In the mid-1990s, Carey Blyton attempted to get a project off the ground involving children’s books, a TV series featuring Willie Rushton and a dog with a very big bark. The Doggy Tales of Arnold was projected to be a series of a dozen or so stories featuring the eponymous dog, and was intended as a collaboration between Carey (who wrote the stories and accompanying music) and the illustrator Maurice Stevens (see online portfolio).

Carey completed ten initial stories under the collective heading of The Adventures of Arnold, though this series title had become The Doggy Tales of Arnold by the time the first (and only) TV episode was created. The stories are titled (in order) as follows:

1. Arnold Makes a New Friend
2. Arnold’s Bark is Useful
3. Arnold goes Fishing
4. Arnold and the Acorns
5. Arnold Lays* a Trap!
6. Arnold and the Strange Beast
7. Arnold Does Some Gardening
8. Arnold has a Party
9. Arnold to the Rescue
10. Arnold Shows a Firm Paw

(*originally Baits)

Sadly, for a variety of reasons, the project never came to fruition and nothing was actually released during Carey’s lifetime. However, one of the stories, Arnold and the Acorns, was indeed filmed, and can now be found and viewed in the Media section of this site.

In the end, however, something did eventually come of the Arnold stories. After a very long history, full of pitfalls and upsets, and thanks to the monumental efforts of Maurice Stevens, Peter Thompson and Richard Hallas (the latter two of Fand Music Press), two of the stories (Arnold Makes a New Friend and Arnold and the Acorns) were eventually published together in a single volume by Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd on 31st October 2018. The resulting book is available in hardback, paperback and Kindle ebook forms, and can be ordered from the publisher.

Background recollections

Grateful thanks are due to Maurice Stevens for providing access to all of his illustrations for Arnold and the Acorns, along with a few other resources and recollections. Maurice has played a significant role in the 2018 publication of two Arnold stories, and his memories of working with Carey on the first book and TV production make interesting reading.

Maurice Stevens’ reminiscences

In digging out his original Arnold and the Acorns material, Maurice Stevens recalled:

“

The book, which was never properly published, had a rather sticky beginning, rather a long time ago now—started in 1994 through 1995/1996 (I’m a bit vague about actual dates). There were some irritating political problems that I won’t bore you with. However, Carey and I finally managed to disentangle ourselves from all that. [I created some] experimental cover designs as examples of future stories, if they were to be commissioned prior to publishing. That didn’t happen and so no further work was produced.

“

I visited Carey and Mary at their home in Swanley, and we struck up a friendship which escalated into an exchange of correspondence. Not long after that, Carey and Mary moved house and I lost touch.

”

“

When Carey died it was a sad loss; he still had so much to offer. Carey Blyton was a delightful chap with a wicked sense of humour. When he and I met we seemed to hit it off straight away on a personal and a creative level: we were tuned in on the same wavelength about many things. I have a file of correspondence between us that I recently read, which made me chuckle quite a lot. His letters had a surreal touch not unlike Spike Milligan. He wrote saucy limericks and I responded with cartoons, including a caricature portrait of him that he likened to Boris Karloff!

Limericks and cartoons

As noted, the exchange of letters involved limericks and cartoons, a few of which are reproduced here. Silly names were also employed, with Maurice signing himself Moritz von Teddington and Carey responding in the guise of Cynthia Fishnet-Stockings (Ms) (p.p. El Khasi bin Wadi of Timbucthree):

Carey Blyton
(or is it Boris Karloff?)
by Maurice Stevens

Maurice Stevens
by Maurice Stevens

Galleries

Prospective Arnold book covers

These are Maurice Stevens’ original cover ideas for the book series, and are not directly related to the covers of the books finally published by Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

Arnold Makes a New Friend

Arnold’s Bark is Useful

Arnold Goes Fishing

Arnold and the Kite Monster

Arnold Does Some Gardening

Arnold to the Rescue

Arnold and the Acorns

The first Arnold illustration

The very first Arnold picture

This picture was first submitted by Maurice Stevens as a taster for Carey’s opening Arnold story, Arnold Makes a New Friend. It was only a first ‘rough’, but it nevertheless captures the style that was subsequently used. Maurice had done some experimental character rough drawings of Arnold prior to this picture to develop his ultimate appearance, but this is the first colour illustration for an Arnold story, and the only one created for Arnold Makes a New Friend during the 1990s. (The illustrations in the version of the story that was finally published in 2018 were newly created for it in 2015, and in fact did not include this original rough or any direct equivalent of it.) Later, the producers of the TV programme changed their minds and went with Arnold and the Acorns as the first programme instead, despite its being the fourth story in the series.

Arnold and the Acorns illustrations

These and other illustrations appear in the book finally published by Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

Arnold looks through the catflap in the kitchen door

Arnold comes out through the catflap

Arnold runs out into the garden

Arnold meets the Mouse by the shed

Arnold lets out a big bark

Arnold looks surprised

Arnold talks to the Mouse

Arnold looks at the Squirrel in the tree with its acorns

The Squirrel with its nuts

Apricot the Cat lands in the rhubarb beside Arnold

Arnold and Apricot look up as acorns fall around them

The Squirrel knocks some of its nuts down with its tail

Arnold looks up through the leaves as acorns rain down

A couple of acorns fall on Apricot’s head

More acorns bump down on Arnold’s head—Bop! Bop-bop!

Arnold emits an extremely loud bark, shaking the tree

The Squirrel, hanging on for dear life, looks down from the tree

The Squirrel on a branch

“The noisiest dog in the park”—Arnold’s biggest bark yet

Arnold and Apricot look up into the tree in anticipation of the consequences of Arnold’s barking

A deluge of acorns rains down from the tree onto Apricot

A shower of acorns

That’s put the cat among the… acorns

Apricot has been buried

Acorns galore

Apricot is scared of the Mouse

Apricot takes refuge on the rain barrel

Apricot looks down from the rain barrel

The Mouse

The End