Noddy makes a comeback at 60

Published on Thursday 29 October 2009 21:06

NODDY, the beloved toy character created by Enid Blyton 60 years ago, returned to book stores yesterday in Noddy and the Farmyard Muddle, written by the late author's granddaughter, Sophie Smallwood.

The book will be the first classic Noddy tale to appear in 46 years and has been illustrated by Robert Tyndall who has been the artist for the stories since 1953.

Smallwood, 39, who has admitted the challenge she faced was daunting, has created new characters including Stumpy the Elephant, and retained old favourites like Big-Ears and Mr Plod the policeman.

According to publisher HarperCollins, in the story the goblins are up to their old tricks, turning cows blue, making pigs woolly and driving the tractor into the pond. Fortunately Noddy is at hand to put things straight.

But among the notable absentees in the book are the golliwogs, characters that have gone out of fashion in Britain because the term is widely interpreted as being racist.

"The golliwog characters haven't been part of the Noddy ecosystem for at least two decades now," said Jeff Norton, senior vice-president at Chorion, the company that owns Blyton's literary estate.

"Firstly, the storyline just didn't involve them, but also we all felt it was not appropriate to put characters and terminology into a children's book that have that connotation," he said

Chorion approached Ms Smallwood, who is a teacher, to pen a Noddy story to mark his diamond anniversary. Ms Smallwood already knew Mr Tyndall.