Journal 72

[Jack400]

What an informative article about the BBCs adaptation of Malory Towers, by Anita. Let's hope there will be another series (or more). Angela's article about Mary Gernat's illustrations (and thanks for including the front cover of The Tatler, having created so much interest in it). Into the Valley (John Pickup) and Thoughts on Find-Outers and Dog (John Henstock) were an excellent source of reminiscence- until a shower of rain interrupted! Thanks all.

[Lenoir]

I'm still hoping to receive Journal 71. Apparently some mail is getting through again but there was a backlog because of obvious reasons.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Sorry to hear your Journals are taking so long, Lenoir. I hope numbers 71 and 72 reach you in the near future!

I must say that I’m puzzled as to how a city like Salisbury can not have a post office for over three months. Our local PO in the village, about 100 yards from where I live, which is only small and inside a newsagents, has been functioning all through the pandemic.

I suppose factors like location, size and staffing all play a part.

What an informative article about the BBCs adaptation of Malory Towers, by Anita. Let's hope there will be another series (or more). Angela's article about Mary Gernat's illustrations (and thanks for including the front cover of The Tatler, having created so much interest in it). Into the Valley (John Pickup) and Thoughts on Find-Outers and Dog (John Henstock) were an excellent source of reminiscence- until a shower of rain interrupted! Thanks all.

Hope your Journal didn't get soggy in the rain, Jack! Thanks for your comment on my Malory Towers article. I agree with what Tony says in his editorial - that the TV series is "up there with the best" as far as adaptations of children's books are concerned. I particularly enjoyed John Pickup's article 'Into the Valley' and will have more to say on that and other pieces when I have a bit more time.

[Katharine]

It seems that the East of England is the other side of the world when it comes to getting the post on time, considering Tony posted them six days ago. They are good at delivering the junk mail, though.

I think you were just a bit unlucky John, as mine arrived on 23rd July, and I'm only just down the coast from you.

The envelope to mine got ripped as it was shoved through the door.

[Boatbuilder]

Of course you are 44 miles closer to Salisbury than I am, Katharine, and we’re the UK’s most easterly point out on a limb.
I guess yours must have been in a batch that the guy at the PO did a couple of days before, Katharine. As I said, it was postmarked 22nd, and I would think yours was probably postmarked the 20th, but no doubt your envelope has gone into the shredder by now, like mine, as I always shred anything with personal info on.

I hope the Journal was still in tact.

[Anne Gracie]

Mine will arrive in August, and I’ve already perused the contents here.

Katharine, that’s a shame that yours got ripped.

My 71 was a bit bent, but not folded or creased thankfully. Here’s hoping for a safe 15K transit for the issues.

Any plans to go digital in the ‘20’s? I am sure its been discussed before but I just thought I’d ask..

[pete9012S]

My Journal arrived very promptly with no hold up at all.

So far I have read and enjoyed Tony's editorial and two other articles.
Learning that Imogen had passed away this year left me feeling quite sad for a number of days.

I suspect in real life she would have found my personality even more irritating than Snubby's, but nonetheless I really enjoyed reading her book which took me ages to hunt down some years ago.



Imogen Smallwood: As I Knew Her by Norman Wright (4) This was such a timely and extremely well written article. Thank you Norman, for providing it for us.

Five Get Into a Fix – Part 2: by Anita Bensoussane (52)
I needed some light relief, so what better than to dive into one of my fave Five books with Anita 'B'!

A great info packed article which instantly lifted my spirits and lightened my mood.
Anita even managed to say nice things about Betty Maxey too - what more could a boy ask for!

That's all I've read so far, but I must say a very big thank you to Tony for preparing and posting the Journal to us in these perilous times.

[Lucky Star]

Another great Journal. I was moved and saddened while reading Norman Wright's excellent tribute to Imogen Smallwood. It is sad that the Blyton world has lost her. Other than a brief meeting I didn't know her at all but she was definitely a kind and generous patron of the Society.

I haven't seen the Malory Towers TV series and to be honest it's not high on my list of priorities but Anita's article did make it sound very worthwhile. I will seize any chance I get to see it.

