Five Children and It

Five Children and It

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0:00:11 > 0:00:13Once upon a time,

0:00:13 > 0:00:14a little girl clambered up a ladder

0:00:14 > 0:00:17and into her own private dream world.

0:00:18 > 0:00:21In a secret place, safe and hidden from view,

0:00:21 > 0:00:24she devoured book after book,

0:00:24 > 0:00:27lost in the magical possibilities of stories.

0:00:29 > 0:00:31That little girl would grow up to write

0:00:31 > 0:00:35some of the best-loved children's books in the English language.

0:00:35 > 0:00:37Her name

0:00:37 > 0:00:38was Edith Nesbit.

0:00:39 > 0:00:44These days, Edith Nesbit is probably best known for The Railway Children,

0:00:44 > 0:00:49her unforgettable story about steam trains and stirring reunions.

0:00:49 > 0:00:53But my favourite Nesbit book was written much earlier in her career.

0:00:53 > 0:00:56And I think it has had an even deeper influence.

0:00:56 > 0:01:00It's this one, Five Children And It.

0:01:00 > 0:01:02Published in 1902,

0:01:02 > 0:01:06it's a classic fantasy story about a group of siblings

0:01:06 > 0:01:10who discover a creature that can grant wishes.

0:01:10 > 0:01:13My mother read Five Children And It to me when I was a little girl

0:01:13 > 0:01:16and I have in turn read it to both my children.

0:01:16 > 0:01:19But it's not just a warm, witty children's story,

0:01:19 > 0:01:23it's a rewriting of Edith's own, often complicated, life.

0:01:25 > 0:01:28In this film, I'll find out about her rootless childhood...

0:01:28 > 0:01:31This is probably the happiest time of her life,

0:01:31 > 0:01:33it gave her stability for the first time.

0:01:33 > 0:01:36..and her struggle to bring up her own children.

0:01:36 > 0:01:40The only income the family had was really from her and from her pen.

0:01:40 > 0:01:44I'll discover the terrible tragedy that coloured her imagination.

0:01:44 > 0:01:48Edith came with hot water bottles, trying to bring him back to life,

0:01:48 > 0:01:50but nothing worked.

0:01:50 > 0:01:52And how, out of emotional chaos,

0:01:52 > 0:01:56she created a new kind of children's fiction.

0:01:56 > 0:02:01I think she has been incredibly influential. The Narnia stories,

0:02:01 > 0:02:04and now JK Rowling.

0:02:04 > 0:02:07Edith Nesbit is now rightly celebrated

0:02:07 > 0:02:09as one of the greatest authors of the golden age

0:02:09 > 0:02:11of children's fiction.

0:02:11 > 0:02:15But she wasn't some cosy, comfortable figure.

0:02:15 > 0:02:18This was a woman who dared to break the rules.

0:02:18 > 0:02:20Both in how she wrote

0:02:20 > 0:02:22and how she lived.

0:02:45 > 0:02:48It all began here on Bluebell Hill in Kent.

0:02:48 > 0:02:51Edith Nesbit and her family of five children

0:02:51 > 0:02:54used to come here from London on holiday.

0:02:54 > 0:02:59This place, with its strange sunken paths and old, overgrown diggings,

0:02:59 > 0:03:03became the setting for one of the most startling discoveries

0:03:03 > 0:03:05in all of children's fiction.

0:03:08 > 0:03:11"Before Anthea and Cyril and the others

0:03:11 > 0:03:14"had been a week in the country, they found a fairy.

0:03:14 > 0:03:16"At least, they called it that

0:03:16 > 0:03:18"because that is what it called itself

0:03:18 > 0:03:20"and, of course, IT knew best.

0:03:20 > 0:03:24"But it was not at all like any fairy you ever saw

0:03:24 > 0:03:26"or heard of or read about.

0:03:26 > 0:03:27"It was at the gravel pits."

0:03:29 > 0:03:30GROANING

0:03:30 > 0:03:33CHILDREN WHIMPER

0:03:33 > 0:03:37The classic BBC TV series depicted It

0:03:37 > 0:03:39as a kind of little hairy leprechaun.

0:03:41 > 0:03:42IT COUGHS AND SPLUTTERS

0:03:42 > 0:03:44What is it?

