'The Magic Faraway Tree' by Enid Blyton

[00:00:00]On this episode of Audio Book Club, we skip gayely through Enid Blightton's enchanted wood on our way to the magic far away tree.

[00:00:10]>> Do you see that thick dark wood over there, backing onto the lane at the bottom of our garden?

[00:00:16]Yes, said Rick. It seems quite ordinary to me, except that the leaves of the trees seem a darker green than usual.

[00:00:25]Well, listen, Rick. That's the enchanted wood, said Beth.

[00:00:32]Rick's eyes opened wide. He stared at the wood.

[00:00:37]You're making fun of me, he said at last. No, we're not, said Franny. We mean what we say. Its name is the enchanted wood. And it is enchanted. And oh Rick, in the middle of it is the most wonderful tree in the world.

[00:00:57]What sort of tree? asked Rick, feeling quite excited.

[00:01:02]It's a really enormous tree, said Joe.

[00:01:06]Its top goes right up to the clouds. And oh, Rick, at the top of it is always some strange land. You can go there by climbing up the top branch of the far away tree. You go up a little ladder through a hole in the big cloud that lies at the top of the tree. And there you are in some strange land.

[00:01:28]I don't think I believe you, said Rick.

[00:01:32]You're making it all up.

[00:01:41]>> [music] >> Hello and welcome to Audio Book Club, the podcast about audio books that thinks that letting children roam around a so-called enchanted wood in the dead of night is not really in line with modern parenting values. Nevertheless, it's a tale of three friends and their journey to a large tree which once chopped down and pulled produces enthralling books and then we turn to [laughter] books we're interested in. So this week, dear listener, we are doing the magic far away tree where you can discover the beloved series that inspired the family film which is kind of out now in all good cinemas and expect some of bad ones as well.

[00:02:17]>> I think we missed it, Steve, to be honest.

[00:02:20]>> What the film?

[00:02:21]>> Yeah, I think it's this been and gone.

[00:02:24]>> Yeah, it was conceived when we thought you were going to be on uh your honeymoon and Bobby and I were going to do this. Say hello to Bobby, by the way.

[00:02:31]Hi, Bobby.

[00:02:32]>> Yeah.

[00:02:32]>> Hey.

[00:02:34]Well, I was going to say I was going to say it was time to meet our three friends. I was doing a big I know what you were doing in the bin. Yeah. In the bin. So, what happened was uh while you were away on since we last did this, you've got married, I've cheated death, and we seem to have grown a third appendage, which I'm quite happy about all of those things really. Uh, and >> I didn't have that down as a third appendage in my script, [laughter] to be fair.

[00:03:03]I I I thought we Bobby and I would be able to do the magic far away tree uh while you're away as a bit bit of a filler while you're on your honeymoon.

[00:03:13]And frankly, without you, mate, the whole thing fell apart.

[00:03:18]>> Well, I think it there's still a chance of it falling apart with me here. In fact, more of a chance, I suspect.

[00:03:23]>> Um shall I shall I just set the thing up? Shall I just set set us up and then we'll um >> Can I before you do that? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:03:29]Yeah. Can I quickly just play you the the clip that uh refers to the parenting issue that you just mentioned? So, so in this uh first chapter of Magic Fire Away Tree, uh three of the four children come back from the woods at nighttime just in time for dinner and they've left one of the kids behind. And I think the attitudes have changed. I think helicopter parenting has come in since this kind of thing.

[00:04:02]>> I do wish Joe was with us, said Rick as they all went home. Do you think Aunt Polly will be worried about him?

[00:04:10]Well, we'll have to tell Mother the truth, said Franny. She is sure to ask where he is.

[00:04:18]Mother did ask, of course, and the girls told her what happened.

[00:04:24]Well, I find this all very difficult to believe, said mother, astonished.

[00:04:31]I think Joe is just spending the night with Moonface for a treat. I'll trust Moonface to take care of him tonight.

[00:04:39]But he must come back tomorrow.

[00:04:43]>> Wow. Oh, that's not very 2026, is it really?

[00:04:47]>> No. I I think if that happened in this age, there would be a you know those walking lines of policemen wi with rakes. I think you'd get one of those. I think it' [laughter] be it would be an Amber Alert.

[00:04:59]>> That's it. Time to bring those time to bring those back. If you hadn't guessed, uh we are doing the magic far away tree.

[00:05:05]In Blightton is the author of course narrated by Kate Winslett. Uh came out uh well about 13 years ago now. So sort of 5th of um 5th of December 2013. It's only 3 hours and 46 minutes long. So, a quick read. Uh, Hodder Children's Books is the publisher and to review it this week because I I was obviously away. I I haven't read the book here, so I'm just kind of an interloer. I've just set the structure. We'll try and set the structure. That went out the window at the top of the uh top of the podcast [snorts] to be honest. But Matt, you're here as ever. Bobby, thank you so much for joining us. Bobby Prior, >> I'm not sure [laughter] what I've got myself in for to be honest. You said pop on. Let's talk about that tree book that you were talking about. Um, it's lovely to be here. Thank you for being a guest.

[00:05:49]I can allay some of your fears that you were talking about, your parenting fears, but you are right. Written in different times, definitely different times.

[00:05:59]>> So, >> I look I I I've been looking forward to getting stuck into this with you, Bobby, because So, you know how most weeks you've listened to some of our back catalog, Steve turns up and and I make sure I read the books twice if I can, if I have time.

