During our childhood we have really enjoyed reading the adventures of the Famous Five and The Secret Seven gang. A child might have rarely noticed the author's name - Enid Blyton, the most prolific, successful yet the most controversial children's writer of all time.
Birth and Childhood
Thomas Carey and Theresa Mary Hamilton, a young couple could see their dreams shaping up with the birth of Enid on August 11, 1897. She grew up in the protected arms of her cautious parents. They stayed in a small, two-bedroom apartment in East Dulwich. When she was a few months old they shifted to a neighboring suburb of Beckenham in Kent. After three more years they shifted to a slightly larger house in nearby Clockhouse Road.
Thomas Casey used to work as a salesman with a cutlery manufacturer, which had closed down and so he joined his two elder brothers in the family business of mantle warehousing of Fisher and Nephews. His thirst for knowledge made him learn astronomy, French, German and play piano and banjo. Besides, he painted in watercolors, was a good photographer, sang sweetly, wrote poetry and read voraciously.
Death Passed By
Enid received warmth and affection from her family. When she was just three months she was dangerously ill with whooping cough. The doctor doubted whether Enid would be able to live, but Thomas could not accept the doctor's opinion. He enveloped the infant into the warmth of his arms and all through that long winter night sat cradling her, keeping out the cold and praying for her survival. With the rising sun, the child also arose, perhaps for the children of the world.
As the eldest child in the family she looked after her two younger brothers Hanly and Carey, who supported her in her later years. As a child she invested most of her pocket money in cultivating her garden.
Father-Daughter Relationship
She enjoyed listening to all her tales her father used to tell - whether of his own boyhood in Sheffield, of the fairies or those based on history or classics.
Enid wrote for her father, "He knew more about flowers, birds and wild animals than anyone I had ever met and was always willing to share his knowledge with me. Those were the happiest times, when looking back it seemed the days were always warm and sunny and the skies deeply blue."
He gave Enid her first piano lesson when she was six years old, which she quickly picked up. Her father insisted that she should practice daily and she did so religiously. By then, she and her little brother Hanly had started to attend a small nursery class run by two sisters at a house called 'Tresco.' At school she was considered to be a bright and alert pupil who enjoyed
every minute of her school. She found the simplest of sums difficult but she wrote, read and sang well. Influenced by her father she was one of the best students at the study of art and nature.
Background for a Writer
She always carried a book whether she might be at school or away from school. She was fascinated by world famous writer Arthur Mee and read his encyclopedias word to word and memorized them. As a child she loved reading mythology and fantasy but disliked Grimms' Fairy Tales. She read Letters to Girls with deep interest. The Princess and the Goblin by George Macdonald was her favorite book for a long while and she enjoyed the humor of Alice in Wonderland and the excitement of The Coral Island. Black Beauty and Little Women especially inspired her. At the age of 10 she used to read serious literature from her father's collection.
Her visual memory was as good as her father's. At the age of nine, she could scan a page and at a glance she could reproduce it word by word. At the age of 10, she joined St Christopher's School for Girls in Beckenham.
Separated from Beloved Father
Their family moved to a new house at Clockhouse Roads, which brought new problems to her life. Tension had been growing between Thomas and his wife Theresa, for some years. Attached too much to kitchen and house, Theresa had never shared her husband's interests. She also ruled her children with a rigidity, which was not easy for Enid to accept but her brothers were comfortable.
Thomas always supported Enid in developing her interests, whether it was music, poetry, painting or something else. Theresa thought that her daughter should learn cooking and sewing rather than cultivating intellectual needs as reading books or engaging in a discussion with her father. Theresa never wanted her daughter to pursue a career but to settle down with a home, marriage and children.
Meanwhile, Thomas left home for good, leaving the family in desolation. It was a shock for Enid when she overheard about her beloved daddy bestowing his love for someone else. Enid along with her family wore a mask over face, looking outwardly normal, whereas there was a great battle going on in their minds.
The world around didn't know that Thomas was no longer staying with the family, but was occasionally visiting the family. This incident played a major role in her spiritual growth. No one, even Enid's best friend Mary Attenborough, could ever guess that Thomas lived away from the family. During his visits Thomas took Enid on outings to the theatre or to the country. There was around to encourage her for her interest in music, painting or poetry. She isolated herself in a room away from the rest of her family and continued herself in the creative activities that her father had tried to foster.
