117-435: The Adventure Series by Enid Blyton , a prolific English children's author, is a series of eight children's novels. These books feature the same child characters: Philip, Jack, Dinah, and Lucy-Ann, along with several adult characters. Jack's pet parrot, Kiki, is also a standard feature in each novel. The stories show the four children off on their own, discovering and solving mysteries without much adult assistance. Although
234-496: A Gothic mansion in Surrey belonging to Lord Ashcombe , and they began a romantic relationship. Blyton's marriage to Pollock was troubled for years, and according to Crowe's memoir, she had a series of affairs, including lesbian relationships with one of the children's nannies and with Lola Onslow, an artist who illustrated Blyton's 1924, titled The Enid Blyton Book of Fairies . In 1941, Blyton met Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters,
351-551: A 24-page collection of poems, was published in 1922. Its illustrator, Enid's schoolfriend Phyllis Chase collaborated on several of her early works. Also in that year, Blyton began writing in annuals for Cassell and George Newnes , and her first piece of writing, "Peronel and his Pot of Glue", was accepted for publication in Teachers' World . Further boosting her success, in 1923, her poems appeared alongside those of Rudyard Kipling , Walter de la Mare , and G. K. Chesterton in
468-440: A London surgeon with whom she began a serious affair. Pollock discovered the liaison and threatened to initiate divorce proceedings. Due to fears that exposure of her adultery would ruin her public image, it was ultimately agreed that Blyton would instead file for divorce against Pollock. According to Crowe's memoir, Blyton promised that if he admitted to infidelity, she would allow him parental access to their daughters; but after
585-610: A Noddy jigsaw series featuring cards appeared from 1963, with illustrations by Robert Lee. Arrow Games became the chief producer of Noddy jigsaws in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Whitman manufactured four new Secret Seven jigsaw puzzles in 1975 and produced four new Malory Towers ones two years later. In 1979, the company released a Famous Five adventure board game, the Famous Five Kirrin Island Treasure. Stephen Thraves wrote eight Famous Five adventure game books, published by Hodder & Stoughton in
702-641: A Treasure Island (1942), Five on Kirrin Island Again (1947) and Five Go Down to the Sea (1953). Capitalising on her success, with a loyal and ever-growing readership, Blyton produced a new edition of many of her series such as the Famous Five, the Five Find-Outers and St. Clare's every year in addition to many other novels, short stories and books. In 1946, Blyton launched the first in
819-415: A change of government, funding for the two channels was not renewed. In 2011, the children's channel, TVNZ 6 , was replaced by the commercial youth channel TVNZ U , leaving New Zealand with no free to air children's television. TVNZ Kidzone 24 was subsequently established, but was only available behind a Sky TV pay wall before it ceased broadcasting in 2016. TVNZ 7 ceased broadcasting on 30 June 2012, with
936-618: A charge she vehemently denied. Blyton's work became increasingly controversial among literary critics, teachers, and parents beginning in the 1950s due to the alleged unchallenging nature of her writing and her themes, particularly in the Noddy series. Some libraries and schools banned her works, and from the 1930s until the 1950s, the BBC refused to broadcast her stories because of their perceived lack of literary merit. Her books have been criticised as elitist, sexist, racist, xenophobic, and at odds with
1053-578: A child. According to Blyton's daughter Gillian, the inspiration for the magic tree came from "thinking up a story one day, and suddenly she was walking in the enchanted wood and found the tree. In her imagination, she climbed up through the branches and met Moon-Face, Silky, the Saucepan Man and the rest of the characters. She had all she needed." As in the Wishing-Chair series, these fantasy books typically involve children being transported into
1170-787: A contestable basis. As part of wide-ranging reforms in the broadcasting sector, the Labour government of David Lange established the Broadcasting Commission, which became known as and finally called NZ On Air . Broadcasting in New Zealand was deregulated in 1989. Restrictions on television advertising were also revised in 1989, so that the TVNZ channels could show advertisements anytime except Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day, and between 6am and noon on Sunday and Anzac Day. In that year, TV3 , now known as Three became
1287-546: A dominant market position and paid a significant amount of its profits to the Crown in dividends. By 1998–1999, the National Party –led coalition was moving to privatise TVNZ and announced that the broadcasting fee would be discontinued. Since the 1970s, the licence fee had been capped at NZ$ 100 a year, and was not allowed to increase with inflation. In real terms, this meant that public funding of broadcasting in New Zealand
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#17327870401541404-509: A dozen regional television stations in New Zealand are grouped by the Regional Broadcasters Association . Many digital channels are broadcast into New Zealand via satellite. These include Freeview, Sky, and many Australian and other channels. Most can be received using a standard blind-scan capable set-top box in addition to the standard 60 cm satellite dish that is fitted to many houses. New Zealand has
1521-403: A few minutes, with my portable typewriter on my knee – I make my mind a blank and wait – and then, as clearly as I would see real children, my characters stand before me in my mind's eye ... The first sentence comes straight into my mind, I don't have to think of it – I don't have to think of anything. In another letter to McKellar, she describes how in just five days she wrote
1638-618: A following that readers asked Blyton if they might form a fan club. She agreed, on condition that it serves a useful purpose, and suggested that it could raise funds for the Shaftesbury Society Babies' Home in Beaconsfield, on whose committee she had served since 1948. The club was established in 1952, and provided funds for equipping a Famous Five Ward at the home, a paddling pool , sun room, summer house, playground, birthday and Christmas celebrations, and visits to
1755-471: A form of escapism. Brandon Robshaw of The Independent refers to the Blyton universe as "crammed with colour and character", "self-contained and internally consistent", noting that Blyton exemplifies a strong mistrust of adults and figures of authority in her works, creating a world in which children govern. Gillian noted that in her mother's adventure, detective and school stories for older children, "the hook