[00:06:14]>> Yeah. And you know, sometimes Steve has read it, sometimes he hasn't. Actually, the show goes better >> um when he hasn't read it because I have to explain it more more clearly and you know for for a man who hasn't read the book.

[00:06:30]>> Um in this case and and part of the reason we you know I'm I'm you know I've invited you along with a thought of replacing Steve is Steve not only has Bobby read the book. Yeah.

[00:06:43]>> Yeah. She's watched a documentary about Enid Blighton and has opinions on the tumultuous life of the authoress herself.

[00:06:52]>> Oh, a shame.

[00:06:53]>> She's not only read the book, she's done further research.

[00:06:58]>> This is the point where I put my flat cap on and start whistling as I walk out of the room and say, "Well, that's that that wraps it up for me, folks."

[00:07:04]>> No whistling. We're on a podcast.

[00:07:06]>> It's really important to point out is I read the books when I was very much younger than I am now. and I haven't yet seen the film because I'm too scared that it's not going to be as it is in my imagination. Although I've heard great things. So, uh, I've listened to the audio book and big sigh of relief cuz generally it's pretty good.

[00:07:28]>> It's pretty magic. That's what you want to know. Is it as magic now at 58 as it was when I was eight?

[00:07:38]And the answer to the question is Steve.

[00:07:41]>> Steve, I was waiting for you to go and [laughter] >> No. Yes. And and is it is it is it give us a headline?

[00:07:48]>> Uh yeah, I think it's great.

[00:07:50]>> Time to go for a break.

[00:07:51]>> It's good. Yeah.

[00:07:53]>> Oh, fantastic. I'm looking forward to getting stuck in.

[00:07:55]>> Bobby. Bobby. We're meant to build up to that. Your opinion is the bit that you know it's the nugget the center gradually. Sorry. Yeah.

[00:08:06]>> Okay. It's new. Sorry. Go on.

[00:08:08]>> Three-step process, Steve.

[00:08:10]>> Okay. So, if you haven't bloody work experience, >> don't Well, I'll tell you what, Bobby um is our essentially a first-time listener as well. So, Bob, um the author [laughter] is first stage of our three-step process. We discuss the author. This is where your opinions are going to come in really handy. By the way, um the text of the book is the second stage. And then, of course, because we are audio book club, uh what did you think? What do we think? What do our listeners think of the audio book production and performance? Does it bring anything extra to the party over the printed version? That's our three-step process, and that's what we're clinging on to dear life uh for.

[00:08:46]Um so, yes. So, Enib Blighton and your opinions.

[00:08:51]>> Uh let's let's do the let's do the the cold scientific objective bit first, which we always do, which is where I copy and paste off Wikipedia who this person is. Enid Mary Blightton born 11th of August 1897 passed away on the 28th of uh November 1968 was an English children's writer. She is one of the bestselling and most prolific writers of all time particularly in the realm of children's literature. Blightton's books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s selling more than 600 million copies and have been translated into 90 languages. Blightton is the fourth most translated author in the world ever.

[00:09:32]Team, any guesses to the top three?

[00:09:36]>> Agatha Christie. Does say Agatha Christie?

[00:09:38]>> Agatha Christie is the world's most translated author with over 7,200 translations.

[00:09:43]>> Oh, well done. St. >> What the Dickens?

[00:09:45]>> Oh, what the Dickens?

[00:09:47]>> So, you close. Well, I say close.

[00:09:51]>> Okay. [snorts] >> Uh, right language, wrong century.

[00:09:55]>> Oh, okay. most translated and JK Rowling. Is she one of them?

[00:10:00]>> Dan Brown, >> Jules Burn and William Shakespeare.

[00:10:05]>> Oh, right. Yeah. [laughter] >> I was just about to say Roger Hargreaves.

[00:10:10]>> Can I Can I just say audio book club reassuringly middle brow as always? I like it. Um >> aspiring for middle brow. I think you mean [laughter] >> she is the best she is best remembered for the naughty famous live Secret Seven. uh and Mallerie Towers books, although she also wrote many others, including St. Claire's, The Naughtiest Girl, and The Far Away Tree uh series.

[00:10:35]For for me personally, I started reading The Secret Seven when I was five, and I started reading The Famous Five when I was seven. I always thought the name across the top of the book, because they always put her signature on the top of the books, I thought I thought her name was Grid Blighton for quite a long time at the beginning.

[00:10:53]>> Grid [laughter] Uh, and of course, basically we all think of lashings and ginger beer.

[00:10:58]What's the first thing you think of, Steve? And then we'll go on to the gold of this episode, which is Bobb's research. Bobb's >> probably the most unex well most unexpected thing you probably think I'm going to say here. My uh my earliest experience of and my only experience of Enid Blightton is um uh Five Go Mad Endors It, which is the comic strip [laughter] parody of Edith Lighton and with a Aid Edmonson and and and Peter Richardson and all the rest. And so literally my own experience >> and Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders was in there as well, I think. Um yeah, but that was amazing. and then and the one they did right at the other end where they did a reunion where they're all really old um where um it was it was brilliant. So yes, I'm taking us off on a tangent there, but if you if anyone listening has not searched out the comic strip yet, please do. It's fantastic, especially the GLC episode. So yeah, that's my only experience of Enid Blightton. So I come to it really really completely, you know, wet behind the ears.

[00:11:57]>> Okay, >> Bobby, >> tell us about Enid Blightton, the woman.

