The Famous Five (series)
Encyclopedia
The Famous Five is the name of a series of children's novels written by British author Enid Blyton
. The first book, Five on a Treasure Island, was published in 1942.
The novels feature the adventures of a group of young children – Julian, Dick, Anne and Georgina (George) – and their dog Timothy. Blyton created several similar groups for her detective
series, including The Secret Seven
, The Adventurous Four (not to be confused with The Adventure Series
) and Five Find-Outers
, but the Famous Five is the best-known and most popular of these.
Blyton only intended to write about 6 to 8 books in the series but, owing to their high sales and immense commercial success, she went on to write 21 full-length Famous Five novels. By the end of 1953, more than 6 million copies of these books had been printed and sold. Today, more than two million copies of the books are sold each year, making them one of the biggest-selling series for children ever written. Over a hundred million books have been sold. Nearly all of the novels have subsequently been adapted for television.
A feature of the last page of the original books (and reprints) was an invitation to readers to join the Famous Five Club. Proceeds would help pediatric charities.
In 2008 Chorion
, who now own the rights to Blyton's books and characters, published (through Hodder's Children's Books) the Famous Five's Survival Guide, a new book that combines basic survival tips and interesting facts with a story in which the grown-up characters revisit a case they failed to solve in their childhood.
who insists on being called George. George owns a large mongrel
dog, Timothy, who is very much part of the group and a character in his own right. Timmy accompanies the four children on every adventure.
The stories always take place in the children's school holidays when they return from their respective boarding schools. Every time they meet, they get caught up in an adventure, the location of which varies from book to book. Sometimes the scene is set close to George's family home at Kirrin Cottage in Cornwall
: "Kirrin Island", a picturesque island owned by George and her family in Kirrin Bay, for example, presents many opportunities for adventure. George's own home and various other houses the children visit or stay in are hundreds of years old, and often contain secret passages or smugglers' tunnels. In some books, the children go camping in the countryside, on a hike or holiday together elsewhere. The settings, however, are almost always rural and enable the children to discover the simple joys of cottages, islands, the English and Welsh countryside and sea shores, as well as the adventures, picnics, lemonade, bicycle trips, home-made food, and ginger beer
.
In some of the books, the four children and Timmy are joined by other children. Some of these newcomers start off being disliked by the four children including the gypsy girl Jo, and Henrietta, another tomboy; and some of them are friends from the start, including Sooty and Tinker, both sons of Uncle Quentin's scientist friends.
Blyton always said that George was based on a real girl she had once known: in her later life, she admitted that the girl was herself .
The characters, as is usual in Blyton's fiction, are outlined with very few words, and there is very limited description of scenes, but this style and the fast pace of the writing keeps children's attention and is seen by enthusiasts as fuelling their imagination
and encouraging them to think for themselves. Blyton's characterisation, however, has also been much criticised as being stereotyped and encouraging sexist attitudes; and the books have as a result been extensively parodied.
She also wrote The Famous Five survival guide.
Blyton also wrote a number of short stories featuring the characters. These were finally collected together in 1963 as Five Have a Puzzling Time and Other Stories.
(the Five have long been extremely popular in translation in the French-speaking parts of Europe) and later translated into English. The Voilier titles are:
Two of the Famous Five stories by Enid Blyton have been filmed by Danish director Katrine Hedman. The cast consisted of Danish actors and were originally released in Danish
. Ove Sprogøe
stars as Uncle Quentin. The movies are: De 5 og spionerne (Five and the Spies) (1969) and De 5 i fedtefadet (Famous Five Get in Trouble) (1970).
All four of the films have been released on DVD in their respective countries.
was produced by Southern Television
and Portman Productions for the ITV
network in the UK, in 26 episodes of thirty minutes. It starred Michele Gallagher as Georgina, Marcus Harris as Julian, Jennifer Thanisch
as Anne, Gary Russell
as Dick, Toddy Woodgate as Timmy, Michael Hinz as Uncle Quentin and Sue Best as Aunt Fanny. It also starred Ronald Fraser
, John Carson
, Patrick Troughton
, James Villiers
, Cyril Luckham
and Brian Glover
. The screenplays were written by Gloria Tors, Gail Renard, Richard Carpenter and Richard Sparks. The episodes were directed by Peter Duffell, Don Leaver, James Gatward and Mike Connor. The series was produced by Don Leaver and James Gatward. Most of the outdoor filming was done in the New Forest
and parts of Dorset
and Devon
.
Finnish
punk rock
band Widows (of Helsinki
) made three different cover version
s of the theme song, first one in early 1979, as did Irish indie outfit Fleur, in 1996.
All the books apart from Five Have a Mystery to Solve and Five Have Plenty of Fun were dramatised; the first two were excluded because the Children's Film Foundation
still had the film and TV rights to the books (see below), and the third because it could not fit in the production schedule. Plans to make a third series which would have included this story plus new ones written purely for television were abandoned after the Blyton estate exercised its veto
.
The 1978 series was originally released on video
by Portman Productions with reasonable regularity between 1983 and 1999, many of which are still easy to find second-hand, although the sound and picture quality is not always what it could be. A four-disc DVD collection, containing 23 of the 26 episodes produced for the 1978 series (and two episodes from the 1996 series) was released in region 4 (Australia and New Zealand
) in 2005. The box and disc art identify it as a release of 1996 series. (The distributor had licenced the 1996 series but due to an administrative glitch, it was supplied with master tapes and artwork for the 1978 series.) The error was corrected in a later release.
A 7 DVD set containing the entire series and extensive bonus material was released in October 2010 in Germany.
, initiated by Victor Glynn
of Portman Zenith was produced around 1996, a co-production between a number of companies including Tyne Tees Television
, HTV, Zenith North and the German channel ZDF
(this was also shown on ITV in the UK). Unlike the previous series, this was a period piece, set in Wales
, and also unlike the previous series it dramatised all the original books. Of the juvenile actors the best-known is probably Jemima Rooper
, who played George. Julian was portrayed by Marco Williamson
, Dick by Paul Child
and Anne was portrayed by Laura Petela
. Timmy the dog was called Connal in real life. In this series, because of the slang meaning of the word fanny
, Aunt Fanny was known as Aunt Frances played by Mary Waterhouse. In some but not all recent reprints of the book, the character has been re-christened Aunt Franny.