Theresa Mary had separated from her husband and moved with her children to Beckenham. Thomas, by the time a successful wholesale cloth merchant in London, provided for his children's school fees and maintenance of his family.
Life in a Cocoon
With the passage of time she felt satisfied in the happier world that she created for herself, with the poems and stories she wrote and hoped them to be published. She was sent away to a boarding school at the age of 13. Thomas was convinced that his daughter was destined for a musical career and therefore forced Theresa to see to that Enid practiced piano everyday. Expensive presents that he brought for Enid could not compensate her loss of time shared with him. Forty years later, she wrote Six Bad Boys in which a similar family situation was faced by her characters, three children deserted by their father after numerous violent quarrels with his wife.
Blooming Days
Enid's fellow-students remember her as a vivacious intelligent girl with a sallow complexion with large nose, dark hair and eyes, and a penchant for playing practical jokes. She was known for her daring act of being the first in the school to have her long plait cut off and to wear her hair at shoulder length, tied back with a bow on a large slide, which earned her the nickname 'the hairless day girl.'
Her enthusiasm for games led her to become tennis champion and she had the ability to put the same efforts everywhere. She won a number of prizes for various subjects and she was made a head girl during her final two years. Enid and her friends Mirabel Danis and Mary Attenborough jointly published a magazine called Dab when they were in school. The magazine consisted of a few stories written by Enid, poems by Mirabel and illustrations by Mary.
Mary always excelled at art and Enid at music. Soon Enid turned to her father's sister Mabel for guidance. She was 20 years older than Enid, yet she could be a friend, philosopher and a guide to Enid. Mabel was a woman with quiet and gentle manners.
Enid had entered for a children's poetry competition organized by Arthur Mee in one of his magazines and was thrilled to get a letter from the writer himself, telling her that he intended to print her verses and would like to see more of her work. This was encouraging enough for her to branch out further with the writing and to send a selection of stories, articles and poems to other periodicals. Her poems were accepted by Nash's Magazine, which regularly dropped envelopes in Enid's letterbox, which annoyed her mother. But Mabel continued to encourage Enid's potential.
Burning Desire to Be A Writer
Her several literary writings were rejected and returned during her early days but she continued writing with force due to constant encouragement by her aunty. Mabel's encouragement worked to foster her talent. She avidly read books regarding writers and their techniques and for many years maintained a diary in which she recorded her feelings and activities of daily life. Her mother discovered and read her most personal thoughts. Enid then destroyed these evidences and left no impressions of her innermost thoughts. With the lapse of time, the relationship between Enid and her mother deteriorated. Subconsciously, Enid thought her mother to be the cause of her father's exile.
Enid resembled her aunt in looks as well as temperament, and therefore her father was convinced that she possessed a similar musical talent. She enjoyed playing and listening to music, but the idea to pursue it as a career was rather difficult for her. Writing poems and stories gave her great satisfaction, but she never thought herself equally expressive in music. She tried to explain it to her father on the rare occasions that they met, but he refused to discuss any alternative to the career he had planned for her.
Taking up Teaching
Enid was sent to Ipswich High School to be trained as a kindergarten teacher. Ida was a Froebal-trained Kindergarten teacher at Ipswich High School working as a trainee teacher. Enid shared her room with Ida. Enid, who at home would voluntarily lock herself away from the rest of the family, was forever seeking Ida out. They talked for long hours. Enid went along with her most Sundays to help her in her Sunday classes and Ida was surprised by the way the class seemed to respond to the inexperienced girl.
Enid enjoyed Sunday school afternoons and her coming into close vicinity of small children for the first time. From the beginning she seemed to feel a close affinity with them. She loved helping to paint large pictures on the Sunday school walls, making the models and pieces of handwork, which illustrated the lessons, and telling them stories. This experience made her firm over the idea to be a teacher. This future was actually prophesized long back. Much earlier when she was eight years old, a phrenologist who visited the house in Clockhouse Road had said, "This child (Enid) will turn to teaching as she develops. It is, and will be, her great gift."
Shaping Years
She spent her holidays away from college, with Hunt family at Seckford Hall or with Mary Attenborough. She was now out of contact with her brothers and mother, staying so much on her own. But, all these years she never lost touch with her father. She never visited him, but she often called to see him at his office in the city and they would talk and laugh over things together, almost like the old days, for nothing that had happened in the past could obliterate the deep bond of affection that existed between them.