I enjoyed Angela Canning's article on Mary Gernat. I love Mary's artwork especially on the Armada and Dragon books. She was evidently a very talented and nice lady.

John Pickup's Into the Valley had me humming the old Skids song as I read it. It popped into my head the instant I saw the title and stayed there for ages. An excellent exploration of one of my very favourite books. Although it occurred to me again as I read that "the enemy" who bombed the valley must surely have been either the Russians or the Americans? Austria from 1938 until after the end of the war was part of the Third Reich and thus was never bombed by the Nazis. It's a point of confusion which never struck me as a child but on adult re-readings I have always thought that Enid made a slight historical error here. But a great article and I thoroughly agree about the Tresilian illustrations. They are very powerful indeed, especially the one of the children before the rock fall. It sums up the crushing disappointment Enid describes the children feeling when they realised they were trapped in the valley.

John Henstock's FFO article was another corker. I thought he was a little hard on Goon though. Yes he has nasty moments throughout the series but then his patience is often sorely tried by those dratted kids. He shows a better side on many occasions too. Great points on the origins of amateur detective stories though. Very informative.

More superb photos and in depth research from Tim Venning in his reliably excellent explorations of the 78 TV series locations. These articles will have to suffice for a while until this Covid-19 related travel madness calms down.

I enjoyed William Ferguson's article comparing his own holidays to Blytonian ones. The camping trip with the church group sounds wonderful as does exploring Brighton with a streetwise cousin.

Not one but two articles from Anita in this Journal. What a treat. Part 2 of her exploration of Five Get into a Fix was every bit as good as part one. It was good to read the sensible explanation of the "Barnard" issue. I agree completely with Anita's logic. The descriptions of Aily in the book do indeed defy anyone who thinks Enid's writing was bland and boring. What a variety of images she conjured up with just a few well chosen words. The description of the first edition at the end of the article rang a bell with me so I hurried to my bookshelf and realised that my hardback copy is actually the first edition described. My copy is a bit battered but has all the mentioned features intact. A great article; we even got a bit of a Welsh lesson thrown in for free. Super value for money.

As a child I, like Rob Houghton, always loved the stories Enid wrote about Fairyland and the pixies, elves, gnomes etc who people it. The Faraway Tree series was an early favourite of mine in this regard. So I much enjoyed John Lester's superb travel guide to the lands at the top of the tree. Many wonderful places were featured which has put a re-read of the series firmly on the cards.

And then imagine my joy when I discovered that this theme continued as Rob Houghton dished up Toyland Tarts in his fabulous Cookbook series. I too love the Amelia Jane stories, Noddy not so much, but Tales of Toyland is another old favourite and I found the love story aspect intriguing. The little sugar mouse story does indeed have a fairly horrific ending; and Enid did treat it quite coldly. i wonder if it would be published today?

The Disobediant Prince from the lady herself rounded off this superb entry to the annals of the EBS Journal. Number 72 now takes a very well deserved place on the shelf with it's predecessors. As always heartfelt thanks go to all of the contributors and especially to our fantastic editor. I can only try to imagine the particular difficulties that must have attended the publication of this Journal in addition to all the usual stresses of producing such a high quality magazine so hats off to all involved. Roll on number 73.

[Daisy]

