From birth over a store in south London to international children's authoress, Enid Blyton's own story reads a bit like one of her own adventures. She was born in East Dulwich, south London, in 1897 and grew up to become one of the best loved authors of children's books, due to her ability to think and write like a child.
Her family wanted her to be a musician and did little to encourage her writing talents. However, her first work – a poem, entitled "Have You?" was accepted for publication in 1917.
Rejecting the life of a musician but needing to earn a living, Enid trained as a teacher and actually opened her own school. However, she continued to write and get published, so she eventually gave up teaching to concentrate on writing full time.
In 1926 she became the editor of a children's magazine, "Sunny Stories", a post she held for nearly thirty years.
Until 1938 Enid's work was largely short stories, many of which were first published in "Sunny Stories". But, in 1938 she published "The Secret Island". This was her first full length novel and led on to the series of books she is best known for: "The Famous Five".
In 1949 came probably her most famous single character, Noddy, introduced in the first book of the Noddy series, "Noddy Goes To Toyland". Much of the charm of these books came from the superb drawings by Dutch artist, Van der Beek.
Apart from a spell at Ipswich, during her teaching era, Enid Blyton never moved far from London. In the middle 1920's, soon after she married she moved to a newly built house in Beckenham, on the south eastern outskirts of London. She always considered this her first real home.
In 1929, she moved to a 16th century thatched cottage by the River Thames in Buckinghamshire, to the west of London. The house she finally lived in – and which was associated with her during her most famous period - was called "Green Hedges" and located in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, to the north west of London.
Enid edited "Sunny Stories" right up until 1952. The following year, she began her own publication, "The Enid Blyton Magazine". This continued until 1959, when she found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on her writing with the same gusto as earlier years, when she was reputed to have produced 10,000 words daily.
After the death of her second husband, in 1967, her health became progressively worse and she died in a nursing home in Hampstead, North London, in November 1968.
However, her books live on and continue to delight coming generations of children as they delve into the exciting worlds of Noddy and Big Ears and Lucy-Ann and Jack.
© copyright 2006 Jon Michael and London Vacation Secrets