Please put Noddy and Big Ears in context for the thick American.

Cafe Society
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I guess they just never made it across the pond, unlike Pooh and Piglet. I’ve never seen them in bookstores or libraries, never seen the TV series, and I’m fairly certain I’ve never heard another American reference them. Prior to whatever prompted me to check Wikipedia, all I knew was this:

– Adrian Mole thought he was way too old for Noddy wallpaper, and painted over it with black paint, then got further fed up because “the sodding bells on Noddy’s hat” were still showing through and he had to go over them with a sharpie. “Okay, Noddy must be an elf,” I thought. “Wonder why I never heard of him?”

– In the movie Deadly Advice, Jane Horrocks lives in one of those villages where everyone knows everyone else. She’s walking down the street one morning; two men greet her and she greets them. Then as soon as she’s out of earshot, she sneers, “Morning, Noddy; morning, Big Ears.” “Oh, Big Ears must be an elephant,” I thought.

– Joke: “Why do elephants have big ears?..Because Noddy wouldn’t pay the ransom.” (Actually, I think that’s what got me to Wiki the names.)

– Ruth Rendell has made numerous references to children reading or collecting “the works of Enid Blyton” – but without ever, IIRC, stating what she was known for. :smack:

And that’s all the background I have on a children’s series that I didn’t grow up with, the way I grew up with Winnie-the-Pooh. (Classic Pooh, TYVM; Disney Pooh can sit on a tack.) Beyond the basics, I’m curious about the cultural context.

– For instance, do they have cred? Disney lacked cred for a while there; in fact, around the same time (early '80s) that Adrian wants to obliterate Noddy, an American guy might well have had the same crisis over Mickey Mouse wallpaper. But Disney is taken seriously now.

– Of course, Disney is also a conglomerate. Did Enid Blyton die rich, poor or in-between? Did she have offspring who took up her torch? Did she expand into anything else?

– What was the general tone of the series? Was it supposed to be funny, or sentimental, or moral, or…I suppose it wasn’t meant to be just one thing, but how was it perceived?

– And what generation is most likely to have been influenced by it? Is it still read, or is it a relic?

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Noddy lives in Toyland. He’s called Noddy because when he nods his head the bell on the end of his hat rings. He drives a yellow and red car. His best friend is Big Ears, who has a beard and big ears.

It’s all summed up in this title sequence here.

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By the way, you may also want to look up Rupert the Bear, The Magic Roundabout, Paddington Bear, Sooty and Sweep, Basil Brush, Captain Pugwash, Bagpuss, Noggin the Nog, the Clangers, Trumpton, and Pob.

4

The Noddy series were stories for younger children and heavily illustrated in color. The characters wer things like talking toys Noddy himself), elves (such as Big Ears, Noddy’s closest friend) and faries. They were very popular in Britian 50 or so years ago (I don’t know about now), and I believe, in several other countries too, but for some reason never took off in the USA.

Blyton was a very prolific children’s writer and her book series for older children, such as The Famous Five and The Secret Seven, were extremely popular in the UK too. These were lightly illustrated (a few black and white line drawings) adventure stories, mostly about groups of children foiling criminals. The kids were mixed groups of boys and girls, and (IIRC) mostly presented as being pre-teens and teens (I think Julian, the leader of the Famous Five was 18 by the time of the later books). However, there was never the least hint of anything sexual going on, or even being thought about. Perhaps partly for this reason (also because of their strong class consciousness), Blyton’s works tended to be despised by people like English teachers and children’s librarians, but actual kids mostly loved them.

It used to be (and may still be) that everybody in Britain was familiar with Noddy, and nearly everybody was familiar with at least The Famous Five, if not other Blyton series.

It is a bit of a mystery to me why some British stuff that is very popular at home also becomes huge in the USA, such as The Beatles or Harry Potter, whereas other quite similar things that are also hugely popular in Britain, like Cliff Richard or Enid Blyton, never do.

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You could tell that Noggin the Nog’s chief adversary was evil, because his name was Nogbad the Bad. :slight_smile:

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Enid Blyton got a bit of a bad rap when racism became an issue - e.g. in one of the Famous Five [Secret Seven?] books she described an Indian man as having an “evil black face” - and has suffered some bowdlerism, one effect of which was the removal of the Gollywog figure from the Noddy books. It’s a tricky one, because her books are racist (and sexist and classist), but she wrote in the context of her times, which was generically like that, and I disapprove of such censorship. If I had kids I wouldn’t stop them reading them, but I wouldn’t do so without putting them into context.

Even as a child I never liked the Noddy books or TV show though. Therefore here is all you need to know about Noddy (NSFW lyrics).

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Cliff Richard did have a few American hits during the late 70s so he was somewhat successful for a time.

As for Blyton, I think the reason why her Famous Five and Secret Seven books never caught in the U.S. was because the niche for adventure and mystery stories for older children was already occupied by the long-running Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series’s. Also, I’m guessing Blyton’s books were considered too British for the tastes of American children.

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I loved the Famous Five and the Secret Seven series. Who wrote the books about the magic chair that sprouted wings and flew when you rubbed the magic jelly on it?

ETA: And I loved the William series as well. They were always drinking licorice water though, and that sounded gross.

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Noddy is brilliant - the new CGI Noddy was one of the first DVDs I bought for my daughter.

Intermediate between the Noddy and Famous Five Blyton books are the Faraway Tree series, which are nice for say 8 year-olds.

GuanoLad - you forgot The Wombles

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Forgive me if I come across as an ignorant Yank here but from what I’ve seen of the Noddy stories, it seems as though he was too cutesy for American kids who grew up on Curious George and Dr. Suess books. Perhaps that’s why he isn’t as well known in the U.S. (Well, that and the “too British” factor I mentioned in my last post.)

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Doggone it, you’re right. I loved the Wombles, too. I also considered heading into the 80s with Dangermouse, Count Duckula, Jamie and the Magic Torch, and Postman Pat.

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I’d tend to agree, though for “cutesy” read “twee” IMO.

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…and his poor relative, Portland Bill.

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Blyton also had a couple of different book series set in boarding schools. St Clares and Mallory Towers. I devoured all her books growing up and I too don’t like that she’s been censored now. The books were racist, and classist, and sexist. I’m not British, so reading them growing up was a real window into a world I didn’t know, that didn’t really exist anymore.

Now I want to go back and blaze through the Famous Five/Secret Seven/Five Find Outers books.

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Aahh, no, I see Bill was Filmfair, whereas Pat was Woodland.

Which reminds me - Filmfair did Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings.

Oooh, and of course, there’s the Cosgrove Hall things…

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NM, repeat broadcast…

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Do Americans know Wind in the Willows? It’s a very British story indeed, but Cosgrove Hall’s version is delightful. I should get the DVD.

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Yep! Isn’t there still Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disney? Loved those stories and still have them proudly on my shelves.

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You mean the Wishing Chair. That was Enid Blyton as well. She was incredibily prolific, loved by kids and hated by teachers. By today’s standards, her protagonists were usually posh (or at least much posher than my family), and she would be completely off the top of the scale for political incorrectness.

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I guess that explains some of my minimal curiosity about Noddy. It was borne back in London where I spent a summer during college, around 1987. I met up with a bunch of students from Ireland and we spent the better part of the summer in pubs. While we would be standing around talking, each with a pint in our hands, someone would always start a toast, and it always went the same way.

The toaster would say “Cheers, Big Ears!”

And the rest of us would shout “Fuck you, Noddy!”

I didn’t understand it, but they just told me it was an Irish thing.