News about Enid Blyton

An iconic TV star looked unrecognisable as they returned to their infamous BBC show, 29 years after their debut as a child actor.

Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gunning picked up her first Emmy for her work in the Netflix show but she has previously admitted she had gone years without work. The actress, 38, who played stalker Martha in the Netflix hit, won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie prize for her role as the crazed fan of Richard Gadd's Donny Dunn. Gunning blew fans away with her portrayal of Martha and her obsession into Donny who she emails hundreds of times a day, turning up outside his house and harassing his family and friends. Prior to the show which catapulted her to fame the actress has previously spent large chunks of her career without any work.

The ferry owners have sparked outrage after they announced proposals to start charging £6.25 or the right to drive on Ferry Road in Studland, Dorset, which motorists use to reach Sandbanks. The new charge is aimed at clamping down on people who just park on the road all day for free to visit the nearby beaches. However locals fear the plans will lead to travel chaos in the idyllic village of Studland, which was children's author Enid Blyton 's favourite holiday destination. The ferry takes four minutes to cross as opposed to the 40 minutes to drive the long way from Sandbanks to Studland and is a vital transport link for the area.

On a school reunion day, I saw her before she saw me. At first, I could not believe it was her. Unremarkably middle-aged and a bit plump, she was wearing a floral summer dress with sandals, and I noticed her ankles had that tell-tale puffiness certain overweight women in their 40s get. But that's just me being mean, still trying to find reasons, after all these years, to take her down. To take her power away. I wouldn't have given her a second glance if we'd passed on the street. Yet this was the girl - all grown up now - who had made so much of my life at school a misery.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS: Enid Blyton (1897-1968) was a beloved British children's author, best known for her series such as The Famous Five, The Secret Seven and The Faraway Tree. Her books, characterised by adventure, mystery and strong moral themes, have sold millions of copies worldwide and been translated into numerous languages. The casual reader may not be aware of just how prolific she was. According to The Enid Blyton Society, she published a staggering 185 novels/novelettes, 292 'character' books (which contained 858 short stories), 1,008 short story series books (containing 8,183 short stories), 283 'education' books (containing 1,287 short stories) and 386 'recreation' books (containing 1,857 short stories).

Charles Spencer's bestselling memoir A Very Private School describes in harrowing detail what it was like for him at his traditional boys' prep school in the 1970s. But what was it like for a girl in these very male institutions? Having arrived in 1975 (aged seven) as part of a new intake of girls at St Andrew's Berkshire, which was previously boys-only, I can tell you.

The cast for the live action movie adaptation of Enid Blyton's beloved The Faraway Tree books has been announced. Based on The Faraway Tree series of novels, The Magic Faraway Tree follows Polly and Tim Thompson and their children, Beth, Joe and Fran, who find themselves forced to relocate to the remote English countryside.  There, the children discover a magical tree and its extraordinary and eccentric occupants.

Sophie Banks has lived in Milton-under-Wychwood, a Cotswolds village, for more than a decade. Her children, 12 and 14, have grown up here, walking 200 yards to the local primary school, building dens in the woods, and skimming stones on a nearby babbling brook. It seems that Enid Blyton life is portrayed, but Sophie says otherwise. When she opens her front door each morning, she is welcomed not by the fragrant scent of wildflowers and spring hedgerows but rather by the stench of sewage rising from manhole covers. 'If it's raining, the sewage from thousands of nearby homes comes out of the manholes at the bottom of the road's dip.' Sophie, 48, who works as an administrator, says, 'When it's wet, the sewage from thousands of residents comes out of the manholes.'

Some followers of the original books have chastised Enid Blyton's Famous Five series for its costume design and electronic music score, who claim it is 'all over the place.' The new series is based on Blyton's 21 stories and will follow a group of young explorers, including Julian, Dick, George, and their dog Timmy.

Sinitta came to prominence in the 1980s, but she ended up living in her car because she was so poor in money in the 1990s. Donna Ferguson, the British-American singer of So Macho's 1986 hit song, tells Donna Ferguson that she has never forgotten how it feels to be homeless. She is divorced and lives in a five-bedroom flat in South-West London, now 60. Magdelena and Zac are the two adopted teenage children in Sinitta. Sin's Angels, an exclusive online community for 50+ women, is the founder.

Everyone's got it in for Enid Blyton, and no mistake was made, except for Enid Blyton. The decades have been enough to make your fishpaste sandwiches curl. "The blighted childhood of Enid Blyton shows her as a cruel adulterous bully." (Blyton, a Blyton scholar)'

Enid Blyton, the queen of children's literature, was known for her wholesome tales of adventure and wonder. The English author was outwardly a national treasure, having written Noddy, the Famous Five, and Malory Towers. However, there was enough excitement, intrigue, and mystery in her personal life to fill the pages of the raciest novel, as shown in a recent book. Dorothy Richards, her children's nanny, and other women, have long believed that Blyton may have had a lesbian affair. Now, English professor Nicholas Royle has revealed that his grandmother, illustrator Lola Onslow, had a long friendship with the author. 'Your grandmother had an affair with Enid Blyton one day', he wrote. Those were her words.' Blyton also held glamorous parties, with young Army troops and a bachelor neighbor reportedly attending, although one occasion was reported to have been playing tennis naked as visitors arrived. Hugh Pollock (left), her first husband, was the most revealing, but it was her friendship with her first husband Hugh Pollock (left). Both were unfaithful to each other and divorced in 1942, by which time Blyton had brought in surgeon Kenneth Darrell Waters (right). Inset: Imogen and Gillian are her daughters' Imogen and Gillian.

