Your post has reminded me of my membership of 'The Puffin Club' at school - I loved getting to choose and order a books on a regular basis. It was a great way of getting to know authors I perhaps wouldn't always have come across in our tiny school school library.
That’s a really good point - even the club annuals would have little extracts to discover new things. We’ve been meaning to do a piece on Kaye Webb and Puffin for ages - really must get on that
I'm thrilled to find someone else whose childhood was profoundly shaped by "Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain"! I'm technically Xennial (born 81), but spiritually very much X (where I grew up we were at least 5-10 years behind the times anyway). I still have many of my dad's Reader's Digest books, but Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain is by far my favourite. I'm surprised you didn't mention the horrifying tale from the introduction about one of the contributing archaeologists being haunted by a goat-man from Hadrian's Wall, that would vault over her banisters. I was troubled by that story for decades.
Oh lord - yes - that was the Hexham Heads, wasn't it? Terrifying. In true hauntological style there is also a terrifying Nationwide segment about them that has recently been unearthed: https://www.bbc.co.uk/articles/cdxyzq5g9vgo. I particularly like the idea that the heads themselves might have been fake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexham_Heads, and nevertheless...
Oh brilliant! These stories really put folklore into context - when you consider the long tail the Hexham Heads story had, you can see how the old tales in the book might have come about.
'A vat of boiling ale'? Blimey.....!
Your post has reminded me of my membership of 'The Puffin Club' at school - I loved getting to choose and order a books on a regular basis. It was a great way of getting to know authors I perhaps wouldn't always have come across in our tiny school school library.
That’s a really good point - even the club annuals would have little extracts to discover new things. We’ve been meaning to do a piece on Kaye Webb and Puffin for ages - really must get on that
I'm thrilled to find someone else whose childhood was profoundly shaped by "Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain"! I'm technically Xennial (born 81), but spiritually very much X (where I grew up we were at least 5-10 years behind the times anyway). I still have many of my dad's Reader's Digest books, but Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain is by far my favourite. I'm surprised you didn't mention the horrifying tale from the introduction about one of the contributing archaeologists being haunted by a goat-man from Hadrian's Wall, that would vault over her banisters. I was troubled by that story for decades.
Oh lord - yes - that was the Hexham Heads, wasn't it? Terrifying. In true hauntological style there is also a terrifying Nationwide segment about them that has recently been unearthed: https://www.bbc.co.uk/articles/cdxyzq5g9vgo. I particularly like the idea that the heads themselves might have been fake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexham_Heads, and nevertheless...
Oh brilliant! These stories really put folklore into context - when you consider the long tail the Hexham Heads story had, you can see how the old tales in the book might have come about.