The 1996 series was released in its entirety on video; only the adaptation of Five On A Treasure Island seems to have been released on DVD in the UK, although there are apparently some rare mainland European DVD releases of the series, available via certain websites in the UK (these are, of course, Region 2 DVDs). Fans of the series remain mystified as to why both the 1970s and 1990s series have never been officially released in their entirety in the UK – the country in which they were made, and Enid Blyton's home country.
A three-disc DVD collection, containing 13 of the 26 episodes of the 1996 series, was released in Australia and New Zealand in 2005 (these are region 4 DVDs). This release followed the erroneous release of the 1978 series with 1996 artwork, and is marked "Revised Edition" to avoid confusion.
A new animated TV series of the Famous Five began airing 2008. Famous 5: On the Case
is set in modern times and features the children of the original Famous Five. These children are Max (the son of Julian and Brandine), Dylan (son of Dick and Michelle), Jo (daughter of George and Ravi, a tomboy who, like her mother, prefers a shorter name to her given name Jyoti) and Allie (daughter of Anne and John). It has not been stated whether their dog is the son of the previous dog, too. The new series was first announced in 2005, and is a co-production between Chorion
(which currently owns all Famous Five rights) and Marathon
in association with France 3
and The Disney Channel. Disney
confirmed their involvement in December 2006. Stories were developed by Douglas Tuber
and Tim Maile
, who have previously written for Lizzie McGuire
. Chorion claims on its Web site that "these new programmes will remain faithful to the themes of mystery and adventure central to Enid Blyton’s classic series of books." Blyton's biographer, Barbara Stoney, however claims it is nothing like the original stories. In total, there will be 130 episodes, and each episode will be 22 minutes long.
states "casting and writing talent is still very much under wraps and no broadcaster is yet confirmed. However, some of the best-known acting talent in Britain is already under consideration."
produced in the late 1990s audio dramas in English, which were published on Tape and CD. All 21 episodes of the original books were dramatised.
The 21 original stories by Enid Blyton have been released in the 70s as Fünf Freunde audio dramas in Germany as well. The speakers were the German dubbing artists for Gallagher, Thanisch, Russell and Harris, the protagonists of the first television series.
For the sequels (not written by Blyton and decidedly more "modern" action-oriented stories) the speakers were replaced by younger ones, because it was felt that they sounded too mature. In addition to the original Blyton books, another 80+ stories have subsequently been released and published as radio plays and books in Germany. They are based on the original characters, but written by various German writers.
Principal actors: Elizabeth Marsland, Lyndon Ogbourne, Matthew Johnson, Vicky Taylor, Jon Lee
, Director: Roz Storey
and also in the five
A brand new musical adaptation was premiered at the Tabard Theatre on the 8 December 2009 and played until 10 January 2010.
s in a Choose Your Own Adventure
style have been published. These books involve reading small sections of print and being given two or more options to follow, with a different page number for each option. The first series of these, written by Stephen Thraves, featured stories loosely based on the original books. They were issued in plastic wallets with accessories such as maps, dice and codebooks. The gamebooks were titled as follows:
The second series, written by Mary Danby, was entitled "The Famous Five and You". These consisted of abridged versions of the original text, with additional text for the alternative story routes. The books in this series were based on the first six original Famous Five books:
computer game based on the first of the books, Five On A Treasure Island, was released. It was programmed
by Colin Jordan and first released for the SAM Coupé
by Enigma Variations.
He originally started coding
the game on the ZX Spectrum
using his own "worldscape" technique. When the SAM Coupé was launched, he switched to it as the target platform while still hosting the code on the ZX Spectrum. He later ported
it to the Amstrad CPC
and completed the ZX Spectrum version. The game was also ported to the Commodore 64
, Amiga
and Atari ST
by others.
Later Ravensburger published the interactive CD games Famous Five The Silver Tower, Famous Five Treasure Island, Famous Five – Kidnapped for the PC or Mac.
. Books were released by Hachette Livre
. The first three of these volumes have also been released in English, under the name Famous Five. The titles included "Famous Five and the Golden Galleon" (which featured a sunken ship that was laden with gold with the Five fending off villains seeking to make off with the gold, "Famous Five and the Treasure of the Templars", where it transpires that Kirrin Castle is actually a Templar Castle that houses their hidden treasure which the Five ultimately secure with the help of members of the order, and "Famous Five and the Inca God" which was set in an antiquities museum and dealt with the theft of an Incan fetish.
Beginning in September 1985 a series of monthly Comic Magazine titles Enid Blyton's Adventure Magazine were published. Each issue published a full length illustrative comic book story adapted from Famous 5 Novels. The series came to end in the 1990s.
Five Go Mad in Dorset
and its sequel Five Go Mad On Mescalin, in which the characters express sympathies with Nazi Germany
and opposition to the Welfare State
, homosexuals, immigrants and Jews, in an extremely broad parody
not so much of Blyton but of wider perceived 1950s prejudices. The parodies were deliberately set towards the end of the original Famous Five "era" (1942–1963) so as to make the point that the books were already becoming outmoded while they were still being written, although the continuing popularity of the books even in the 21st century may be seen to suggest otherwise. Both parodies made use of Famous Five set pieces, such as the surrender of the criminals at the end when Julian states "We're the Famous Five!", the arrival of the police just in the nick of time, and the appeal for "some of your home-made ices" at a village shop.
In the late eighties, Australian comedy team The D-Generation
parodied The Famous Five on their breakfast radio show as a five-part serial entitled The Famous Five Get Their Teeth Kicked In. The parody was based on the first book Five on a Treasure Island.
A 2005 story in The Guardian
also parodies the Famous Five. It argues that Anne, Dick, George and Julian are caricature
s rather than characters, portraying Anne as having no life outside of domestic labour. It highlights what the writer, Lucy Mangan, considers to be the power struggle between Dick, George and Julian while Anne is sidelined.
