Enid Blyton and the Famous Five

simu

I used to read her books over and over again when I was a child. I thought I was abnormal for not having adventures like the Famous 5 did. I also loved the Faraway Tree books (with Moonface, exploding toffee and a tree that had a different world at its top every day), Amelia Jane, Mallory Towers and so on. I wasn't that keen on the Secret Seven though - they seemed to be inferior versions of the Famous Five.

I also remember finding an old Famous Five book of my mother's - the bad guy was black and he had absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. This surprised me even as a young child - I presume they stopped printing her racist stuff between my mother's generation and mine.

Plus, anyone remember the excellent Famous Five parody they showed late nights on RTÉ about five or six years ago?

Adeptus Titanicus

Originally posted by simu
Plus, anyone remember the excellent Famous Five parody they showed late nights on RTÉ about five or six years ago?

Was this the Comic Strip piss take? Adrian Edmundson, Dawn French & Co.?

I had all the famous five books as a kid. Used to read them again and again!

Edit:
linky to Five go mad in Dorset (Comic Strip Presents...)

Exit

I LOVED Enid Blyton books as a kid! Was always reading The Famous Five and the Secret Seven, but my absolute favourite book was The Folk of the Faraway Tree which I read about 3 times. It was probably the most vivid book I read. I could picture everything in my head which is why I probably loved it. My brother was throwing them all out for charity a few weeks ago, but I couldn't let that one go.

I remember the Famous Five always having picnics and drinking ginger ale, and I was always wondering what it tasted like and why these kids were drinking alcohol

Adeptus Titanicus

Originally posted by Exit

I remember the Famous Five always having picnics and drinking ginger ale, and I was always wondering what it tasted like and why these kids were drinking alcohol

lol. Lashings and lashings of Ginger Beer! I always wondered about this till a Scottish lady moved in up the road. She used to make the stuff! I can still taste it 24 years or more on! (That's good btw )

simu

Was this the Comic Strip piss take? Adrian Edmundson, Dawn French & Co.?

That's the one! That was class!

(When someone misbehaves): "She must be adopted!"

ixoy

Does anyone remember the second series of Famous Five books made? They weren't by Enid (she was too dead) and they had titles like "Famous Five and the Z-Rays". I can't find them anywhere!!!

[Edit] I'v found them! Published in the early 80s by Knight books, written by Claude Voilier and A.Bell. Featuring titles such as:
The Famous Five in Fancy Dress, Five Go On Television, The Famous Five and the Golden Galleon, the Famous Five and the Stately Homes Gang, and the Famous Five and the Z-Rays

Adeptus Titanicus

Did anyone actually follow the original TV series?

I see they did an updated one in '97. But oh, the heady days of the original. *shudder*

Sarky

I never read the books, because I saw the series first and thought they were utterly horrible. Sorry. It was like Scooby Doo with less jokes, and no talking dog.

simu

from this page

Further novels by Claude Voilier
The following Famous Five novels were originally published in French, and translated by Anthea Bell [8]
(This listing is not yet fully organized; vowels in brackets require accents I haven't yet
ascertained, not being a French speaker. They are probably all the same kind of accent,
and the uncertainty results from incompatibilities of file-format between my source of
information and my computer. It also appears possible to me (as a non-French speaker)
that in the first two titles "Le Cinq" should be "Les Cinq".)