[00:12:01]I think it I think well about the woman I knew very little about the woman until >> sorry >> well the author herself I going to say I knew nothing nothing till very very recently uh and that's the really difficult thing because of course I expected like her you know the book she's written I expected her to be this magic wonderful warm creature that loved children uh that had a fabulous family around her but again you know why should she that's an assump assumption because she writes so well about the world that children would want to inhabit. So I was quite shocked when first of all uh there was a documentary made but then there was a drama dock.

[00:12:43]Helen Bottom Carter played Ena Blightton and I think my mouth was open for the whole time because she is not what I imagined [laughter] at all. I was really quite sure. I mean, I'm aware there's I mean, there's so much about her writing that's out ofd. I know she's criticized for her themes, so obviously not PC, but if you think about the time she was writing in, right or wrong, she was writing about her time.

[00:13:11]So, I could kind of always put that on the side and go, well, she's a woman of her time. That doesn't make it right. It just makes it of her time. That's the context of her experience. But I think from a personal level, I was shocked because I think it's quite clear that empathy is not her [laughter] her greatest attribute. Uh I think if you're a child of Enid Blightton, this is really difficult. You had a very difficult time. If you're married to Enid Blightton, you may have had a very very difficult time. But I'm also going to say this because when I watched the documentary about how she treated other people, I say no empathy because we might have just said she was very selfish and s self-centered. I think we understand that a little bit better now today's world. But she wasn't very kind.

[00:13:57]She really wasn't kind to people. But I'm going to say this, if she was a man of that time, we wouldn't question half of this. But she didn't look after her children. She'd see them at the end of the day for an hour, but they were very much an inconvenience. Uh, not a pleasure to her, it seems. It appears it's really difficult cuz she's not really speaking herself. This is from her diaries, which she burnt a lot of her diaries, which is a shame. So, they've only got snippets, and also what her children said about her and people around her. So, I think overall I was just mouth wide open. Who is this woman that I thought was writing brilliant stories for children that must have surely adored children and that is not the case. So yeah, I was quite shocked. So I was dumbfounded to be honest. [snorts] >> I I have said in so obviously one of the things you think about is is and you have this sort of vague cultural memory and and Steve's right. There's almost a bit where the parody we've seen more recently than we've read the books, but there is this whole thing where we just, you know, it's all lashings of ginger beer. I mean, I I I'm thinking, funnily enough, of the character George in the Famous Five.

[00:15:12]>> Yeah.

[00:15:12]uh who was a tomboy which has vaguely the what it's called has gone out of fashion but what that is in terms of representation within the book you know we've all got this vague idea in the back of our heads that that Enid Blightton was a bit racist and that was the way in which she was a person of her her age but but I think there's also little bits where I I think she kind of taught me stuff about tolerance and how people are different. Is that fair?

[00:15:46]>> It's funny about you mentioned about George because there's there's a contradiction about George.

[00:15:51][clears throat] >> She actually says herself that George was a character that she was was actually a character created from a a girl that she met. Um George wasn't her name, but she also had a dog. She had short hair. She was very what's the word? Sturdy. Uh forthright, outgoing.

[00:16:07]Felt she had an equal place in the world.

[00:16:09]>> Tomboy is the word that Blightton uses.

[00:16:11]Isn't it?

[00:16:12]>> Uh, it is, but also she later says that she she may she wrote George as a way of incorporating how she was. That's her.

[00:16:24]George is her and she did grow up with a dog and was very close. So, you wonder when you think about when I talk think about her failures as a maternal uh representation of what motherhood should be. Um, then if she sees herself as George, then of course that's going to fail. The other thing I've got to say now in today's world is for all she's criticized for and her children's criticize her, there's an expectation that motherhood means you're maternal and we know that's not true. Not in all cases, not in lots of cases. So she, yes, she was, you know, she was got pregnant. She after some trouble, she gave birth to two little girls and she had she lost she had some miscarriages as well that and she struggled with the role of I suppose parentthood in that traditional sense. What she wanted to do, she was an artist. She wanted to write. She wanted to create. So she got someone else in to do the laundry, the gardening and look after the children.

[00:17:21]And she saw the children at the end of the day. So what she does of course is breaks that idea that if you're a mother, you should give up all of yourself to parent your children. And that's now different to what it is now because now we ask those questions of both parents and go, okay, who's going to do the job or are you going to share it between you? But back then, of course, it was a terrible thing >> not to look after your children.

[00:17:42]>> What was her relationship with her her husband like? What impression have you got of him from dramas and docu dramas and diaries and stuff like that? What feelings do you get about their relationship and what he was like?

[00:17:55]>> Well, she had two husbands. The first one she met at the publishers who published her.

[00:18:03]So I would also say of her experience, she came from her upbringing. She's very close to her dad. Doesn't seem she had a very good relationship with her mom.

[00:18:11]Whose fault that was, I don't know, and two younger brothers. She did a lot of caring for her younger brothers. Her dad left when she was 13 and went off to and had a family with someone else. This obviously had a huge impression on her.