On 31 October 2009, the BBC
program The Impressions Show featured a sketch where Ross Kemp
meets The Famous Five. It was a parody of his hugely successful Sky One
show, Ross Kemp On Gangs.
In the book The Big Goal by Rob Childs, Andrew mentions that a girls team won against 'some rubbish lot called The Famous Five'.
, has been highlighted by a number of contemporary children's fiction authors as an influence upon their own work. J. K. Rowling
, the author of the Harry Potter series of books has been quoted as saying of the titular character: "in book four the hormones are going to kick in – I don't want him stuck in a state of permanent pre-pubescence like poor Julian in the Famous Five!"
Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton was an English children's writer also known as Mary Pollock.Noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups,her books have enjoyed huge success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 600 million copies.One of Blyton's most...
. The first book, Five on a Treasure Island, was published in 1942.
The novels feature the adventures of a group of young children – Julian, Dick, Anne and Georgina (George) – and their dog Timothy. Blyton created several similar groups for her detective
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
series, including The Secret Seven
The Secret Seven
The Secret Seven or "Secret Seven Society" are a fictional group of child detectives created by Enid Blyton. They appear in one of several juvenile detective series Blyton wrote....
, The Adventurous Four (not to be confused with The Adventure Series
The Adventure Series
The Adventure Series by Enid Blyton, a prolific English children's author, is a series of eight children's novels. These books feature the same child characters: Philip, Jack, Dinah, and Lucy-Ann, along with several adult characters...
) and Five Find-Outers
The Five Find-Outers
The Five Find-Outers and Dog , also known as the Enid Blyton Mystery Series, is a series of children's mystery books written by Enid Blyton and first published between 1943 and 1961...
, but the Famous Five is the best-known and most popular of these.
Blyton only intended to write about 6 to 8 books in the series but, owing to their high sales and immense commercial success, she went on to write 21 full-length Famous Five novels. By the end of 1953, more than 6 million copies of these books had been printed and sold. Today, more than two million copies of the books are sold each year, making them one of the biggest-selling series for children ever written. Over a hundred million books have been sold. Nearly all of the novels have subsequently been adapted for television.
A feature of the last page of the original books (and reprints) was an invitation to readers to join the Famous Five Club. Proceeds would help pediatric charities.
In 2008 Chorion
Chorion (company)
Chorion Limited is a major international media production company with offices in London, New York and Sydney. The company produces TV shows and feature films, and is best known for the heritage properties included in its portfolio. These include children's characters such as Paddington Bear, Peter...
, who now own the rights to Blyton's books and characters, published (through Hodder's Children's Books) the Famous Five's Survival Guide, a new book that combines basic survival tips and interesting facts with a story in which the grown-up characters revisit a case they failed to solve in their childhood.
Overview
Three of the children, Julian, Dick and Anne, are brothers and sister. During their holidays, they are regularly sent to the seaside village of Kirrin to stay with their Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin, whose daughter, Georgina, is a tomboyTomboy
A tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...
who insists on being called George. George owns a large mongrel
Mixed-breed dog
A mixed-breed dog, also known as a mutt or mongrel, is a dog whose ancestry is generally unknown and that has characteristics of two or more types of breeds. A mixed-breed may be a cross-breed dog, a random-bred dog, or a descendant of feral or pariah dog populations...
dog, Timothy, who is very much part of the group and a character in his own right. Timmy accompanies the four children on every adventure.
The stories always take place in the children's school holidays when they return from their respective boarding schools. Every time they meet, they get caught up in an adventure, the location of which varies from book to book. Sometimes the scene is set close to George's family home at Kirrin Cottage in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
: "Kirrin Island", a picturesque island owned by George and her family in Kirrin Bay, for example, presents many opportunities for adventure. George's own home and various other houses the children visit or stay in are hundreds of years old, and often contain secret passages or smugglers' tunnels. In some books, the children go camping in the countryside, on a hike or holiday together elsewhere. The settings, however, are almost always rural and enable the children to discover the simple joys of cottages, islands, the English and Welsh countryside and sea shores, as well as the adventures, picnics, lemonade, bicycle trips, home-made food, and ginger beer
Ginger beer
Ginger beer is a carbonated drink that is flavored primarily with ginger and sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners.-History:Brewed ginger beer originated in England in the mid-18th century and became popular in Britain, the United States, and Canada, reaching a peak of popularity in the...
.
In some of the books, the four children and Timmy are joined by other children. Some of these newcomers start off being disliked by the four children including the gypsy girl Jo, and Henrietta, another tomboy; and some of them are friends from the start, including Sooty and Tinker, both sons of Uncle Quentin's scientist friends.
Blyton always said that George was based on a real girl she had once known: in her later life, she admitted that the girl was herself .
Characters
- George: Georgina is a tomboy and insists that people call her George. With her short hair and boy's clothes she is often mistaken for a boy, which pleases her enormously. Like her father, Quentin, George has a fiery temper. She is fierce, headstrong and very loyal to those she loves. She is sometimes extremely stubborn and causes trouble for her mother as well as her cousins. She is very possessive of Timothy (Timmy), her dog. George is cousin to siblings Julian, Dick and Anne and is aged 11 at the start of the series and 16 at the end. In Five Have Plenty of Fun, Five Fall Into Adventure, and Five Go To Mystery Moor there were tomboys like her.
- Julian: Julian is the oldest of the five, cousin to George and older brother to Dick and Anne. He is tall, strong and intelligent as well as caring, responsible and kind. He is the leader of the group. He is very protective towards Anne. At the start of the series, Julian is 12 years old; the final book does not state how much the children have aged, but if you count the years in which the series run, then he will be 17.
- Dick: Dick has a cheeky sense of humour, but is also dependable and kind in nature. He is the same age as his cousin George, a year younger than his brother Julian and older than his sister Anne – 11 at the start of the series and 16 at the end. Dick is very caring of Anne and does his best to keep her cheered up when she gets upset. He had a heroic role in Five On A Treasure Island. He also uses his wits in many adventures.