1. Le Cinq sont les plus forts 1971 The Famous Five and the Mystery of the Emeralds
2. Le Cinq au bal des espions 1971 The Famous Five in Fancy Dress
3. Le Marquis appelle les Cinq 1972 The Famous Five and the Stately Homes Gang
4. Les Cinq au Cap des tempêtes 1972 The Famous Five and the Missing Cheetah
5. Les Cinq à la T(e)lévision 1973 The Famous Five go on Television
6. Les Cinq et les pirates du ciel 1973 The Famous Five and the Hijackers
7. Les Cinq contre le Masque noir 1974 The Famous Five Versus the Black Mask
8. Les Cinq et le galion d'or 1974 The Famous Five and the Golden Galleon
9. Les Cinq font de la brocante 1975 The Famous Five and the Inca God
10. Les Cinq se mettent en quatre 1975 The Famous Five and the Pink Pearls
11. Les Cinq dans la cit(e) secrète 1976 The Famous Five and the Secret of the Caves
12. La fortune sourit aux Cinq 1976 The Famous Five and the Cavalier's Treasure
13. Les Cinq et le rayon Z 1977 The Famous Five and the Z-Rays
14. Les Cinq vendent la peau de l'ours 1977 The Famous Five and the Blue Bear Mystery
15. Les Cinq aux rendez-vous du diable 1978 The Famous Five in Deadly Danger
16. Du neuf pour les Cinq 1978 The Famous Five and the Strange Legacy
17. Les Cinq et le diamant bleu 1979 [The Famous Five and the Blue Diamond]
Reprinted as "Les Cinq et le rubis d'Akbar" 1980 - [The Famous Five and the Ruby of Akbar]
18. Les Cinq et le tr(e)sor de Roqu(e)pine 1979 The Famous Five and the Knights' Treasure
[The Famous Five and the Treasure of the Templars, in the Rosenzweig edition]
19. Les Cinq en croisière 1980 [The Famous Five on a Cruise]
20. Les Cinq jouent serr(e) 1980 The Famous Five and the Strange Scientist
21. Les Cinq contre les fantômes 1981 [The Famous Five Against the Ghosts]
22. Les Cinq en Amazonie 1983 [The Famous Five in the Amazon]

Adeptus Titanicus

Originally posted by Sarky
I saw the series first and thought they were utterly horrible.

You're right! They were!

Bottle_of_Smoke

who were the adventure series crowd, i read a loada them

BuffyBot

Ah yes - I remember reading all the Famous Five ones as a kid, my grandmother bought them for my older brothers, so by the time I was old enough for them we had the full set.

We also had a few of the second versions (the ones translated from French), which weren't a patch on the original.

I loved the Southern TV series too...can still here the theme tune now ;o)

Evil Phil

Originally posted by Bottle_of_Smoke
who were the adventure series crowd, i read a loada them

Were they the two brothers who'd go on Safari and Scuba diving to foil criminals? If so I read a few and they were class. My favourite though were The Three Investigators by Alfred Hitchcock.

I still want my own Kirrin Island for adventures


Trivia Fact #243: George from the Famous Five television series was addicted to heroin for 11 years.

Exit

Originally posted by BuffyBot
I loved the Southern TV series too...can still here the theme tune now ;o)

Who doesn't? "...and Timmmmmy the dogggggggggg"

Adeptus Titanicus

Originally posted by Evil Phil
My favourite though were The Three Investigators by Alfred Hitchcock.

Also Class! Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and... can't remember the third.... I loved their hideout in Jupiter's Uncle's junkyard.

sceptre

Originally posted by ixoy
I'v found them! Published in the early 80s by Knight books, written by Claude Voilier and A.Bell. Featuring titles such as:
The Famous Five in Fancy Dress, Five Go On Television, The Famous Five and the Golden Galleon, the Famous Five and the Stately Homes Gang, and the Famous Five and the Z-Rays

I had a few of those. Ran through the original series by the time I was seven so any extra "adventures" were good. They weren't that good though. And no-one ever drank pots of spiffing ginger beer and offered strange farmers a shilling for eggs (that odd farmer called them "eyres" or something). Pity that.

TCamen

Anyone remember the Famous Five picture book adventures that you were supposed to read & examine pictures to determine who the bad guy was? At the back of the books there were pictures of the suspects that could be peeled back to tell you if your guess was right.
I never actually read the books themselves, opting to go straight to finding out who the bad guy was

One that was set in a fairground...the clown did it!

pork99

Enid Blyton also wrote a series called "The Secret Seven"

Like the "Famous Five" but more of them (read a few of them but can't remember whether they had a dog and a lesbian )

That's the one! That was class!

(When someone misbehaves): "She must be adopted!"

Another quote

"I say that fellow looks black"

"Yes better call the police"

Sleepy

Anyone else remember her other series "the five find outers"?

Pip & Fatty (Frederick Algernon Trotville or something like that was his real name)are the only characters I remember?

Maybe there was a Penny as well?

sceptre

Originally posted by Sleepy
Anyone else remember her other series "the five find outers"?

Pip & Fatty (Frederick Algernon Trotville or something like that was his real name)are the only characters I remember?

Maybe there was a Penny as well?

Fatty, Pip, Bets, Daisy and Larry. And Buster the dog.

@pork99
The secret seven had a dog (scamper) but I don't think they came with a lesbian.

byte

Ah yeah I remember the Famous Five. IIRC, there were 21 books to buy. I only managed the first 14.

