Journal 81

[Judith Crabb]

Anita, am I correct in remembering that the Latimer House edition of The Boys and Girls Circus Book is abridged, in that the final chapters are left out?
After reading all the accolades about Journal 81 (and thank you to all the readers who have expressed their enjoyment of my contribution) I am awaiting the arrival of my copy with ever-increasing impatience. Perhaps next week? Fingers crossed. Once I read about Anita's article I knew that I was in for a treat, but all the contributions sound, as my grandmother would have said, 'bonza'.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Hope your Journal arrives soon, Judith! My Latimer House copy of Boys' and Girls' Circus Book (retitled Enid Blyton's Circus Book) isn't abridged but the type is small and the book isn't so packed with pictures (though the illustrations, by R. Webster, are bold and quirky and still attractive).

Strangely, the first two chapters of the book were included at the end of a Dean & Son short story collection (Happy Hours Story Book, 1964) with no indication that they'd been taken from a novel!

[John Pickup]

Continuing with my thoughts on Journal 81, I felt a bit sorry for John Lester, having to read Enid's stories in serial form and consequently missing out various chapters. I've never liked reading a story weekly or fortnightly but it meant I missed out on some lovely illustrations which we can fortunately see in the Cave. In answer to his question, I read Enid by borrowing her books from the library, as and when they were available and in no particular order.

I enjoyed Judith Crabbe's article about the FFO, she highlighted for me some brilliant comedic moments amongst her analysis of a great series.

Five Have A Wonderful Time is one of my favourite in the series. Tim Venning gives us his personal thoughts on location and I like his comparison to Burgess and Maclean. I also like the information he provides on fairs in days gone by. I used to love the fair back in my old home town which came twice a year, it was the only time I could have a toffee apple!

John Henstock sums up the third set of Five books very eloquently and concisely. I tend to agree with his thoughts, although I don't rate Finiston Farm at all. John calls Junior unpleasant, what I think of him I couldn't possibly say.

Tony the Toymaker ensures we are treated to an offering from the Lady herself and a nice little tale it is too. First published in 1925, it makes me realise the longevity her work has lasted. Well over 50 years since she passed away and we still praise her extraordinary body of work, rightly so.

The cover of Dinkie the Donkey is beautiful. Thanks to Tony and the amazing Journal we can drool over artwork from nearly a hundred years ago that we otherwise would never have seen. That is why the Journal is so special, where devotees like us can admire and reflect on the work of a brilliant children's author.

Thanks to all my fellow contributors for their hard work and to Tony for his sterling work in compiling, editing and producing this marvelous booklet. And thanks to those who take the time to leave their thoughts and opinions on here about the latest offering. Tony spends a considerable amount of time and hard work ensuring we have a journal, it is only right we show our appreciation.
Thanks also to those who have left nice comments about my own contribution.

[Boodi 2]

Just a quick note to say that although I have not reached the halfway mark yet I am really enjoying Journal 81. It never fails to amaze me how the high standard is maintained from journal to journal, which is no mean achievement, so well done and may thanks to Tony and all the contributors. I felt a bit guilty when I read about the increase in postage in the Editorial and would be happy to contribute a bit to cover the extra cost, if that is possible.

I enjoyed reading about the Boys' & Girls' Circus Book, which was new to me as I was never a great 'fan of the circus stories, much preferring the mystery, adventure and secret series as well as the school stories and one off books.

I actually never encountered the stories in serial form so I wonder if Sunny Stories or Enid Blyton's Magazine were available in Ireland in the 1960s when I was young? However, I think the suspense of having to wait two weeks for the next chapter would have been too much for me! Like John Lester I often went to bed early with a book in one hand and a bar of chocolate, a slice of cake on a plate(!!) or a packet of crisps in the other...I'm surprised my mother never objected to the crumbs/mess in my bed, but perhaps I was extra careful!

Neville Barlow's article on the emotional and moral development of the child in the Famous Five stories was fascinating, but my very favourite so far is Judith Crabb's excellent Fatty Trotteville Canon, which I have already read several times as I enjoyed it so much. I especially liked the comparisons with other fiction (e.g. The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax) and fully agree with the account of the various mysteries, some of which are among my very favourites. It is also a mystery to me why Joseph Abbey was allowed to illustrate the first seven books in the series, as I think Judith was being extremely polite when describing his work as "pedestrian", "static", "messy" and "clumsy", as in my view it is simply frightful! However, I also agree that the illustrations are not essential as Abbey's weird images did not detract from my enjoyment of the stories...in fact I suspect that I paid little attention to the illustrations when I first read the books. Nevertheless, I do agree that without Beek Noddy may not have enjoyed the same success.

