Enid Blyton
(1897 - 1968)

Enid Mary Blyton, one of the most successful writers of the 20th century was born London. Her childhood was not happy partly because of the difficult relationship between her mother and father. Finally, when Enid was 13, her father left the family. This event was a big shock for her...to get out of it she started writing sentimental poetry. Some of these were even published in magazines.

She attended Beckenham girls' school and was among he best pupils (she became head girl and captain of games). But her bad relationship with mother went on and Enid left home as soon as possible. Her parents wanted her to a pianist but she decided to be a kindergarten teacher. She studied pedagogy and acquired some of the Froebel and Montessori methods.

After some time Blyton started working as a governess to four boys. Meanwhile she went on writing short verses and stories that were accepted and published in various magazines. Her first book, a collection of poems called Child Whispers came out in 1922.That's the time when her writer's career started for later on she contributed to the magazine Teacher's World. Sooo, by 1924 - when another book of hers appeared (The Enid Blyton Bok of Fairies) - her name was quite well.known. 

The same year (1924) she married Hugh Pollock, her editor in Newnes publishing firm. She left her governess job and decided to earn living by writing. During the early years of their marriage, Blyton wrote such books as Sunny Stories for Little Folk (1926) and retold the stories of Aesop or Robin Hood. She went on publishing in various teacher's periodicals.

In 30s she became widely known among children because of her Children's Page in Teacher's World (this page contained poems, competitions and stories). At this time she was able to produce several children's books a year (at the end of 40s she published about 30 books a year - amazing woman, wasn't she?). Anyway, these were just short pieces and it was not until 1937 that she wrote a full-lenght children's story (The Adventures of Wishing Chair which was originally printed in the magazine). There were a lot of other books published from 1938 till 1942 but 1942 is the year when her first story about Famous Five came out (the Secret Seven, another famous work appeared a few years later). 

Though her marriage with Hugh Pollock was very happy at the beginning, during the time it turned to be quite difficult. They had together two children but Pollock started drinking heavily and subsequently fell ill. Finally, the situation led to divorce and Blyton married Keneth Dareell Waters, a London surgeon.

Another turning point in her career came in 50s when she started writing stories about Noddy. The books attracted attention of critics. A few negative reviews (even remarks about racism - when a black child is turned to white by magic rain) and the books were excluded from libraries in Britain and other countries. Blyton herself remarked that she gave children what they wanted and if they could not find her books in libraries they would buy them. She was true because the sales of her books dramatically rose and her income reached 100,000£ per annum.

And then came her problems with health. In the 60s she began to lose her memory and after 1964 she produced almost entirely Noddy books. She died in 1968. Her husband died a year earlier. She remains one of the most popular children's writers for the age-group between eight and twelve.

Famous Five

The first book came out in 1942 called Five on the Treasure Island. The five means four children (Julian, Dick, Anne and Georgina - an image of Blyton herself) and Timmy the Dog. They spend their holiday together, always struggling with all sorts of *bad guys* (thieves, smugglers and other criminals) and always winning. Blyton originally meant to write six books but things change...and the result was 21 books (the last one appeared in 1963). Millions of copies have been sold since then, the stories were filmed and staged.