Anyone remember the Adventurous Four? I think there was just a few of these books. One of them involved the four being inside a mountain or something to that effect. :rolleyes:

Before all that I used to like Mr Twiddle!

smoke.me.a.kipper

"Anne and Georgie cleaned the whole house, while Julian and Dick lay out on the hay enjoying the sunshine with Timmy."

those books were so sexist its not funny. we need more of it these days.

BuffyBot

Anne and Georgie cleaned the whole house

And to think all George wanted to do was to don some dungarees and go shopping in Ikea with Anne. Famous Five slash fiction would be very disturbing

Quigs Snr

I was a major fan in my childhood, had all the FF books, even the non enid blyton ones, which were crap. All the secret sevens all the five find outers.

There were other series though that were even better.

The adventure series, such as the island of adventure, the river of adventure (all time favourite enid blyton book), the sea of adventure, the valley of adventure, etc..... Mountain blah blah, best series if you ask me.

Then there was the secret series, the secret island, also one of my favourites, and the rest of that series, the secret of killimoon etc... some kids and a prince called prince paul or something.

The adventurous 4 were also excellent, only 2 books if I recall, but all about being shipwrecked basically, fantastic. Brings back all the memories, I had quite a collection. Hard to recall a more prolific or consistently taleneted writer.

daveg

I too was a massive famous five fan. My favourite was the one where they went off in the caravan and camped beside the circus. Ahhh the innocents of my youth...

Originally posted by simu
I also loved the Faraway Tree books (with Moonface, exploding toffee and a tree that had a different world at its top every day), Amelia Jane, Mallory Towers and so on.

Oh My God I had completly forgotten about those books. I used to love em.

BuffyBot

Yes, I loved the ones where they went away and stayed in caravans/light houses/tents etc.

As a kid I used to think everyone did those kinds of things and I was the odd one out lol

Kalina

Originally posted by byte
Ah yeah I remember the Famous Five. IIRC, there were 21 books to buy. I only managed the first 14.

Anyone remember the Adventurous Four? I think there was just a few of these books. One of them involved the four being inside a mountain or something to that effect. :rolleyes:

Before all that I used to like Mr Twiddle!

I remember those, there were just 2 books about the Adventurous 4. They went sailing and got ship-wrecked on a chain of islands where "the enemy" had a submarine base!! Brilliant!

I was a huge Enid Blyton fan as a book, read them all- Malory Towers, Mr Gallianos circus and the rest on that series, Famous Five, Secret Seven, the St. Clares series, the Adventure Series (valley, sea, mountain etc) and the Faraway Tree books.
She also had a series of books of short stories, I had loads of them- Snicker the brownie, Pretty Star the Pony, A Hole in his Stocking etc. Does anyone remember those?? They were full of fairies nd brownies and goblins, brilliant for kids!

Enid Blytons boks have always been critiscised as being outdated, and containing a lot of racism and sexist remarks. But for the most part her books are great and I remember them as one of the best things about growing up.

Sundy

Originally posted by Kalina
Mr Gallianos circus and the rest on that series

oh yeah how i could i have forgotten jimmy and his little dog lucky! What was the girl called again?

those books really made me want to join a circus!

I read all the rest to famous five etc, but i particularly liked "the hardy boys" - long live frank and joe and their fat firend chet who always seemed to be eating a hot dog!

nlgbbbblth

I joined the Enid Blyton Appreciation society a few years ago - got 3 issues of a journal.

must have about 500 of her books in my parent's house

great author, unfairly maligned and brings back great childhood memories

Nala

Fennella (a.k.a Fenny) was the girl in Galliano's Circus. I was mad into Enid Blyton books as a kid. Famous Five, Secret Seven, Malory Towers, St.Claire's, Galliano's Circus.

Does anyone remember the Cherry Tree Farm (or something like that) series?
These kids moved to a farm. All I remember was one of them was called Benji (he had a dog called True), one was called Penny, one was called Rory, and they had a carthorse called Darling. Oh and they were friends with a wild man called Tammylan! I don't remember a lot of the sexist/racist stuff but I do remember in the Famous Five TV show, "Tiiimmmy the dooooogggggg" was a different breed of dog every series!

simu

Originally posted by smoke-me-a-kipper
"Anne and Georgie cleaned the whole house, while Julian and Dick lay out on the hay enjoying the sunshine with Timmy."

those books were so sexist its not funny. we need more of it these days.

Believe it or not, I've heard people who said that George was their first feminist role model!