[00:18:24]What's interesting, she didn't tell any of her friends that her dad had left and this was going on. She pretended at her boarding [clears throat] school where she was. When you think of the stories of the naughtiest girl in Mallalerie Tower, she spent her early life in a boarding school. Her dad wanted her to be a musician. He was very encouraging of her and then he left. So this bit the story of her personal story just got left behind. And then she wanted to be a teacher and she did leave to be a teacher. But that relationship with her mother and her brothers completely wiped out. In fact, it was many many years later that one of her brothers came and knocked on the door to tell her her mother was ill. She hadn't seen any of them. So that complete I don't know cut off of her early relationships into a new life when she met her husband who was the author and also he came from the first world war. So, you've got a man that they think might have had PTSD. Oh, no. PSD.

[00:19:20]>> PTSD.

[00:19:20]>> They thought PT they thought Sorry, you'll cut that out, won't you? They thought he had PTSD. Uh, and she didn't >> She's new. She doesn't know. We We like the mistakes. We like the rough edges, Bobby.

[00:19:32]>> She didn't cope very well with that. So, what I'm saying is as a young woman who was an artist, she there's no education for knowing what your husband needs for that. as as in mo most of the population at the time. She I my overall feeling is she wasn't very nice to him. She earned a lot of the money.

[00:19:50]>> They they didn't have Mar Cla magazine then did they really Bobby?

[00:19:55]>> No, but I said it's >> there weren't references.

[00:19:57]>> No, you see you can look at that drama and you do sit back and go wow I didn't realize she wasn't very nice. But then also with today's eyes, it's because what we expect her to be. And she didn't get, I think, the chance as an artist to be as ruthlessly admired as a man might would have might might have been. You know, if it was a man author writing 700 books, he wouldn't have been criticized for not looking after his children, would he? He wouldn't have been criticizing criticizing him for only being seen for an hour at the end of the day. That wouldn't be happening. But we are looking through that lens.

[00:20:36]So there you go.

[00:20:37]>> It's interesting. It it for for me going back to this it it brought back some of the safety and security of childhood in in many ways. It was like um it and again it is that Victorian attitudes to outdoor children, isn't it? If you put them in the garden seen and not heard, end of the day, I don't know. I I I'm slightly sentimental about these the I'd never had the childhood where I get to wander off to the woods. Now, Bobby, the best part of this show. I've always maintained and the only people and the reason people tune in is because of the amazing silver larynx, Steve Phillips, masterful cold read without any rehearsal of the blurb off the back of the audio book. Uh, it's quite a wonderful experience. Are you braced and ready?

[00:21:33]>> Braced. Maybe never ready.

[00:21:36]>> Never ready.

[00:21:37]>> Steve, take it away, maestro.

[00:21:39]>> I'm ever ready. Discover the magic of the far away tree this Easter. Now a major movie. The second book in the enchanting magic far away tree series by Enid Blightton. The world's best loved storyteller read by Kate Winslett. Joe, Beth, Franny's cousin Rick comes to stay. Reluctant at first to share in their adventures at the top of the far away tree. Join them and their friends, Moonface, Sbin Man, and Silky the [laughter] ridiculous character names. I'm sorry I've not read the footage.

[00:22:16]>> Sin man, >> you know, and this is this is this is what I was saying, Bobby. So basically, you've put in loads of work, loads of effort, worried about what you're going to say. He hasn't only not he doesn't even read the back of the book before he turns up. This is why we are replacing him with you. Carry on, Steve. Blown up the magic there. I'll do that bit again, but also it will stay in the t. It always does. Bobby has left the door.

[00:22:43]Join them and their friends, Moonface, Sourceman, and Silky the Fairy, as they discover which new land is at the top of the far away tree. Will it be the land of dreams or the land of Topppsy Turvy?

[00:22:55]Discover the magic. This recording follows the original text first published in 1943 and is a bridged in the following ways. Chapters 20 to 21 emerged.

[00:23:08]Is this still part of the blur? It's genuinely part if if you look at the the usual description that we look at on Audible or Amazon websites, >> this is included. And I think I think you know, we've alluded to this already, haven't we? It's like, >> yeah, you bet. Chapters I wonder I wonder what chapters 23 and 26 to 26. I wonder >> they Oh, they've been redacted, haven't they? There's a lot of reduction going on.

[00:23:33]>> They were probably probably going to Uden land.

[00:23:38]Yes. Controversial land, I suspect.

[00:23:41][laughter] Yes. Yes. They're going to cancel land. Um, the the Enchanted Wood, 1939. Magic Far Away Tree, 1943, and The Folk of the Far Away Tree, 1946. Up the Far Away Tree. That's not a carry-on film. It's a comic strip story from 1951. There you go. That's your blurb.

[00:24:00]There you go. You I'm never I'm never warrant any any introduction from you again, Matt, after blowing that one [laughter] up. Here we go. Bobby, what was your >> You have just ruined my childhood story.

[00:24:11][laughter] >> How long has that been said this century?

[00:24:16]>> Bobby, um, what did you what was your experience reading the book? Uh, 50 50 years after the the first time you'd read it, what was it like?

[00:24:25]>> So, I've got to say this. When I bought those books, the Enid Blightton books, they were usually from a jumble sale for 5p and I had stacks of them. They were always my go-to. Uh, I'd read the stories and I'd save them because in times of trouble, an Enid Blightton book is really good, especially if you see a horror film as a 25-year-old. Now, I >> I'm getting I'm getting the smell of of Browning paperback here. I'm getting the sentiment. And my my ones were the choose your own adventure ones that were always >> Yes. Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston.

[00:24:58]>> Listen, we're talking here.

[00:25:01]>> Sorry. Focus. Sorry. Sorry, let Bobby talk.

[00:25:04]>> Choose your own blind.