In 1913, she was chosen by the 'Council of the Girls' Public Day School Trust to accompany two other teachers to Italy to study and report on the Montessori methods, with a view to their partial adoption in the Trust's Kindergartens. Here, Miss Gibbons, a motherly woman, who taught zoology and botany, influenced her. She found Miss Kathleen Fryer also to be a skilful
teacher and her classes were a great relaxation as they gave her opportunity to think up new ideas for short stories or poems.
A Poet Was Born
Despite her studies, she managed to set some time for her own writing and during her training wrote three poems, which were accepted by Nash's Magazine. Her unhappiness is reflected in this first published poem, entitled Have You - ?
Have you heard the night-time silence, just when all the world's asleep,
And you're curled up by your window, all alone ?
Have you wanted just one star for all your own ?
Have you seen a streak of glory flash across the summer sky ?
When a star is tired of staying still so long ?
Have you heard the night-wind whisper, as it softly passes by ?
Have you caught the lilting murmur of its song ?
Have you listened to the stories that the honey suckle knows,
As it sends its fairy fragrance thro' the night ?
Have you kissed the tiny babies of the clinging rambler-rose ?
Have you loved the passion-flowers with all your might ?
Have you suddenly felt lonely, have you wondered why you should,
When you watched for shooting stars to flash their light ?
Have you wanted some one near you, some one dear, who understood ?
Have you never stretched your arms out - to the night ?
In September 1916, she began her training at Ipswich. Here she was much quieter and withdrawn among her fellow students and teachers than she had been at St Christopher's. She always enjoyed herself being with children, relaxed, vivacious and filled with fun. She always carried a diary with her in which she jotted down words or sketched birds during her walks.
Only Mabel understood Enid's occasional escapes from reality and would laugh over her nonsense. She continued to handle Enid during her late teens and early 20s. Like an irrepressible, lovable child Enid had another poem Do You - ? accepted by Nash's Magazine, published in September 1918.
A Teacher
During her First year at National Froebel Union Higher Certificate, she gained a first-class in geography, botany, handwork and a distinction in zoology. She passed mathematics and literature with second-class. She secured first-class in the practice of education, child hygiene, history of education and class teaching.
By 21, she was a full-fledged Froebel teacher and free to go her own way without reference to anyone except guidance from Mabel. She took charge of half a dozen boys, between six and eight years of age, whom she taught most general subjects. In addition she took English classes with senior boys. Most of her spare time was spent in writing out for The Poetry Review.
Once she gathered children around her while she made a large, hot air balloon out of paper and heated it over a methylated spirit pad, attached her Southernhay address to it and floated it into the air. She was as excited as children when the balloon's label was subsequently returned from Belgium. This led to an interesting geography lesson for the children as they learnt about the balloon's route, the places it flew over and finally where it had landed. While teaching children she was very happy and felt herself to be a member of a loving family.
During her first summer at Southernhay, she received the shocking news from her uncle. Her father had died at the age of 50, due to a heart attack. Enid did not attend his funeral. She could not believe that her beloved father and the person she most respected was no more. Facing his burial was to force herself to accept the reality.
In Love
In 1924, at the age of 26, Enid met Hugh Pullock, a handsome, fair-haired man with striking blue eyes, in his mid 30s. He was an editor of the book department at the publishing firm of George Newnes. She wrote about her first meeting with Hugh Pullock on January 10 : "Pullock wrote and asked if I'd collaborate with him. It was a lovely letter." Their meeting was a cordial one and she wrote later, "We're going to have a purely platonic friendship for three months and then see how we stand ! Oh dear."
After one such meeting she wrote, "…He told me he loved me and asked if I loved him yet. I thought and said - I did, just a little…" After a few more days Teachers' World announced their engagement - "…readers will be delighted to hear that Miss Enid Blyton is engaged to be married…" Marriage did not mean the end of her career as a writer but merely the beginning of a new phase of it. If she had not been busy with her writing, she would doubtless have felt lonely with Hugh away all day. Luckily she had more than enough work to occupy her.
Marriage and Life Thereafter
In 1924, she married Hugh and it made no difference to her prolific writing. In 1925 she wrote many poems for The Morning Post, Novello, and other poems and stories for Child Education, Punch, My Magazine, Woman's Life and obviously Teacher's World. Her weekly column proved very popular, which could be noted from the amount of mails that she received everyday. She replied to each of them besides her daily four to five thousand words of column writing.
