Journal 73

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm glad you finally received Journal 71, Lenoir! I don't expect that any other Journal has ever spent that long in the post!

I think you'll find the Malory Towers series interesting, John.

Neville Barlow delves into the life of Enid and comes up with some interesting points. Reading this article makes me wish I could have met Enid and sat down with her and analysed her reaction to my own questions. Quite impossible of course!

What questions would you have liked to ask Enid Blyton, John? I'd love to know which of her characters she felt closest to (besides George of the Famous Five, whom she mentioned in an interview) and which of her books/series was her favourite. I'd also be interested to learn whether she read any of E. Nesbit's books.

[Judith Crabb]

And I'd like to know how many of L.T. Meade's novels and stories she read (another prolific author who wrote across genres). I'm reading 'The Lady Cake-Maker' at the moment, gothic-horror chilling.
.

[John Pickup]

I would like to have asked her if she wished she'd never written those last two Barney mysteries, where was the valley in Valley of Adventure, was Miss Pepper modelled on herself and other questions regarding her books.
What were her thoughts on work by Malcolm Saville and other authors writing for children at that time.
What did she really think about the views of adult critics. Did she wish she could have moved on to adult fiction and abandoned her popular children's series.
Who was her favourite illustrator. Was she disappointed with the work of any of them.
What were her thoughts regarding politicians, especially Churchill.
Did a child ever say to her, I didn't like a particular book. How did she react to criticism from children.
And many more.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I wish you could have interviewed Enid Blyton, John!

[Courtenay]

I wish you could have, too — I'd love to hear her answers to all those questions!

[Julie2owlsdene]

I wished I'd known more about Enid Blyton as a child. It's so easy these days with the internet.

But I didn't even know where she lived, apart from Green Hedges in some of her books. I would have loved to have been able to go and pay a visit to this wonderful house and spoke to Enid as some children had done.

[Chrissie777]

I never knew about "Old Thatch" as a child in Germany, but I knew about Green Hedges thanks to the partial translation of "The Story of my Life" by Erika Klopp Verlag into German.
So Enid Blyton's House in Beaconsfield was on my mental wishlist of places for my very first UK trip.

Finally in May 1981 I was able to travel to the UK for 3,5 weeks and enjoyed it very much.
What a beautiful country with lots of castles and a breath-taking coast line!!!

However, when we stayed for several nights at the Whitbread Hotel in Beaconsfield, nobody of the local people seemed to know Enid Blyton (and I only asked people over 40).
Finally somebody pointed us to Blyton Close and I was heart-broken when I realized that Green Hedges was no more.

[Moonraker]

Sometimes it is wise to be aware for what you wish. I would hate to interview any of my childhood heroes in case I would be disappointed. It has always been the books/stories that I have been interested in, not necessarily the author.

[Lenoir]

I enjoyed Journal 73, full of interesting articles.
I wonder how difficult it is to do a psychological analysis without meeting the person, but the article is well researched.

[Lenoir]

The latest index up to Journal 73 is available for download.

Index

[Anita Bensoussane]

Excellent, Lenoir! Thanks so much for updating the index so frequently.

[John Pickup]

I agree. Brilliant work, Lenoir.

[Eddie Muir]

Great stuff! Thanks, Lenoir.

[IceMaiden]

I'm just reading journal 73. Does anybody else's skip from page 38 to 47? There's an article about the Famous Five TV series from page 34-38 then it cuts off abruptly and starts page 47 with a random Secret Seven page!

[Kate Mary]

My copy of Journal 73 is complete, it looks like you have a duff copy IceMaiden. The good news is that Journal 73 is still available in the Society shop, why not treat yourself to another one?