0:03:44 > 0:03:48But the creature who originally emerged onto the page

0:03:48 > 0:03:51was actually much, much weirder.

0:03:51 > 0:03:54"Its eyes were on long horns, like a snail's eyes,

0:03:54 > 0:03:58"and it could move them in and out like telescopes.

0:03:58 > 0:04:01"It had ears like a bat's ears and its tubby body was shaped like

0:04:01 > 0:04:05"a spider's and covered with thick, soft fur.

0:04:05 > 0:04:07"Its legs and arms were furry too,

0:04:07 > 0:04:10"and it had hands and feet like a monkey's."

0:04:11 > 0:04:16No wonder the producers decided to make it a little less bizarre!

0:04:24 > 0:04:28To find out how Nesbit's sand fairy first burst into public view,

0:04:28 > 0:04:31I'm visiting the British Library.

0:04:31 > 0:04:35Here we've got the Strand Magazine and we are looking at an issue from

0:04:35 > 0:04:40April 1902 and we have got something called The Psammead or The Gifts.

0:04:40 > 0:04:42So, it's not called Five Children And It.

0:04:42 > 0:04:45This is the forerunner of Five Children And It.

0:04:45 > 0:04:48The Psammead, where does this word come from?

0:04:48 > 0:04:51It seems to be an invention by Edith Nesbit.

0:04:51 > 0:04:56She took the Greek word sammos for sand and she added "ad" at the end.

0:04:56 > 0:04:57On the lines of things like naiad

0:04:57 > 0:05:00and dryad, words for nymph.

0:05:00 > 0:05:02So, she's completely made this up, the sand fairy?

0:05:02 > 0:05:06Yes. This is an illustration by HR Millar, Harold Robert Millar,

0:05:06 > 0:05:08who was born in Dumfriesshire, and he illustrated

0:05:08 > 0:05:11a lot of the fantasy works of E Nesbit.

0:05:11 > 0:05:14And there we have it, the little tubby thing covered in fur

0:05:14 > 0:05:17and I love those eyes on the stalks.

0:05:17 > 0:05:20She was apparently very struck by the fact he had managed

0:05:20 > 0:05:23to illustrate it exactly as she'd imagined it.

0:05:23 > 0:05:27She said he must be telepathic but he said he thought it was more to do

0:05:27 > 0:05:29with the power of her invention.

0:05:29 > 0:05:31It is, it's absolutely glorious,

0:05:31 > 0:05:35but this isn't remotely what we think of as a fairy

0:05:35 > 0:05:40and yet HR Millar has done sort of classic fairies.

0:05:40 > 0:05:42Yes. This is the Diamond Fairy Book.

0:05:42 > 0:05:45And, slightly earlier, 1897,

0:05:45 > 0:05:49and here we have got a much more conventional, lyrical picture...

0:05:49 > 0:05:53- Beautiful, isn't it?- ..of a fairy. - Absolutely beautiful.

0:05:53 > 0:05:58And it is extraordinary that you can have such a classic fairy,

0:05:58 > 0:06:03in one book and then you go to the extraordinary Psammead in the other.

0:06:03 > 0:06:04Goodness, we love him.

0:06:14 > 0:06:16Nesbit's unfairy-like sand fairy

0:06:16 > 0:06:18might have been a brilliantly new invention

0:06:18 > 0:06:21but it had its origin in a primordial world

0:06:21 > 0:06:23where both monsters and magic

0:06:23 > 0:06:25were in plentiful supply.

0:06:27 > 0:06:32"Why, almost everyone had pterodactyl for breakfast in my time.

0:06:32 > 0:06:34"You see, it was like this.

0:06:34 > 0:06:37"Of course, there were heaps of sand fairies then

0:06:37 > 0:06:38" and in the morning early,

0:06:38 > 0:06:41"you went out and hunted for them. And when you'd found one,

0:06:41 > 0:06:43"it gave you your wish.

0:06:43 > 0:06:46"People used to send their little boys down to the seashore early

0:06:46 > 0:06:49"in the morning before breakfast to get the day's wishes,

0:06:49 > 0:06:53"and very often the eldest boy in the family would be told to wish

0:06:53 > 0:06:57"for a Megatherium, ready jointed for cooking."

0:07:06 > 0:07:10This was Edith Nesbit's favourite place to visit as a child,

0:07:10 > 0:07:13Crystal Palace Park and its famous prehistoric beasts.