- Anne: Anne is the youngest in the group, and generally takes care of their domestic duties during the Five's various camping holidays. As the youngest, she is more likely than the others to become frightened and does not really enjoy the adventures as much as the others. She is 10 years old in the first book of the series and 15 in the last. As a small girl, she sometimes lets her tongue run away with her, but ultimately she is as brave and resourceful as the others. She likes doing the domestic things such as planning, organising and preparing meals, keeping where they are staying clean and tidy, be it a cave, house, tent or caravan. In Smuggler's Top it is suggested she is claustrophobic as she is frightened of enclosed spaces since it reminds her of bad dreams she has - however this just shows how brave she really is as the adventures invariably lead the five into tunnels, down wells, in dungeons and other enclosed spaces.
- Timothy (Timmy or Tim): Timothy, sometimes called Tim, is George's dog. Timmy is the archetypal loyal mongrel – very clever, affectionate and loyal to the Five and to George in particular; he provides physical protection for the children on multiple occasions. George adores Timmy and thinks that he is the best dog in the world. In the first book of the series, George's parents have forbidden her to keep Timmy and George is forced to hide him with a friend in the village. After the end of the Five's first adventure, her parents relent and she is allowed to keep him.
- Jo, the gypsy girl: Jo, clever but wild, joins the Five on several adventures and is especially friendly towards Dick. She is approximately the same age as the children. She is a tomboy, like George. Her parents were in the circus, however her mother left and her father was imprisoned for theft.
- Aunt Fanny: Fanny is George's mother, and aunt to Dick, Julian and Anne. Called Aunt Fanny by Julian, Dick and Anne, she is married to Uncle Quentin, and is, through most of Blyton's Famous Five novels, the principal maternal figure in the lives of the children.
- Uncle Quentin: Quentin is George's father, and a world-famous scientist, who is kidnapped or held hostage in several of the children's adventures. He possesses a quick temper and has little tolerance for children on school holidays, but nevertheless loves his family and is extremely proud of his daughter. In the first book of the series, it is established that he is the brother of Julian, Dick and Anne's father.
- Joanna: Joanna is the lady help at George's house. She is an extremely kind woman who is often present at Kirrin Cottage when Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny go off somewhere. All the four cousins are extremely attached to her. She is sometimes referred to as Joan.
The characters, as is usual in Blyton's fiction, are outlined with very few words, and there is very limited description of scenes, but this style and the fast pace of the writing keeps children's attention and is seen by enthusiasts as fuelling their imagination
Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
and encouraging them to think for themselves. Blyton's characterisation, however, has also been much criticised as being stereotyped and encouraging sexist attitudes; and the books have as a result been extensively parodied.
Original novels
Enid Blyton wrote 21 Famous Five books; in chronological order they are:- Five on a Treasure IslandFive on a Treasure IslandFive on a Treasure Island is a popular children's book by Enid Blyton. It is the first book in The Famous Five series. The first edition of the book was illustrated by Eileen Soper.-Plot:...
(1942) - Five Go Adventuring AgainFive Go Adventuring AgainFive Go Adventuring Again is the second book in the Famous Five series by the British author, Enid Blyton.-Plot:Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy return to Kirrin Cottage for the Christmas holidays. As a result of being off school due to illnesses, the four children have a tutor, Mr. Roland,...
(1943) - Five Run Away TogetherFive Run Away TogetherFive Run Away Together is the third book in the Famous Five series by the British author Enid Blyton.-Plot:Julian, Dick and Anne arrive in Cornwall to stay with George for the holidays. They plan to spend time exploring Kirrin Island but their happiness is spoilt when Aunt Fanny falls ill and has...
(1944) - Five Go to Smuggler's TopFive Go to Smuggler's TopFive Go to Smuggler's Top is the fourth book in the celebrated Famous Five series by the British author, Enid Blyton.-Plot:The Five doesn't want to spend their holidays at Kirrin Cottage. So they go to their friend Sooty Lenior and his little sister to their home at Smugglers Top. But they find...
(1945) - Five Go Off in a CaravanFive Go Off in a CaravanFive Go Off In A Caravan is the fifth book in the Famous Five series by the British author, Enid Blyton.-Plot:A caravan holiday for the Famous Five! It is bound to be another adventure for the intrepid gang. And sure enough, pretty soon they've caught up with a circus-where some of the circus folk...
(1946) - Five on Kirrin Island AgainFive On Kirrin Island AgainFive On Kirrin Island Again is the sixth novel in the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in October, 1947.-External links:**...
(1947) - Five Go Off to CampFive Go Off To CampFive Go Off To Camp is the seventh novel in the Famous Five children's adventure series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1948, and was followed by a number of reprints and translations. The story evolves around mysterious "spook trains" that the Five hear about on a lonely moor...
(1948) - Five Get Into TroubleFive Get Into TroubleFive Get Into Trouble is the eighth novel in The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1949.In this novel, Dick gets kidnapped, mistaken for another boy whose name is Richard. The Famous Five track him down to a lonely, out-of-the-way house-but they are seized and imprisoned...
(1949) - Five Fall Into AdventureFive Fall Into AdventureFive Fall Into Adventure is the ninth novel in The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1950.-External links:**...
(1950) - Five on a Hike TogetherFive On A Hike TogetherFive on a Hike Together is the tenth novel in the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1951.In the book, two of Julian and Dick's school get a scholarship while Anne and George have a mid-term break-External links:**...
(1951) - Five Have a Wonderful TimeFive Have a Wonderful TimeFive Have A Wonderful Time is a popular children's book written by Enid Blyton. It is the eleventh novel in the Famous Five series of books.-External links:**...
(1952) - Five Go Down to the SeaFive Go Down to the SeaFive Go Down To The Sea is the twelfth novel in The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1953.The Famous Five decide to spend their time at a lonely and desolate farm in Cornwall suggested by Uncle Quentin and encounter Mr Penruthlan. They hear strange stories of the long...
(1953) - Five Go to Mystery MoorFive Go To Mystery MoorFive Go to Mystery Moor is a popular children's book written by Enid Blyton. It is the thirteenth novel in the Famous Five series of books.-Plot introduction:...
(1954) - Five Have Plenty of FunFive Have Plenty Of FunFive Have Plenty Of Fun is the fourteenth novel in The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1955.An American girl, Berta, stays with the five. Mysterious visitors to Kirrin island and a kidnapping combine to make this the adventure of a lifetime. Berta is hiding and only the...