Lola Oslow's granddaughter, who was an illustrator for Blyton and worked with her most prominently on Book of Fairies, has confessed to an affair with the author (left and right). In his latest book David Bowie, Enid Blyton, and the Sun Machine, which was published last month, Nicholas Royle, a Sussex University English professor, made the announcement. "Your grandmother had an affair with Enid Blyton," my mother told me one day. Those were her words.'

Edie Campbell, the top model, is so keen on horses that she once lifted the Magnolia Cup at Glorious Goodwood. And yet she's only been given a painful reminder of how difficult the game can be. Last week, Edie, 33, the daughter of Old Etonian Roddy Campbell and architect Sophie Hicks, 'I was kicked in the face and shoulder by a horse.' 'I had to have emergency plastic surgery.' She posted photos of her post-operative recovery. 'I escaped with just a cute little scar,' she says.' 'I had the most swollen and wonky face for a while.'

ALISON BOSHOFF: Hundreds of nefarious remarks have been posted on Chalamet's Instagram page - where he is viewed by 18.4 million viewers since the SNL sketch was shown. Hundreds of people say, 'Boycott Wonka.' Others accuse the actor of'supporting genocide' and displaying 'white privilege.' Many people have said that they will never watch a film starring Chalamet and that they are no longer devoted followers. 'Free Palestine' is a Palestinian flag or the word used to describe it.'

When I was 14 years old, I made a decision that changed my life. At the time, it seemed that it was small, but it changed the way I lived and thought for years. Looking back, I now believe it robbed me of my opportunity to date a spouse in order to have my own family. We have no idea what our lives may have looked like at different forks. However, I've often wondered what would have happened if I hadn't been so keen to meet some boys. On the estate where I grew up, there were plenty. On the adventure playground, we had fun together. In our pants and jackets, we did'music and dance' together. They were part of the landscape, part of the furniture, and looked like the educational wall charts we passed by and ignored. They were, or seemed to be, a normal part of life. Until, that is, the day I first wore my new school uniform and red felt hat for Guildford County School for Girls.

For decades, it has been a popular childreninitiative. And now Stan has announced that a new action-packed series based on Enid Blyton's The Famous Five books will premiere on the streaming giant in December. The three-part adventure, starring Game of Thrones actor Jack Gleeson, follows a group of four young explorers and their dog.

When her government was deposed in a coup, Australian professor Sean Turnell had been advising Myanmar's democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on economic policy. The 57-year-old was arrested and sentenced to a string of prisons, including the notorious Insein jail. Turnell was jailed for midnight interrogations, forced to live with rats and scorpions, and defend himself against ridiculous allegations that he was an agent for the M16. Turnell recited world leaders, named the 50 US states in his head, and read Enid Blyton's children's books to keep himself sane. The self-described nerdy academic has now chronicled his experiences in his book The Unlikely Prisoner.

This mound of rubble remains of Britain's oldest beach cafe after it was reportedly razed to the ground as part of the National Trust's'managed retreat' coastal erosion program. The historic timber building that had been standing at Middle Beach, Studland, Dorset, for more than a century has been surrounded by a brick wall and a gaping empty space. Enid Blyton, the children's author, was said to have visited the once-picturesque spot, who often holidayed at a hotel nearby.

In the hit TV show Succession, Logan Roy is best known as the influential and psychopathic billionaire media mogul. However, Brian Cox (pictured) has spoken out against censorship and control when it comes to re-writing Ian Fleming, Enid Blyton, and Roald Dahl's scripts in an attempt to remove potentially 'harmful' and 'outdated' attitudes. The 77-year-old, who is presenting a new James Bond-themed reality show, said: "We don't muck around with Shakespeare; we shouldn't muck about with James Bond."

The former tenants of a much-loved 'Enid Blyton' clifftop hut are fighting a council protest to demolish it and hand it the bill. Even though the council's ground lease ended last year, retired police officers Leif Bailey and Donna Purkis were warned that they were still liable for the repair of the building down. The couple are concerned that if they were to be landed with a total bill of up to £150,000 from Plymouth City Council, they would be disinherited. 'The place is full of treasured memories for our family,' Leif, 62, said. "It's something like an Enid Blyton adventure set in a scenic, sheltered valley high above a secluded beach.'

We do like to be beside the seaside, but there are plenty of stunning British towns and villages to discover away from the coast, Which? The truth is revealed. It has been ranked among the best - and worst - inland towns and villages in the United Kingdom this year, based on a survey that asked holidaymakers to assess their experiences of visiting 94 inland towns and villages in the last year. Destinations were rated in seven categories, including scenery, food and drink, peace and quiet, tourist attractions, and value for money.

You may have noticed that Johnnie Boden, the man whose brand is synonymous with healthy British style, has done something rare in industry, let alone in fashion, and admitted that he did it wrong. Or, as he puts it, he was a complete idiot.' Unlike many a man before him, Johnnie, who founded his label in 1991, had his head turned by younger things, lost his most devoted followers, and the result was a £4.4 million loss before tax, relative to a £22 million loss last year. Ouch. Lesson learned that there was no such thing as a tv dynamo. Now, he's determined to get the brand back on track and over the middle-class mums who were always the key to his success.

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: There's nothing wet or chinless about Alnwick, Jane Percy, who gave us a guided tour of The Duchess And Her Magical Kingdom (More4). Although the wife of the 12th Duke of Northumberland, she has dedicated 20 years to renovating the castle and its gardens, she does have some eccentric tastes, including a passion for taxidermy. On every sofa, retired pets lurk. This documentary, narrated by Amazing Spaces' George Clarke, may have been a much more enjoyable spectacle. Lady Percy, who favors a lambswool pullover with an Elizabethan ruff, is adorably bonkers.