0:07:15 > 0:07:18But if these stone monsters were one inspiration

0:07:18 > 0:07:20for Five Children And It,

0:07:20 > 0:07:22there was another ancient influence,

0:07:22 > 0:07:24the folk tale tradition of foolish wishes

0:07:24 > 0:07:26and their unintended consequences.

0:07:28 > 0:07:32"I dare say you have often thought what you would do if you had three

0:07:32 > 0:07:35"wishes given you and had despised the old man and his wife in the black pudding story

0:07:35 > 0:07:38"and felt certain that if you had the chance,

0:07:38 > 0:07:42"you could think of three really useful wishes without a moment's hesitation.

0:07:42 > 0:07:47"These children had often talked this matter over but no-one could

0:07:47 > 0:07:51"think of anything. Only Anthea did manage to remember a private wish

0:07:51 > 0:07:55"of her own and Jane's which they had never told the boys.

0:07:55 > 0:07:58" 'I wish, we were all as beautiful as the day,'

0:07:58 > 0:08:00"she said in a great hurry."

0:08:05 > 0:08:09The children's very first wish goes horribly wrong.

0:08:09 > 0:08:12Anthea, Jane, Cyril and Robert

0:08:12 > 0:08:15become so unnervingly beautiful that their baby brother,

0:08:15 > 0:08:20unchanged by the sand fairy's magic, doesn't recognise them.

0:08:20 > 0:08:23And neither does anyone else.

0:08:23 > 0:08:26Of course, Nesbit can't leave her young characters

0:08:26 > 0:08:27in this fix forever.

0:08:27 > 0:08:31Her solution is to build in a sunset clause.

0:08:31 > 0:08:36By the end of the day, the magic will stop working.

0:08:37 > 0:08:39It's a neat plot device.

0:08:39 > 0:08:43Every morning brings the chance of a fresh adventure.

0:08:43 > 0:08:45But Edith Nesbit knew from bitter experience

0:08:45 > 0:08:49that even the most fervent hopes evaporate

0:08:49 > 0:08:52and they don't always bring bright new beginnings.

0:09:03 > 0:09:08Edith's father, a college lecturer, died when she was only four.

0:09:08 > 0:09:13Not long after, Edith's older sister, Mary, fell ill with TB.

0:09:15 > 0:09:18To escape damp, polluted London,

0:09:18 > 0:09:20their mother took Edith, Mary and their two brothers

0:09:20 > 0:09:23first to the south coast and then to the continent.

0:09:25 > 0:09:27Edith had a rootless upbringing,

0:09:27 > 0:09:29shunted off to a string of unsympathetic relatives,

0:09:29 > 0:09:34miserable boarding schools and out of season foreign hotels,

0:09:34 > 0:09:36but staying nowhere for very long.

0:09:38 > 0:09:42Then, when she had just turned 13, her sister died.

0:09:42 > 0:09:46The long, desperate odyssey was over and the family returned to Britain.

0:09:53 > 0:09:55And this was where they came.

0:09:55 > 0:09:58Halstead Hall in the village of Halstead on the North Downs.

0:10:00 > 0:10:03I'm meeting Brendon McGurran, the current owner of the house.

0:10:03 > 0:10:05This was Edith's bedroom

0:10:05 > 0:10:07when she came to Halstead Hall.

0:10:07 > 0:10:10- This is lovely.- I think this is probably the first time

0:10:10 > 0:10:13that she had a room all of her own.

0:10:13 > 0:10:15After all that travelling she'd done.

0:10:15 > 0:10:18One feature, it's not much,

0:10:18 > 0:10:21but the lock is still there from when she was in this room.

0:10:21 > 0:10:24- Very important for a teenage girl. Lock your brothers out.- Indeed.

0:10:24 > 0:10:25Just over here,

0:10:25 > 0:10:28there's references to her looking out over the shrubbery.

0:10:28 > 0:10:31This tells us that her desk may have been here,

0:10:31 > 0:10:33she would have been looking out over this very window.

0:10:33 > 0:10:36What do you think Halstead Hall meant to Edith?

0:10:36 > 0:10:38This is probably the happiest time of her life.

0:10:38 > 0:10:42Obviously it gave her stability for the first time as well.

