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Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl have been named the nation's best-loved writers, beating J K Rowling into third place and leaving literary giants such as Shakespeare, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens trailing, reports the Guardian. Blyton, creator of the Famous Five books as well as the Secret Seven, Malory Towers and Noddy, topped a poll of 2,000 adults, commissioned to mark the 2008 Costa Book Awards.
Austen came fourth in the nationwide survey. She is followed by Shakespeare, Dickens and Lord of the Rings author J R R Tolkien. Agatha Christie came eighth, followed by the horror writer Stephen King, who shares the honour with Rowling of being the only living authors to appear in the top 10.