She went for early morning walks, by the riverside or to one of the London parks. She longed for the country and spring days made her feel restless. She devoted two complete columns at the beginning of the year to 'Happiness'. She longed for a quiet and peaceful home. Hugh, caught up in her enthusiasm and happiness, equally looked forward to move into a new home. They soon moved to 'Elfin Cottage', a newly built house in Shortlands Road, Beckenhame. She felt at ease over there as the place gave her relief from noise of buses and trams. Blyton eventually called 'Elfin Cottage' her first 'real home'.
She was not by nature domesticated. The simplest cookery defeated her and housework was usually delegated to someone else - but for a while she devoted herself whole-heartedly to the affairs of her new home. She felt her home to be a cheerful and pleasant place. It was the right place for poetry and fairy stories, dreams and laughter.
She insisted on 'Christening' the cottage herself, by screwing the name on to the gate, but she found it difficult to make the screws go in straight and kept the letters in a line. This resulted in the 'E' finishing up 'a tiny bit crooked'. Once she stuck a notice on her door announcing that her Peter Pan doorknocker was to be used in a particular way. Children were expected to knock four times, adults twice and the little folk from the woods' seven. She was very enthusiastic about making her home. She derived much pleasure cultivating her garden.
If she was not traveling to London to visit publishers, her mornings began with breakfast at around eight o'clock. In summer she used to write sitting in garden and in winters - sitting besides the fire in her dining room. She occasionally visited Mabel or other friends in the afternoon. She was not fond of watching movies and as she mentioned in her diary, 'Ben Hur' was the best movie she ever saw. They enjoyed their holidays by going on a walk or swimming together, lazed on the beaches or explored caves and castles - her favorite pastime.
Her Writings
In 1926, she started a Nature diary, which was to help the compiling of her fortnightly column Nature Notes for the Teacher's World. In her garden, she kept a bird table on which she used to keep some food to observe birds. She used to observe the growth of birds and counted their eggs. Her Nature diary recorded the changes in the weather, birds, animals and plant life around her.
In her writings we find the jackdaw, 'Jackie', and the magpie as 'Maggie'. Hugh gifted her a dovecote and two pairs of fantail pigeons named Bill, Coo, Pretty Boy and Ladybird, which became familiar to her readers. Teachers' World and other educational journals played an important part in her popularity. In 1926, her three volumes of Teacher Treasury was published and in 1928 appeared the six volumes of Modern Teaching. Teachers' Treasury in Teachers' World ran the advertisement saying, 'Let Enid Blyton help you in your work'.
Once she was asked, "Why must she work so hard when she had a husband, home, happiness and peace ?" Enid replied, "So long as one child tells me that my work brings him pleasure, just so long shall I go on writing. This is a secret - I'd love to write a novel…. about children, and the jolly, happy things of life."
Loving and Caring Husband
Hugh was kind and considerate. He was a proud husband, who once wrote in Teacher's World that Enid was "a constant source of inspiration to those around her." Enid was equally in love with Hugh who wrote on her second anniversary, "This is the second anniversary of our wedding. I am glad I married Hugh and I wouldn't be unmarried for worlds. He is such a perfect dear."
In 1928, she came to know that she had an undeveloped uterus, that of a young girl of 12 or 13. She had undergone a treatment, but results were not seen. She tried to satisfy her maternal yearnings in her young niece, Yonne and nephew, Barry, for whom Hugh and Enid were godparents. She also tried to concentrate more towards writing and Hugh also joined her. She wrote a 10-volume Pictorial Knowledge, and Hugh co-edited it. On August 2, 1929, they shifted to a new house, 'Old Thatch'. She wrote Tales from Arabian Nights, Tales of Ancient Greece, Knights of the Round the Year with Enid Blyton, along with her weekly course of seasonal nature study.
Their life was filled with fun and leisure. They had plenty of servants to look after the house and they threw themselves over bridge, tennis, dinner and cocktail parties. Lawn at 'Old Thatch' was converted into a grass court, where she invited her friends for tennis matches. While describing beautiful places of world, at one place, she mentioned about England, "I hadn't seen any countryside anywhere that I thought was lovelier than England's. I had seen no animals nicer than ours, and no children that I liked better than English children… and I know that, no matter where I go or what I see in other countries, I shall always love England best…"
'Good News' for Enid
July 15, 1931 was a great day for Enid and her husband as after 34 years they had a daughter who was called Gillian. But her motherhood did not stop Enid from writing.