0:10:42 > 0:10:45There's another part of the house that's very important to Edith,

0:10:45 > 0:10:47if you'd like to follow me.

0:10:48 > 0:10:50Oh, wow!

0:10:50 > 0:10:53It's a whole other world.

0:10:53 > 0:10:56This is, of course, the passageway, that's referred to.

0:10:56 > 0:10:59- Mind the beams...- Yes, I'm minding!

0:10:59 > 0:11:01..as you are making your way around.

0:11:01 > 0:11:03It's a little bit dusty.

0:11:03 > 0:11:06Obviously it was very dark.

0:11:06 > 0:11:11Can you imagine doing that climb in a Victorian pinafore?

0:11:11 > 0:11:13It would have been difficult.

0:11:13 > 0:11:14I dare say they were used to it

0:11:14 > 0:11:17because I think they came up here many times.

0:11:17 > 0:11:19This was their favourite hiding place.

0:11:19 > 0:11:23There would have been lots of nooks and crannies for her to hide in.

0:11:23 > 0:11:26Probably quite inspirational for her as well.

0:11:26 > 0:11:28Do we know if she did any writing up here?

0:11:28 > 0:11:31We believe this is where she wrote her first poem which was published.

0:11:31 > 0:11:33Absolutely magical.

0:11:42 > 0:11:45By the time Edith left Halstead Hall at the age of 17,

0:11:45 > 0:11:48her literary ambitions had taken firm root.

0:11:50 > 0:11:53But although she would go on to write plays, reviews,

0:11:53 > 0:11:56romances and, of course, children's stories,

0:11:56 > 0:11:58I think poetry was her first love.

0:12:00 > 0:12:05Poems appear all through Nesbit's children's books.

0:12:05 > 0:12:09And Five Children And It begins with a witty and poignant verse

0:12:09 > 0:12:11dedicated to her infant son.

0:12:12 > 0:12:18"My Lamb, you are so very small, You have not learned to read at all,

0:12:18 > 0:12:22"Yet never a printed book withstands The urgence of your dimpled hands.

0:12:22 > 0:12:25"So though this book is for yourself,

0:12:25 > 0:12:27"Let Mother keep it on the shelf

0:12:27 > 0:12:31"Till you can read. O days that pass,

0:12:31 > 0:12:34"That day will come too soon, alas."

0:12:43 > 0:12:47Nesbit constantly wrote herself and her family into her books.

0:12:47 > 0:12:48In Five Children And It,

0:12:48 > 0:12:52the young characters are barely disguised versions

0:12:52 > 0:12:54of her own children.

0:12:54 > 0:12:58The lamb in the story is Nesbit's youngest son John,

0:12:58 > 0:13:00also nicknamed Lamb.

0:13:00 > 0:13:03He was just two when she began writing the story.

0:13:06 > 0:13:09Cyril is Nesbit's eldest son,

0:13:09 > 0:13:11Paul Cyril, Anthea is her daughter Iris,

0:13:11 > 0:13:16and Jane and Robert are the other siblings, Rosamund and Fabian.

0:13:17 > 0:13:21Like Edith's real children, like children everywhere,

0:13:21 > 0:13:23the siblings squabble constantly,

0:13:23 > 0:13:26simmering with resentment and frustration.

0:13:26 > 0:13:29When landed with having to look after their baby brother,

0:13:29 > 0:13:32they wished for someone else to take him off their hands.

0:13:35 > 0:13:37Oh, what a pretty little thing.

0:13:38 > 0:13:41Come for a walk with me.

0:13:41 > 0:13:46'Nesbitt turns child abduction into an absurdly comic set piece.'

0:13:46 > 0:13:48Drive on!

0:13:48 > 0:13:49Drive on, I tell you!

0:13:49 > 0:13:51She's taken him!

0:13:51 > 0:13:55- Come on, we've got to get him back! - Bring back our baby!

0:13:55 > 0:13:58'Nesbit's brilliance is to use fantasy and humour

0:13:58 > 0:14:02'as a way of exploring the very real anxieties of children's lives.'

0:14:07 > 0:14:09'Bestselling children's author Jacqueline Wilson

0:14:09 > 0:14:11'is a huge fan of Edith Nesbit

0:14:11 > 0:14:15'and she has written her own reimagining of the sand fairy story

0:14:15 > 0:14:17'Four Children And It.'