(1955) - Five on a Secret TrailFive On A Secret TrailFive on a Secret Trail is the fifteenth novel in the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1956.-Plot:George is worried as her dog, Timmy, has hurt his ear. She pays a visit to the vet, and he tells her to place a round cardboard collar on Timmy to prevent him from scratching...
(1956) - Five Go to Billycock HillFive Go To Billycock HillFive Go to Billycock Hill is the sixteenth novel in the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1957.-Plot:Camping again, this time on Billycock Hill, near the farm of Toby, a boy from Julian and Dick's school...
(1957) - Five Get Into a FixFive Get into a FixFive Get into a Fix is a children's novel written by Enid Blyton and published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1958. It is the seventeenth book in the Famous Five series.-Story:...
(1958) - Five on Finniston FarmFive On Finniston FarmFive on Finniston Farm is the eighteenth novel in the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1960.-Plot:In this novel, the five children , visit Finniston farm, where they discover ancient ruins of a medieval castle.Whilst they solve this mystery, they are helped by two twins...
(1959) - Five Go to Demon's RocksFive Go To Demon's RocksFive Go to Demon's Rocks is the nineteenth novel in The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1961.-Plot:Julian, Dick and Anne are coming to Kirrin to stay for a couple of weeks, but are beaten by Quentin's colleague Professor Hayling and his son Tinker on their way...
(1960) - Five Have a Mystery to SolveFive Have A Mystery To SolveFive Have a Mystery to Solve is the twentieth novel in the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1962. As the penultimate book in the Famous Five series, it follows the usual formula of finding secret passages, hunting treasure, and foiling evil-doers.-External links:**...
(1962) - Five Are Together AgainFive Are Together AgainFive Are Together Again is a children's novel in The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. First published by Hodder and Stoughton, and in its first edition illustrated by Eileen Soper....
(1962)
She also wrote The Famous Five survival guide.
Blyton also wrote a number of short stories featuring the characters. These were finally collected together in 1963 as Five Have a Puzzling Time and Other Stories.
Claude Voilier
There are also books written originally in French by Claude VoilierClaude Voilier
Claude Voilier was a French teacher, journalist, translator , and a prolific author, having written over 600 short stories for various French magazines, and about 400 stories for children...
(the Five have long been extremely popular in translation in the French-speaking parts of Europe) and later translated into English. The Voilier titles are:
- Les Cinq sont les plus forts (1971; English title: The Famous Five and the Mystery of the Emeralds)
- Les Cinq au bal des espions (1971; English title: The Famous Five in Fancy Dress)
- Le Marquis appelle les Cinq (1972; English title: The Famous Five and the Stately Homes Gang)
- Les Cinq au Cap des tempêtes (1972; English title: The Famous Five and the Missing Cheetah)
- Les Cinq à la Télévision (1973; English title: The Famous Five Go on Television)
- Les Cinq et les pirates du ciel (1973; English title: The Famous Five and the Hijackers)
- Les Cinq contre le masque noir (1974; English title: The Famous Five Versus the Black Mask)
- Les Cinq et le galion d'or (1974; English title: The Famous Five and the Golden Galleon)
- Les Cinq font de la brocante (1975; English title: The Famous Five and the Inca God)
- Les Cinq se mettent en quatre (1975; English title: The Famous Five and the Pink Pearls)
- Les Cinq dans la cité secrète (1976; English title: The Famous Five and the Secret of the Caves)
- La fortune sourit aux Cinq (1976; English title: The Famous Five and the Cavalier's Treasure)
- Les Cinq et le rayon Z (1977; English title: The Famous Five and the Z-Rays)
- Les Cinq vendent la peau de l'ours (1977; English title: The Famous Five and the Blue Bear Mystery)
- Les Cinq aux rendez-vous du diable (1978; English title: The Famous Five in Deadly Danger)
- Du neuf pour les Cinq (1978; English title: The Famous Five and the Strange Legacy)
- Les Cinq et le trésor de Roquépine (1979; English title: The Famous Five and the Knights' Treasure)
- Les Cinq et le diamant bleu (1979; reprinted in 1980 as Les Cinq et le rubis d'Akbar; never translated into English)
- Les Cinq jouent serré (1980; English title: The Famous Five and the Strange Scientist)
- Les Cinq en croisière (1980; never translated into English)
- Les Cinq contre les fantômes (1981; never translated into English)
- Les Cinq en Amazonie (1983; never translated into English)
- Les Cinq et le trésor du pirate (1984; never translated into English)
- Les Cinq contre le loup-garou (1985; never translated into English)
Sarah Bosse
Starting in 2004, an additional 21 new Famous Five novels written by Sarah Bosse have been published in Germany, but as yet, they have not been translated into English. The 10th Bosse book, published in February 2007, is numbered 50 in the German sequence, and is a two-in-one volume, although the second novel in the volume is a sequel to the first.Films
There exist two Children's Film Foundation films of the Famous Five books – Five On A Treasure Island, made in 1957, and Five Have A Mystery To Solve, produced in 1963.Two of the Famous Five stories by Enid Blyton have been filmed by Danish director Katrine Hedman. The cast consisted of Danish actors and were originally released in Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
. Ove Sprogøe
Ove Sprogøe
Ove Wendelboe Sprogøe Petersen was a Danish actor. Born in Odense, his parents were Arthur and Inger Sprogøe. He married Eva Rasmussen in 1945, with whom he had three children. One of these is actor Henning Sprogøe....
stars as Uncle Quentin. The movies are: De 5 og spionerne (Five and the Spies) (1969) and De 5 i fedtefadet (Famous Five Get in Trouble) (1970).
All four of the films have been released on DVD in their respective countries.
