Comments on: William Mayne (1928-2010): or what if the greatest* 20th-century children’s author were to present us with an intractable moral knot? https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2012/01/william-mayne-1928-2010-or-what-if-the-greatest-20th-century-childrens-author-were-to-present-us-with-an-intractable-moral-knot Lollards in the high church of low culture Fri, 12 Jun 2020 20:44:59 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 By: Anne-Louise Kerr https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2012/01/william-mayne-1928-2010-or-what-if-the-greatest-20th-century-childrens-author-were-to-present-us-with-an-intractable-moral-knot/comment-page-1#comment-2429669 Fri, 12 Jun 2020 20:44:59 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22481#comment-2429669 William Mayne used children’s book parties (to which he was invited as an adult to read his books) to select children to groom. I am one of them. Some of the passages in some of the books are disturbing when you know this. He invited girls (myself included) to stay with him promising much fun and “romping around”. He used to take pictures of girls at the book party excursions. Other people belonged to the book club. People like Rolf Harris and Clement Freud. And the book club was run by Puffin Books. Steadily, easily introducing peadophiles to children. Read the books again and think carefully about every situation he places his child heroes and heroines in. He based those characters on us; the children he groomed.

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By: Richard Wright https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2012/01/william-mayne-1928-2010-or-what-if-the-greatest-20th-century-childrens-author-were-to-present-us-with-an-intractable-moral-knot/comment-page-1#comment-1996534 Mon, 24 Oct 2016 09:23:33 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22481#comment-1996534 The other way to look at it is to wonder whether his natural attraction to young girls – or perhaps to youth as a state of being – was what made him such a natural writer of children and (perhaps less so) for children. Whichever is the case, the fact remains that since his death we can and should re-evaluate our attitudes. His fall from grace should be placed in an obvious cupboard and the door closed: his literary genius should be headline news again.

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