0:14:17 > 0:14:20I'm not a great genius like E Nesbit,

0:14:20 > 0:14:25but I wanted to do this reworking of her story, not using her characters,

0:14:25 > 0:14:29simply having my very modern children dig up the Psammead,

0:14:29 > 0:14:31the sand fairy, nowadays.

0:14:31 > 0:14:34What is it about her writing that you love so much?

0:14:34 > 0:14:37She is so down-to-earth, so immediate,

0:14:37 > 0:14:40you're sucked into the story straightaway,

0:14:40 > 0:14:42you believe in the magic too,

0:14:42 > 0:14:45and isn't soppy little fairy-type magic.

0:14:45 > 0:14:49What sort of legacy do you think she's handed down to current writers?

0:14:49 > 0:14:54I think she's been incredibly influential.

0:14:54 > 0:14:59I think she must have had a real influence on the way I write,

0:14:59 > 0:15:03and I think this whole tradition of mixing up magic and real,

0:15:03 > 0:15:06well-characterised children,

0:15:06 > 0:15:12I mean, the Narnia stories and now JK Rowling,

0:15:12 > 0:15:14you have Harry Potter,

0:15:14 > 0:15:16so I think she started something

0:15:16 > 0:15:19that will hopefully just go on and on and on.

0:15:19 > 0:15:23Also, the thing that you both have in common is writing for children

0:15:23 > 0:15:27but based in sometimes the harsh realities of life.

0:15:27 > 0:15:29Just because it's a fantasy book,

0:15:29 > 0:15:36I still want the children to be real children and sometimes sad things happen.

0:15:36 > 0:15:38My main characters, Rosalind and Robbie,

0:15:38 > 0:15:42their parents have split up and so they go from home to home,

0:15:42 > 0:15:45but then there's a little girl, Maudy,

0:15:45 > 0:15:50echoing E Nesbit's wonderful Lamb character, who is quite serene.

0:15:50 > 0:15:53It's because her parents are together.

0:15:53 > 0:15:55- Of course it is. - And everybody just adores her.

0:15:55 > 0:15:59I wonder if you could read for us the moment when your children meet Psammead

0:15:59 > 0:16:02- for the first time.- Certainly.

0:16:02 > 0:16:05" 'She's Maudy, our little half-sister,' I said.

0:16:05 > 0:16:08" 'Half a sister,' said the creature?

0:16:08 > 0:16:12" 'Do you say that because she's half your size?'

0:16:12 > 0:16:15" 'No, because we're only half related.

0:16:15 > 0:16:17" 'We've got the same dad

0:16:17 > 0:16:20" 'but Maudy's got a different mother,' I said.

0:16:20 > 0:16:28" 'Hmm, family life seems particularly complicated nowadays,' said the Psammead."

0:16:28 > 0:16:30And indeed it is complicated,

0:16:30 > 0:16:33and that's reflected in Edith's own life.

0:16:33 > 0:16:34Yes!

0:16:39 > 0:16:42Edith Nesbit's domestic set-up was about as tangled

0:16:42 > 0:16:44as you could imagine.

0:16:45 > 0:16:53When Edith married brush maker, bohemian and Victorian baby father Hubert Bland,

0:16:53 > 0:16:56he already had a young son by another woman.

0:16:56 > 0:16:59In fact, Edith herself was heavily pregnant at the time of her wedding

0:16:59 > 0:17:04and soon afterwards gave birth to their first son, Paul.

0:17:06 > 0:17:10After Paul, Edith and Hubert had two more children,

0:17:10 > 0:17:16Iris and Fabian.

0:17:20 > 0:17:23Meanwhile, Hubert must have been feeling the itch again

0:17:23 > 0:17:27and he started an affair with none other than Edith's best friend,

0:17:27 > 0:17:29Alice Hoatson.

0:17:29 > 0:17:33Hubert and Alice then had two children,

0:17:33 > 0:17:36Rosamund and John.

0:17:39 > 0:17:42And then there was a rather bizarre twist.

0:17:42 > 0:17:48With Edith's consent, Alice moved in and, perhaps to avoid a scandal,

0:17:48 > 0:17:53Edith adopted Rosamund and John, AKA the Lamb,

0:17:53 > 0:17:54as her own.