Television
1978 series
The Famous Five 1978 television seriesThe Famous Five (1970s TV series)
The Famous Five is a British television series based on the children's books of the same name by Enid Blyton. It was broadcast on ITV over two series in 1978 and 1979. It was produced by Southern Television in 26 half-hour episodes.- Production :...
was produced by Southern Television
Southern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
and Portman Productions for the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network in the UK, in 26 episodes of thirty minutes. It starred Michele Gallagher as Georgina, Marcus Harris as Julian, Jennifer Thanisch
Jennifer Thanisch
Jennifer Thanisch was an English child actress during the 1970s.-Life:Jennifer Thanisch is native of Laleham, Middlesex, where her parents owned the Three Horseshoes, a public house. Her first role was in the film Dark Places, which starred Christopher Lee and Joan Collins...
as Anne, Gary Russell
Gary Russell
Gary James Russell is a freelance writer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media...
as Dick, Toddy Woodgate as Timmy, Michael Hinz as Uncle Quentin and Sue Best as Aunt Fanny. It also starred Ronald Fraser
Ronald Fraser
Ronald Fraser was an English character actor, who appeared in numerous British films of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s whilst also appearing in many popular TV shows.-Background:...
, John Carson
John Carson (actor)
John Carson is a British actor noted for his appearances in film and television.Making his film debut in 1947, he carved out a career appearing in low budget British movies such as Seven Keys ; Smokescreen ; and Master Spy...
, Patrick Troughton
Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969,...
, James Villiers
James Villiers
James Michael Hyde Villiers was a British character actor and a familiar face on British television...
, Cyril Luckham
Cyril Luckham
Cyril Luckham was a British film, television and theatre actor.Luckham played the White Guardian in the long running science fiction television series Doctor Who. He appeared in The Ribos Operation, the first serial in The Key to Time season, and Enlightenment...
and Brian Glover
Brian Glover
Brian Glover was an English character actor, writer and wrestler. Glover was a professional wrestler, teacher, and finally a film, television and stage actor. He once said, "You play to your strengths in this game. My strength is as a bald-headed, rough-looking Yorkshireman".-Early life:Glover was...
. The screenplays were written by Gloria Tors, Gail Renard, Richard Carpenter and Richard Sparks. The episodes were directed by Peter Duffell, Don Leaver, James Gatward and Mike Connor. The series was produced by Don Leaver and James Gatward. Most of the outdoor filming was done in the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
and parts of Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
and Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
.
Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Widows (of Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
) made three different cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s of the theme song, first one in early 1979, as did Irish indie outfit Fleur, in 1996.
All the books apart from Five Have a Mystery to Solve and Five Have Plenty of Fun were dramatised; the first two were excluded because the Children's Film Foundation
Children's Film Foundation
The Children's Film Foundation was a non-profit-making organisation which made films for children in the United Kingdom, typically running for about 55 minutes. It was founded in 1951. For 30 years it was subsidised by the Eady Levy - a tax on box office receipts, but this was abolished in 1985...
still had the film and TV rights to the books (see below), and the third because it could not fit in the production schedule. Plans to make a third series which would have included this story plus new ones written purely for television were abandoned after the Blyton estate exercised its veto
Veto
A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...
.
The 1978 series was originally released on video
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
by Portman Productions with reasonable regularity between 1983 and 1999, many of which are still easy to find second-hand, although the sound and picture quality is not always what it could be. A four-disc DVD collection, containing 23 of the 26 episodes produced for the 1978 series (and two episodes from the 1996 series) was released in region 4 (Australia and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
) in 2005. The box and disc art identify it as a release of 1996 series. (The distributor had licenced the 1996 series but due to an administrative glitch, it was supplied with master tapes and artwork for the 1978 series.) The error was corrected in a later release.
A 7 DVD set containing the entire series and extensive bonus material was released in October 2010 in Germany.
1996 series
A later series, Famous Five 1996Famous Five 1996
Famous Five 1996 is a TV series made in 1996, based on Enid Blyton's Famous Five books.-Season One:#Five on a Treasure Island #Five on a Treasure Island #Five Get Into Trouble#Five Fall Into Adventure#Five Go Off to Camp...
, initiated by Victor Glynn
Victor Glynn
Victor Glynn, an award winning film and television producer and writer, was born in Balham, London on 11 October 1956. He married Lorna Gillian Glynn in 1982. She died in 1999. He has four children. His daughter Harriet is a film producer...
of Portman Zenith was produced around 1996, a co-production between a number of companies including Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...
, HTV, Zenith North and the German channel ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
(this was also shown on ITV in the UK). Unlike the previous series, this was a period piece, set in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, and also unlike the previous series it dramatised all the original books. Of the juvenile actors the best-known is probably Jemima Rooper
Jemima Rooper
Jemima Rooper is an English actress.- Background :Born in Hammersmith, London, Rooper is the daughter of TV journalist Alison Rooper. She attended Redcliffe Primary School in Chelsea, London and Godolphin and Latymer girls' school. While working on The Famous Five, she passed eight GCSEs with A*...
, who played George. Julian was portrayed by Marco Williamson
Marco Williamson
Marco Williamson is an English actor born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom.Marco is best known for his television role as Julian in the 1995/6 version of The Famous Five shown on HTV from 1995 and on all other ITV regions in 1996 – 1997.He has also appeared in Richard III,...
, Dick by Paul Child
Paul Child (actor)
Paul Child is an English actor born in 1981. He is best known for playing the part of Dick in the 1996/7 Television adaptation of Enid Blytons' The Famous Five....
and Anne was portrayed by Laura Petela
Laura Petela
Laura Petela is a British television actress.-Acting:She appeared in three television productions.-Post-acting career:...
. Timmy the dog was called Connal in real life. In this series, because of the slang meaning of the word fanny
Fanny
Fanny is a given name, and a pet form of Frances.Notable people bearing this name include:* Fanny , an alias of breakcore artist Fraser Runciman* Fanny Adams, a 19th-century murder victim* Fanny Ardant, a French actress...
, Aunt Fanny was known as Aunt Frances played by Mary Waterhouse. In some but not all recent reprints of the book, the character has been re-christened Aunt Franny.
The 1996 series was released in its entirety on video; only the adaptation of Five On A Treasure Island seems to have been released on DVD in the UK, although there are apparently some rare mainland European DVD releases of the series, available via certain websites in the UK (these are, of course, Region 2 DVDs). Fans of the series remain mystified as to why both the 1970s and 1990s series have never been officially released in their entirety in the UK – the country in which they were made, and Enid Blyton's home country.