1872-401: A gang of dangerous spies. When Bill buys a plane, he decides to take the four children for a holiday, but events at the airport lead to the four getting into the wrong plane. When the plane lands they find themselves in an unfamiliar valley scarred by war and, once again, the four children fall into an adventure involving a lost treasure sought by a band of villains. Bill takes the foursome on
1989-479: A happily married and devoted doctor's wife. After discovering she was pregnant in the spring of 1945, Blyton miscarried five months later, following a fall from a ladder. The baby would have been Darrell Waters's first child and the son for which they both longed. Her love of tennis included playing naked, with nude tennis "a common practice in those days among the more louche members of the middle classes". Blyton's health began to deteriorate in 1957, when, during
2106-721: A little wooden boy from Toyland, first appeared in the Sunday Graphic on 5 June 1949, and in November that year Noddy Goes to Toyland , the first of at least two dozen books in the series, was published. The idea was conceived by one of Blyton's publishers, Sampson, Low, Marston and Company, who in 1949 arranged a meeting between Blyton and the Dutch illustrator Harmsen van der Beek . Despite having to communicate via an interpreter, he provided some initial sketches of how Toyland and its characters would be represented. Four days after
2223-529: A magazine that typically included the re-telling of legends, myths, stories and other articles for children. That same year, she was given her own column in Teachers' World , entitled "From my Window". Three years later, she began contributing a weekly page in the magazine, in which she published letters from her fox terrier dog Bobs. They proved to be so popular that in 1933 they were published in book form as Letters from Bobs , and sold ten thousand copies in
2340-427: A magical world in which they meet fairies, goblins, elves, pixies and other mythological creatures. Blyton's first full-length adventure novel, The Secret Island , was published in 1938, featuring the characters of Jack, Mike, Peggy and Nora. Described by The Glasgow Herald as a " Robinson Crusoe -style adventure on an island in an English lake", The Secret Island was a lifelong favourite of Gillian's and spawned
2457-575: A mini-bus for disabled children at Stoke Mandeville Hospital . Blyton capitalised upon her commercial success as an author by negotiating agreements with jigsaw puzzle and games manufacturers from the late 1940s onwards; by the early 1960s, some 146 different companies were involved in merchandising Noddy alone. In 1948, Bestime released four jigsaw puzzles featuring her characters, and the first Enid Blyton board game appeared, Journey Through Fairyland , created by BGL. The first card game, Faraway Tree, appeared from Pepys in 1950. In 1954, Bestime released
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#17327870401542574-478: A number of its programs being picked up by other channels. In response, public broadcasting advocates announced plans to form a new lobby group, now known as Better Public Media. In 2020, Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi issued proposals to re-merge TVNZ and RNZ into a unified public media organisation, Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media , amidst rapidly changing conditions in the media market. After Faafoi announced his retirement from politics, Willie Jackson
2691-422: A parents' meeting at her daughter's school, during which a young librarian had repeated the allegation, Blyton decided in 1955 to begin legal proceedings. The librarian was eventually forced to make a public apology in open court early the following year, but the rumours that Blyton operated "a 'company' of ghostwriters" persisted, as some found it difficult to believe that one woman working alone could produce such
2808-468: A publisher, with Winston Churchill , which may have reawakened the trauma Pollock suffered during World War I. With the outbreak of World War II, he became involved in the Home Guard and also re-encountered Ida Crowe , an aspiring writer 19 years his junior, whom he had first met years earlier. He made her an offer to join him as a secretary in his posting to a Home Guard training center at Denbies ,
2925-417: A round of golf, she started to feel faint and breathless, and, by 1960, she was displaying signs of dementia . Her agent, George Greenfield, recalled that it was "unthinkable" for the "most famous and successful of children's authors with her enormous energy and computerlike memory" to be losing her mind and suffering from what is now known as Alzheimer's disease in her mid-60s. Worsening Blyton's situation
3042-515: A shed in the garden to discuss peculiar events in their local community. Blyton rewrote the stories so they could be adapted into cartoons, which appeared in Mickey Mouse Weekly in 1951 with illustrations by George Brook. The French author Evelyne Lallemand continued the series in the 1970s, producing an additional twelve books, nine of which were translated into English by Anthea Bell between 1983 and 1987. Blyton's Noddy , about
3159-509: A special issue of Teachers' World. Blyton's educational texts were influential in the 1920s and 1930s, with her most sizable being the three-volume The Teacher's Treasury (1926), the six-volume Modern Teaching (1928), the eight-volume Pictorial Knowledge (1930), and the four-volume Modern Teaching in the Infant School (1932). In July 1923, Blyton published Real Fairies , a collection of thirty-three poems written especially for
3276-468: A state-owned, private enterprise or mixed system). The first broadcast relay stations were commissioned in 1963, extending television coverage to Hamilton , Tauranga and Palmerston North . Coverage was further expanded to Napier - Hastings and Invercargill in 1964, Timaru in 1965, and Whangārei and New Plymouth in 1966. In addition, a number of televiewers' societies were established to set up and operate their own translators. Advertising
3393-560: A surprise announcement (a surprise both to the NZBS and to other members of the Labour government ) in London in November 1959 that New Zealand would have television within twelve months; the system was to be state-owned but to carry commercials, and would be introduced in stages in the four main centres. The first non-experimental programme was transmitted on Wednesday 1 June 1960. New Zealand, like Australia and most of western Europe, adopted
3510-476: A teacher. Blyton was introduced to the children at the nursery school and, recognising her natural affinity with them, enrolled in a National Froebel Union teacher training course at the school in September 1916. By this time, she had nearly terminated all contact with her family. Blyton's manuscripts were rejected by publishers on many occasions, which only made her more determined to succeed, saying, "It
