60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Discuss Blyton's magazines, short stories and poetry here.
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John Pickup
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by John Pickup »

Another great review, Rob. 100 silkworm caterpillar eggs for 2 shillings. Wow! I like it that Enid reminds you to send a stamp-addressed envelope for the instructions and the eggs! There must have been some rather gooey envelopes.
Here Comes The Tiddler is another story I've never read before and it's typical of Enid to have young Nicky giving the box of carrots back for the donkey. I like the illustrations too. Thanks to Tony for the link.
The Sunbeams puzzle was easy, I got them all straight away.
It's a pleasure to read these reviews every fortnight. Thanks Rob. :D
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Daisy »

Thanks Rob. It always amazes me how much was contained in each issue and what great value for money it was!
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Eddie Muir »

Another great review indeed. Many thanks, Rob. :D

As a regular reader in my younger days, I agree that the magazine was great value for money, Daisy :D
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Rob Houghton »

Thanks all!

I agree - I think the EB Magazine was terrific value. There were 47 pages for 4 and half pence. :-D
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Tony Summerfield »

You mentioned the larger cover picture that I have put above the letter, Rob, but you possibly haven't noticed that I added a larger cover picture to all your 1957 Magazines. I felt that the image one sees in the Cave is so small that it could do with its own spot.

I also enjoyed the Tiddler story, with only one uncollected story to add this week I was able to find the time to read it as well. It is a pity that World Distributors have grabbed stories as I consider that most of the illustrators in their annuals are pretty awful and the annuals aren't all that common now either - even if one does want to part with money for them! I bought all mine when they were about 50p each.

A great summary as always, Rob.
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Kate Mary »

I never thought I'd say it but what a shame the story Three Hundred Years Ago was reprinted. I would dearly loved to have read it. Is it the only time Enid wrote an historical story? I can think of no other. The same goes for the Amelia Jane story. I've never come across any of the Bedtime Annuals but I'll keep my eyes open. The one remaining uncollected story was enjoyable. Thanks for the review Rob and Tony for putting Here Comes The Tiddler and Enid's letter in the Cave.
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Tony Summerfield »

I don't know if it is just me, but I find it thoroughly annoying that the back and forward arrows don't take you though to the previous or next issue in the same way that Sunny Stories does!
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

There certainly is a great deal in these little magazines. I never collected them, and knew nothing of them until I joined the Society.

Loved the story of The Tiddler. Not keen on the bloke hitting the donkey mind, but at least Nicky made sure it ate something.

Thanks for putting that story in the Cave, Tony. Amazes me always just how many short stories Enid had in her head.

Thanks to Rob too for letting us know what is inside this issue.

8)
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Rob Houghton »

Tony Summerfield wrote:You mentioned the larger cover picture that I have put above the letter, Rob, but you possibly haven't noticed that I added a larger cover picture to all your 1957 Magazines. I felt that the image one sees in the Cave is so small that it could do with its own spot.

I also enjoyed the Tiddler story, with only one uncollected story to add this week I was able to find the time to read it as well. It is a pity that World Distributors have grabbed stories as I consider that most of the illustrators in their annuals are pretty awful and the annuals aren't all that common now either - even if one does want to part with money for them! I bought all mine when they were about 50p each.

A great summary as always, Rob.
Thanks Tony! :-D

Yes - I had noticed you'd been adding a larger cover picture to the magazines I've reviewed - but hadn't mentioned it before. It certainly shows off the illustration better than the smaller cover picture. Some of the illustrators in the magazine (especially those often not credited!) are exceptionally good.

I agree about the annual illustrations. I look at them with a certain amount of nostalgia, as I had the first of these annuals aged about 5 or 6 and they remind me of my childhood - but the illustrations aren't exactly exciting! I also agree that these annuals are getting harder and harder to find - and more expensive. I bought the 1980 one the other month for £2.50 which was very cheap! I think I have most of them now - or rather, most of them from 1970 - 1980.

8)

Thanks for your work, Tony. :-D
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Rob Houghton »

Tony Summerfield wrote:I don't know if it is just me, but I find it thoroughly annoying that the back and forward arrows don't take you though to the previous or next issue in the same way that Sunny Stories does!
I agree! This annoyed me the other day! I was looking through a selection of EB Magazines in the cave and when I pressed the forward arrow they sometimes leaped several issues - or even went backwards! i'm not sure what sort of order they appear in, but its not chronological! :?
Kate Mary wrote:I never thought I'd say it but what a shame the story Three Hundred Years Ago was reprinted. I would dearly loved to have read it. Is it the only time Enid wrote an historical story? I can think of no other. The same goes for the Amelia Jane story. I've never come across any of the Bedtime Annuals but I'll keep my eyes open. The one remaining uncollected story was enjoyable. Thanks for the review Rob and Tony for putting Here Comes The Tiddler and Enid's letter in the Cave.
I think Enid wrote several 'historical' stories - though I'm not sure how many others were true stories. I know I've read a few set in the English civil war, etc - one featured children building a castle of bricks over a secret trap door so that their Daddy wouldn't be discovered when he hid! 8)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Kate Mary »

It's not just you Tony, I find it irritating too. I always access the EB Magazines from the complete list of issues.

