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Hurrah for little Noddy and Enid Blyton, the queen of crime
A quick resumé of the subject matter of the country's favourite nursery rhymes doesn't make for pretty reading.
There's animal cruelty in 'Ding Dong Bell', arson in 'Ladybird, Ladybird' and child labour in 'See Saw Marjorie Daw'. Fairytales are even darker. Wicked step-mothers, poisoning, kidnap, physical and verbal abuse, a whole gamut of crimes are contained within their pages.
"It's incredible, really," says crime writer Andrew Taylor. "People think nursery rhymes are these innocent little things, they say the words without even thinking, but when you stop and analyse them, suddenly you realise how dark they are."
Taylor rediscovered many of his own favourite books of growing up when he began to read to his own children, and over the years he has become convinced the reason for the recent explosion in crime writing is largely down to one woman – Enid Blyton.
"It is hard to over-estimate the seminal importance of the second Noddy book – Hurrah For Little Noddy – upon my career," he says without blushing. "I must have read it literally hundreds of times. When my children were going through the intense but mercifully brief Noddy stage of their development, I re-read the book and realised that it is essentially a crime novel writ small.
"There's a massive car heist by a gang of goblins, a dramatic midnight car chase, Noddy's wrongful arrest, imperfect police officers and at least one red herring.
"Someone should write a PhD on the influence of Enid Blyton on the infant sensibilities of British crime writers.
"I honestly believe that she was responsible for the current renaissance in crime writing. All the authors writing today grew up when Blyton's Secret Seven and Famous Five were the equivalent of Harry Potter. They might not have ever recognised they were reading a crime novel, but, subconsciously, I'm sure it informs their later writing. It's a bit of a bee in my bonnet."
The Brothers Grimm were one of the original purveyors of dark material. Many of their characters were disfigured, their motives decidedly suspect and sometimes there wasn't even a happy ending.
When Terry Gilliam decided to make a film combining the brothers' life story with a selection of their most famous tales, it may have been rated a PG, but many began to wonder whether their often macabre work had even been intended for children at all.
However, according to Taylor, it does us all good to be a little scared some times.
"Take Hansel and Gretel, for example," he says. "You have two children abandoned in a wood, unable to find their way home. They end up being captured by a witch who plans to fatten them up and eat them.
"Yes, they escape, but only when they have managed to trick the witch into climbing into the oven and she presumably ends up being
burnt alive.
"When you put it like that, it can sound wholly inappropriate for a child, but sometimes we are in danger of being over-protective. In the long term, wrapping children in cotton wool does them no good at all.
"It's important as a child to feel frightened. When you reach the age where you can read for yourself, it's also the time when you are coming to terms with being alive in the world. Having stories which actively try to deal with those really scary things, and which offer some sort of resolution, is really important.
"They might not have quite the same graphic content of an adult crime novel, but the principles are the same."
Taylor will be chairing the Nursery Crimes panel at next month's Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, in Harrogate. Along with Jasper Fforde, Christopher Fowler and Suzette A Hill, he will be discussing his early influences.
"I grew up in a household full of books," he says. "We read in the bath and we read under blankets. From the age of 12, I knew I wanted to write, I just didn't know what I wanted to write.
"Looking back on much of my early stuff there are only two remarkable features. Firstly, I never finished anything and, secondly, the number of corpses which turn up.
"I guess after Hurrah For Little Noddy, my fate was sealed."
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