In 1932, she wrote a novel, The Caravan goes on, which was later on shortened as a children's book as Mr. Galliano's Circus (1938). In 1933, her home included pets as chickens, ducks and turkeys. While writing Round the Year nature series, she took help of Dick Hughes, her gardener, in hunting frogs, toads and other small garden creatures. The Children's Garden published by Newnes was based on her gardening with Billy.
One fine morning brought the good news of Enid's prospects of motherhood. Hugh was delighted by the news that Enid was once again pregnant. But, unfortunately she miscarried and they had to hold on their feelings till next year, when she conceived again. She had a devoted husband, an engaging young daughter and an attractive home with ample staff to keep it so. Her pen was producing regularly, she published eight books in 1935.
On October 27, 1935, she gave birth to another sweet little baby girl.
Introspective Mood
At this stage in her life she tried to look within herself and started self-analysis. In her introspective and self-analytical mood, she started thinking about her belief in God. She thought that if religion has helped a person to make a person what he is, then he should follow it. She realized that the importance she gave to herself was wrong and she should not be thinking herself to be high and mighty.
Yet, her choice of reading remained the same nor did her writings speak of her spiritual rethinking. Later in her life, she told her daughter Gillian that she had decided against Roman Catholicism as she had felt it was too traditional and she could not bear a tight rein over anything without chaffing and fretting. She turned more towards reality, and tried to spend more time with her two daughters.
Weaving Dreams in New Home
With the expanding family they brought a new home called 'Green Hedges', which became synonymous with Enid for several decades. But at this new home they were far from Dorothy, a close friend of Enid. Dorothy was one of the few people whose friendship she really valued and their close relationship had remained unchanged over the years. Hugh was a father and a husband on whose deep love and affection she knew she could always rely.
She tried to interest the BBC in broadcasting some of her work but nothing came out of it. Usually by five o'clock in the evening, she wrote between six and ten thousand words, with only a short break for lunch, during which she read some books she borrowed from two libraries. Both her daughters liked to hear the stories she had written during the day, particularly if they included Amelia Jane or one of the family pets.
Occasionally, she took an evening off for a game of bridge or tennis or to visit theatre or cinemas with her husband Hugh. She always maintained that her active brain needed plenty of sleep to keep the story line flowing. Due to her strict life pattern, visitors often felt unwelcome if they brought any change in her routine. She was at her best with all the people she liked and she went to endless trouble to ensure that her guests' stay at 'Green Hedges' should always be happy.
The War Time
Her mails during war time increased instead of decreasing. Hundreds of teachers and children wrote, asking her for advice on country matters. Quite a few schools took up her suggestions for contributions to the war effort. She distributed to the Red Cross and other organizations over three thousand blankets, made from squares knitted by her readers. She encouraged children to carve the word 'Victory' while Gillian was busy developing vegetable gardens in place of flowerbeds.
In 1940, her 11 books were published, some of this included - The Secret of Spiggy Holes, Twenty-Minute Tales and Tales of Betsy May, The Children of Cherry Tree Farm and an annual story book for the News Chronicle. Two books - Three Boys and a Circus and Children of Kidillin appeared under the pseudonym of Mary Pullock. Hugh had put his name on the reserve list of officers prior to the outbreak of war, despite Enid's protests. In 1940, he was in uniform.
War-torn family life
Hugh could not ignore Anthony Eden's call to civilians to take up arms and he was put in command of the local battalion of the Home Guard. Enid was not happy with Hugh's decision to leave her and Newnes. She pleaded and even flattered but could not succeed. She felt rejected and unhappy and lonely without Hugh. Even Dorothy was not with her to share her thoughts as she volunteered for nursing services. The meetings of the two friends consequently became fewer as the war progressed.
Meanwhile, Hugh joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers and was posted to Dorking in Surrey as Commandant of the No 1 War Office School of Instructors for the Home Guard. He committed whole-heartedly to his task.
The war proved to be fatal for the fairytale married life Enid and Hugh shared. Both of them realized it soon after Hugh's departure that there was no chance of reconciliation.
Hugh's absence levied hard on Enid. She felt lonely and dejected. She started mingling with her neighbors and seemed to find solace in their masculine company. Even Hugh found Ida Crowe, a novelist he had first met at Newnes, to be interesting. Both husband and wife came to know of the other's infidelity. Hugh came to know through his staff members at 'Green Hedges' and Enid was also disturbed to receive a blank call saying, "Don't let Ida Crowe over you." The building up tension brought the end of their married life soon.