Thanks for the reply Rob, I've never come across that story and I don't remember any historical stories in any of the collections I've got.
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Rob Houghton wrote:I love the cover of this issue - an illustration from the first short story, called simply 'Three Hundred Years Ago'. Its an interesting one, because its a true story, apparently, all about how a little boy called Charles helps to gather seeds so that the whole world, and not just a privaleged few, can enjoy anemones. I really love the illustrations - you can see one on the cover and a bigger version which Tony has provided in the link above. Such a shame the illustrations are uncredited...

...If you happen to have a copy of Enid Blyton's Bedtime Annual 1980 then you'll be lucky enough to be able to read this story for yourself!
Tony Summerfield wrote:It is a pity that World Distributors have grabbed stories as I consider that most of the illustrators in their annuals are pretty awful and the annuals aren't all that common now either - even if one does want to part with money for them!
Rob Houghton wrote:I agree about the annual illustrations. I look at them with a certain amount of nostalgia, as I had the first of these annuals aged about 5 or 6 and they remind me of my childhood - but the illustrations aren't exactly exciting!
Several artists illustrated the Bedtime Annuals and, although some of the pictures are rather insipid, others are very vibrant and "folksy" and I like them a lot.
Rob Houghton wrote:The International Magazine Club that Enid describes I thought was very unusual. Interesting to hear of Magazine Club members in all corners of the globe...
Yes, I found that interesting too. It must have taken quite some doing to get members communicating effectively across all those countries in the days when letters would have had to be sent via snail mail.
Rob Houghton wrote: Noddy Went Too Fast! Concludes today. I know Anita will be writing begging for 'more Noddy stories, Please, Miss Blyton!' - but its over for a while.
I'm devastated! :wink:
Rob Houghton wrote:... we have the only uncollected short story of this issue - Here Comes the Tiddler - and its easily the best story in this fortnight's magazine. It tells the tale of Nicky, who has often been ill and is weaker and more weedy than the other boys, but proves to himself, and eventually to pretty much everyone in his village, that he is 'a lion cub' and not 'a tiddler'.
A great story. Tales like that always made me want to be strong and brave and capable too, which I suppose was the effect Enid Blyton intended them to have!
Rob Houghton wrote:Enid gives us news of her Children's Home and of the Famous Five members who help to keep it running by donations and fund raising. She gives us news of five of the children who live there - we have little Alice, 1 and a half years old, who is very weakly - so thin that she looks only about 9 month! We have peter, who was a poor little thing when he came but has settled in VERY well! He is two. Then there is Sammy, aged 1 and a half, whose mother deserted him, poor mite. Mark, who is 15 months, whose mother had nowhere to go when she was turned out of her room, so we took him in. And dear Winnie, only 8 months, whose mother just dumped her and left her. She hasn't once smiled since we had her, which is most unusual for a baby. I'm afraid she still misses her mother.
How sad. I hope the babies and toddlers did well at the Children's Home and that their families (if they had families) got help getting back on track.
John Pickup wrote:100 silkworm caterpillar eggs for 2 shillings. Wow! I like it that Enid reminds you to send a stamp-addressed envelope for the instructions and the eggs! There must have been some rather gooey envelopes.
Did any forumites ever try raising silkworms? I never heard of anyone doing that when I was at school but it seems to have been all the rage in the 1950s!

Thanks as always for the write-up and the scans, Rob and Tony.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Aussie Sue »

Anita asked "Did any forumites ever try raising silkworms? I never heard of anyone doing that when I was at school but it seems to have been all the rage in the 1950s!

Yes. This was popular and encouraged in my primary school in Australia during the 50's. I was in Adelaide back in those days and unfortunately mulberry bushes/trees were less common in our climate and we were always very jealous of anyone who had access to mulberry leaves as their silkworms always survived much better than ours. We tried to feed them lettuce leaves but that wasn't very successful. We would keep our eyes peeled for mulberry trees in the area and would bravely knock on the door of any house that had one. I remember having a couple of lots of silkworms that survived and built cocoons. Happy school memories. I was living in Brisbane a few years ago and there was a large mulberry tree in our back yard and it brought back great memories of my childhood silkworms.

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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Thanks, Sue. That's very interesting!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Rob Houghton »

Thanks Sue - that's very interesting indeed! :-D

I have relatives living in Adelaide. :-)

Interesting about the lettuce leaves, too - which Enid actually mentions in her letter as being a good substitute! :wink:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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