0:18:02 > 0:18:06It's tempting to see Edith as a victim in all this but the truth,

0:18:06 > 0:18:09as always, is more complicated.

0:18:11 > 0:18:14Of course, she must have felt desperately hurt and betrayed

0:18:14 > 0:18:17by the actions of her husband and best friend.

0:18:17 > 0:18:20But I think Alice's arrival in the household

0:18:20 > 0:18:22might have been a kind of godsend.

0:18:22 > 0:18:24In contrast to Edith's bouts of high drama,

0:18:24 > 0:18:27Alice was a rather unassertive character,

0:18:27 > 0:18:30happy to remain in the domestic background.

0:18:30 > 0:18:32With Alice acting as housekeeper,

0:18:32 > 0:18:36secretary and "affectionate auntie" to the five children,

0:18:36 > 0:18:39Edith was free to pursue her literary career,

0:18:39 > 0:18:42her political passions and her love affairs.

0:18:45 > 0:18:50Edith and her husband, Hubert, were founder members of the Fabian Society,

0:18:50 > 0:18:54the freethinking socialist circle that included bohemian figures

0:18:54 > 0:18:58such as writer and serial womaniser HG Wells,

0:18:58 > 0:19:01Karl Marx's daughter Eleanor,

0:19:01 > 0:19:05and George Bernard Shaw, with whom Edith had a passionate,

0:19:05 > 0:19:07if unrequited relationship.

0:19:09 > 0:19:11But, between the flirtations and affairs,

0:19:11 > 0:19:15the Fabians found time to campaign for real political reform.

0:19:16 > 0:19:19Can I read you a quick bit from the book?

0:19:19 > 0:19:20Oh, do.

0:19:20 > 0:19:24If I can get my glasses onto my nose.

0:19:24 > 0:19:27"Grown-ups wouldn't wish silly things like you do,

0:19:27 > 0:19:28"but real, earnest things,

0:19:28 > 0:19:32"and they'd ask for graduated income tax and old-age pensions

0:19:32 > 0:19:35"and manhood suffrage and free secondary education

0:19:35 > 0:19:37"and dull things like that."

0:19:37 > 0:19:41So is that sort of what the Fabian Society was aiming for?

0:19:41 > 0:19:43I would say, in a neat little paragraph,

0:19:43 > 0:19:45the Psammead pretty much summed it up,

0:19:45 > 0:19:50and these were very radical ideas at the time.

0:19:50 > 0:19:52Modern children have grown up with the welfare state,

0:19:52 > 0:19:54they've grown up with a safety net,

0:19:54 > 0:20:00and so it's very, very difficult to explain the poverty,

0:20:00 > 0:20:06the levels of poverty that were happening around the beginnings of the 20th century.

0:20:06 > 0:20:09And Edith did struggle financially, didn't she?

0:20:09 > 0:20:11Particularly in the early years of her marriage.

0:20:11 > 0:20:15Absolutely. She had a very, sort of, quite averagely comfortable middle-class upbringing

0:20:15 > 0:20:18and, when she married, Hubert suddenly became ill,

0:20:18 > 0:20:23suddenly lost all his money, and the only income the family had was really

0:20:23 > 0:20:25from her and from her pen.

0:20:25 > 0:20:30But it was only towards the end of her 30s, the end of the century,

0:20:30 > 0:20:34that she discovered her enormous talent for writing amusing stories

0:20:34 > 0:20:39for children, and Five Children is somehow,

0:20:39 > 0:20:43I suppose, the logical explosion of talent,

0:20:43 > 0:20:45and what is so appealing about it, which was to me,

0:20:45 > 0:20:47and I am sure generations before me,

0:20:47 > 0:20:51was the idea that the children wished for what I would have wished for.

0:20:51 > 0:20:53You know, beauty, money.

0:20:53 > 0:20:55I mean, they wished for loads of money.

0:20:55 > 0:20:59- They wished for it, yeah. - And so she's a socialist but she is quite firm about,

0:20:59 > 0:21:01of course, people want money, you know,

0:21:01 > 0:21:06and I think she was very honest about all the wishes that she knew we'd all have.

0:21:06 > 0:21:08What is today's wish?

0:21:08 > 0:21:10We want to be rich.

0:21:10 > 0:21:13Beyond the dreams of...something or other.

0:21:13 > 0:21:15Avarice.

