Talk About Blyton!

Unlisted - Enid Blyton in general – England - then and now

May 29, 2017 – Avan N. Cooverji says: Is Enid Blyton's acute class conscience society a thing of the past in the England of today? I would think so. With the coming of people from many other countries to England bringing with them their own culture and thinking, with the world progressing and the once economically backward nations coming to the fore, with England losing its supremacy over the seas and the saying " "Brittania rules the Waves " no longer holding true, all these and many other likewise factors would make the English people look very staid and unprogressive if they were to cling to their ways of class division. In today's world, a lot of importance is given to education rather than inherited riches which was mainly the basis of class conscious England and where now the merits of people are counted to be worthier than their titles, status and wealth.
	Fatty says: Of course it is. It is a completely different England today to that in the 1930s. Sadly, some people forget that when reading Enid's work.
May 30, 2017 – Paul says: Britain will always be the country of long shadows on cricket grounds, warm beer, leafy green suburbs and intellectual prowess.
June 1, 2017 – Nigel says: Warm beer? Certainly not. We just don't choose to freeze our real ale!
	Fatty says: Well said, that man!
June 18, 2017 – Paul says: This is England-related, but are cricket bats still made out of willow or have the tree huggers stopped that?
	Daisy says: Yes, they are, usually made to order by some professionals. The bat has to be a certain weight and a certain shape.
April 16, 2018 – Paul Austin says: I guess the real question is, would you want to live in old England? A number of modern children could probably benefit from the old disciplinarian approach rather than today's approach.
April 17, 2018 – Ross says: Hmm, interesting. In 'Old England' there would be no internet trolls, Facebook, Twitter - but also no Enid Blyton. Maybe I'll stick where I am!
April 21, 2018 – Paul Austin says: A summer in Old England with nothing but ball hitting willow and I'd be happy.
April 24, 2018 – Tristan says: Ah, sunshine and the sound of leather on willow. Don't forget the cask of Crudgington's 4X Bitter, an urn of tea, and cucumber sandwiches.
	Fatty says: Just keep an eye on the fast bowler, eh? ;-)
April 28, 2018 – Paul says: An urn of tea, how very British! I love sipping tea on a cold winter's night.
February 8, 2019 – Paul Austin says: Do any actual cricket MATCHES feature in the Blyton stories or just cricket bats or child cricketers?
February 21, 2019 – Paul says: You always hear about the English and tea and crumpets, but what is the English way that makes them so special?
	Daisy says: For some it could be the way the butter melts down the holes of the hot crumpet. Who knows!
February 25, 2019 – Paul Austin says: Notice that it's the upper-class haunts (and middle-class dreams) of rural Southern England that feature in these romanticisings, not the industrial working-class Northern England. Regarding cucumber sandwiches Wikipedia says this: "The popularity of the cucumber sandwich reached its upper-class zenith in the Edwardian era, when cheap labour and plentiful coal enabled cucumbers to be produced in hotbeds under glass through most of the year." During the Edwardian era, the butter used in England (also for cucumber sandwiches) increasingly came from the expanding and export-focused Danish dairy industry, a process which was part of Denmark's economical, political, social and cultural reorientation after the devastating defeat to the Prussians in 1864.
February 28, 2019 – joanna says: My husband just loves a hot crumpet dripping with butter it actually runs down his chin and makes a huge mess in his beard. He likes them with coffee.
June 20, 2020 – June Johns says: Fare thee well, Dame Vera Lynn! Now only the Queen is left as a link to the war years.
July 29, 2020 – June Johns says: The Bank of England's inflation tool is so useful. 50 pounds in 1964 comes out at over 1000 pounds in today's money!
January 16, 2021 – June Johns says: ALL AN ENGLISHMAN NEEDS IS LENGTHENING SHADOWS, MARMALADE ON TOAST, A CUP OF TEA, AND THE SOUND OF RED LEATHER HITTING WILLOW.
	Buster says: Would you post not in capitals, June, as this is considered as shouting!
January 18, 2021 – Lisa says: I don't know how marmalade on toast tastes like but I would enjoy a slice or two of buttered toast with a wee sprinkle of fine sugar on it. Tastes heavenly. Try eating a slice of buttered toast with a steaming cup of hot coffee , man. It's heavenly! I don't quite understand the lengthening shadows part, June. What does this early part of your post ' All an Englishman needs is lengthening shadows. Mean? And, why does an Englishman need to hear the sound of red leather hitting willow? Willow is a type of plant with pliant branches and is beautiful in its own way. I don't like the idea of anyone hitting the willow plant just to enjoy the whacking sounds. Rather sadistic to do that to a plant.
	Buster says: I would imagine June is meaning cricket, Lisa. As I believe the cricket bat is made from the willow. And the red leather is probably the cricket ball. Hence red leather hitting the willow.
January 19, 2021 – Lisa says: Thanks for the explanation, Buster. Cricket is not a game played in my country thus it never occurred to me that the willow tree and cricket are somehow inter-related.
January 19, 2021 – June Johns says: "the lengthening shadows" - during Test cricket matches (which was all you had in Enid's own era), you often saw a larger crowd at the ground in the late afternoon as people finished work thus it became a symbol of the shared English experience.
February 3, 2021 – joanna says: In Australia we have night cricket in 1977. They used a white ball. I gave my brother a red ball for Christmas and he dunked it in a can of white paint totally ruining it. Did England have night cricket? No lengthening shadows there.
February 4, 2021 – June Johns says: Night cricket and coloured uniforms only started in the seventies. When Enid was active there was only Test cricket and only in the day.
October 27, 2021 – Debra says: Fatty and Daisy, do you like scones and jam, or scones and cream? Obviously, with a nice cup of tea?
	Fatty says: For me, I love them. Both for me! Scone + jam + cream (on top, the Cornish way!) Daisy also loves them served this way.
November 8, 2021 – Debra says: What about apple or peach crumble with custard?
November 15, 2021 – Debra says: Another great English tradition I love is a breakfast of tea, sausage and an egg with some little soldiers.
May 24, 2022 – Nan says: I like my scones the Cornish way too.
May 28, 2022 – Christine Falkenberg says: What is the most popular powder for making drinking chocolate today in England? I guess in Enid's day it would just be cocoa?
	Daisy says: These days there are many different supermarket brands for making drinking chocolate. Fatty says: Cadbury's chocolate powder (to mix with hot milk) and their instant chocolate powder (just add hot water) are the brand leaders now. However, as Daisy says, there are many other brands available.
June 3, 2022 – Christine Falkenberg says: Ah, Cadbury's. I went to their factory with school. Got free samples of their various chocolates.
February 5, 2023 – Barbara Cox says: For those who are making marmalade on toast and a cup of tea, I find that sour cream works so well on the toast to offset the tang of the marmalade.
February 6, 2023 – Nigel says: I think I'll turn down your invitation to tea, Barbara.
	Fatty says: Me too! See you in the Dairy, Barbara!
February 6, 2023 – Barbara Cox says: I was trying out a TV cook's suggestion in doing it and tasting it personally I thought it was okay. Better than Marmite and sour cream, Nigel, surely?
	Fatty says: I don't know about Nigel, but I'll stick with Marmite! Your YouTube link didn't work, so I have removed it. I have found another clip, is this the one? Click here
February 7, 2023 – Barbara Cox says: I had a number of YouTube videos open I must have copied the wrong link - it was on this cooking channel - [link]

Add a response to this topic

• Avoid simple comments like "Yes, I agree!" unless you add something else as well.
• Please check for grammar, punctuation and capitalisation or your post may be rejected!
• New rule: No childish bickering allowed! Mature, adult discussion only please.