Journal 74

[Anita Bensoussane]

Another item I enjoyed immensely was John Henstock's astute analysis of the strengths and anomalies of the first two Naughtiest Girl books. As children, my sister and I loved the expression "Sorry I was piggy to you"!

Judith Crabb's article was also of great interest as I like school readers and have fond memories of reading the Wide Range Readers series at school, aged 7 - 9. The reading level was easy but the contents were engaging - stories and legends, biographies, geography, history, etc. That was where I first learnt about the lives of notable figures like Anna Pavlova, Louis Braille, Helen Keller, Grace Darling and Louis Pasteur. A comprehension passage taken from a Secret Seven book would certainly have captured my attention as a youngster and it's great to know that Enid Blyton books were recommended on the 'Junior Bookshelf' lists.

Turning to the pages from the autograph book dating from around 1912, I don't think I'd heard the name Jessie Ray before so it's nice to be introduced to another of Enid's friends from St. Christopher's! All the drawings show talent but I particularly like Phyllis Chase's fairy-folk. What a privilege to be able to see these schoolgirl sketches!

Reading 'The Play's Not the Thing!', I was fascinated to learn that Enid Blyton's adult drama went through three titles before being sent out to theatrical producers. Heh - the description of John Preston as having "a real attraction ... the attraction of a big, well-mannered, rather clumsy but devoted dog" made me chuckle. It's interesting that Andrew whistles 'Over the Sea to Skye' as Pip arranges to whistle the same tune as a signal in The Mystery of the Strange Messages. It's also interesting that Enid Blyton chose the surname Hamilton but then changed it to Hanly, as I believe both those surnames were in her family (and Hanly, of course, was used as a first name for one of her brothers). The ingredients have potential - the immature father, the enigmatic Peter Johnson who is haunted by the past, and the tensions between the two sisters. Family melodramas had been popular on the stage but were probably falling out of fashion by the time Enid Blyton penned her play in 1956.

[Anne Gracie]

Mine hasn’t arrived yet, it’s still winging its way across I assume. I certainly don’t mind reading about the issue here even though I haven’t got it, in fact I prefer it.

[Lucky Star]

Another brilliant edition of the EBS Journal put to bed. Like others I enjoyed Tony's editorial. Very morale lifting in these dark and confused times. On first glance at the contents page I felt a bit bereft to see nothing from either Anita or Rob Houghton but as soon as I turned the page to Ilsa's article it was enjoyment as usual.

My own experiences of Growing up with Blyton were in the 70s but I found I could still relate to everything Ilsa wrote. I too swapped books with friends, borrowed from the library and longingly browsed bookshop shelves. In my case it was mainly Armada or Dragon paperbacks rather than those lovely hardbacks but the effects were the same. An excellent and very enjoyable article.

William Ferguson always writes a good article and his Rogues Gallery of Enid's villains was no exception. I particularly liked how he linked these with real life desperados. And I had completely forgotten that the baddie in Five on a Treasure Island was called Jake. Good reminder.

Our own Tim Venning produced part 9 of his immense exploration of the 1970s Famous Five TV series locations and it was a humdinger with many great pictures. I love the coastal locations most of all so to see so many of them was great. The amount of research Tim does for these articles is clearly enormous. All fans of the series are indebted to him for writing these articles. I hope we have a few more chapters to go yet.

John Henstock is reliably entertaining and his Naughtiest Girl feature was as good as he always is. To be honest I have still only read one of the Naughtiest Girl books but this article really whetted my appetite to give the series another look. Roll on part 2.

The Seventh Holiday Book article by Angela Canning was likewise very enjoyable. I have many of the stories mentioned and thoroughly enjoyed reading Angela's thoughts on them. Timeless classic stories all of them. Simple Simon goes Shopping has to be my favourite of the ones mentioned.

Judith Crabb's Schooled in Blyton was an interesting read. How lucky to be actually educated with Blyton books. There were a few of her books in my school library but she was entirely absent from the classroom.

The Plays not the thing gave an interesting look at another aspect of Enid Blyton's work and I found the short article on Enid and her St Christophers gang really thought provoking. I especially loved the old photos. So much more classy than todays endless "selfies".

Several great contributions from the lady herself and Neville Barlow's heavy but fascinating continuation of his article on the psychological aspects of the Famous Five rounded out yet another golden edition of what is surely the best value publication on the planet. The best I have ever uncovered anyway. Thanks go as always to all of the contributors and especially to Tony for managing to put it all together in what must have been very trying circumstances without losing a drop of quality. Roll on the next edition.

[Aussie Sue]

Mine hasn’t arrived yet, it’s still winging its way across I assume. I certainly don’t mind reading about the issue here even though I haven’t got it, in fact I prefer it.

It shouldn't be much longer, mine arrived yesterday.

cheers
Aussie Sue

[Ice_Gemz]

Thanks for listing the poems included in the Child Whispers Colo(u)ring Book, Ice_Gemz. Were the pictures drawn specially to go with each poem or are they very general illustrations that might have been taken from elsewhere?

Hi Anita, the pictures seem to go very well with the poems, but it's difficult to say whether they were drawn especially for the book or not. Some aspects look modern, but others look older, so my feeling is that they were drawn for the book.

I've taken photos of the pages and uploaded them to a Google Drive folder if anyone wants to have a look: (note in the Preface the reference to "Noody" rather than "Noddy", oops! And "Phyliss" Chase rather than "Phyllis") -

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... IETpqxk6f-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Anne Gracie]

Thank you Aussie Sue, that’s good to know.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I hope your Journal arrives soon, Anne Gracie! Reading people's responses is fun and comments are very welcome at any stage.

