THE first ever major exhibition celebrating the life and work of Enid Blyton has opened in the North-East.

Mystery, Magic and Midnight Feasts is on public display at Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books in Newcastle.

The show reveals the writer’s creative imagination and the events that shaped her life and storytelling.

The author’s granddaughter, Sophie Smallwood, said: “As it is now 45 years since Enid Blyton died, I am delighted that she is still considered important enough to have her own exhibition. I just wish I was young enough to go down their Faraway Tree slide.”

Seven Stories fundraised to buy a large collection of Blyton typescripts and rare artefacts when they were auctioned in 2010 as part of its mission to save and protect Britain’s literary heritage for children.

Items on show include Enid Blyton’s original hand corrected typescripts including Five have Plenty of Fun (1954), Last Term at Malory Towers (1951), Look Out, Secret Seven (1962) and Cheer Up, Little Noddy (1960).

Visitors can also see personal and nature diaries spanning the 1920s, 1930s and 1960s as well as personal family photographs, including her as a child, her famous typewriter and Harmsen van der Beek's first Noddy illustration from 1949.

The exhibition is expected to stimulate interest from generations of Enid Blyton fans, given her enormous contribution to children's literature.

At the height of her 40 year career, from 1951 to 1954, she produced 192 books - an average of one a week.

Kate Edwards, chief executive of Seven Stories, said: “It’s impossible to celebrate Britain’s literary heritage for children without including our most successful author, Enid Blyton. She was a prolific writer with a lively imagination and a remarkable gift for connecting with children. She was a master of plot, pace, suspense and the moral tale.

“Though Enid and her books have often been surrounded by controversy, her work should be viewed in the context of its time - the early and mid 20th century - when British society was very different to today.”

Enid Blyton, who was born in 1897 and died in 1968, was the best-selling English language author of the twentieth century, and remains one of the most popular writers of all time.

At Seven Stories, children are invited to throw themselves into the worlds of the Famous Five and Secret Seven, Malory Towers, Magic Faraway Tree and Noddy’s Toyland.

Marlene Johnson, chairman of The Enid Blyton Estate, said: “For decades, countless children have discovered magical new worlds through the stories of Enid Blyton.

“We were delighted when we saw the plans for the Seven Stories exhibition, which will bring those stories to life for a whole new generation of children.”