Met Kenneth Darrel Waters
Meanwhile in 1941, Dorothy introduced Enid to Kenneth Darrel Waters, a middle-aged surgeon working in the London hospitals. During First World War, at the Battle of Jutland, an exploding shell had permanently impaired his hearing and he had to take help of hearing aid. After meeting Kenneth, there was no chance of reconciliation with Hugh. The vibrant dark-haired woman captivated Kenneth whose sparkling brain and witty exchanges enlivened the evening for everyone. Enid was flattered and excited by the obvious intentions of the tanned, handsome doctor. They met regularly at a London flat, which Enid had rented under Dorothy's name, and Kenneth also became a frequent visitor to 'Green Hedges'. Hugh started divorce proceedings against Enid and it was settled that Hugh would be allowed free access to his daughters.
By late 1942, 10,000 copies of Mary Mouse and the Dolls House, printed in two colors and selling at a shilling each, were on the market.
Divorce and Remarriage
In December 1942, Enid was divorced from Hugh and by the end of the year Kenneth was also free from his first marriage to re-marry. Enid married Kenneth on October 20, 1943, at the City of Westminster Register Office - six days prior to Hugh's marriage to Ida at the City of London Register Office. Her girls were upset at the time, but they loved and respected their mother. She was firmly established as the devoted wife of Kenneth, living with their two young daughters at 'Green Hedges'.
Kenneth was 51 years of age at the time of his marriage to Enid. His skill as a surgeon had taken him to his position as senior consultant and deputy Medical Superintendent at St Stephen's Hospital, Chelsea. He had no children from his first marriage, but he accepted Enid's daughters as his own. Eventually, Enid realized that her husband could be as stubborn as she could. She found a better way of overcoming his obstinacy than trying to counteract it with harsh words. She found relief by sharing her thoughts with Kenneth. Kenneth was also a devoted and loving husband. He was genuinely interested in what she wrote. Each evening she read out to him what she wrote during the day, and on completion of each book he opened a bottle of champagne. In 1945, she was pregnant, but miscarried after five months.
Kenneth never ceased to marvel at the apparent ease with which she handled her business and private affairs but, as a doctor, he was also concerned about her health. He made allowances for her temperament and the pressures under which she worked and did what he could to ease her tension.
Enid received a great shock when she had to separate from Dorothy, her childhood chum and her confidante. This resulted in a 10-year break in her long and intimate friendship with Dorothy. Dorothy and Enid differed on religious grounds. Enid's divorce and remarriage were sufficient to upset Dorothy. She did not attend the weeding either. They never met after 1954.
At the Summit of Success
Looking at the success of her first full-length children's adventure story - The Secret Island in 1938, Enid had written a second book involving, Jack, Mike, Peggy, Nora and Prince Paul, and this proved as popular as its predecessor. Her most popular series were The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, The Adventure Series, The Mystery and the Barney Mystery books. These books consistently sold in many thousand copies, at home and overseas and went into several reprints, including paperback editions. Some of the characters were taken up by commercial concerns to market toys, games and stationery. Enid had chosen the unusual setting of a progressive, co-educational boarding school for a story about The Naughtiest Girl in the School, which she wrote during the early war years.
The American version of The Mystery Island, had won a Boy's Club of America award for one of the six most popular junior books published in that country during 1941. On November 14, The New York Times described her as a blue-eyed breathless Englishwoman.
All her business matters with her publishers were discussed either in person or through her distinctive, hand written letters. She was popular in society since 1933, due to her articles and short stories.
In 1951, she became a 'Queen Bee' of the 'Busy Bees'. Through her letters she constantly contributed The Busy Bees News and Sunny Stories. Then she came up with perhaps the most famous book that Enid Blyton wrote : The Famous Five - adventures of four children and a dog. The first story was published by Hodder and Stoughton in the autumn of 1942.
