# Please put Noddy and Big Ears in context for the thick American. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 29, 2011, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430 "2011-11-29T07:40:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/61 "2011-12-01T21:55:11Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > American here, and I remember reading as many _Adventure_ books as I could get from the library in the fourth grade. At least, I think they’re the same books. I remember _Island of Adventure_, though my strongest memory is from _Castle of Adventure_. The parrot kept repeating, “Musty, dusty, fusty.” I’ve not read that, but the parrot had the same quote in _The Valley of Adventure_.It was my first Blyton book, so I remember it well. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/62 "2011-12-01T22:10:11Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > While we’re all enjoying a nostalgic glow, apart from loving the Famous Five and the Secret Seven, I used to actually cry with laughter reading the Jennings and Derbyshire books by Buckridge ? To my eternal shame when I first went to boarding school my mother wrote that she expected better than “Jennings” on my letters home. I got those books from the library. She must have read them behind my back. By the way, in the books it’s “Darbishire”, who with variously ink-, mud-, or milk-spotted glasses, is Jennings’ best friend. Much is made of this in one episode where a dignitary is inadvertently locked in a room and is told that the keys have to be retrieved from “Darbishire”. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/63 "2011-12-02T00:10:40Z")
> [@Damfino](#): > > I’ve not read that, but the parrot had the same quote in _The Valley of Adventure_.It was my first Blyton book, so I remember it well. _Mountain_, too, which is the only one of that series I read. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/64 "2011-12-02T21:34:07Z")
Also I’ll throw into the pot, Rupert Bear. I used to get the annuals every year at Christmas. I thought that the stories were incredible and not a little sureal, plus the artwork in my memory could be excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Jaguars](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaguars/32/5879_2.png) [@Jaguars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaguars)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/65 "2011-12-03T06:42:00Z")
The picture that graces the [Noddy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noddy_%28character%29) page on WP looks exactly like the ones I used to read as a kid, Golliwogs and all. They would have been bought for my mother in the late 50s. I had forgotten the way that all her books were plastered with Blyton’s signature on the front, which I read for several years as ‘Guid’ Blyton (Seriously. Try tell me that doesn’t look like a G?) As for the Famous Five, I always wanted the ‘rubber soled shoes’ that characters would wear especially for spying on bad guys. Now I realise that they are just sneakers like everyone wears these days, instead of the old leather soles . But my first thought on seeing this thread was that the first thing that an American should know about Noddy is that the books resulted in the villians of every british gritty crime drama ever refering to Policemen as ‘Mr Plod!’ ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/66 "2011-12-03T08:14:40Z")
> [@Jaguars](#): > > As for the Famous Five, I always wanted the ‘rubber soled shoes’ that characters would wear especially for spying on bad guys. Now I realise that they are just sneakers like everyone wears these days, instead of the old leather soles . Specifically, they’d be the kind of sneaker called [_plimsolls_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plimsoll_shoe) (like Keds) as opposed to running shoe-style sneakers. ---
**Author:** ![scruffycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scruffycat/32/200_2.png) [@scruffycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scruffycat)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/67 "2011-12-03T10:11:56Z")
Did anyone ever watch the TV series they made of the Famous Five? When I was a kid I was a huge fan and used to get a book or two every Saturday with my pocket money, this would have been the late 70’s I’m guessing. Anyway the series I bought may have been re-issued due to the TV show as they had shots on the front cover from each program. Sadly I don’t think it ever aired in my ITV region, or if it did I never saw it, and I’ve often wondered what it was like. Was it faithful to the books, was it any good? I don’t imagine it was the best thing ever mind, but I was always curious. Though I loved the Famous Five and the ‘…of adventure’ series I never got on with the Secret Seven books for some reason, never quite sure why. Although I was too old by the time I read them I did like the Find-Outers though, all I can remember about them now is that one was called Fatty and was a master of disguise and the Policeman’s name was Mr Goon. I’ve never read the other mystery series she wrote, or even seen the books sadly. And whilst this is turning into quite a bit of a longer post than intended, I’ll just share my love for the Jennings series. When I left home 20 odd years ago I gave all my Blyton to a charity shop. Kept all my Jennings though. I’ve just read that Stephen Fry voiced a radio adaptation in the 90’s too! ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/68 "2011-12-03T12:21:52Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > OMG that’s horrible! Is there anything Disney can’t ruin? > > And George had a kid, huh? Who woulda thunk it? 🙂 Speaking of subtext, Bill and whoever it was that she set up a riding school with were totally lesbians. I remember the nouveau riche daughter in St Claire’s, too. That was wince-inducing. She didn’t wash her neck. The school stories were my favourite- I totally want to read them now. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/69 "2011-12-03T16:46:28Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > 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. Paddington Bear is pretty well known on this side of the Atlantic, and Rupert the Bear is not totally unfamiliar to us – I’d recognize a picture of him (white bear with a yellow scarf), and I vaguely remember seeing some Rupert the Bear movie on cable as a kid. I’d say the others on your list probably have not made much of a mark over here, though. I’ve never heard of most of them before. I’m also still kind of confused about Biggles and Ginger. > [@Candyman74](#): > > How can you not get what a meat pie is? It’s a pie; it has meat in it. The clue’s in the name! > > Man, how the US exists without the deliciousness of steak-and-ale or chicken-and-mushroom pies, I’ll never know! Gorgeous! We do have a dish here called a chicken pot pie, which is a pie crust filled with chicken and vegetables. That’s probably the only common American meat pies, although I have occasionally seen other types of meat pot pies. They do seem to always be called “pot pies” though, not just “pies”. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/70 "2011-12-03T18:25:19Z")