I now look forward to reading the second half of the journal, which I am sure is just as good as the first half!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I was particularly pleased to see Helen Richards’ article on Enid Blyton’s Book of the Year, it is a lovely book and often gets overlooked I think. My copy is a 1955 impression of the 1950 reprint so differs slightly from the first edition and has a different illustrator ( Eileen Soper) but all or most of the stories and poems are there. I found it in a charity shop years ago, it is stamped inside Belmont School 9th Sept 1958, I don’t think the teachers used it much it is in very good condition with an almost intact dust jacket, I probably paid 50p or a £1 for it. I hope Helen finds a bookbinder to repair her copy it is most definitely worth saving.

I was pleased to see that article too. My childhood copy of Enid Blyton's Book of the Year was also the Eileen Soper one, Kate, given to my sister and me by a family friend. Some years ago I picked up the Harry Rountree version, so I now have both on my bookshelf. Our Eileen Soper copy was a bit "shabby" as well by the time it came to us in the mid 1970s, with a split spine and no dustwrapper, but it's still in one piece so it has been luckier than Helen Richards'! Like Helen, we enjoyed "dipping into" the book and shared with her a love of Miss Brown's school, the nature notes and the tale 'A Pair of Blue Trousers'. My sister and I and two friends of ours had fun acting out the play 'The Currant Bun' as part of a show for our families and friends. I also turned the story 'A Christmas Tale' into a play, slotting in Christmas carols here and there, but we didn't get round to performing it. I seem to recall that the October motto "When you're up to your neck in hot water, think of the kettle and sing" is quoted by Diana in The Rilloby Fair Mystery.

An excellent analysis of Five Have a Wonderful Time by the always very readable Tim Venning. I liked the comparison with Burgess and Maclean and as always the fact that Tim relates the action to real life locations, with photos to boot, is greatly interesting to me. In this article I particularly enjoyed reading the brief history of "fair folk" provided by Tim. Interesting in it's own right it also put into context the many instances of Enid's characters encountering such people.

I also like the information he [Tim Venning] provides on fairs in days gone by. I used to love the fair back in my old home town which came twice a year, it was the only time I could have a toffee apple!

A toffee apple was a Bonfire Night treat for me! I too liked Tim Venning's analysis of Five Have a Wonderful Time and found his overview of "travelling folk" very interesting.

I actually never encountered the stories in serial form so I wonder if Sunny Stories or Enid Blyton's Magazine were available in Ireland in the 1960s when I was young? However, I think the suspense of having to wait two weeks for the next chapter would have been too much for me!

Enid Blyton's Magazine closed in 1959 and Enid wrote Sunny Stories even earlier than that, so I'm afraid you just missed out, Boodi!

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's good to see Dinkie the Donkey on the back cover of the Journal (those plates of biscuits look inviting!) and I also love the summery front cover.

Tony says in his editorial, "I don't always have my wits about me," but he certainly always has his wittiness about him! A most entertaining introduction to Journal 81, and I shall make a point of calling QR codes "squiggly squares" from now on!

'Tony the Toymaker' is a heartwarming, whimsical story, and Janet E. Murray's illustrations are exquisite. If our own Tony were granted a wish, I bet it would have something to do with books - or to do with putting the Journal together, sending it out and keeping records of subscriptions!

Journal 81 is an extremely interesting read and beautiful to look at, as always. Thanks very much indeed to Tony and all contributors!

[Boodi 2]

I actually never encountered the stories in serial form so I wonder if Sunny Stories or Enid Blyton's Magazine were available in Ireland in the 1960s when I was young? However, I think the suspense of having to wait two weeks for the next chapter would have been too much for me!

Enid Blyton's Magazine closed in 1959 and Enid wrote Sunny Stories even earlier than that, so I'm afraid you just missed out, Boodi!

Thanks Anita, that explains it, as had they been available I am quite certain that either my parents would have bought at least one of them for me or I would have saved up my pocket money and bought them myself. In retrospect my parents were extremely generous as I was allowed to choose a new book every Friday after school (needless to say, I mainly opted for Blyton books), for which I am eternally grateful, despite the fact that my mother later gave most of my Blyton books to a younger cousin as she believed that I had "grown out" of them!!!