[00:25:06]>> So, all the books I had were had no colorful jackets cuz they were missing.

[00:25:10]They had the original drawings. And the thing about the far away tree, reading the book again, is I had the ones with the with the illustrations in. So, the interesting thing about that is when you get onto the tree with all the magical people that they meet, Moonface, Silky the Fairy, you were talking about, we already had a 2D image of what those people look like. So yeah, what we didn't have is the imagination of what they sounded like. I was going to say about the far away tree is from a parenting point of view. Yeah, if you stand back from it, they're going into the woods. They're meeting very strange people and some of them are quite scary and they have a a a kind of what's the word? It's kind of potential jeopardy all the way to get into the tree in the first place to get to the other lands at the top of the tree. And the most scary thing was and I was terrified as a kid and I when I read it again I just thought hang on a second you got to go up the ladder to these other lands and you've got to get back down before it moves on otherwise you get stuck up there. I always remember as a kid being absolutely terrified that if I was up there I would get stuck. So I don't know whether I would go up through the clouds and go onto the land in the first place because it starts to spin and you've got to know when to get down. So that I always thought was quite scary. They're not just what's the word? Nice gentle stories and there's always interesting people in them.

[00:26:34]>> It's the Rald Dahl school of frightening the be Jesus out of your children, isn't it? It's the idea that children like horrible things.

[00:26:44]Children like dark things darker than you think they do.

[00:26:48]>> Yeah.

[00:26:49]>> Go on.

[00:26:51]>> No, all I was going to say was is it's the same with children's TV these days.

[00:26:55]We watch the children's TV that we we kind of grew up with and it was pretty hardcore actually children's TV back then. You had Zammo in Graange Hill with the whole heroin overdose. You know what I mean? I mean >> different age bracket >> slightly different age [laughter] bracket of I mean Blighton did not Can I just say this if anyone has not read any Blighton you can give it a none of them get addicted to heroin in any of the stories but but certainly it was Yeah.

[00:27:22]But they do get addicted to No, no, no.

[00:27:25]But what are the things? You know, you talk about lashings of ginger beer from the Famous Five and all that descriptions about food, which as a kid and actually as an adult, I love. So, you're just thinking, okay, what are they eating? What are they having? The greatest thing about the far away trees, not just the worlds up where they go up into the top of the tree. The people they meet all have amazing cakes. Now, I always remember hot and cold cakes. And I was thinking whereabouts in the book of the hot and cold cakes. I found the bit where moon fakes makes hot cakes.

[00:27:55]But also I think it's Silky that brings up the Google cakes.

[00:28:01]>> Now I have only ever heard Google buns.

[00:28:05]>> I've only ever heard the word Google from the internet when the internet set up. So I was thinking, hang on a second.

[00:28:11]Where did Enid Blightton get the word Google for Google buns from? And there there's something in the middle. And when you bite into the middle, it's just absolutely amazing. And the thing is when you read this book, you're sitting there going, "Now I'm starving and I'll never find the food that they're eating." And it's just absolutely magical.

[00:28:27]>> There's a lovely bit about in the the the opening chapter um before they go off to the woods, they they as you say, they did their chores. And again, let's remember and I I looked at this and it was written in 19 1943.

[00:28:44]So, of course, Rick's come to visit.

[00:28:46]Rick's an evacuee, and it's clearly training them to how to how to be and receive evacuees as well. So, I thought that was, as you say, when it's Ended Blightton's manual, how to be a child.

[00:29:01]It was interesting that that was in there as well. But there's the So, chapter one, as I say, Jack, they're looking forward to Jack of Potatoes with butter and cheese. you know, we're going having jacket potatoes and we're going to put butter and cheese on them. Um, but there's also a horrible food bit in here and I'm going to use this. Here's a slightly extended clip so that because I know Bobby, you're aching to tell us what you thought of the performance of the book. So, okay.

[00:29:29]>> So, let me let's have a little extended clip.

[00:29:32]>> Well, allow me to hand round some chocolate to you all in return for such a nice present, said Mr. change about and he fetched an enormous box of chocolates from a cupboard. Everybody was pleased.

[00:29:48]Rick looked carefully into the box when his turn came. His hand stretched out for the very biggest chocolate of all.

[00:29:56]Mr. Changeabout at once changed again and flew into a rage. He became thin and meanl looking. His nose shot out long and his eyes grew small. Bad boy. greedy boy," he shouted. "You shan have any of my chocolates now. Horrible, greedy children."

[00:30:19]>> And all at once, the chocolates changed into hard little stones.

[00:30:25]Beth had hers in her mouth, and she spat it out at once. The others looked disgusted. The old sourceman gave a yell.

[00:30:34]>> I've swallowed mine and now I suppose I've got a stone inside me.

[00:30:40]>> I just I remember how much There you go.

[00:30:42]Combining food and horror there for you, Bobby. I remember how much that affected me when I was a kid.

[00:30:49]>> That gave me the the heebie-jebies when I heard that as a kid. It it really doesn't hold back, does it? I I was worried that I'd have a stone in my stomach. Also, isn't it interesting when she paints all these characters kind of kind of listening to it again? I remember thinking, hold on a second. All these weird characters with their personalities that the children need to negotiate. Mr. Changeabout. I mean, I mean, as I said, I'm not a psychologist, but he has real problems that they need to be wary of. So, also the book also teaches the kids. I think human beings, especially adult human beings, are full of dangerous potential.