0:21:15 > 0:21:17This place, full, be enough?

0:21:17 > 0:21:20- Oh, yes!- Yes.

0:21:20 > 0:21:23Then you'd better get out quick or you'll be buried in it.

0:21:23 > 0:21:24Quick!

0:21:24 > 0:21:25Quick!

0:21:25 > 0:21:29I hope your whisker will be better tomorrow.

0:21:29 > 0:21:33'In the book, Edith warns of the perils of being swamped by riches,

0:21:33 > 0:21:36'whilst revelling in piles of gold.'

0:21:36 > 0:21:38And much good may it do you.

0:21:40 > 0:21:43But, despite having her cake and eating it,

0:21:43 > 0:21:45her commitment to Fabianism ran deep.

0:21:46 > 0:21:49Just a year after the society was founded,

0:21:49 > 0:21:52she publicly and permanently declared her commitment to the cause

0:21:52 > 0:21:55by naming her newborn son Fabian,

0:21:55 > 0:21:59and it was Fabian that Edith gave a starring role to

0:21:59 > 0:22:00in Five Children And It.

0:22:05 > 0:22:07Fabian's fictional alter ego, Robert,

0:22:07 > 0:22:10has more than his fair share of the action.

0:22:10 > 0:22:14It's Robert who cleverly escapes from besieging knights.

0:22:16 > 0:22:20And it's Robert's wish to defeat his rival that transforms him into

0:22:20 > 0:22:24a giant and star attraction at the local fair.

0:22:26 > 0:22:30Robert is literally a larger-than-life character,

0:22:30 > 0:22:34but Nesbit's brilliant creation conceals a terrible tragedy,

0:22:34 > 0:22:36because she only conjured him into life

0:22:36 > 0:22:41after the death of his real-life inspiration, Fabian.

0:22:41 > 0:22:43The loss of her son was a catastrophe

0:22:43 > 0:22:47which plunged Edith into terrible grief and self-reproach,

0:22:47 > 0:22:51and I think fundamentally changed the way she wrote for children.

0:22:55 > 0:22:58Margaret, thank you very much for coming to talk to me,

0:22:58 > 0:23:02and I just wanted to know a bit more about Fabian's death.

0:23:02 > 0:23:06Well, Fabian hadn't been well in 1900

0:23:06 > 0:23:10and the doctors decided that taking out his adenoids and tonsils

0:23:10 > 0:23:12would be the best cure for him,

0:23:12 > 0:23:15which was often done at home in those days.

0:23:15 > 0:23:18But the family had forgotten all about this operation,

0:23:18 > 0:23:21and he was out to play when the doctors came,

0:23:21 > 0:23:23Edith was in bed still,

0:23:23 > 0:23:27and he had his breakfast, he'd had a meal the night before,

0:23:27 > 0:23:31so everything completely wrong for chloroform.

0:23:31 > 0:23:33- Oh.- But she quickly got up,

0:23:33 > 0:23:37Fabian was called in and the operation went ahead.

0:23:37 > 0:23:41He was given the chloroform, probably quite successfully.

0:23:41 > 0:23:44After the doctors were happy with it, they left the family in charge

0:23:44 > 0:23:48but, when Hubert looked in, he couldn't wake his son up.

0:23:48 > 0:23:51He rushed to Alice and said, "I can't wake him up.

0:23:51 > 0:23:53"I think he's died."

0:23:53 > 0:23:57But Edith came with hot water bottles, trying to warm him up again,

0:23:57 > 0:24:00bring him back to life, but nothing worked.

0:24:00 > 0:24:03And do we know what caused his death?

0:24:03 > 0:24:06He'd choked on his own vomit.

0:24:06 > 0:24:08So, even in those days,

0:24:08 > 0:24:11they knew that before an anaesthetic you shouldn't eat.

0:24:11 > 0:24:16- Absolutely.- It must be devastating for a mother to know that

0:24:16 > 0:24:18sort of you had caused something.

0:24:18 > 0:24:22Absolutely. She must have blamed herself entirely.

0:24:22 > 0:24:28But do you think that it's had any impact on her writing from that point on?

0:24:28 > 0:24:33I think it did, because she moved away from stories of everyday life

0:24:33 > 0:24:36and brought in this magic element,

0:24:36 > 0:24:39and we know from HR Millar, her illustrator,

0:24:39 > 0:24:43that she based Robert on Fabian,

0:24:43 > 0:24:50so perhaps in her mind she was wishing she could use the magic to bring her son back.