3627-514: A teaching certificate with distinctions in zoology and principles of education; first class in botany, geography, practice and history of education, child hygiene, and classroom teaching; and second class in literature and elementary mathematics. In 1920, she moved to Southernhay, in Hook Road Surbiton , as nursery governess to the four sons of architect Horace Thompson and his wife Gertrude, with whom Blyton spent four happy years. With
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3744-525: A trip to a Scottish island to help them recover from measles . But amongst the islands, they stumble upon a sinister plot; Bill disappears, and the children are left alone to find out where he is, what is going on and how they will escape. Hoping for a quiet holiday for once, the children, Kiki, Mrs. Mannering and Bill go to a mountain farm in Wales for some wandering. But on the search for the Vale of Butterflies,
3861-420: A vehicle for the serialisation of Blyton's books. Her first Naughty Amelia Jane story, about an anti-heroine based on a doll owned by her daughter Gillian, was published in the magazine. Blyton stopped contributing in 1952, and it closed down the following year, shortly before the appearance of the new fortnightly Enid Blyton Magazine written entirely by Blyton. The first edition appeared on 18 March 1953, and
3978-480: A volume of work. Blyton felt a responsibility to provide her readers with a positive moral framework, and she encouraged them to support worthy causes. Her view, expressed in a 1957 article, was that children should help animals and other children rather than adults: [children] are not interested in helping adults; indeed, they think that adults themselves should tackle adult needs. But they are intensely interested in animals and other children and feel compassion for
4095-511: Is a high definition digital terrestrial television service available to 75 percent of the country's population, using DVB-S and DVB-T standards on government provided spectrum. Analogue switchoff in New Zealand was completed on 1 December 2013. A major benefit of digital television is the ability to overcome the poor reception caused by New Zealand's rugged topography . Digital TV offers more channels, better pictures and sound quality and new services such as on-screen programme guides. It
4212-526: Is a Christian parable along the lines of John Bunyan 's The Pilgrim's Progress (1698), with contemporary children as the main characters. In 1943, she published The Children's Life of Christ , a collection of fifty-nine short stories related to the life of Jesus , with her slant on popular biblical stories, from the Nativity and the Three Wise Men through to the trial , the crucifixion and
4329-485: Is best remembered for her Noddy , Famous Five , Secret Seven , the Five Find-Outers , and Malory Towers books, although she also wrote many others, including; St. Clare's , The Naughtiest Girl , and The Faraway Tree series. Her first book, Child Whispers , a 24-page collection of poems, was published in 1922. Following the commercial success of her early novels, such as Adventures of
4446-531: Is done in Auckland where all the major networks are now headquartered. National won the 1960 election , and the new Minister of Broadcasting, Arthur Kinsella in the new National government rewrote the Broadcasting Act of 1936, and set up the state-owned New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) in 1962 to control public radio and television (although the party had been polarised between having
4563-520: Is either dismissed or explained". Watson further notes how Blyton often used minimalist visual descriptions and introduced a few careless phrases such as "gleamed enchantingly" to appeal to her young readers. From the mid-1950s, rumours began to circulate that Blyton had not written all the books attributed to her, a charge she found particularly distressing. She published an appeal in her magazine asking children to let her know if they heard such stories and after one mother informed her that she had attended
4680-520: Is obliged to continue paying dividends to the Crown. It can apply to NZ On Air (funded directly from the Government since 2000) for support in local content initiatives, such as drama and comedy, and funding of programming for minority groups such as gay, Christian and rural New Zealanders. The funding of Māori programming has since passed to Te Māngai Pāho , the Māori broadcasting commission. In 2004,
4797-656: Is partly the struggle that helps you so much, that gives you determination, character, self-reliance –all things that help in any profession or trade, and most certainly in writing." In March 1916, her first poems were published in Nash's Magazine . She completed her teacher training course in December 1918 and, the following month, obtained a teaching appointment at Bickley Park School, a small, independent establishment for boys in Bickley , Kent. Two months later, Blyton received
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4914-528: Is the strong storyline with plenty of cliffhangers, a trick she acquired from her years of writing serialised stories for children's magazines. There is always a strong moral framework in which bravery and loyalty are (eventually) rewarded". Blyton herself wrote that "my love of children is the whole foundation of all my work". Victor Watson, assistant director of Research at Homerton College, Cambridge , believes that Blyton's works reveal an "essential longing and potential associated with childhood", and notes how
5031-701: The 625-line standard for television. In contrast, United Kingdom used the 405-line standard exclusively until 1964. Initially, programming was done on a regional basis, with different services broadcasting from the main cities, AKTV2 in Auckland , being the first on 1 June 1960, followed in 1961 by CHTV3 in Christchurch on 1 June and WNTV1 in Wellington on 1 July, and then DNTV2 in Dunedin on 31 July 1962. Today, however, programming and scheduling
5148-667: The Disney Channel in the UK. It was released on DVD in Australia by Umbrella Entertainment in 2012 and has been released digitally by Cloud 9 and other broadcasters in several countries, including a "making of" documentary. The Island of Adventure was adapted into a 1982 British film directed by Anthony Squire , and starring Norman Bowler as Bill along with Wilfrid Brambell and Eleanor Summerfield . Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968)
5265-713: The Enid Blyton Magazine , it attracted 100,000 members in three years. Such was Blyton's popularity among children that after she became Queen Bee in 1952, more than 20,000 additional members were recruited in her first year in office. The Enid Blyton Magazine Club was formed in 1953. Its primary objective was to raise funds to help those children with cerebral palsy who attended a centre in Cheyne Walk , in Chelsea, London, by furnishing an on-site hostel among other things. The Famous Five series gathered such
