Who Is Enid Blyton?

Early life

Enid Byton (also known as Mary Pollock), was born on the 11^th of August 1897, in East Dulwich in South London. She was the eldest of three children and was educated at St. Christopher’s School in Beckenham, where her family had moved before her siblings were born. She left the school as head girl in 1915 and later went on to become a teacher.

Blyton spent her spare time writing and her first published work was “Child Whisperers”, which was a collection of short poems that were published in 1922. The book contained a total of 28 poems and is one of Blyton’s most famous books.

Blyton married the editor of a publishing firm that published a couple of her books in 1924. She later had two children, but shortly afterwards began to experience problems in her marriage. She separated from her husband and went on to to marry a doctor.

Later life and death

Enid Blyton fell ill after the death of her second husband in 1967. She died as a result of Alzheimer’s Disease the following year, at the age of 71. Her ashes were buried in Golder’s Green Crematorium, where many famous figures, including TS Eliot and Rudyard Kipling, were cremated.

To celebrate the life and work of the author, an appreciation society was formed in 1995. The society produces a journal with information on Enid Blyton and also holds an event known as “Enid Blyton Day” which has previously featured many well-known speakers. Blyton’s children have also previously attended the event.

Writing career

“Child Whisperers” was the start of Blyton’s career as a published author. She went on to write hundreds of other children’s books (her total amount of published books is thought to be around 800). 

As well as single novels, she wrote a number of book series that became extremely popular, including the Adventure series, The Famous Five series, The Magic Faraway Tree series and the Naughtiest Girl series. 

The Naughtiest Girl series was continued by the author Anne Digby after Enid Blyton’s death. Digby first continued the series in 1999 and carried on with it until 2001, writing six titles in total.

Blyton is also the author of the Noddy books, which have become popular due to the long-running television series that is based on the main character.

As well as stories for young children, Blyton also wrote a number of stories for older children. These were a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. In addition, she also produced a selection of biblical stories and short stories. For a few of her publications, she used the pseudonym Mary Pollock.

Her stories mainly explored the adventures of young children. In her books, children would usually be off on an adventure, having to solve a crime, or encountering fairies or goblins. Many of her short stories had animals as the main characters or involved fairies or goblins interacting with toys that would come to life.

To this day, Blyton’s books are still some of the most famous books around. Her “Famous Five” series and “The Magic Faraway Tree” series are particularly famous and Blyton herself has been voted one of the best-loved authors.

In total, Blyton’s books have sold over 400 copies worldwide and have been translated into 90 different languages. Many of her books have caused controversy due to political incorrectness, most notably her inclusion of gollywogs, which feature in many of her stories. 

Blyton’s depiction of her characters has also been described as sexist. Also, due to a number of character names that have since become well-known slang words, many of her characters have had their names changed for reprints. Despite these controversies her books still remain extremely popular.

Blyton’s books have also become well-known due to their illustrations. One of Blyton’s most notable illustrators was Eileen Soper, who illustrated the whole of Blyton’s “Famous Five” series, as well over 40 of her other books. 

Blyton also collaborated with Dutch illustrator, Eelco Martinus ten Harmsen van der Beek, and French illustrators Pierre Probst and Benjamin Rabier. English illustrator Betty Ladler was also known for her collaborations with Blyton.

Adaptations

Perhaps the most notable adaptation of Blyton’s work is “Noddy”. There have been a number of television series based on the character since the 1950s. In 2002, a computer animated series entitled “Make Way for Noddy” aired. Two years later, in 2004, an American version was released. 

In 1978, a television series based on the “Famous Five” aired. Another adaptation followed in 1996. In 2008, an animated series entitled “Famous 5: On The Case” aired on the Disney Channel. 

There have been rumours that another “Famous Five” series is being planned, with the intention of having the original child characters as adults. Both the 1978 and 1996 adaptations have been released on video and DVD. 

Other adaptations of “Famous Five” include to Danish film adaptations, musicals, radio dramas and a 1990 computer game.

A film based on Enid Blyton’s life is set to be released in Autumn 2009.  The film will be a made-for-television film and will feature Helena Bonham Carter as Enid Blyton.

It will explore Blyton’s life with her first and second husbands as well as her life as a writer. The film, which will run for a total of ninety minutes, will be the first film based on the life of the author.

As with her books, many of the adaptations for Blyton’s work had to have the appearance or names of characters changed to prevent any
controversies from being caused.