Enid wrote about Julian, Dick, Anne, George and dog Timmy - The Famous Five. When she began this series with Five on a Treasure Island, she only meant to write six books, but her readers had pleaded with her to increase this to 12. The Famous Five a stage-play ran for two Christmas Seasons at the Princess Theatre in London during 1955-56 and at the London Hippodrome the following year. Five on a Treasure Island and Five home a Mystery to Solve were made into Children's films, for the Children Film Foundation. During 1942 and 1963, 21 titles appeared in the series, and all ran to many reprints and the series sold millions of copies worldwide
Five Go Adventuring Again and Five Get Into Trouble and Two Stories After Ten Years were also filmed. George, the main character in this series was based on a real life character, a girl who wanted to be a boy and acted as if she were. She wrote in The Story of My Life that the real George had been shorthaired, freckled, sturdy and snub-nosed, bold and daring, hot-tempered and loyal. She confessed to Rosica Colin, her foreign agent, that George was based upon herself.
The Mother Figure
The Famous Five Club originated through her series of books. The series became so popular that she was commissioned to write a fresh title each year and the Fives created such a fan following that regular readers wondered if they could form some kind of a fan club. Enid agreed, with the condition that the club should serve some useful purpose and suggested that it might help to raise funds for a Shafterbury Society Babies Home in Beaconsfield. She had served on its local committee for several years.
She was first introduced to the Home in 1945 and had subsequently taken to visiting it occasionally with toys and sweets for children. She became a committee member in 1948 and she gave considerable financial help and showed genuine interest in its activities. Members of club provided funds towards amenities such as the furnishing and equipment of a special 'Famous Five Ward', a paddling pool, playground, sun room, summer house and a host of other extras, including visits to the pantomime and contributions towards Christmas and birthday celebrations. Enid became the chairman of the committee in 1954, and remained so until the closure of the Home in 1967.
Her fans also established the Enid Blyton Magazine Club. Its main object was to help the young spastic children, of a special center in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London. In September 1959, she decided to close the magazine, but this didn't mean that her clubs would also cease to function without their headquarters. For some years she made regular visits to exhibitions, large bookshops and stores to talk to groups of children and she would invariably weave a moral into the stories she told them.
In 1952, she wrote about her own family in The Story of My Life, "It is the mother, always the mother that makes the home. The father does his share, he holds the reins too - but it is the mother who makes a happy, contented home. She is the center of it. She should always be there to welcome the children home, to see to them and listen to them. I was lucky to have a gift that could be used at home. I could not have left my husband or my children and gone out into the world to make my career."
She made visits to juvenile courts, and wrote a booklet in story form, The Child who was chosen. This helped adoptive parents tell their children how and why they were adopted. Even her views on child murderers were expressed in a poem written during Government discussions over the abolition of capital punishment. The best writers for children did not deal in murders, rapes, violence, blood, torture or ghosts. She wrote children stories full of mystery and adventures, which had well-defined characters with animals as companions. She was even labeled as a 'moralist' and 'preacher'.
Suddenly, there came a situation difficult to face. Her young daughter, Imogen, had developed infantile paralysis on her left leg. It was diagnosed in time and therefore the recovery was quite quick.
The 'Toyland' Success
In 1949, she wrote two Noddy Books, the first story, Little Noddy Goes To Toyland, was published, and children were attracted to the little toy man who always meant well, but invariably ended up in trouble of one or the other kind. By the mid-50s the range of Noddy products had become so wide that a walk through any large store at this time would have revealed one or another of the Toyland characters displayed in every department.
She loved experimenting with new media and was delighted when Norman Collins, a TV director, suggested her to help him select the type of puppets and the puppeteer to be used for the Noddy series. Before the decade was over Enid Blyton and Noddy had become household names and for many they were synonymous, despite the continued popularity of her other series. Unfortunately troubled undercurrents were already beginning to cause ripples on the surface of Enid's seemingly happy, successful life.
Success Could Also Fetch Opponents
Reluctant readers found her books easy to read and this gave them an incentive to experiment further. Other children, who required more mental stimulus, took hold of her stories and set their own imaginations to work over the characters and the settings. Several librarians had already removed her books from their shelves completely.
The main complaint against her stories appeared to be that with such a prolific output it was quite possible for children to be introduced to one or another of Enid's books at the age of two or three and they would not read any other author. It was said that her characters were superficial and her heroes and heroines were all middle-class. It was blamed that her villains were all stupid, the police was also often baffled by a crime that a gang of kids could solve easily. She was even accused of sexism as in case of George who wanted to be a boy and Anne who enjoyed housework, as well as of racism because the negative characters in Noddy books were the wicked Golliwogs.
The anti-Blyton and anti-Noddy campaign gathered momentum and by the end of the 50s scarcely a day passed without a newspaper giving publicity to the banning of Enid's books by librarians in Britain, New Zealand, Australia and other places.