5382-539: The Malory Towers series of six books based around the schoolgirl Darrell Rivers, First Term at Malory Towers , which became extremely popular, particularly with girls. The first book in Blyton's Barney Mysteries series, The Rockingdown Mystery , was published in 1949, as was the first of her fifteen Secret Seven novels. The Secret Seven Society consists of Peter, his sister Janet, and their friends Colin, George, Jack, Pam and Barbara, who meet regularly in
5499-552: The Māori Television Service was established to promote Māori language and culture. MTS is funded partly through direct government funding and partly through commercial advertising, but is eligible for contestable programming funds from Te Mangai Paho. In 2006, the Government announced the introduction of two new non-commercial digital television services operated by TVNZ, offering drama, arts, documentary and children's programming called TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 . However, after
5616-580: The Secret series . The following year Blyton released her first book in the Circus series and her initial book in the Amelia Jane series, Naughty Amelia Jane! According to Gillian, the main character was based on a large handmade doll given to her by her mother on her third birthday. During the 1940s, Blyton became a prolific author, her success enhanced by her "marketing, publicity and branding that
5733-769: The West Coast (including parts of Tasman ) switched off analogue television transmission. The rest of the South Island switched off analogue television transmission on 28 April 2013, followed by the lower North Island on 29 September 2013. The upper North Island (including the Waikato, Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Northland) was the last region to cease analogue transmissions on 1 December 2013. The major free-to-air television operators are currently TVNZ ( TVNZ 1 , TVNZ 2 , and TVNZ Duke ) and Warner Bros. Discovery ( Three , Bravo , Eden , Rush and HGTV ). Sky remains
5850-726: The resurrection . Tales from the Bible was published the following year, followed by The Boy with the Loaves and Fishes in 1948. The first book in Blyton's Five Find-Outers series, The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage , was published in 1943, as was the second book in the Faraway series, The Magic Faraway Tree , which in 2003 was voted 66th in the BBC 's Big Read poll to find the UK's favourite book. Several of Blyton's works during this period have seaside themes; John Jolly by
5967-460: The 1980s. The first adventure game book of the series, The Wreckers' Tower Game , was published in October 1984. On 28 August 1924, Blyton married Major Hugh Alexander Pollock , DSO (1888–1971) at Bromley Register Office, without inviting her family. They married shortly after his divorce from his first wife, with whom he had two sons, one of them already deceased. Pollock was an editor of
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#17327870401546084-454: The 60,000-word book The River of Adventure , the eighth in her Adventure Series , by listening to what she referred to as her "under-mind", which she contrasted with her "upper conscious mind". Blyton was unwilling to conduct any research or planning before beginning work on a new book, which coupled with the lack of variety in her life according to Druce, almost inevitably presented the danger that she might unconsciously, and did, plagiarise
6201-717: The Adventure series, The River of Adventure , and her seventh Secret Seven novel, Secret Seven Win Through . She completed the sixth and final book of the Malory Towers series, Last Term at Malory Towers , in 1951. Blyton published several further books featuring the character of Scamp the terrier, following on from The Adventures of Scamp , a novel she had released in 1943 under the nom de plume of Mary Pollock. Scamp Goes on Holiday (1952) and Scamp and Bimbo , Scamp at School , Scamp and Caroline and Scamp Goes to
6318-553: The Clown and Bom and the Rainbow (1959) and Bom Goes to Magic Town (1960). In 1958, she produced two annuals featuring the character, the first of which included twenty short stories, poems and picture strips. Many of Blyton's series, including Noddy and The Famous Five, continued to be successful in the 1960s; by 1962, 26 million copies of Noddy had been sold. Blyton concluded several of her long-running series in 1963, publishing
6435-1040: The Independent Television Corporation bid, the incoming Labour government favoured the NZBC's application and awarded it the licence without any formal hearings beforehand. (Eventually, Independent Television was awarded NZ$ 50,000 in compensation.) On Wednesday 31 October 1973, colour television using the Phase Alternating Line (PAL) system was introduced, in readiness for the 1974 British Commonwealth Games , which were to be held in Christchurch in January and February 1974. In February 1975, black-and-white televisions sets cost on average $ 350 (equivalent to $ 3,900 in December 2021) while colour television sets cost on average $ 840 (equivalent to $ 9,400 in December 2021). The NZBC
6552-530: The Middle East. But there is another reason for this choice of destination: Bill has been asked to watch a crook named Raya Uma. The children soon find another adventure revolving around a magnificent buried city filled with treasure beyond imagination. In the 1990s, the Adventure Series was adapted for New Zealand television by Cloud 9. The main characters were all the same as in the books, but
6669-568: The Noddy series, Noddy and the Aeroplane , in February 1964. In May of the following year, she published Mixed Bag , a songbook with music written by her nephew Carey, and in August she released her last full-length books, The Man Who Stopped to Help and The Boy Who Came Back . Blyton cemented her reputation as a children's writer when in 1926 she took over the editing of Sunny Stories ,
6786-709: The Round Table , Tales of Ancient Greece and Tales of Robin Hood were published in 1930. In Tales of Ancient Greece Blyton retold 16 well-known ancient Greek myths, but used Latin rather than Greek names and invented conversations between characters. The Adventures of Odysseus , Tales of the Ancient Greeks and Persians and Tales of the Romans followed in 1934. The first of twenty-eight books in Blyton's Old Thatch series , The Talking Teapot and Other Tales ,
6903-469: The Sea (1943), a picture book intended for younger readers, was published in a booklet format by Evans Brothers . Other books with a maritime theme include The Secret of Cliff Castle and Smuggler Ben , both attributed to Mary Pollock in 1943; The Island of Adventure , the first in the Adventure series of eight novels from 1944 onwards; and various novels of the Famous Five series such as Five on
