Talk:The Famous Five (characters)

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Article Grading: The following comments were left by the quality and importance raters: (edit) Left as "High" priority / importance article due more to the series historical importance to children's literature. :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page)/(Desk) 07:25, 28 March 2007 (UTC)
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Contents 1 The Surname Debate 1.1 Jul/Aug 2006 1.2 Feb 2007 2 Lashings of ginger beer 3 "Extremely outdated" 4 Rewritten books

[edit] The Surname Debate

[edit] Jul/Aug 2006

Since it is not clear what surname the four children bear, and it is scarcely an issue in the books, couldn't we just list the characters without surnames, as they appear in the books? And alter the linked stubs from (e.g.) "Julian Kirrin" to "Julian (Famous Five)". Myopic Bookworm 16:53, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

The question is only of the surname of Julian, Dick and Anne; George's is explicitly stated many times. Since both names are referred to in the books, I don't see the point of completely removing the information, as it does not take up much of the article and is a point of interest. Whether the most plausible surname is Kirrin or Barnard is debatable (Kirrin was listed as it seems to be the most popularly accepted and, as far as I know, the name used in the television adaptations), but it is not Bannard, as the article had previously stated. And I 17:32, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

No, I wouldn't want to remove the information, but listing the characters as "Julian Kirrin" etc. seems to foreclose the debate. (And book-purists will not take kindly to having the TV series taken as canonical.) I'd refer to them by first name, and keep the note about surname. Myopic Bookworm 09:08, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Fair enough point, I must have misread. And I 14:48, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

In Five go to Billycock Hill, the five are introduced as "Julian Kirrin, Dick Kirrin, Anne Kirrin, and George Kirrin, their cousin - and their dog Timothy"

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.7.47.195 (talk) 05:06, 18 March 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Feb 2007

In a review of Five Get Into a Fix on enidblyton.net[1] the reviewer, Keith Robinson, says "I've been told that in the original books Julian's mother is referred to as Mrs Barnard. There's no mention of her name in the later version I have, and I have to assume it's been altered due to the fact that it's a glaring error on Blyton's part—for as we all know, Julian's father is Uncle Quentin's brother, which makes both families Kirrin".

I believe that the assertion ...Julian's father is Uncle Quentin's brother... is substantiated in Five on a Treasure Island, so it appears that the surname of all the children is Kirrin, and Blyton made a mistake in FGIAF which was later corrected. Does anyone have the relevant editions of FGIAF so this could be substantiated? RichardEll 11:09, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

The following note was taken from the The_Famous_Five_(characters) article on 26.02.2006 RichardEll 21:04, 26 February 2007 (UTC) There is debate about whether Julian, Dick and Anne share George's surname of Kirrin (as shown in Five on Finniston Farm), which would imply that their father was brother to Uncle Quentin, or whether their surname is Barnard (as their mother is referred to as "Mrs Barnard" in Five Get into a Fix). However, it seems unlikely that George's surname could have been Kirrin, because it is explained in one of the stories that Kirrin Island belonged to George's mother, who then made a gift of it to George. So Kirrin would have been Aunt Fanny's maiden name. Referring to Uncle Quentin as Professor Kirrin seems to have been an error in the seventies TV series.

[edit] Lashings of ginger beer

"with lashings of ginger beer" - an oft-quoted cliché but never actually mentioned in any of the 21 books

Wasn't this "cliché" coined by The Comic Strip when they made the spoof Five Go Mad In Dorset in 1982? 217.155.20.163 00:00, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Extremely outdated"

The first books in the series were written during the 1940s, and some of the basic concepts can now seem extremely outdated.

Is it really necessary to point out that books written 60 years ago may contain "outdated concepts"? 217.155.20.163 23:17, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rewritten books

I understand that the editions currently on sale have been rewritten to remove some of the more objectionable stereotypes ("nasty common children") and the use of certain words whose meanings have changed ("a pile of coke"). Other children's books that have stayed in print as long have not been altered in this way, e.g. the Narnia series, or E. Nesbit, so it seems worthy of comment. Does anyone have citable details? BrainyBabe 01:47, 11 March 2007 (UTC)