A three-disc DVD collection, containing 13 of the 26 episodes of the 1996 series, was released in Australia and New Zealand in 2005 (these are region 4 DVDs). This release followed the erroneous release of the 1978 series with 1996 artwork, and is marked "Revised Edition" to avoid confusion.
Famous 5: On the Case
- See Famous 5: On the CaseFamous 5: On the CaseFamous 5: On The Case is an animated television series which is currently broadcast in the United Kingdom, on the Disney Channel. It is a British and French television co-production, loosely based on The Famous Five series of books created by Enid Blyton...
Famous 5: On the Case
Famous 5: On The Case is an animated television series which is currently broadcast in the United Kingdom, on the Disney Channel. It is a British and French television co-production, loosely based on The Famous Five series of books created by Enid Blyton...
is set in modern times and features the children of the original Famous Five. These children are Max (the son of Julian and Brandine), Dylan (son of Dick and Michelle), Jo (daughter of George and Ravi, a tomboy who, like her mother, prefers a shorter name to her given name Jyoti) and Allie (daughter of Anne and John). It has not been stated whether their dog is the son of the previous dog, too. The new series was first announced in 2005, and is a co-production between Chorion
Chorion (company)
Chorion Limited is a major international media production company with offices in London, New York and Sydney. The company produces TV shows and feature films, and is best known for the heritage properties included in its portfolio. These include children's characters such as Paddington Bear, Peter...
(which currently owns all Famous Five rights) and Marathon
Marathon Media Group
Marathon Media Group is a worldwide French television production company based in Paris that produces shows for all ages: children, teenagers and adults....
in association with France 3
France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
and The Disney Channel. Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
confirmed their involvement in December 2006. Stories were developed by Douglas Tuber
Tim Maile and Douglas Tuber
Tim Maile and Douglas Tuber are an American television writing and producing duo. Their credits include Herman's Head, All American Girl, Smart Guy, "Jessie",Salute Your Shorts and Lizzie McGuire, as well as creating Phil of the Future and Darcy's Wild Life.-2000's:*Jessie *Famous 5: On the Case...
and Tim Maile
Tim Maile and Douglas Tuber
Tim Maile and Douglas Tuber are an American television writing and producing duo. Their credits include Herman's Head, All American Girl, Smart Guy, "Jessie",Salute Your Shorts and Lizzie McGuire, as well as creating Phil of the Future and Darcy's Wild Life.-2000's:*Jessie *Famous 5: On the Case...
, who have previously written for Lizzie McGuire
Lizzie McGuire
Lizzie McGuire is an American teen sitcom which premiered on the Disney Channel on January 12, 2001 and ended February 14, 2004. A total of 65 episodes were produced and aired. Its target demographic was preteens and adolescents...
. Chorion claims on its Web site that "these new programmes will remain faithful to the themes of mystery and adventure central to Enid Blyton’s classic series of books." Blyton's biographer, Barbara Stoney, however claims it is nothing like the original stories. In total, there will be 130 episodes, and each episode will be 22 minutes long.
Reunion series
On 28 August 2007, it was announced on the BBC News website that a revival of The Famous Five is being developed. Julian, Dick, Anne and Georgina were all going to be in the story – now all as adults in their forties; they would also be joined by a descendant of Timmy The Dog. Co-developer TwofourTwofour
Twofour is a UK independent media group that was founded in 1988 by Charles Wace, a former TV news producer and brother of financier Ian Wace. It has grown to become one of the largest independent media groups in the UK, employing over 350 people internationally....
states "casting and writing talent is still very much under wraps and no broadcaster is yet confirmed. However, some of the best-known acting talent in Britain is already under consideration."
Audio dramas
Hodder HeadlineHodder Headline
Headline Publishing Group is a British publishing company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson, and acquired Hodder & Stoughton in 1992 to form Hodder Headline. It was acquired by Hachette Livre, from the WHSmith Group PLC, in 2005....
produced in the late 1990s audio dramas in English, which were published on Tape and CD. All 21 episodes of the original books were dramatised.
The 21 original stories by Enid Blyton have been released in the 70s as Fünf Freunde audio dramas in Germany as well. The speakers were the German dubbing artists for Gallagher, Thanisch, Russell and Harris, the protagonists of the first television series.
For the sequels (not written by Blyton and decidedly more "modern" action-oriented stories) the speakers were replaced by younger ones, because it was felt that they sounded too mature. In addition to the original Blyton books, another 80+ stories have subsequently been released and published as radio plays and books in Germany. They are based on the original characters, but written by various German writers.
Theatre
A 1997 musical was made to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Enid Blyton's birth with the title The Famous Five and later released on DVD as The Famous Five – Smuggler’s Gold – The Musical.Principal actors: Elizabeth Marsland, Lyndon Ogbourne, Matthew Johnson, Vicky Taylor, Jon Lee
Jon Lee (entertainer)
Jonathan "Jon" Lee is an English singer and actor. Lee is best known as a former member of pop group S Club 7 who split in April 2003. He was the youngest member...
, Director: Roz Storey
and also in the five
A brand new musical adaptation was premiered at the Tabard Theatre on the 8 December 2009 and played until 10 January 2010.
Gamebooks
Two sets of gamebookGamebook
A gamebook is a work of fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making effective choices. The narrative branches along various paths through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages...
s in a Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. The series was based on a...
style have been published. These books involve reading small sections of print and being given two or more options to follow, with a different page number for each option. The first series of these, written by Stephen Thraves, featured stories loosely based on the original books. They were issued in plastic wallets with accessories such as maps, dice and codebooks. The gamebooks were titled as follows:
- The Wreckers' Tower Game, based on Five Go Down to the Sea
- The Haunted Railway Game, based on Five Go Off to Camp
- The Whispering Island Game, based on Five Have a Mystery to Solve
- The Sinister Lake Game, based on Five On a Hike Together
- The Wailing Lighthouse Game, based on Five Go to Demon's Rocks
- The Secret Airfield Game, based on Five Go to Billycock Hill
- The Shuddering Mountain Game, based on Five Get into a Fix
- The Missing Scientist Game, based on Five Have a Wonderful Time
The second series, written by Mary Danby, was entitled "The Famous Five and You". These consisted of abridged versions of the original text, with additional text for the alternative story routes. The books in this series were based on the first six original Famous Five books:
- The Famous Five and You Search for Treasure!