7020-470: The Wishing-Chair (1937) and The Enchanted Wood (1939), Blyton went on to build a literary empire, sometimes producing fifty books a year in addition to her prolific magazine and newspaper contributions. Her writing was unplanned and sprang largely from her unconscious mind ; she typed her stories as events unfolded before her. The sheer volume of her work and the speed with which she produced it led to rumours that Blyton employed an army of ghost writers ,
7137-659: The Zoo (1954) were illustrated by Pierre Probst. She introduced the character of Bom, a stylish toy drummer dressed in a bright red coat and helmet, alongside Noddy in TV Comic in July 1956. A book series began the same year with Bom the Little Toy Drummer , featuring illustrations by R. Paul-Hoye, and followed with Bom and His Magic Drumstick (1957), Bom Goes Adventuring and Bom Goes to Ho Ho Village (1958), Bom and
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#17327870401547254-685: The blind boys and girls, and for the spastics who are unable to walk or talk. Blyton and the members of the children's clubs she promoted via her magazines raised a great deal of money for various charities; according to Blyton, membership of her clubs meant "working for others, for no reward". The largest of the clubs she was involved with was the Busy Bees, the junior section of the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals , which Blyton had actively supported since 1933. The club had been set up by Maria Dickin in 1934, and after Blyton publicised its existence in
7371-678: The book department in the publishing firm George Newnes, which became Blyton's regular publisher. It was he who requested her to write a book about animals, resulting in The Zoo Book , completed in the month before their marriage. They initially lived in a flat in Chelsea before moving to Elfin Cottage in Beckenham in 1926, and then to Old Thatch in Bourne End (called Peterswood in her books) in 1929. Blyton's first daughter, Gillian ,
7488-686: The book with the exception of "Pretending", which had appeared earlier in Punch magazine. The following year, she published The Enid Blyton Book of Fairies , illustrated by Horace J. Knowles, and in 1926 the Book of Brownies . Several books of plays appeared in 1927, including A Book of Little Plays and The Play's the Thing with the illustrator Alfred Bestall . In the 1930s, Blyton developed an interest in writing stories related to various myths, including those of ancient Greece and Rome ; The Knights of
7605-436: The books she had read, including her own. Gillian has recalled that her mother "never knew where her stories came from", but that she used to talk about them "coming from her 'mind's eye ' ", as did William Wordsworth and Charles Dickens . Blyton had "thought it was made up of every experience she'd ever had, everything she's seen or heard or read, much of which had long disappeared from her conscious memory" but never knew
7722-423: The boundaries" in her books, and encompassed a range of genres even in her short stories. In a 1958 article published in The Author , she wrote that there were a "dozen or more different types of stories for children", and she had tried them all, but her favourites were those with a family at their centre. In a letter to the psychologist Peter McKellar, Blyton describes her writing technique: I shut my eyes for
7839-407: The children are plunged into an exciting quest to find the lost treasure of the Andra with some ruthless villains hot on their trail. Who is the strange, pompous foreign boy Gustavus Barmilevo invited to the children's home by Bill for the holidays? The children soon discover that he is a prince, named Aloysius Gramondie, and has revolutionaries on his trail who want to overthrow his uncle and place
7956-483: The children get lost and find themselves near a mysterious mountain. Ominous rumblings from the ground, a pack of wolves roaming the area, a black fugitive, and Philip's disappearance are but a few of the mysteries the children have to unravel about the mountain. This is one of few novels by Enid Blyton to have science fiction elements. All the children are aboard for a quiet cruise among the Greek islands. But when Micky, Philip's new monkey, breaks his birthday present, all
8073-473: The coast. Strange lights on the nearby mysterious island leads to the four's first adventure inside an abandoned copper mine and a network of secret undersea tunnels. Philip and Dinah's mother takes the four on a summer adventure to a valley in the countryside overlooked by an ominous abandoned castle. When the four go looking for eagles, they find that the castle isn't as abandoned as they were led to believe. They investigate and get caught up in an encounter with
8190-442: The colour red acted as a "mental stimulus" for her. Stopping only for a short lunch break, she continued writing until five o'clock, by which time she would usually have produced 6,000–10,000 words. A 2,000 article in The Malay Mail considers Blyton's children to have "lived in a world shaped by the realities of post-war austerity", enjoying freedom without political correctness, which serves modern readers of Blyton's novels with
8307-405: The company Darrell Waters Ltd to manage her affairs. By the early 1950s, she had reached the peak of her output, often publishing more than fifty books a year, and she remained extremely prolific throughout much of the decade. By 1955, Blyton had written her fourteenth Famous Five novel, Five Have Plenty of Fun , her fifteenth Mary Mouse book, Mary Mouse in Nursery Rhyme Land , her eighth book in
8424-525: The direction her stories would take. Blyton further explained in her biography that "If I tried to think out or invent the whole book, I could not do it. For one thing, it would bore me and for another, it would lack the 'verve' and the extraordinary touches and surprising ideas that flood out from my imagination." Blyton's daily routine varied little over the years. She usually began writing soon after breakfast, with her portable typewriter on her knee and her favourite red Moroccan shawl nearby; she believed that
8541-510: The divorce, he was denied contact with them, and Blyton made sure he was subsequently unable to find work in publishing. Pollock, having married Crowe on 26 October 1943, eventually resumed his heavy drinking and was forced to petition for bankruptcy in 1950. Blyton and Darrell Waters married at the City of Westminster Register Office on 20 October 1943. She changed the surname of her daughters to Darrell Waters and publicly embraced her new role as
