many elements that make up a boarding school story. Although I'm not very interested in a blow-by-blow account of a match, I do enjoy seeing how the outcome affects various individuals and groups within the school.

I only read five of Antonia Forest's 'Marlow' books as a child, Judith (the four school books and The Ready-Made Family), as the others didn't appear to be available at the time. I longed to be able to read the rest and I've since collected and read the whole set from Girls Gone By.

My Famous Five books are Knight paperbacks but it's wonderful to see the endpapers, frontispieces and dustwrappers of the early hardback editions in the Cave.

[Judith Crabb]

Robert Houghton, writing about the Noddy books in part 9 of his Cookery Book admits that he 'wanted to collect them all - although that ambition was never fulfilled until I was an adult'. This statement must resonate with a lot of lovers of children's books and originals or facsimiles are alluring additions to the shelves.
Both his article and John Lester's 'Places to Visit' certainly kept my imagination travelling. I came to Enid Blyton rather late, at seven, with the Faraway Tree series and The Secret Seven, and dismissed Noddy as for young children, though as a subscriber to Enid's Magazine I got to read a lot of short stories. Rob's account of his Blyton-inspired theatricals made me recall my own contribution, sitting the neighbour's grandchildren on her veranda steps and entertaining them from the lawn-stage with a visit to the Faraway Tree. While I was in full-flight their father happened to walk by, stopped, listened and at the end of the performance said 'that was a very good story'. He may have thought that I was a child prodigy, but it was all Enid's. Well, almost all. I had recently been given a pair of stilts made for me by my grandfather and I included a Visit to the Land of Stilts so that I could demonstrate my expertise.
I liked reading about the Amelia Jane Book, too. Similar home-made books very rarely survive and deserve places in museums of childhood.

[Aussie Sue]

I'm pleased to say my Journal 72 did not go astray and has now arrived, so I can read all the interesting articles everyone has been discussing.

[Anita Bensoussane]

That's good, Sue.

The Land of Stilts sounds fun, Judith!

[Judith Crabb]

I was lucky having a carpenter for a grandfather, Anita. My stilts made me the envy of the neighbourhood which in those days most children had the run of.
My mother who kept an eye on what was on offer at the matinees at the local picture theatres would certainly have funded my ticket to 'Five on a Treasure Island', Chrissie. However as it was a serial I doubt that I would ever have seen all the episodes as I got to the pictures only on Saturdays which had 'suitable' films, much to my disgust. I spent recess breaks at school on Monday getting accounts of episodes of serials I had missed.
The 1957 Rank 'Five on a Treasure Island' film arrived as a DVD at my local library and it is much more than just a nostalgic 'fix'. It is beautifully cast. Once again I am impressed by the talent of child actors, but even the adults are good , especially Uncle Quentin. I watched the first three episodes last night and am looking forward to another session tonight. I may have missed it in 1957 but I'm certainly enjoying now.

[Chrissie777]

The good thing: Corfe Castle Village and the Jurassic Coast in Dorset where the 1957 FOATI CFF movie was filmed is still the same loking today as way back in 1957.

[Judith Crabb]

That is a good thing.
Australia is full of wonders, plenty of old shipwrecks have dotted our coast, but it is sadly lacking in ancient architecture. As a child I would have loved to watch the Five adventuring in a real ruined castle.

[Chrissie777]

Judith, I grew up in Germany and was reading the Famous Five books from 1965 on.
In these pre-Internet years it took me decades (until 1995) to find out where excatly 1957 FOATI was filmed.

[Lenoir]

Journal 72 arrived today! Lovely to get it at last and to read Tony's editorial. Looking forward to reading some more of it tonight.

Here's hoping that journal 71 will get out of quarantine soon and arrive as well. It would have been posted before the lockdowns so I wonder where it is.