- The Famous Five and You Find Adventure!
- The Famous Five and You Run Away!
- The Famous Five and You Search for Smugglers!
- The Famous Five and You Take Off!
- The Famous Five and You Underground!
Video games
In 1990 an interactive fictionInteractive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
computer game based on the first of the books, Five On A Treasure Island, was released. It was programmed
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...
by Colin Jordan and first released for the SAM Coupé
SAM Coupé
The SAM Coupé is an 8-bit British home computer that was first released in late 1989. It is commonly considered a clone of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer, since it features a compatible screen mode and emulated compatibility, and it was marketed as a logical upgrade from the Spectrum...
by Enigma Variations.
He originally started coding
Coding
Coding may refer to:* Channel coding in coding theory* Line coding* Computer programming, the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging / troubleshooting, and maintaining the source code of computer programs...
the game on the ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
using his own "worldscape" technique. When the SAM Coupé was launched, he switched to it as the target platform while still hosting the code on the ZX Spectrum. He later ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
it to the Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
and completed the ZX Spectrum version. The game was also ported to the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
and Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
by others.
Later Ravensburger published the interactive CD games Famous Five The Silver Tower, Famous Five Treasure Island, Famous Five – Kidnapped for the PC or Mac.
Comic books
Six comic books created by Bernard Dufossé and scripted by Serge Rosenzweig and Rafael Carlo Marcello were released in France between 1982 and 1986, under the title Le Club des Cinq. Most of comic books in the series are based on Famous Five books created by Claude VoilierClaude Voilier
Claude Voilier was a French teacher, journalist, translator , and a prolific author, having written over 600 short stories for various French magazines, and about 400 stories for children...
. Books were released by Hachette Livre
Hachette Livre
-France:*Calmann-Lévy*Deux Coqs d'Or*Disney Hachette Edition*EDICEF*Editions 1*Editions du Chêne**E.P.A*Éditions Dunod*Editions Foucher*Editions Stock*Fayard**Editions Mille et Une Nuits**Editions Mazarine**Pauvert*Gautier-Languereau*Grasset...
. The first three of these volumes have also been released in English, under the name Famous Five. The titles included "Famous Five and the Golden Galleon" (which featured a sunken ship that was laden with gold with the Five fending off villains seeking to make off with the gold, "Famous Five and the Treasure of the Templars", where it transpires that Kirrin Castle is actually a Templar Castle that houses their hidden treasure which the Five ultimately secure with the help of members of the order, and "Famous Five and the Inca God" which was set in an antiquities museum and dealt with the theft of an Incan fetish.
Beginning in September 1985 a series of monthly Comic Magazine titles Enid Blyton's Adventure Magazine were published. Each issue published a full length illustrative comic book story adapted from Famous 5 Novels. The series came to end in the 1990s.
Parodies
The Five also inspired the Comic Strip parodyParody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
Five Go Mad in Dorset
Five Go Mad in Dorset
Five Go Mad in Dorset was the first of the long-running series of Comic Strip Presents... television comedy films. It first aired on the launch night of Channel 4 , and was written by Peter Richardson and Pete Richens, and directed by Bob Spiers.-Plot and satire:The film is an extreme parody of...
and its sequel Five Go Mad On Mescalin, in which the characters express sympathies with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and opposition to the Welfare State
Welfare State
The Welfare State is a commitment to health, education, employment and social security in the United Kingdom.-Background:The United Kingdom, as a welfare state, was prefigured in the William Beveridge Report in 1942, which identified five "Giant Evils" in society: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness...
, homosexuals, immigrants and Jews, in an extremely broad parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
not so much of Blyton but of wider perceived 1950s prejudices. The parodies were deliberately set towards the end of the original Famous Five "era" (1942–1963) so as to make the point that the books were already becoming outmoded while they were still being written, although the continuing popularity of the books even in the 21st century may be seen to suggest otherwise. Both parodies made use of Famous Five set pieces, such as the surrender of the criminals at the end when Julian states "We're the Famous Five!", the arrival of the police just in the nick of time, and the appeal for "some of your home-made ices" at a village shop.
In the late eighties, Australian comedy team The D-Generation
The D-Generation
The D-Generation was a popular and influential Australian TV sketch comedy show, produced and broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for two series, between 1986 and 1987...
parodied The Famous Five on their breakfast radio show as a five-part serial entitled The Famous Five Get Their Teeth Kicked In. The parody was based on the first book Five on a Treasure Island.
A 2005 story in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
also parodies the Famous Five. It argues that Anne, Dick, George and Julian are caricature
Caricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
s rather than characters, portraying Anne as having no life outside of domestic labour. It highlights what the writer, Lucy Mangan, considers to be the power struggle between Dick, George and Julian while Anne is sidelined.
On 31 October 2009, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
program The Impressions Show featured a sketch where Ross Kemp
Ross Kemp
Ross James Kemp is a BAFTA award-winning British actor, author and journalist, who rose to prominence in the role of Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders...
meets The Famous Five. It was a parody of his hugely successful Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
show, Ross Kemp On Gangs.
In the book The Big Goal by Rob Childs, Andrew mentions that a girls team won against 'some rubbish lot called The Famous Five'.
The Famous Five Effect
The seemingly perpetual youth of the Famous Five who experience a world of seemingly endless holidays while not ageing significantly, known more generally as a floating timelineFloating timeline
A Floating timeline is a device used in fiction, particularly in comics and animation, to explain why characters age little or not at all over a period of time - despite real-world markers like notable events, people and technology appearing in the works and correlating with the real world.A...
, has been highlighted by a number of contemporary children's fiction authors as an influence upon their own work. J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
, the author of the Harry Potter series of books has been quoted as saying of the titular character: "in book four the hormones are going to kick in – I don't want him stuck in a state of permanent pre-pubescence like poor Julian in the Famous Five!"