8658-475: The dominant pay-TV operator, now operating on satellite and IPTV. Full-time television broadcasting was first introduced in New Zealand in 1960 and transmitted from the NZBC's existing 1YA radio broadcasting facility at 74 Shortland Street in Auckland, now home to the University of Auckland 's Gus Fisher Gallery . The annual television licence fee was £NZ 4 ( $ 8). Prime Minister Walter Nash had made
8775-542: The family had moved to a semi-detached house in Beckenham , then a village in Kent . A few months after her birth, Enid almost died from whooping cough but was nursed back to health by her father, whom she adored. Thomas Blyton ignited Enid's interest in nature; in her autobiography she wrote that he "loved flowers and birds and wild animals, and knew more about them than anyone I had ever met". He also passed on his interest in gardening, art, music, literature, and theatre, and
8892-430: The family were planning a holiday- in "The Ship of Adventure", Bill had to postpone his wedding for this reason- yet Sir George appeared to be a gentleman of leisure. He was only seen doing real work a couple of times in the entire series- he was shown playing pool and golf, and on one occasion, he was seen fishing, though he lied that he was in the office. The series, which cost 6.2 million pounds, aired on Channel 5 and
9009-570: The fictional Whyteleafe School. The first of her six novels in the St. Clare's series, The Twins at St. Clare's , appeared the following year, featuring the twin sisters Patricia and Isabel O'Sullivan. In 1942, Blyton released the first book in the Mary Mouse series, Mary Mouse and the Dolls' House , about a mouse exiled from her mousehole who becomes a maid at a dolls' house. Twenty-three books in
9126-406: The film of the landing to be broadcast live across the country. The NZBC's first live network news bulletin was read by Dougal Stevenson on 3 November 1969. The Warkworth satellite station opened in 1971, providing the first real-time television link between New Zealand and the rest of the world. The NZBC had asked the Government for the approval of a second TV channel as early as 1964, but this
9243-657: The first four jigsaw puzzles of the Secret Seven, and the following year a Secret Seven card game appeared. Bestime released the Little Noddy Car Game in 1953 and the Little Noddy Leap Frog Game in 1955, and in 1956 American manufacturer Parker Brothers released Little Noddy's Taxi Game, a board game which features Noddy driving about town, picking up various characters. Bestime released its Plywood Noddy Jigsaws series in 1957 and
9360-415: The first privately owned TV station in the country, finally ending the state monopoly. Restrictions on foreign ownership were also removed, and TV3 was subsequently sold to Canada's CanWest . Sky TV, in which TVNZ originally had a small stake, began broadcasting New Zealand's first pay TV service on three UHF channels. Although TVNZ had to compete with its commercial rivals through the 1990s, it maintained
9477-585: The first week. Her most popular feature was "Round the Year with Enid Blyton", which consisted of forty-eight articles covering aspects of natural history such as weather, pond life, how to plant a school garden and how to make a bird table. Among Blyton's other nature projects was her monthly "Country Letter" feature that appeared in The Nature Lover magazine in 1935. Sunny Stories was renamed Enid Blyton's Sunny Stories in January 1937, and served as
9594-450: The five were involved with "unmasking hardened villains and solving serious crimes", although the novels were "hardly 'hard-boiled' thrillers". Blyton based the character of Georgina, a tomboy she described as "short-haired, freckled, sturdy, and snub-nosed" and "bold and daring, hot-tempered and loyal", on herself. Blyton had an interest in biblical narratives and retold Old and New Testament stories. The Land of Far-Beyond (1942)
9711-462: The hours of transmission were from 5pm until close at about 10pm, later extending, in 1966, to 2pm opening. A test pattern was transmitted from 9am to allow for adjustment of TV sets in homes by technicians. The four stations were networked in 1969. The network was mostly complete in time for the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, with gaps filled by strategically-placed outside broadcasting vans to allow
9828-434: The last books of The Famous Five ( Five Are Together Again ) and The Secret Seven ( Fun for the Secret Seven ); she also produced three more Brer Rabbit books with the illustrator Grace Lodge: Brer Rabbit Again , Brer Rabbit Book , and Brer Rabbit's a Rascal . In 1962, many of her books were among the first to be published by Armada Books in paperback, making them more affordable to children. After 1963, Blyton's output
9945-738: The launch of Freeview's nationwide digital satellite service in May 2007. The Freeview digital terrestrial service launched on 14 April 2008. A pay digital terrestrial service was launched in 2012 by Igloo and closed in 2017; this was a joint venture between Sky and TVNZ and provided Freeview UHF aerial channels along with eleven Sky channels. In July 2016, Sky announced that Igloo will be discontinued although Freeview channels will still be available. Up until 2023, Vodafone (now One NZ) operated an IPTV television service, with free-to-air channels and wholesale content from Sky. The digital changeover in New Zealand began on 30 September 2012, when Hawke's Bay and
10062-550: The magazine ran until September 1959. Noddy made his first appearance in the Sunday Graphic in 1949, the same year as Blyton's first daily Noddy strip for the London Evening Standard . It was illustrated by van der Beek until his death in 1953. Blyton worked in a wide range of fictional genres, from fairy tales to animal, nature, detective, mystery, and circus stories, but she often "blurred
10179-496: The meeting, Blyton sent the text of the first two Noddy books to her publisher, to be forwarded to van der Beek. The Noddy books became one of her most successful and best-known series, and were hugely popular in the 1950s. An extensive range of sub-series, spin-offs and strip books was produced throughout the decade, including Noddy's Library , Noddy's Garage of Books , Noddy's Castle of Books , Noddy's Toy Station of Books and Noddy's Shop of Books . In 1950, Blyton established
10296-478: The more progressive environment that was emerging in post-World War II Britain, but updated versions of her books have continued to be popular since her death in 1968. She felt she had a responsibility to provide her readers with a strong moral framework, so she encouraged them to support worthy causes. In particular, through the clubs she set up or supported, she encouraged and organised them to raise funds for animal and paediatric charities. The story of Blyton's life
10413-457: The most notable henchman was Ray Uma's henchman, Taj, in "The River of Adventure", who appeared to be more intelligent than his master, and had a major role in the episode's plot. The TV series also introduced a character who was not in the books- Sir George Houghton, Cunningham's rich, underworked boss, who appeared in every episode except "The Valley of Adventure". A running gag was that he always phoned Cunningham with an urgent assignment just as