[00:31:27]>> Are you calling Are you calling him bipolar? Right.

[00:31:30]>> I'm not a psychologist, so I wouldn't.

[00:31:32]But you know what I mean? Is is the Mr. Change about? So kind of what was she talking about? But it does teach children to go, hold on a second, you need to be wary. Also, they're unpredictable and they are not all the same.

[00:31:42]>> From what you were saying also, it sounds like that might be Enid Blighton admitting what she's like a bit and writing herself into the book again.

[00:31:52]>> Well, yeah, maybe. Maybe. What I'm saying is it's still reading it again, it's still magical. I still see all that in it and I still see all the escapism.

[00:32:01]And the other thing I wanted to tell you, >> um I know you want to talk about the audio book. So >> is this the right time to do this?

[00:32:08]>> No, you you go Bobby, this is your show now.

[00:32:11]>> So the So the listening to it again is I picked a time to listen. I I do so many car journeys and so I thought, ah, this is great. I've got to go to Birmingham.

[00:32:21]Uh I've got to do a long journey. No doubt there's going to be it's two two and a half hours, but add an hour of traffic on that and you're going to need a good story to get you through it. I thought I can't think of anything better. I can escape to the land of the far away tree and all its lands above the tree while I'm driving through through Birmingham. This will be fantastic. And it's I put it on and I started listening and I thought if I was listening with kids, would I still be entertained as an adult or is are there layers for the kids and there's layers for adults now? And um it did exactly what it did to me when I was eight is because I was on my way to a funeral. So I was on my way to a really sad time and I decided to play the far away tree and to kind of combat what was you know to kind of dissipate some of the stress that you're facing. It was a really big funeral I was going to go to and it did what it did to me is the fact it gave me escapism all the way up and gave me something magical to kind of hide in because there's there were no avoiding what was coming but for the trip up I wasn't I was immersed in this lovely world and kind of listening back to all the kind of say potential harm and jeopardy that these kids could get into but also it was fabulous escapism and that's what it is escapism. It was always escapism and that's what she writes. She writes really good adventure stories for kids to escape in and to learn how to be brave also to learn how to be safe because all those kids do brave big things but they do it in a very safe responsible way.

[00:33:54]>> And that's the thing about audio books, isn't it? If you get a really really good audio book, it's pure escapism. It just takes you into a completely other world, doesn't it? And and did you get that the sense from Kate Winslett's performance of the book? Well, the things about about The Far Away Tree, it's full of so many voices that if you if you're reading it to kids and I actually I gave my book to my cousins next door. My cousin's twice removed when she arrived next door and she was about eight and I said, "Oh, you need to read this far away tree and you will love it." And she said, "Will you read a bit to me?" And I was had to do you have to do some of the voices and there are so many voices to do. what I think Kate Winslet lends to it which would it her voice lends to Enid Blightton's writing it suits the time you know because Enid Blightton's writing they've changed a few things like they've changed the names a little bit they've altered those um but not that not that it loses anything they've just brought those a little bit up >> and deleted and deleted 23 to 26 as well so yeah there are clearly some things because I didn't notice the names being changed but um >> oh okay uh so uh so they've clearly edited decisions have been made, haven't they?

[00:35:03]>> Yes. And and and but I don't think to the detriment of the book that doesn't at all. But having Kate read the book, it suits Ianid's writing. What's really really tricky is to do all those voices.

[00:35:15]You've got the voice of Moonface, you've got the voice of Silky, you got the voice of the children, you got voice of mom and dad, you've got all the characters in the world. It's a really tricky narration. So when she took that on, it might have sounded, "Oh, brilliant. I got the far away tree." as an actor, it's a real challenge. It's not an easy one because there's so many people to play.

[00:35:35]>> Slight disagreement. Um and and again, maybe it's the time. Um but I always tried to talk across to my children rather than down to them.

[00:35:48]>> [clears throat] >> And maybe this is maybe this is Kate Winslet doing a fantastic job of embodying the parenting of a different age, but I just I I for once did not make it to the end of the book because she was just winding me up and and part partly because it was a little bit hammy >> and partly because I felt it was >> my my my children are are very much they've been as Steve will tell you they've been re weaned on Steven Fry who I think you start off with Pochio you then move to Paddington they then move to Harry Potter they then move to Sherlock Holmes all of them are read by Steven Fry [snorts] and he's slightly less an adult talking down to people to the kids but maybe this is a slightly younger audience I I think I think definitely our our our threshold here Bobby on audio book club is always was it a narration or was it good enough to be qualified as a performance? So where are you on Windsor? You are you're perform not narrated.

[00:37:02]>> I would say oh that's a really tricky one. I didn't love all the performances, >> but I think she gave it a pretty good go given, see the other thing is you talk, you talking about the voices, it also depends on the writing.

[00:37:15]>> And that's what I think is the writing.

[00:37:17]It's really tricky to deal with Enid's writing and make it into anything else because otherwise it would sound like you were not serious about the writing in itself. And I think she reads it just as it's written. Whether it's written right is a different thing. I disagree with you there. I don't think she has a choice to do it any different way. I don't think I didn't feel talked down to. You could read the book yourself and you could you could feel that because the book doesn't the book when it was written doesn't fit the time. Does that make sense? I don't think it's her fault.