[John Pickup]

I forgot to mention Judith's comments about the infamous Joseph Abbey illustrations in the FFO books. I agree with her entirely in her descriptions of his work. Enid was blessed with so many illustrious illustrators during her lifetime, Lodge, McGavin, Soper, Tresillian, Dunlop and Buchanan to name a few. I often wonder what she thought of Abbey's work, for the most part, totally unmemorable.

Thanks to Nigel for showing me an example of a QR code. It means nothing to me. You can keep your squiggly squares. Something else invented just to baffle people.

[Anita Bensoussane]

You've named many of my favourite Enid Blyton artists there, John! E. H. Davie and Rene Cloke could be added to the list - and many more, of course. I also agree with Judith's assessment of J. Abbey's illustrations, which often look awkward and out of proportion.

Boodi, I asked my mum if I could have Sunny Stories in 1975, after reading 'Mister Meddle's Umbrella' in Mr. Meddle's Muddles! Meddle goes out to buy a copy of Sunny Stories, saying to his aunt, "Oh, I simply must have that. Why, I might be in the book this week." My mum said she'd never heard of Sunny Stories and that it probably wasn't real and had just been invented for the story!

[Judith Crabb]

Happy Day! Last night I checked my letter-box and there it was, the stamp dated 12-7-23, the arrival date 26-7-23. I've not kept a record, but I've got not to expect the Summer issue before August. I'd love to be able to tell this to those Crabbs sailing from Plymouth in October 1839 and arriving in South Australia in February 1840. (And of course, that's how long the mail took in those days.)
I've decided to read the journal completely before giving my opinions, so more, but later.

[Judith Crabb]

From Anita's 'Boys' and Girls' Circus Book', the 'stand-alone' Blyton most dear to my childhood, to John Henstock's take on 'The Third Six Fives', the last Fives that I read as a child, Journal 81 lived up to my already high expectations. Both Anita and John have the ability to share their enthusiasms in ways which enrich the already precious recollections of their readers. I especially enjoyed John's examination of bravery as portrayed by Blyton, being not the absence of fear but the courage to keep going in the face of fear. (In one novel by another favourite of mine, Violet Needham, the password is fortitude, in another, 'The Avenue', the most timid character is the bravest.) Coincidentally in another article, 'A Psychologist's Viewpoint Part 3' by Neville Barlow, as illuminating as its predecessors, Neville examines fear and what motivates heroic responses. His choice of subject is 'Five get into Trouble' which I sometimes think is my favourite 'Five'.
In contrast Helen Richards' 'Enid Blyton's Book of the Year' was all new to me. As a child I consciously avoided Blyton's nature books, thinking that they were not relevant to me in Australia. How wrong I was. Now I enjoy reading about these gaps in my knowledge of Enid Blyton. Her dismissive bookbinder reminds me of a local bookseller here who specializes in women's literature yet who is equally disparaging about Enid Blyton, the world's most successful writer of children's books and one of the best.
More later...

[Judith Crabb]

I couldn't guess the meaning behind John Lester's title 'How did you read Enid Blyton?' but it turned out to be an amusing and engrossing account of his un-chronological reading, not just of series (it happens to most of us) but of the texts themselves when he missed out for various reasons on episodes from serials. Immediately I wanted to find out what titles I first read as serials, and with the help of an email from Tony narrowed them down to 'The Mystery of the Strange Messages', 'Five go to Billycock Hill', 'The River of Adventure' and 'Five get into a Fix', all in the Australian Chucklers' Weekly', and 'Five on Finniston Farm' in 'Princess'. I know I read them in their entirety but I can sympathize with John as I inherited stray 'Rainbow' and 'Tiger Tim' comics from older cousins and found the missing gaps infuriating, though the lengthy synopses provided at the beginnings of episodes was a help.
Tim Venning's articles are always a pleasure to read and those atmospheric castle photos are superb, while this time John Pickup added one of his faithful homages to another fine novel, 'The Rubadub Mystery'.
The Enid Blyton story chosen by Tony was graced with beautiful illustrations and as always I relished the always apposite pictures he selects. The Gernat illustrations to my contribution were new to me and certainly stylistically notches above Abbey's. (And thanks Boodi2 - I've never been aware of anything I've ever written being read by anyone except myself more than once, so your comment made me positively glow.)
And all this was contained within the most summery of covers, one from 'Holiday House' which is on my re-reading list.

