Great British Menu star Andi Oliver ‘scarred’ by Enid Blyton books amid racism row
Blyton's books were not so fun for everyone.
English Heritage decided to amend Enid Blyton's plaque to account for her problematic rhetoric. Andi Oliver, star of the Great British Menu, has now come forward to divulge that Blyton's books caused a great deal of harm to her as a child.
The content in Blyton's works has faced scrutiny recently after English Heritage took a deep dive into the contents of her 750 books.
Oliver took to Twitter to voice her perspective on the matter, touching on how children of colour are not considered when discussing Blyton's work in classrooms.
1/ I’m just popping because- Enid Blyton that’s why - Ok this Enid Blyton stuff.. why is it so hard for some people to understand that as a child sitting in a classroom while your fellow students barely bother to stifle their giggles and point at you with every mention
— andioliver (@andisn16) June 28, 2021
Blyton's books and the illustrations of Black people were and still are abhorrent. Though things do not have to be scrubbed from the history books, accountability and objectivity must be key in the discourse going forward.
Oliver continues, touching on the language used in Blyton's books:
A section on the website reads as follows:
‘Blyton’s work has been criticised during her lifetime and after for its racism, xenophobia and lack of literary merit.’
and I am ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT IT! It doesn’t mean I’m trying to spoil your vision or upset your applecart but it does mean that you just MIGHT have to understand it didn’t feel that way for everyone and some of those apples made us sick or our stomach . Sorry ( no I’m not)
— andioliver (@andisn16) June 28, 2021
People have been responding to Oliver in anger, lashing out and accusing her of ruining their childhood. But Oliver is not asking for you to un-read the books, but instead, acknowledge that they were not shining beacons of literary excellence. They pushed really dangerous rhetoric, after all.
Gosh so I said a thing… and a lot of people seem to have got in a flurry.. it’s kind of fascinating in a way that discussion makes so many people so ANGRY, we need to teach critical thinking in school so that people understand how to have a conversation, astonishing really
— andioliver (@andisn16) June 29, 2021
A section on the English Heritage website reads as follows:
‘Blyton’s work has been criticised during her lifetime and after for its racism, xenophobia and lack of literary merit.’
EH are also investigating all 950 of their plaques to gauge whether other people from history have also contributed or pushed dangerous conversations.
The director of the organisation spoke to Metro on the idea of removing plaques:
‘We have no plans whatsoever to remove any of our London blue plaques. On our website, we provide more information for each blue plaque so that people can find out more about the person behind the plaque.’
