Enid Blyton

English Heritage expanded the entry accompanying her blue plaque to explicitly mention criticism of racism, xenophobia, sexism and limited literary merit. The organisation specified that it was not considering removing the plaque.

State of the evidence

Documented

The Royal Mint considered and then rejected a commemorative coin, with committee minutes referring to allegations of racism, sexism and homophobia and the risk of a negative reaction.

State of the evidence

Documented

Hodder undertook to modernise the vocabulary and certain expressions in Famous Five books to make them more accessible to contemporary children, prompting debate over fidelity to the original texts.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

In modern editions of the Noddy stories, “golliwogs” have been replaced by goblins or other characters, and various passages rewritten to remove racial portrayals that have come to be regarded as offensive.

State of the evidence

Well documented

The Little Black Doll is cited as a particularly problematic example: the character Sambo is rejected because of his black face and then welcomed after rain makes him “clean”. The story became a major reference point in criticism of racism directed at Blyton.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Numerous British public and school libraries restricted or refused to acquire her titles, citing overly simplistic language, repetitive plots, social snobbery and, increasingly, racial and sexist stereotypes.

State of the evidence

Documented

Macmillan rejected the manuscript of The Mystery That Never Was, citing a “faint but unattractive touch of old-fashioned xenophobia”. The book was subsequently published by William Collins.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Faced with rumours that a team of ghostwriters produced her books, Blyton brought an action after a librarian repeated the allegation at a parents' meeting. The librarian eventually apologised publicly in court.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Protagonist is the complainant

For several decades, BBC children's programming executives refused or discouraged adaptations and appearances associated with Blyton, considering her stories of little literary merit and describing her as a “second-rater”.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Biographies and family memoirs describe a relationship with Kenneth Darrell Waters before her divorce from Hugh Pollock, followed by an acrimonious break with Pollock, who never saw his daughters again. Her daughter Imogen subsequently gave a highly critical account of her mother.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated