{"id":60863,"date":"2026-05-05T09:46:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/?p=60863"},"modified":"2026-05-05T09:46:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:46:06","slug":"spiffing-yarns-the-strange-allure-of-enid-blyton-episode-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/?p=60863","title":{"rendered":"Spiffing Yarns: the Strange Allure of Enid Blyton &#8211; Episode 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_490\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/nearfm\/neararchive.org\/upload\/SpiffingYarns1.mp3\" title=\"Play\" onclick=\"return powerpress_embed_html5a('490','https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/nearfm\/neararchive.org\/upload\/SpiffingYarns1.mp3');\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/listenagain.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/powerpress\/playbutton-443.png\" title=\"Play\" alt=\"Play\" style=\"border:0;\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/nearfm\/neararchive.org\/upload\/SpiffingYarns1.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/listenagain.org\/?powerpress_pinw=60863-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/nearfm\/neararchive.org\/upload\/SpiffingYarns1.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"SpiffingYarns1.mp3\">Download<\/a> (Duration: 58:20 &#8212; 133.5MB)<\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/?feed=podcast\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Episode 1 is all about memory and childhood reading with a nod to Enid Blyton. There is no doubt about it, but Enid Blyton gave us those lovely Home County phrases that got us good marks in our school compositions. Enid was a defining presence in our childhoods, and that deserves consideration. Members of the FaiReview Book Club will discuss their childhood and young adult reading, and their love affair \u2013 <strong><em>or not<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 with Enid Blyton, joined by advocate of 20<sup>th<\/sup> century Irish children\u2019s literature, Alan O\u2019Brien. So, welcome to Ria Skehan, Dr Niamh O\u2019Dowd, Edel Connolly, Dr Susan Weir and Alan O\u2019Brien in <strong>Five Have a Wonderful Adventure in Near FM.<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_60864\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60864\" style=\"width: 668px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-60864\" src=\"http:\/\/listenagain.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260114_200747.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"668\" height=\"452\" srcset=\"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260114_200747.jpg 960w, https:\/\/listenagain.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260114_200747-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/listenagain.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260114_200747-768x520.jpg 768w, https:\/\/listenagain.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260114_200747-162x110.jpg 162w, https:\/\/listenagain.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260114_200747-90x61.jpg 90w, https:\/\/listenagain.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260114_200747-370x251.jpg 370w, https:\/\/listenagain.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260114_200747-653x442.jpg 653w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 668px) 100vw, 668px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-60864\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left to right: Ria Skehan, Edel Connolly, Dr Susan Weir. Berni Dwan (Presenter), Dr Niamh O\u2019Dowd, Alan O\u2019Brien<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>About the series<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Spiffing Yarns: the Strange Allure of Enid Blyton, is about much more than the childhood experience of reading Enid Blyton\u2019s books and the age-old children\u2019s classics through the eyes of older\u00a0and\u00a0younger readers. It\u2019s about advocacy for children\u2019s reading, using Enid Blyton as the springboard for a much wider discussion about modern childhood reading, shared reading, and the benefits of reading, discussed by children and teenagers, as well as by librarians, booksellers, teachers, authors, and children\u2019s literature experts, who will attempt to deconstruct and examine critical leitmotifs in children\u2019s literature and how they have slowly moved from political incorrectness to issues of social justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Episode 1 is all about memory and childhood reading with a nod to Enid Blyton. There is no doubt about it, but Enid Blyton gave us those lovely Home County phrases that got us good marks in our school compositions. Enid was a defining presence in our childhoods, and that deserves consideration. Members of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_491\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/nearfm\/neararchive.org\/upload\/SpiffingYarns1.mp3\" title=\"Play\" onclick=\"return powerpress_embed_html5a('491','https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/nearfm\/neararchive.org\/upload\/SpiffingYarns1.mp3');\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/listenagain.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/powerpress\/playbutton-443.png\" title=\"Play\" alt=\"Play\" style=\"border:0;\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/nearfm\/neararchive.org\/upload\/SpiffingYarns1.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/listenagain.org\/?powerpress_pinw=60863-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/nearfm\/neararchive.org\/upload\/SpiffingYarns1.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"SpiffingYarns1.mp3\">Download<\/a> (Duration: 58:20 &#8212; 133.5MB)<\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/?feed=podcast\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":60864,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29725],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spiffing-yarns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60866,"href":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60863\/revisions\/60866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/60864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/listenagain.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}