0:24:54 > 0:24:57When Edith finally picked up her pen again,

0:24:57 > 0:25:00one of the first things she wrote was Five Children And It.

0:25:02 > 0:25:05In it, she resurrected her son Fabian

0:25:05 > 0:25:07as the adventure-loving Robert.

0:25:09 > 0:25:13She even gave him angel's wings to fly with.

0:25:15 > 0:25:20"The wings were very big, more beautiful than you can possibly imagine,

0:25:20 > 0:25:23"for they were soft and smooth

0:25:23 > 0:25:26"and every feather lay neatly in its place,

0:25:26 > 0:25:30"and the feathers were of the most lovely mix,

0:25:30 > 0:25:35"changing colours like the rainbow or iridescent glass or the beautiful

0:25:35 > 0:25:40"scum that sometimes floats on water that is not at all nice to drink.

0:25:40 > 0:25:44" 'Does it hurt?' asked Anthea with interest.

0:25:44 > 0:25:49"But no-one answered, for Robert had spread his wings and jumped up and

0:25:49 > 0:25:52"now he was slowly rising in the air."

0:25:58 > 0:26:01Grief, guilt and intense,

0:26:01 > 0:26:06unanswerable yearning formed the emotional backdrop to Five Children And It,

0:26:06 > 0:26:12but out of these shadows Nesbit created something new and original.

0:26:12 > 0:26:16Before this, her children's novels were realistic,

0:26:16 > 0:26:19adventures rooted firmly in the everyday and familiar.

0:26:21 > 0:26:25Now, magic and fantasy came increasingly into play.

0:26:27 > 0:26:33Nesbit ends Five Children And It in a typically mischievous mood.

0:26:34 > 0:26:37" 'I wonder if we ever shall see the Psammead again,'

0:26:37 > 0:26:41"said Jane wistfully as they walked in the garden while Mother was

0:26:41 > 0:26:42"putting the Lamb to bed.

0:26:42 > 0:26:46" 'I'm sure we shall,' said Cyril, 'if you really wished it.'

0:26:46 > 0:26:50" 'We've promised never to ask it for another wish,' said Anthea.

0:26:50 > 0:26:54" 'I never want to,' said Robert, earnestly.

0:26:54 > 0:26:58"They did see it again, of course, but not in this story,

0:26:58 > 0:27:03"and it was not in a sandpit either, but in a very, very,

0:27:03 > 0:27:05"very different place.

0:27:05 > 0:27:07"It was in a...

0:27:09 > 0:27:10"But I must say no more."

0:27:14 > 0:27:17Edith Nesbit lived up to that promise.

0:27:17 > 0:27:20After Five Children And It came two more books which featured

0:27:20 > 0:27:23the wish-granting sand fairy,

0:27:23 > 0:27:27The Phoenix And The Carpet and The Story Of The Amulet.

0:27:27 > 0:27:30Even non-magical books like The Railway Children,

0:27:30 > 0:27:32with its fantasy of a family reunited,

0:27:32 > 0:27:35contained a deep sense of longing,

0:27:35 > 0:27:40but none of her later works revolved quite so completely around the idea

0:27:40 > 0:27:43of wishfulness as Five Children And It.

0:27:45 > 0:27:48It's hard not to turn the pages of this book

0:27:48 > 0:27:54and imagine that this is how Edith would have liked her life and her children's lives to be.

0:27:54 > 0:27:58It's the story of children set free from everyday rules,

0:27:58 > 0:28:02who have to learn the consequences of their hearts' desires but never

0:28:02 > 0:28:04suffer the consequences for too long.

0:28:04 > 0:28:09Edith may have blamed herself for failing her family but,

0:28:09 > 0:28:13to generations of children, including me,

0:28:13 > 0:28:15she was the very best of friends.

0:28:23 > 0:28:27Why do so many children's stories feature magical creatures?

0:28:27 > 0:28:29To find out more about fantasy and realism

0:28:29 > 0:28:31in children's books past and present,

0:28:31 > 0:28:36go to bbc.co.uk/secretlifeofbooks

0:28:36 > 0:28:38and follow the link to the Open University.