10530-491: The only Blyton stories ever to be told on Jackanory . In 1988, The Castle of Adventure was adapted as part of the Radio 4 children's programme Cat's Whiskers , while in 1993, The Island of Adventure was read on the old Radio 5 . Philip meets Jack and Lucy-Ann and Jack's pet bird Kiki, and after they sneak home with him, they move in with Philip, his sister Dinah and their Aunt Polly and Uncle Jocelyn at an ancient mansion at
10647-460: The opening pages of The Mountain of Adventure present a "deeply appealing ideal of childhood". He argues that Blyton's work differs from that of many other authors in its approach, describing the narrative of The Famous Five series for instance as "like a powerful spotlight, it seeks to illuminate, to explain, to demystify. It takes its readers on a roller-coaster story in which the darkness is always banished; everything puzzling, arbitrary, evocative
10764-404: The original editions are expensive collectors' items. TV versions of all eight novels were produced by Cloud 9 Entertainment Studios in 1996. [1] The Castle of Adventure was earlier dramatised by TVS for ITV in 1990, and the series has been Blyton's most used on the BBC ; in 1974 The Island of Adventure was told on Jackanory while in 1986 The Circus of Adventure followed. These were
10881-670: The pair often went on nature walks, much to the disapproval of Enid's mother, who showed little interest in her daughter's pursuits. Enid was devastated when her father left the family shortly after her 13th birthday to live with another woman. Enid and her mother did not have a good relationship, and after she left home, Enid gave people the impression that her mother was dead. Enid did not attend either of her parents' funerals. From 1907 to 1915, Blyton attended St Christopher's School in Beckenham, where she enjoyed physical activities and became school tennis champion and lacrosse captain. She
10998-544: The pantomime. By the late 1950s, Blyton's clubs had a membership of 500,000, and raised £35,000 in the six years of the Enid Blyton Magazine' s run. By 1974, the Famous Five Club had a membership of 220,000 and was growing at the rate of 6,000 new members a year. The Beaconsfield home that was set up to support was closed in 1967, but the club continued to raise funds for other paediatric charities, including an Enid Blyton bed at Great Ormond Street Hospital and
11115-846: The piano, which she mastered well enough for him to believe she might follow in his sister's footsteps and become a professional musician. Blyton considered enrolling at the Guildhall School of Music , but decided she was better suited to becoming a writer. After finishing school, in 1915, as head girl, she moved out of the family home to live with her friend Mary Attenborough, before going to stay with George and Emily Hunt at Seckford Hall , near Woodbridge , in Suffolk. Seckford Hall, with its allegedly haunted room and secret passageway, provided inspiration for her later writing. At Woodbridge Congregational Church, Blyton met Ida Hunt, who taught at Ipswich High School and suggested she train there as
11232-401: The prince on the throne as a puppet ruler . Jack and Kiki find themselves following the others, who are kidnapped and taken to the strange country of Tauri Hessia; but he finds help with a circus. Will Jack be able to rescue the others with the help of his new friends and decide the fate of an entire nation? Recovering from a very bad flu, the four children and their family make a river trip in
11349-417: The publication dates span a decade, Blyton reportedly wrote each of the novels in less than a week. The colourful dust jackets and line illustrations were by Stuart Tresilian . (family names are provided based on first appearances) Originally, the series was supposed to end after this episode, but under the great demand of dedicated fans, Blyton wrote two more episodes: All of the books are in print, and
11466-591: The series were produced between 1942 and 1964; 10,000 copies were sold in 1942 alone. The same year, Blyton published the first novel in the Famous Five series , Five on a Treasure Island , with illustrations by Eileen Soper . Its popularity resulted in twenty-one books between then and 1963, and the characters of Julian, Dick, Anne, George (Georgina) and Timmy the dog became household names in Britain. Matthew Grenby, author of Children's Literature , states that
11583-746: The shortage of area schools, neighbouring children soon joined her charges, and a small school developed at the house. In 1920, Blyton moved to Chessington and began writing in her spare time. The following year, she won the Saturday Westminster Review writing competition with her essay "On the Popular Fallacy that to the Pure All Things are Pure". Publications such as The Londoner , Home Weekly and The Bystander began to show an interest in her short stories and poems. Blyton's first book, Child Whispers ,
11700-494: The state sector, the BCNZ was dissolved. TVNZ and Radio New Zealand (RNZ) became separate "State-Owned Enterprises" (SOEs) which would have to compete commercially and return dividends to the Crown . Rather than continuing to be used to directly fund TVNZ and RNZ, the licence fee, now called the broadcasting fee, was to be used for local content production and the state funding for non-commercial broadcasting in radio and television on
11817-433: The state-owned Television New Zealand (TVNZ). There are currently three forms of broadcast television: a terrestrial ( DVB-T ) service provided by Freeview ; as well as satellite ( DVB-S ) and internet streaming ( IPTV ) services provided nationwide by both Freeview and Sky . The first nationwide digital television service was launched in December 1998 by Sky, who had a monopoly on digital satellite television until
11934-586: The stories were set in modern times. This did not greatly affect the plot of the stories, though Jack owned a pocket computer which played a significant role in a couple of the adventures, particularly in "The Ship of Adventure". "The Mountain of Adventure" was set in the German Alps, rather than the Welsh mountains as in the books. Also, many of the TV adaptations featured bumbling henchmen for comic relief. Probably
12051-561: The subterfuge to her and her publisher, with the result that all six books published under the name of Mary Pollock – two in 1940 and four in 1943 – were reissued under Blyton's name. Later in 1940, Blyton published the first of her boarding school story books and the first novel in the Naughtiest Girl series, The Naughtiest Girl in the School , which followed the exploits of the mischievous schoolgirl Elizabeth Allen at