[00:37:49]>> Yeah. Yeah. And again, maybe maybe that's deliberately what they decided to do, which is sort of a slightly talk downy shouty, you know, 1940s parent kind of performance, which it it was a little bit like this. I found um >> that fits I think that fits in so my experience of being a blind like I said was five god endorse it that was a comic strip and that's precisely the way they put across that narration in that show the way it's written it feels like >> yeah yeah exactly needs that >> I think we're done Steve >> we're done we're done >> so I can say the 58-year-old Bobby Prior enjoyed the far away tree as much as the 8-year-old Bobby Prior and I'm very grateful >> look at that say because this is it >> difficult times I was on the way to a funeral >> and it got me back from the funeral. I was very grateful to be able to dive into that.

[00:38:39]>> Yeah, absolutely. What a what a >> careful climbing trees by the way >> and be careful of speaking to people that are very very strange.

[00:38:46]>> Yeah, health and safety.

[00:38:48]>> I do want a Google bun though. So, if you can make me some, that'd be great.

[00:38:52]>> Well, we'll look up the recipe for it.

[00:38:53]And I think Matt, the first time we've had things tied up in a nice little bow there. We should take a learning from that one, >> eh?

[00:38:58]>> Yeah. Well, I think I'm going to get my my my hat. I think it's hanging next to yours and I shall I shall whistle on my way out with you, Steve. I'll take it.

[00:39:07]Oh, >> this audio book club with just Bobby Pry next week.

[00:39:10]>> Well done audio book. There we go. Yeah, >> guys.

[00:39:15]>> Are we telling people Are we actually telling people that how long we've known each other?

[00:39:20]>> Is that Is that going out in the edit that we actually known each other for a very long time and this is me reconnecting with the two of you? Yeah, I think we should I think we should say it right.

[00:39:29]>> Broadcasting Titan Bobby Brier. Such an honor for us to have you on here and yeah, >> such a lovely thing to be able to I' I've forgotten that you and I back in 2001 2002 used to work afternoon shifts in different buildings and we had we we communicated for hours over the phone both working and playing and we we did some quite complicated work but we managed to keep our sense of humor. And it's amazing when we got back into this and there have been technical problems with this episode this episode. It's like I'm problem solving with Bobby again. It's blooming brilliant.

[00:40:09]>> Same. And also got to say Steve Steve we did a show together a hundred years ago.

[00:40:14]>> We we did you and I you Bobby and I used to work at the Channel Tunnel and Bobby first thing she said to me took me under her wing and said don't do boring. It was when they were building it.

[00:40:24]>> Did I say that? I wasn't I wasn't going to mention that [clears throat] job. I was going to mention the other job that we had. tell you some other things that Bobby said to me if you want.

[00:40:32]>> We start we met in a warehouse in Chelmsford like so many of the great friendships start off with >> Steve >> 1996.

[00:40:41]Really? Wow.

[00:40:42]>> Well, I think I think to be honest we can't I'm afraid Bobby we've actually locked the doors. We can't let you go.

[00:40:47]Um do you want to hang around for next week and like future weeks?

[00:40:51]>> Hold on. What's next, Steve? What's next week's book?

[00:40:54]>> Go on.

[00:40:54]>> Well, next week's book is um >> It's not listed here. I haven't told you because I've been looking forward to this bit. Here we go.

[00:41:03]>> Okay.

[00:41:03]>> Um >> uh I've got some bad news for you, Steve, and I've got some good news.

[00:41:11]>> Is it Destination Earth thing you want me to read?

[00:41:14]>> No, no, no. Well, let's let's start off by going next week's book uh is a John Bucken uh reboot.

[00:41:23]Uh John Bucken, you may know, uh was one of Ian Fleming's um you know, one of one of one of the influences on Ian Fleming. Uh his Richard Han series of books was part of the inspiration for James Bond.

[00:41:42]How you buying it so far?

[00:41:44]>> Uh well, this this the very first bookshop I went into was called Hanise.

[00:41:49]>> Oh, was it? Okay. So, that wasn't going as badly as I thought, but I should imagine because Bobby, you're non-fiction, aren't you? You and Steve mainly prefer non-fiction books.

[00:41:58]>> Steve and I both said one of the things that joins us together is Sorry, we don't do non-fiction, >> but >> you only do non-fiction. Yeah.

[00:42:05][laughter] >> Yeah. We don't Sorry. Yes. No, we only do non. Sorry, we only do >> Yeah, that's it. Okay. So, so this this one uh is set in 1912 and it's a rip roaring adventure of a kind of a proto James Bond figure going across Europe.

[00:42:22]It's not James Bond. It's the one who came before James Bond. What do you think of that, Steve? Does that sound fun?

[00:42:27]>> That sounds like I can't I can't tell you how how great that sounds.

[00:42:32]>> And then and this is the bit I've been looking forward to. It's written and narrated by Ben Miller.

[00:42:39]>> No, really? Yeah.

[00:42:41]>> Wow.

[00:42:43]>> And there is daring do. Uh we go to Turkey. We go to Paris. Uh there are certainly a number of gentlemen in fezes. There's a lot of pipe smoking.

[00:42:56]And this thing has been made with love.

[00:42:58]And I'd like to play you a clip, please.

[00:43:01]>> Go on then. Oh, is this a French?