I have read the whole journal now, savouring the various articles over a few days. What a delightful selection there is.
It was good to read Norman Wright's tribute to Imogen - highlighting the kind and generous person she was. I was delighted to meet her every time I went to an EB day, where she chatted happily with everyone who approached her.
Anita's piece about Malory Towers was very interesting. I had had some misgivings about how the stories would be portrayed on TV but having caught a couple of episodes, I was agreeably impressed - when I had adjusted to the characters, somewhat modified from those I knew in the books! I enjoyed the episodes I saw, but didn't feel they were "my" Malory Towers girls. It is good that the series has been presented to a new generation and wonder how many will seek out the books.
Anita's other piece about "Five get into a Fix" was as detailed and enthralling as her analyses of these stories always are. It is always good to read other's thoughts on the stories we all are so fond of. Both Anita and Rob Houghton do this very successfully. His latest tasty offering was as good as ever! I was never as keen on the short stories as the full length books, but the way Rob writes about many of Enid's nursery characters does make me feel I should gen up on a few more! I did however love the Faraway Tree with the variety of fairy folk who lived there.
William Ferguson's "Summer Holidays" and John Lester's "Places to Visit" made interesting reading too as did the Find-Outer article by John Henstock. This series has always been one of my favourites and I enjoyed reading his thoughts on the various books. I don't think Enid made a mistake about Mrs Moon though!
I never saw any of the TV versions of the Famous Five and have only seen the '70s series in later years. I am impressed by the earnest investigations which Tim Venning carries out with the help at times of others who appear on the forum thread... (It's a pity they seem not to belong to the Society so do not see the articles in the Journal). I was interested to read of how many famous actors took part at times. Thanks Tim for your investigations as the head of the present day Find-Outers!(At least that's how I see him).
I thoroughly enjoyed John Pickup's article about "The Valley of Adventure". It was the first of that series which I read and I was hooked too. I have read it more often that the others from that series. I agree, John, it has everything! I agree with your calculation about how long the old couple were hidden away. It makes sense.
Thank you everyone who contributed and especially grateful thanks to Tony who spends such a long time finding and placing the illustrations so carefully throughout the Journal, making it what must be the most attractive such publication on offer these days.

[John Pickup]

Thanks to everyone for your complimentary posts about my article. Lucky Star makes a very pertinent comment about the enemy being Russian or American which I didn't consider as I tried to base my analysis on Enid's writing. Very good point though, John.
I am still reading my copy so will be commenting on it sometime soon.

[Jack400]

Anita wrote:
Hope your Journal didn't get soggy in the rain, Jack! Thanks for your comment on my Malory Towers article. I agree with what Tony says in his editorial - that the TV series is "up there with the best" as far as adaptations of children's books are concerned.

Happily not, Anita. The sky provided plenty of warning of what might happen and the first spot of rain landed on my cheek so I took the hint.
I found my self checking as I thought I'd only seen six Malory Towers, but, from the listing I had seen all thirteen. If I can watch thirteen 25 minute episodes and the time passes that quickly it must be good!

[Chrissie777]

My EBS Journal arrived this afternoon.
Thank you, Tony, and thank you to all who contributed.
Looking forward to read all the articles tomorrow.
I'll start with John Pickup's article on "Valley of Adventure" as this is IMHO Enid Blyton's master piece.

[Anne Gracie]

The postal service is running well - mine arrived last week and was waiting for me at the post box, so took only one to two weeks to reach me. I’ve read the editorial, plus Norman Wright’s article on Imogen Smallwood so far. I was then drawn to Anita’s article on Malory Towers. Can’t wait to see this series! Haven’t read any more so far yet but have perused through the illustration drawings. The weekend awaits to catch up on the rest.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Any plans to go digital in the ‘20’s? I am sure its been discussed before but I just thought I’d ask..

I'm afraid not, Anne Gracie. The Journal is made up of several large PDFs and takes up a tremendous amount of space.

Thanks for the further comments on my Malory Towers TV series article. It's wonderful to see an Enid Blyton book being given such serious and lavish treatment and it would be brilliant to see another series (coronavirus permitting!) Other Blyton books would make great teatime drama serials too, e.g. the Six Cousins books and the Barney series.

Daisy, I really enjoyed writing about Five Get Into a Fix. It reminded me of the days when my sister and I "played" Five Get Into a Fix with friends, using our garden shed as the hut in the hills. Our love of Enid Blyton influenced a huge number of our games and activities.

I agree with John Pickup (and Chrissie) that The Valley of Adventure is a masterpiece and I thoroughly enjoyed John's article. Details of the war were hazy to me when I first read it (also aged nine) and I somehow imagined that Elsa and her husband had been guarding the treasures in the caves for decades and had grown old there in that remote valley, cut off from the rest of the world! The poignancy and haunting quality of the book have stayed with me ever since that first reading. John is right in describing the action as "frantic, breathless..", but there are also instances of stillness and stirring beauty tinged with oppression and disquiet. As a child I read many books by numerous authors but The Valley of Adventure was my most memorable reading experience. Even the physicality of the book made a lasting impression as it was a gloriously chunky Macmillan hardback borrowed from the library and I was wowed by Stuart Tresilian's magnificent illustrations.