12168-418: Was an English children's writer , whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been translated into ninety languages. As at June 2019, Blyton held the 4th place for the most translated author. She wrote on a wide range of topics, including education, natural history, fantasy, mystery, and biblical narratives. She
12285-465: Was appointed as his successor to continue the merger process. In February 2023, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins scrapped plans to merge the two public broadcasters as part of a reorientation of government priorities towards living costs. Freeview is a non-profit organisation providing free-to-air digital television and digital radio to New Zealand. The Freeview service is available via satellite throughout New Zealand. Freeview's terrestrial service
12402-478: Was born on 15 July 1931, and after a miscarriage in 1934, she gave birth to a second daughter, Imogen, on 27 October 1935. In 1938, she and her family moved to a house in Beaconsfield , named Green Hedges by Blyton's readers, following a competition in her magazine. By the mid-1930s, Pollock had become a secret alcoholic, withdrawing increasingly from public life —possibly triggered through his meetings, as
12519-540: Was dissolved on 1 April 1975, and the existing NZBC television service became Television One . The second channel, TV2 (later renamed South Pacific Television in 1976) launched on 30 June 1975. In 1977, the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ) was established, and in 1980, TV One and South Pacific (known once again as TV2) were merged into a single organisation, Television New Zealand (TVNZ). In 1988, following major economic reforms to
12636-693: Was dramatised in Enid , a BBC television film featuring Helena Bonham Carter in the title role. It was first broadcast in the UK on BBC Four in 2009. Enid Blyton was born on 11 August 1897 in East Dulwich , south London, United Kingdom, the eldest of three children, to Thomas Carey Blyton (1870–1920), a cutlery salesman (recorded in the 1911 census with the occupation of "Mantle Manufacturer dealer [in] women's suits, skirts, etc.") and his wife Theresa Mary ( née Harrison; 1874–1950). Enid's younger brothers, Hanly (1899–1983) and Carey (1902–1976), were born after
12753-960: Was estimated that on 31 December 2008, 198,938 Freeview certified set-top boxes and IDTVs had been sold since the platform's launch (146,416 Satellite, 52,522 UHF). It is estimated that Freeview is in 12.6% of New Zealand homes (roughly 420,000 people). This makes it New Zealand's third largest television platform, and New Zealand's second largest digital platform. Freeview-certified set-top boxes and PVRs are available at most major New Zealand retailers. Cheaper, uncertified equipment can also be used. New Zealand's deregulated broadcasting environment has led to many regional stations (either non-commercial public service or privately owned) that broadcast only in one region or city. These stations mainly broadcast free to air on UHF frequencies, although some are carried on subscription TV. Content ranges from local news, access broadcasts, satellite sourced news, tourist information and Christian programming to music videos. Over
12870-470: Was far ahead of its time". In 1940, Blyton published two books – Three Boys and a Circus and Children of Kidillin – under the pseudonym of Mary Pollock (middle name plus first married name), in addition to the eleven published under her name that year. So popular were Pollock's books that one reviewer was prompted to observe that "Enid Blyton had better look to her laurels". But Blyton's readers were not so easily deceived and many complained about
12987-508: Was generally confined to short stories and books intended for very young readers, such as Learn to Count with Noddy and Learn to Tell Time with Noddy in 1965, and Stories for Bedtime and the Sunshine Picture Story Book collection in 1966. Her declining health and a falling off in readership among older children have been put forward as the principal reasons for this change in trend. Blyton published her last book in
13104-561: Was greatly reduced by the time of the broadcasting fee's abolition. However, the 1999 election saw a Labour-led coalition gain office. Over its next two terms, attempts were made to reintroduce public service functions to the sector. In 2003, TVNZ was restructured as a Crown-Owned Company with a public service Charter. The Charter, abolished by the Key National government in 2008, received a small amount of government subsidy, but TVNZ remains predominantly dependent on commercial revenue and
13221-417: Was her husband's declining health throughout the 1960s; he suffered from severe arthritis in his neck and hips, deafness, and became increasingly ill-tempered and erratic until his death on 15 September 1967. New Zealand television Television in New Zealand was introduced in 1960 as a state-run service. The broadcasting sector was deregulated in 1989, when the Government allowed competition to
13338-571: Was introduced to Aucklanders on 4 April 1961, and facilitated increasing transmission hours to twenty-eight per week. By 1962 there were 65,000 licences, by 1963 there were 80,000 licences and an estimated audience of 300,000 or one-eighth of the population, and by 1966 there were half a million licences. Television sets were added to the CPI basket in 1966. At the time, a 23-inch black-and-white 'consolette' television set cost on average £131 ($ 262), equivalent to $ 5,600 in December 2021 dollars. Initially,
13455-423: Was not keen on all the academic subjects but excelled in writing and, in 1911, entered Arthur Mee 's children's poetry competition. Mee offered to print her verses, encouraging her to produce more. Blyton's mother considered her efforts at writing to be a "waste of time and money", but she was encouraged to persevere by Mabel Attenborough, the aunt of school friend Mary Potter . Blyton's father taught her to play
13572-598: Was published in 1934, the same year as Brer Rabbit Retold ; (Brer Rabbit originally featured in Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris ), her first serial story and first full-length book, Adventures of the Wishing-Chair , followed in 1937. The Enchanted Wood , the first book in the Faraway Tree series , published in 1939, is about a magic tree inspired by the Norse mythology that had fascinated Blyton as
13689-486: Was rejected as the Government considered increasing coverage of the existing TV service to be of greater priority. By 1971, however, two proposals for a second channel were under consideration: that of the NZBC for a non-commercial service; and a separate commercial channel to be operated by an Independent Television Corporation, headed by Gordon Dryden . Although the Broadcasting Authority had favoured
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