[tigertaff]

I was particularly pleased to see Helen Richards’ article on Enid Blyton’s Book of the Year, it is a lovely book and often gets overlooked I think. My copy is a 1955 impression of the 1950 reprint so differs slightly from the first edition and has a different illustrator ( Eileen Soper) but all or most of the stories and poems are there. I found it in a charity shop years ago, it is stamped inside Belmont School 9th Sept 1958, I don’t think the teachers used it much it is in very good condition with an almost intact dust jacket, I probably paid 50p or a £1 for it. I hope Helen finds a bookbinder to repair her copy it is most definitely worth saving.

Thank you very much Kate Mary. I haven't yet managed to find a bookbinder to repair my book but I'll keep looking.

I'm delighted to hear that you too have a copy. With apologies to Tony, who does such a fantastic job in pulling the Journal together, my original article was a big longer than the published version, and so I'm adding the final paragraphs here, in which I queried whether there might be other Books of the Year - does anyone know?

"Miss Brown’s school children make a Christmas tree and a Christmas cake for the birds. Miss Brown tells the children: “Well, we’ve had a lovely year together – and if we’ve learned to understand and to love the world around us more than we did a year ago, then we have done well!".

"The final offering for December is a song, In The Stable. I haven’t mentioned the songs up to now, although there is one every month, because I tended to skip over them. Effectively, they are Enid Blyton’s rhyming words set to Alex Rowley’s music.

"All in all, what a lovely book. Hours of entertainment, knowledge and fun for a lone reader or for a class of children. I don’t know whether there were any subsequent Books of the Year, although the school serial ends with the words: “And now we will wish them a very happy Christmas and say good-bye until the next year.” I for one would be delighted to uncover a sequel! And in the meantime I will be busy finding a sympathetic book repairer to help keep my precious volume in one piece."

Helen Richards

[Anita Bensoussane]

Immediately I wanted to find out what titles I first read as serials, and with the help of an email from Tony narrowed them down to 'The Mystery of the Strange Messages', 'Five go to Billycock Hill', 'The River of Adventure' and 'Five get into a Fix', all in the Australian Chucklers' Weekly', and 'Five on Finniston Farm' in 'Princess'.

I'd have been terribly impatient if I'd had to read any of the Adventure books as serials. I generally got so caught up in the excitement that I could hardly tear myself away from the story to eat or sleep. Reading a small chunk of The River of Adventure at a time and then waiting a week for more would have been torture! Still, I managed to do that with (non-Blyton) serials in Jinty so I suppose I'd have coped somehow!

[Boodi 2]

(And thanks Boodi2 - I've never been aware of anything I've ever written being read by anyone except myself more than once, so your comment made me positively glow.)

Glad to hear that, as I really enjoyed it!

I also enjoyed the information about fair and circus folk in the article on "Five Have a Wonderful Time" by Tim Venning. Although I was an adult before I actually went to a circus, I have many pleasant memories the annual fair that came to our area when I was a child. Along with the various "rides" one could also win prizes at the hoopla stall and rifle range. On one occasion I won a goldfish, which took up residence in a large bowl in our sitting room. I fed it every day when I came home from school and all was well until a year later when I managed to win another goldfish at the same fair. I assumed that the first goldfish (who I called "Sparky") would appreciate some company, but imagine my horror when I came home a few days later and found them both dead...I often wonder if they killed each other, if there was insufficient oxygen in the water for two goldfish or if the new goldfish was ill and infected poor Sparky!

After that disgression just let me say that Return to Rubadub was also an excellent read. I fully agree with John Pickup that it is baffling that the Barney/R Mysteries are no longer in print and hope that the "suits" at Hachette follow his good advice, as to my mind the Barney/R Mysteries are on a par with all of the other major series and while the Five Find-Outers is my favourite series, it is a close run thing for second between the Adventure series and the Barney/R Mysteries. As the emotional twists and turns in Rubadub are so strong (I felt so angry with Mr. Marvel!) I prefer the first three books in the series, although at least Rubadub does finally have a happy ending.

Once again, a big thank you to Tony and all the contributors for another excellent journal.