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By
the 1950's, Enid was one of the four most-read authors in the world.
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Her
work has been translated into over 40 languages, with that Enid Blyton
is the third most translated author this century. |
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Enid
Blyton could write 10,000 - 12,000 words in a day. Calculating on
this average, it took about two days to complete a Noddy book. She
could finish a Famous Five adventure within four days and an Adventure
book within six days. |
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Many of her characters were modeled on or reflections of real life
people she had known. Amelia Jane was a big rag doll given to Enid's
daughter, Gillian, on her third birthday which became a character
in Sunny Stories; 'Mam'zelle' in the Twins at St Clare's was one of
Enid Blyton's French mistresses at school; 'Claudine' at St Clare's
was a Belgian girl at her school for a year; 'Inspector Jenks' from
the Mystery Series was an Inspector in her neighborhood; 'Bill Smugs'
from the Adventure Series was based on a man whom she met on holiday
and who showed his interest in appearing in one of her books. Even
The Secret Seven were real children who had started a Secret Seven
Club. Through their publisher father they asked her to write about
them and their club and their adventures. |
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In
1942, during the war, when paper was not easily available, she wrote
Mary Mouse in its original shape to use up offcuts of paper that the
publisher had cut out from other book. |
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During
her childhood, Enid was not allowed to keep pets. But as an adult
she compensated for that by keeping and breeding fox terriers, Siamese
cats, turtle doves, fantail pigeons, goldfish, chickens and tortoise. |
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Her
favorite children's books were The Princess and The Goblin, Alice
in Wonderland, Coral Island, Little Women, and The Children's
Encyclopaedia. |
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She
had an eidetic memory, and could memorize things and people more by
its looks rather than names. |
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She
was equally interested in the publication procedure or staging of
her works. She chose her artists and approved all her own artwork.
It was her suggestion to put a little picture on the spine of a book
so that it could be made more attractive. |
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