Thanks for putting the images from the Child Whispers Colo(u)ring Book on Google Drive, Ice_Gemz, though when I clicked on the link it said I have to wait for permission to view them. The spelling mistakes would appear to confirm Tony's suspicions that "this is probably a DIY job"!

I've been busy and sadly didn't have time to write anything for the current Journal, John (Lucky Star), but I hope to write more articles in the future. I have fond memories of 'Simple Simon Goes Shopping' too (mentioned by Angela Canning). I've got it in Goodnight Stories (Purnell) which I've had since I was a small child. It's full of marvellous tales from the Holiday Books including 'Sulky Susan', 'I'll Do Them Tomorrow', 'Polly's Ps and Qs', 'He Didn't Say Thank You' and 'The Loose Shoe Button'. I devoured these stories as a youngster and no doubt they helped shape my character as I grew up. I don't have any of the Holiday Books but I've read many of the stories in other collections. The words chosen by Angela Canning to describe different tales from The Seventh Holiday Book show how varied they are: "ingenious... poignant... thrilling... magical..."

Looking at the Enid Blyton stories and poems which Tony included in the Journal, I was struck by Lunt Roberts' wonderful illustrations for 'Candleshoe's Magic Bottle'. They're just perfect, with shades of The Enid Blyton Book of Brownies. What brilliant names for the characters, especially "Creak the Doorman" and "Dame Wisehead" - not to mention "Candleshoe the Conjurer"! A. E. Jackson's artwork for the poem 'The Genie of the Attic' is eye-catching too and the poem itself has a pleasantly bouncy rhythm. 'The Naughty Class' is good as well, illustrated by the inimitable Grace Lodge. The Pip the Pixie story is entertaining (I love watching dragonflies) and 'The Two Money-Boxes' is sweet and even contains a nod to Noddy!

It's lovely to see Enid Blyton's enthusiasm for bluebells in 'Bluebell Time', though gathering bunches of flowers in the woods would be frowned upon these days. The letter from Mister Meddle's scarily waspish Aunt Jemima is a gem, complete with full-length portrait!

Reading Don Townshend's article, I was taken aback to hear of a schoolteacher finding fault with Enid Blyton for her supposed "bad grammar". Like other authors, Enid sometimes uses non-standard grammar (along with non-standard spelling and vocabulary) to convey the speech of a character who speaks non-standard English. However, that's a technique which is employed deliberately to add colour and realism. It's not at all the same as using "bad grammar" in passages which aren't spoken by a character. Typos happen every now and then but we know from Enid Blyton's letters and diaries that she had a sound command of the English language.

The idea of "putting Enid Blyton's work in its cultural and historical context" sounds promising (Reading Enid Blyton by Philip Gillett), though numerous Journal writers have done that over the years so I doubt the book will contain anything radically new for many regular Journal readers. £61.99 is on the steep side (!) but I may try to borrow the book from the library.

...yet another golden edition of what is surely the best value publication on the planet. The best I have ever uncovered anyway. Thanks go as always to all of the contributors and especially to Tony for managing to put it all together in what must have been very trying circumstances without losing a drop of quality. Roll on the next edition.

Hear, hear!

[Ice_Gemz]

Google Drive link updated so anyone with the link can now access.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks very much for that, Ice_Gemz. As you say, it's difficult to tell whether the pictures were specially drawn for the colouring book as they're somewhat vague.

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the poems, a number of which I hadn't seen before. 'The Moon at Tea-Time' is extraordinarily good in my opinion. It's full of observations and comments which sound as though they could have come from a child yet suggest a lot more than what's on the surface. 'Lovely Frocks' is gorgeous and I also like 'April' and 'The "Feeling"' (I've read 'The "Feeling"' before and it has always been a favourite). Some of Enid's poems are quite A. A. Milne-ish.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The sketches from the autograph book got me thinking about the artistic talents of Enid Blyton, Phyllis Chase and Mary Attenborough. As we know, Enid Blyton illustrated some of her own pieces for The Teachers World and also did some painting and sketching for pleasure, especially as she grew older and began to suffer from dementia.

Phyllis Chase was an illustrator for Enid Blyton and other authors but was it a lifelong career, I wonder? Does anyone know?

Mary Attenborough, who became Mary Potter after her marriage, had a long career as an artist painting landscapes, still lifes and portraits. Much of her work is quite abstract, with subdued colours, and isn't really to my taste. She has a Wikipedia entry and, although Wiki is notorious for inaccuracies, I couldn't help being struck by certain Blytonian-sounding elements. Mary Potter "became a member briefly of the Seven and Five Society", had children called Andrew (though I don't know whether he ever went by the name of Andy!) and Julian, and lived in The Red House and Crag House (putting me in mind of Red-Roofs and Craggy Tops respectively - though she didn't live in either of those houses until the 1950s so they couldn't have influenced Enid Blyton!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Potter_(painter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

[Hannah]

I've gotten my journal but I've not had the time to read much of it so far. I'm wondering where to find the new password for the "secret passage" though? I must be blind .

[Tony Summerfield]

The first word on page 46 of Journal 74 is the new password. Email me if you still have a problem!

[Hannah]

Thanks, Tony, that worked. Is it always the first word of page 46 if there is a change of password?

[Wolfgang]

If you want to log in to the secret passage, there's a tip about the password.

[Daisy]

Thanks, Tony, that worked. Is it always the first word of page 46 if there is a change of password?

The password changes with each journal and the page is usually different. I think it needs at least 6 letters and sometimes the first word would be too short, so the page does change.