> [@Jaguars](#): > > I had forgotten the way that all her books were plastered with Blyton’s signature on the front, which I read for several years as ‘Guid’ Blyton (Seriously. Try tell me that doesn’t look like a G?) At least it’s unique. ---
**Author:** ![Jaguars](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaguars/32/5879_2.png) [@Jaguars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaguars)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/71 "2011-12-04T07:58:32Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Specifically, they’d be the kind of sneaker called [_plimsolls_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plimsoll_shoe) (like Keds) as opposed to running shoe-style sneakers. You learn something every day. I was wondering when my learning would turn up! Noddy and the Magic Rubber (1954) probably didn’t have the same connotations as it does these days. Perhaps a giant eraser that rubs people out? ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/72 "2011-12-04T08:57:14Z")
> [@Jaguars](#): > > Noddy and the Magic Rubber (1954) probably didn’t have the same connotations as it does these days. Perhaps a giant eraser that rubs people out? Yes, that’s still the primary meaning of ‘rubber’ as a noun in the UK, by far. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/73 "2011-12-04T09:17:57Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > 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. Besides _The Wombles_, there’s also the matter of a certain flying hero by the name of Biggles, which you forgot. 😛 We can probably throw _Dan Dare_ in there too, while we’re at it. It’s always been a source of sadness to me that more people don’t appreciate Biggles. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/74 "2011-12-04T17:48:52Z")
Noddy was on television in the US for a while. I remember it when my daughter was small, which was in the late 90’s. It was either on PBS or Nick Jr. I don’t remember much about it, except for one episode where Noddy’s car breaks down because he didn’t change the oil, and the moral of the story was that he needed to be sure to change the oil once a year :eek:. This was when Teletubbies became a big hit in the US, so I imagine that networks were trying other British shows for preschoolers to see what would stick. Noddy just wasn’t that popular here, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/75 "2011-12-05T02:57:39Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > It’s always been a source of sadness to me that more people don’t appreciate Biggles. ☹ Ooowww! Big, big, Biggles fan! 🙂 (One of those regrets from my childhood is that my Biggles books got handed on at some point – fortunately I was able to find replacement copies for some of them years later). “By Jove!”, ejaculated Biggles. 😛 If we’re bringing up other older British series I do think Arthur Ransome and _Swallows and Amazons_ deserves a mention. Another series about free-range kids. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/76 "2011-12-05T10:02:54Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > Ooowww! Big, big, Biggles fan! 🙂 (One of those regrets from my childhood is that my Biggles books got handed on at some point – fortunately I was able to find replacement copies for some of them years later) I think Biggles was extremely popular in NZ for some reason- many of the other (male) Kiwis I know grew up reading them, and they were extremely popular in the UK too. I don’t think I’ve met many (if any) Americans who are familiar with the series beyond knowing that it exists and the main character is British, and flies aeroplanes in the past, though. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/77 "2011-12-05T10:32:17Z")
> [@Jaguars](#): > > Noddy and the Magic Rubber (1954) probably didn’t have the same connotations as it does these days. Perhaps a giant eraser that rubs people out? It’s a normal-sized eraser that rubs out anything, IIRC. Which [I do](http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-details.php?id=339). (useful site, that) ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/78 "2011-12-05T10:48:15Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > and flies aeroplanes in the past, though. Apart from the terrible, TERRIBLE, 1980s movie when he is brought to the present day by some time travel shenanigans: > **[Biggles (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggles:_Adventures_in_Time)** > > Biggles is a 1986 British science fiction adventure film directed by John Hough (later released in 1988 in the United States as Biggles: Adventures in Time). The plot involves time travel between the 1980s and the 1910s during World War I, involving the character, Biggles (from the series of novels by W. E. Johns). The film stars Neil Dickson, Alex Hyde-White, and Peter Cushing in his final feature film role. > In the mid 1980s, catering salesman Jim Ferguson (Alex Hyde-White), living in presen... ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/79 "2011-12-05T13:34:42Z")
> [@Hrududu](#): > > 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. Malory Towers: how to play silly pranks and how to conceal contraband in your underwear. Oh, and Americans are weird. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430/80 "2011-12-05T13:39:34Z")
And all this talk of foreign kids entertainment is making me think. In the 1980’s and 1990’s in the US, we got plenty of Canadian fare, but barely anything British! I’m guessing that there are Americans today who think that Degrassi took place in Chicago and that Avonlea was about Maine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-put-noddy-and-big-ears-in-context-for-the-thick-american/604430.md?page=5)