I came across ‘Noddy gets it on’ by the late great Clive James in his book ‘Visions Before Midnight’ published in 1972. The short chapter was devoted to Enid Blyton, in it, he reveals Miss Blytons prolific output. 600 books in forty-four years, according to his calculations, that’s 13.5 books a year. So her average output over her lifetime was approximately one book a month. Those 600 books have sold 85 million copies in 128 languages, on average that’s 664,062 per copy. Now I’ve never read a Blyton book, I know plenty that have, either way, the woman was a literally titan at the time 1897-1968 and surprisingly her titles still are. Her Famous Five, Secret Seven, and Mystery series of books are still widely read, whilst her Little Noddy series, featuring the adventures of Little Noddy, Mr. Plod the policeman, Big Ears, and other characters of Toyland Village, enjoy enormous popularity continuing her legacy as a household name. According to celebworth.net those titles still bring in somewhere in the region of eight million pounds per annum.

Blyton’s sales numbers are still earning her a spot on the best seller list, according to insider.com she is currently seventh, not bad for a lady who’s been deceased for 53 years. That’s the good news. However  in recent times some of her books, including her characters, have drawn criticism since her departure. Sexism, racism, snobbery and xenophobia have been levelled at her writing style. It’s laughable, but Noddy has since been labelled a homosexual misogynist and a racist. More obvious is having a character named Golliwog, given the Black American Civil Rights movement of 1954 was taking place. The way round was to have the characters replaced by the likes of teddy bears and goblins and to include some life style changes.

Another player has entered into the industry that was Enid Blyton, that of Seven Stories who in 2010 purchased her material at auction from the Estate of Gillian Baverstock, Blyton’s elder daughter. It turns out that Hachettes UK acquired the ‘world rights’ to the literary estate, excluding her best known series, Noddy, from Chorion. Through the deal, which includes some 800 titles, Blyton’s work will be overseen by Hachette’s Hodder Children’s imprint.  Hachette, also took ‘digital’ and ‘dramatic rights’ in the deal, and currently publishes a number of versions of Blyton titles, including Famous Five and Secret Seven, since Hodder was the author’s original publisher.

I guess it took place over one of those power breakfast boardroom affairs, with the use of ‘dramatic rights’,‘world rights’ and ‘digital rights’ being used over tea and biscuits.

As becomes titans, so to some drama. A Will made by the daughter of Enid Blyton is at the centre of a dispute involving her family members.

The Mail on Sunday states that Gillian Baverstock created a document splitting her £800,000 estate (low by the book sales figures mentioned above) between family members, including grandchildren, prior to her death in 2007. However, none of the six beneficiaries have yet received a penny because of a High Court battle involving the trustees. The industry that is Enid Blyton continues whilst Noddy still goes to market.