The Ebb
Her little daughter Gillian married Donald Baverstock, a television producer. This was followed by Enid's illness and she cut down on the amount of work she normally tackled. In early 60s her active brain refused to function in Roehersown fashion and memory upon which she had always relied was failing. By 1966, Kenneth's health also failed and his illness became worse and complications set in. Yet, he protected Enid from the harshness of the world and apart from those close to her none were aware of the extent of her illness. Kenneth rarely left her side.
In 1967, she called up Hanly. She talked to her brother after 17 years and begged him to visit. Kenneth had been taken into hospital for a short period. Both the daughters were away from home and she felt desperately lonely. Hanly continued to visit her from time to time and even took her back to Beckenham. Even in the midst of this childhood dream world, Kenneth remained as a shadow to Enid. Though he was sick, he recognized the responsibilities she had laid upon him and was determined not to fail his wife.
Kenneth Departed
Kenneth burnt many of her documents including her diaries to maintain the senility of her mind. On September 15, 1967, Kenneth left the world to rest in peace. For a few days she appeared to be in command of her actions and her thoughts were only of Kenneth whom she missed a lot. Without Kenneth, she declined physically and mentally. During such a time her daughters and friends visited her regularly and supported her.
Death
By 1967, Gillian and Donald and their four young children had moved to Yorkshire. Imogen who had recently married was living in Sussex with her husband, Duncan Smallwood. Both, Gillian and Imogen did what they could for their mother, but her illness grew worse and after three months on November 28, 1968, after being admitted to a Hempstead nursing home, she died peacefully in sleep. Only her close relatives and friends were present at her cremation in North London. On January 3, the representatives of her many publishing houses and of the four children's clubs with which she was associated attended her memorial service at St James's Church, Piccadilly.
'She was a child, she thought as a child and she wrote as a child,' said the psychologist Michael Woods. She would always be remembered for the magic-filled, sun-filled world she created. Her extraordinary creative and imaginative gifts, her great vivacity and charm, her amazing capacity for hard work and shrewd business acumen were always remembered. Children love her for her ability to look with childlike wonder onto a world of constant enchantment and surprise, while adults enjoy taking a trip back to their own childhood dreamlands through her writings.
Enid Blyton is a name loved by most children and parents. Children are busy fantasizing and experiencing the feel of adventure just by reading her books. She has played a very strong role in developing British family values, as her stories were highly educational and moral in tone not only in Britain and America but also throughout the world.
She has written 700 books and 10,000 short stories and her books are translated in 30 different languages of the world. She wrote children stories featuring Noddy, The Famous Five, The Secret Seven and as well as The Adventure Series. She wrote innumerable articles for young children in magazines and created a niche for herself, which could not be replaced till ages.
In 1950s, her works were criticized. Librarians in Britain imposed sanctions on her writings. She was even degraded saying that she was not the one who wrote all her books.
Whatever was said for her works, one cannot deny the fact that she had a strong sensitivity to understand children and their needs, which no one has ever done.
August 11, 1897
Enid Blyton was born.
1913
Chosen by the Council of the Girls' Public Day School Trust, Italy to study and report on the Montessori teaching methods.
September 1916
Began her training at Ipswich, Lefthome.
From 1916 - 1918
She took education at the Froebel institute.
1919 to 1925
Active at Kent as a private tutor.
1924
Married Hugh Pullock.
1931
Birth of her first daughter Gillian.
1935
Birth of her second daughter Imogen.
1943
After separation from Hugh Pullock, married Kenneth D Waters.
1967
Death of Kenneth.
November 28, 1968
Enid Blyton passed away at Hampstead.
Chronology of Works
1917
Her first poem Have You ? accepted by Nash's Magazine.
1923-1945
Contributed regularly to Teacher's World magazine.
1942
First book of the Famous Five series was published.
1926-1952
Published stories for Sunny Stories.
1953 - 1959
Published Enid Blyton's Magazine.
1954 - 1967
Chairperson of the Committee Shaftsbury Society Children's Home in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.
1960 - 1968
Vice-president of the union Friends of the Cheyne Full Center in London.
• The war is making all our lives different and until things shake down a little, we will put up with them cheerfully.
• Religious teaching provides a moral backbone throughout life; it gives a child invincible weapons with which to fight any evil.
• The cinema is one of the most formidable powers for good or evil in this world.
• Children are not mature, they are credulous, they believe whole-heatedly what they see.