Talking of illustrators, it was nice to see another artist so familiar to me from my childhood featured in the Journal - i.e. Mary Gernat in Angela Canning's article.

Enid Blyton taught me a lot as a child and I continue to learn from her today. Until I read the Uncle Nat tale 'Story of a Silk Frock', I hadn't known that silkworms spin their silken thread from their lower lips!

An excellent issue and I'll have more to say on other articles in due course. A big thank you to Tony and all contributors!

[Moonraker]

I am writing this before reading the comments from other people, so as not to influence me! How time flies, another quality Journal drops on to the mat and I have finally completed it. I used to read it straight through, but prefer now to savour the delights of each issue.

We started (of course, Tony's excellent editorial is always the real start!) with a tribute to Imogen from Norman Wright. This was really interesting and I feel privileged to have met Imogen on several occasions at Society Days.

Like Anita, I thoroughly enjoyed Malory Towers, too. I started watching, fully expecting to start complaining, but to my immense surprise, found it so good I binge-watched the whole series and wanted more! Yes, there were some minor gripes but on the whole it was a fabulous portrayal of life at the school. I felt Darrell was really well cast by the charmingly lovely Ella Bright. I was so pleased that Miss Grayling was everything of which I expected. The back story grated a bit, but still didn't spoil it for me. The school coach was a minor star. Julie's husband, Stephen (who worked for Crosville), knows it well and it is currently stored in Somerset with his old bus. He has both driven it and ridden on it! I found Matron to be slightly annoying - was matron in the books so villainous? More importantly, my granddaughter (aged 6) loved it and now wants to go to boarding school! She has now watched the whole series three times!

I especially enjoyed John Pickup's Into the Valley. I agree with him as I consider it to be Enid's masterpiece. I remember, as a child reading it for the first time, thinking that they would never get out of this one. Nobody knew where they were and it seemed there was no way out of the valley. Of course, deep down I knew they would, as it wasn't the last book in the series! I share John's love of the illustrations - especially concerning the illustration of the children at the foot of the pass with gigantic boulders towering above them. Tresilian at his best. It was a pity that this illustration couldn't have been included in the article alongside the comment.



Maybe the size restriction of the magazine wouldn't have given it its full impetus. I appreciated John's theories and reasoning in his thoughts on the plot.

I enjoyed both John Henstock's Thoughts on Find-Outers & Dog and more on the 70s TV series. Of interest is that Kirrin Station (Marchwood) might see passengers again as trials are currently being run with plans to reopen the line.

William E Ferguson's account of his summers holidays made for an unusual article, again most interesting. My son and family are currently holidaying in Port Isaac, but their first stop was at Polzeath (Polseath?) on their arrival! There was a flashing green light on the harbour wall in the distance, my granddaughter planned to explore for clues the following day as my son told her it was probably a smuggler flashing his lamp! I too have drawn comparisons with the Kirrins en route to their destination. One sentence has always stuck with me when Enid writes that Julian was very clever at finding the four of them a corner seat each in a compartment. I could never see that this was particularly clever as all compartments had four corner seats!

The second article from our prolific writer, Anita, on Five Get Into a Fix threw more light on the Barnard mystery. Odd than Enid tried to blame the printer! This title is one of my favourites. The atmosphere was enhanced by the wintry conditions and the hut on the hillside was the sort of place that, as a child, I would have loved. The fact that Southern Television filmed it without the snow, lost most of the atmosphere for me.

Before reading Robert's ninth instalment from his cookery book, I made sure I had plenty of Gaviston in the cupboard! However, I didn't need it as the carbohydrate content wasn't too high! I'm not a fan of the likes of Amelia Jane, but who knows, he might have influenced me into reading her adventures.

I can honestly say there wasn't one article that I didn't enjoy, and once again a big thank you to all contributors and to Tony for compiling it.