when the posh children in Enid Blyton have an "ice", I always thought it meant "ice lolly"...

[sadpapercourtesan]

...but I was reading "Five Go To Billycock Hill" last night, and they talked about having an "ice" in a tub with a little wooden spoon...surely that's an ice cream?!

Yes, I have too much time on my hands. I should be doing stuff

I bow to your superior Blyton knowledge :)

Weren't they all obsessed with food?

Because it was all written at the time of rationing

Absolutely. The descriptions of farmhouse high teas, all dripping scones and entire hams, are practically pornographic!

I never realised what 'potted tongue' was until I was all grown. Bleah!

@HeronLanyon You need Crosta & Mollica's Tarallini, fennel seed biscuits, delicious with a G&T or sherry!
Stocked by Ocado.

YetAnotherSpartacus, I still have a tongue press. Haven't made it for a while though. 😀
I think people who are so dismissive of fifties food on some threads have forgotten the wonders of teas. Bridge rolls with egg and tomato, ham salads, scones and home-made jam, meringues with whipped cream (my mother's speciality), coffee and walnut sponge cake, jelly with fruit in it etc etc.

I still have a tongue press. Haven't made it for a while though

Ewwwwwwwwww!!!!!!

Ick!

I'm a vegetarian, but still ....

Tell me no more!

ada I do indeed love them - have three boxes here right now. Love the new packaging as it allows easier stocking up.
So dry - must have a drink with them !

Heron Yes! Chin-chin!

Kids and early teens are (for the most part) greedy little sods, though.

@YetAnotherSpartacus

It was the same with her The Adventurous Four books, even though they're actually written and set during the war, her child characters are intensely patriotic, and the plot is about Nazi submarines hiding out in the lee of some Scottish islands -- again, it's just 'the enemy' and the occasional reference to the 'sign of the crooked cross' on the planes/subs

There were only two of these weren't there? And an older boy used to go to the mainland to sell woven baskets to 'daytrippers' who arrived on 'steamers'?

Yes the Adventurous Four Again was your bog standard Blyton villains if I recall rightly.

@Procne I loved The Valley of Adventure!

Was that the series with Jack the fisherman's son who had lovely strong, brown arms? I fancied him 😂

Of course, ANDY is the sexy fisher boy.

I think Enid Blyton had a LOT of Jacks! There's the bird-mad Jack who owns Kiki the parrot and is Lucy-Ann's brother in The Mountain/Island/ Valley/Castle/Circus of Adventure series.

There's the Jack who is the slightly older and more responsible friend of the siblings Mike, Peggy and Nora in The Secret Island/of Spiggy Holes/Mountain/of Killimooin series.

There's Jack the silent, animal-mad 'country clod' cousin in Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm, who hangs about at night with a poacher called Twigg.

And I think one of the Secret Seven is also called Jack, though I remember them only as a completely indistnguishable mass who spent most of their time arguing about passwords in a shed. (Was it Jack who had the naughty sister Susie, who was always snooping and trying to find out the latest password?)

I actually fancied macho copper Bill Smugs/Cunningham from the Jack/Philip/Lucy-Ann/ Dinah/Kiki 'Adventure' books. God knows why. He had a bald spot and some highly dubious judgements, like taking four convalescent children and a parrot with him as camouflage when disappearing from a gang that's after him.

Oh no! Please don't let this thread end here! I fancied Dick in the Famous Five. I knew the books were set in an earlier time, because in the illustrations Dick & Julian wore a type of mankini, way before Borat did.

Thank you for your replies about seed cake. Perhaps it's time for me to give caraway seeds another chance.

My favourite EB book was a stand-alone one called "The Treasure Hunters", not to be confused with E. Nesbit's "The Treasure Seekers". There was a map found up the chimney of a derelict cottage, a lake, a summer house, 2 brothers & a sister (I think). Of course they managed to solve the riddle of the map & find the treasure.

Yes and big baggy "it ain't half hot mum" style shorts

I actually fancied macho copper Bill Smugs/Cunningham

Oh god, me too But it was him or Uncle Quentin as the older eye candy in EB, so who can blame us?

@MrsNoah2020

I actually fancied macho copper Bill Smugs/Cunningham

Oh god, me too But it was him or Uncle Quentin as the older eye candy in EB, so who can blame us?

Or Big Ears.

@Thehorrorthehorror

I actually fancied macho copper Bill Smugs/Cunningham from the Jack/Philip/Lucy-Ann/ Dinah/Kiki 'Adventure' books. God knows why. He had a bald spot and some highly dubious judgements, like taking four convalescent children and a parrot with him as camouflage when disappearing from a gang that's after him.

Everyone fancied Bill - he came across as very macho and dependable.

But when Bill suddenly married Aunt Allie at the end of the Greek cruise, it made my mind wander about what was going on with them behind the scenes after hours...

There used to be a cafe where I lived called Tea and Ices

@Pebble21uk
Malcolm Saville took over the editorship of Happy Stories from Enid Bolton so I'd guess they did know each other.
The Lone Pine are his most popular series (outing self) our youth theatre got permission to perform Mystery at Witchend last summer which was amazing. I emailed his daughter a few times about it and she was lovely.