[00:43:02]>> Good afternoon, sir. Gold, silver, or bronze? He asked brightly. For a moment I blinked at him. imagining Olympic placements or cufflings. Then he gestured to a polished tray at his side, where tins and brushes were arranged with military precision. "Bonze is basic polish," he added helpfully. "Silver includes the buff and edgework. Gold," he grinned, holding up a fine bristled brush with a flourish. "Gold is everything. As a soldier, the tending of one's boots is not a trifling detail, but a private ritual, bound up in discipline and self-respect. [laughter] Not since my days at school, that another man stooped to do it for me.

[00:43:47]Every fiber of my being bulked at the notion, but even as he awaited my verdict, I saw what was needed.

[00:43:56]>> Steve turned the lights off at that.

[00:43:58]I know we have we we do have to stop the recording fairly soon because I'm actually losing severely losing the light now. But um >> this has taken longer expected. Yeah, the sun has died in the making. But that sounds like Can I tell you how much fun I had >> uh listening to that book as someone who's done all of the Richard Han books and felt there weren't enough of them.

[00:44:21]This thing is made with such love. and he travels on the Orient Express and he has a brief encounter with the Titanic and there's one bit he he's so totally immersed in it uh is is Ben Miller that um I I was just enjoying the book and he he mentions that they're going to the metro in Paris and of course it's 1912 so he talks about the steam coming out the bottom of the trains and I'm going how did you remember to do that? Um, and yeah, I I if you if you two are up for it and Bobby, particularly you, do you fancy it? Do you want to come back?

[00:44:59]>> Yeah, if you could have me. I'll do my best.

[00:45:01]>> Hey, we got her. We We've fooled her.

[00:45:04]Excellent.

[00:45:05]>> We've got her.

[00:45:06]>> Okay, then we we we are now up to a three. Fantastic news. So, we're doing John Bucken next week, narrated by Ben Miller. Um, >> oh, sorry, Steve. Hold on. Let me do this. I I've got Hold on. I can do this for you. Control. Copy and paste.

[00:45:19]control and see >> uh if I go into the script and go down the bottom I can put >> uh started writing that in there.

[00:45:32]>> There you go.

[00:45:33]>> So next week, dear listener, thank you for copy and pasting A Very Dangerous Pursuits uh written by uh John Bucken.

[00:45:40]Oh, written by Ben Miller.

[00:45:42]>> Yeah.

[00:45:43]>> Oh, it's written by Ben Miller. Okay.

[00:45:45]>> Yeah. Yeah. He he this that book that book that accent was written in 2026.

[00:45:51]>> Oh man. So just Miller on here. Yeah.

[00:45:54]There we are. Very dangerous pursuit. I have it up here in on my massive screen here. A very dangerous pursuit. It's a Richard Han adventure. Now is this.

[00:46:02]>> So this is Ben Miller writing as John Bucken. Is it like they do with hitchhikers and Douglas Adams and so on with Owen Couler and not having other?

[00:46:10]>> Yeah. This is this is as well as being a rip roaring uh John Bucken who of course 39 steps is the most famous >> film book musical that came out of this series and actually it's the best one. I I'd say this one's better. I just think Ben Miller >> writes basically he writes better writes Buckan better than Buckan does. It's great a question. Just ask a question boys. Is this Is this a grown man being exceptionally heroic and talented and a spy in a foreign country?

[00:46:49]>> Rather, >> okay, [laughter] >> that's exactly what we need. This is >> This is exactly the kind of scorn I want poured on my audio book, Cornflakes.

[00:46:58]Thank you very much, Bobby Prior. You're hired. [laughter] >> See you next week. Wish me luck.

[00:47:05]>> Right then.

[00:47:07]Uh that is a very dangerous suit written and read by Ben Miller. Uh came out May well actually um 21st of May 2026 brand new book writing as um as John Bucker basically Richard Hannah adventure 9 hours 30 minutes from Harper Collins download let us know what you thought about it. We will tell you what we thought about it with a very diverse range of opinions we have now from uh [laughter] from Bobby Prior, Matt Leighton and me Steve Phillips. Don't forget you can get us wherever you get your podcast. We're on Facebook, uh, audiobook show on Instagram and Blue Sky. Our YouTube channel is inexplicably still audiobook club 1540. Don't ask why. And if you missed any of our episodes previously before Bobby BP, no.

[00:47:50]Yeah, BB. Um, uh, audiobookclub.net, our website. So yeah, hopefully you'll see there. But let us know what you think of Ben Miller's new book. It came out in May. It's hot off the press and or the audio press, A Very Dangerous Pursuit.

[00:48:02]And we shall see you next week. Can I just hold on before you go before we go?

[00:48:06]Uh, Bobby, what what is your what are your handles on Twitter and Instagram?

[00:48:13]>> Oh, Instagram only. Real Bobby Prior.

[00:48:15]Real R E A L >> cuz the other Bobby Prior was already there before me.

[00:48:21]>> Can I just say I think this week is the first time that you've heard the real Bobby Prior. That's all I'm saying.

[00:48:26]>> A thank you.

[00:48:27]>> Nice touch. Yeah. Seconded.

[00:48:30]>> Steve, we need to get you a light.

[00:48:31]>> Yeah.

[00:48:32]>> Yeah.

[00:48:32]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I need a Yeah, see the budget clear. Yes. Well, [laughter] more ads, please. More ads. We can get We can get a light. I might have a candle like in the olden days and I'll preset fire or something. I've already had a melted monitor, so I can't Yeah. Trusted with naked flames. Anyway, that said, let's go and do Rip Roaring Adventure next week. We'll see you then.

[00:48:51]>> Cheers.