Carey > Celebrations > 70th Birthday

Carey Blyton 70th Birthday Celebration

Duration: 49 minutes

Recorded by Brett Allen

Produced in 2002 by EditPoint Digital Studio

Carey Blyton 70th Birthday Celebration

Beckenham Library, 14th March 2002


In 2002 Beckenham local historian Cliff Watkins organised a civic event in Beckenham Library: an exhibition and presentation to celebrate Carey Blyton’s 70th birthday. The exhibition ran from 4th to 20th March, with the presentation taking place on Thursday 14th, the actual birthday. Sadly, Carey’s health problems prevented him from attending the event personally, and he died just four months later. Nevertheless, the presentation was recorded, and Carey took great pleasure in watching the video afterwards.

The event was compèred in This Is Your Life style by Richard Challen, with personal appearances, recollections and tributes by the following people (in order of appearance):

There were also presentations from local schoolchildren, and the event was interspersed with excerpts of Carey’s music under the control of Cliff Watkins. A birthday cake was created for the attendees of the event by David Wood, whilst a second birthday cake for Carey Blyton himself to enjoy (inscribed “To Carey – From CCARA and Friends in Beckenham”) was presented to Daniel Blyton by Colin Watts. The proceedings were closed by Councillor John Holbrook.

Robert Matthew-Walker wrote Carey Blyton—A 70th Birthday Appreciation for the next issue of Musical Opinion following this event, describing the celebration and summarising Carey’s life and career.

The video of the event, of nearly 50 minutes’ duration, is reproduced here in its entirety. The opening music is Girl Friday, an attractive piece of Carey’s commercial library music dating from 1974.