The Famous Five facts for kids
First edition cover of the first book in the series Five on a Treasure Island
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| Author | Enid Blyton |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
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| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Published | 1942—62 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| No. of books | 21 |
The Famous Five is a popular series of children's adventure novels and short stories. They were written by the English author Enid Blyton. The very first book, Five on a Treasure Island, came out in 1942. These exciting novels follow the adventures of a group of young children: Julian, Dick, Anne, George, and their loyal dog, Timmy.
Most of the stories happen during the children's school holidays. Every time they meet, they find themselves in an adventure. This often involves solving mysteries or finding hidden treasure. Sometimes, the adventures happen near George's home, Kirrin Cottage. This includes the beautiful Kirrin Island, which belongs to George's family. George's home and other houses they visit are often very old. They might even have secret passages or hidden tunnels.
In some books, the children go camping in the countryside. They might go on a hike or have a holiday somewhere new. The settings are almost always in nature. This allows the children to enjoy simple things. They explore cottages, islands, and the English and Welsh countryside. They also love outdoor activities like picnics, bike rides, and swimming.
Enid Blyton first planned to write only six or eight books in the series. But the books sold incredibly well and were very successful. So, she ended up writing twenty-one full-length Famous Five novels. She also wrote other similar series about groups of children solving mysteries on holiday. By the end of 1953, more than six million copies had been sold. Today, over two million copies are sold each year. This makes The Famous Five one of the best-selling children's series ever. Total sales are over one hundred million books. All the novels have been made into television shows. Several have also been made into movies in different countries.
Blyton's publisher, Hodder & Stoughton, first used the name "The Famous Five" in 1951. This was after nine books in the series had already been published. Before that, the series was simply called The 'Fives' Books.
Who Are the Famous Five?
Meet the Main Characters
- Julian is the oldest of the group. He is George's cousin and the elder brother of Dick and Anne. Julian is tall, strong, and smart. He is also caring, responsible, and kind. His aunt Fanny often notices how clever and reliable he is. Julian is the leader of the group. He is very protective of Anne and sometimes, to George's annoyance, of George too. He is the most grown-up of the group. At the start of the series, Julian is 12 years old.
- Dick has a funny sense of humor. He is also dependable and kind. He is the same age as his cousin George. He is one year younger than Julian and one year older than Anne. He is eleven at the start of the series. Dick sometimes teases his sister. But like Julian, he cares a lot for Anne. He tries his best to cheer her up when she is sad. He played a brave role in Five on a Treasure Island. He often uses his quick thinking to help the group in their adventures.
- George is a tomboy. She insists that everyone call her George instead of Georgina. She has very short hair and dresses like a boy. She is strong-willed and brave. Like her father, the scientist Quentin Kirrin, she has a quick temper. She is introduced to the other characters in the first book. Later, she goes to boarding school with Anne. Even her teachers agree to call her 'George'. Enid Blyton later shared that the character of George was based on herself. George has a loyal dog named Timmy. Timmy would do anything for her. She gets very upset when someone calls her by her birth name or makes fun of Timmy. She loves it when people call her George or mistake her for a boy.
- Anne is the youngest in the group. She usually takes care of things around the house during their holidays. As the youngest, she is more easily scared than the others. She doesn't always enjoy the adventures as much as they do. She is ten years old in the first book. She sometimes says things without thinking. But in the end, she is just as brave and clever as the others. She likes doing things like planning meals and keeping their living spaces clean. This could be a cave, a house, a tent, or a caravan. In Smuggler's Top, it seems she doesn't like small, enclosed spaces. But the adventures often lead them into tunnels, down wells, and into dungeons. This shows how truly brave she is.
- Timothy is George's loyal dog. He is a large, brown mixed-breed dog with a long tail. George found him abandoned as a puppy and adopted him. He is very friendly, smart, and loving. He is especially loyal to George. Timmy often protects the children physically. The children's parents often let them go off on their own because Timmy is with them. George loves Timmy and thinks he is the best dog in the world. She gets very angry when people insult or threaten him. In the first book, George's parents did not want her to keep Timmy. She had to hide him with a fisher boy in the village. After their first adventure, her parents changed their minds. She was allowed to keep him at home and even take him to boarding school. The stories often describe Timmy's thoughts and feelings.
Friends the Five Meet
- Alf is a fisherboy who appears in some books set at Kirrin Cottage. In the first book, he helps George by keeping Timmy for her. Timmy loves Alf. Alf also takes care of George's boat.
- Jo is a wild but clever girl. She joins the Five on three adventures later in the series. She is about the same age as the children and is a tomboy like George. Her parents used to work in the circus. Her mother passed away, and her father had trouble with the law. She looks up to Dick a lot.
- Joanna/Joan is the housekeeper at George's house. She is a very kind woman. She is often at Kirrin Cottage when Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny are away. All four cousins are very fond of her.
- Tinker appears in two books. He likes to make car noises, which drives his father crazy. He has a pet monkey named Mischief. His father is a scientist and a friend of Uncle Quentin.
- Spiky is a friend of Jo's who works in the circus. The Five meet him in the 14th book, Five Have Plenty of Fun.
- Wilfred meets the Five in the book Five Have a Mystery to Solve. He has a special ability to attract animals.
Grown-ups in the Famous Five Stories
- Aunt Fanny is George's mother. She is also the aunt to Dick, Julian, and Anne. She is married to Uncle Quentin. In most of the books, she is the main mother figure for the children. She is a very kind and easy-going woman. She is very patient with her husband's quick temper and forgetfulness.
- Uncle Quentin is George's father. He is a world-famous scientist. He is sometimes kidnapped or held hostage in the children's adventures. He has a quick temper and little patience for the children during holidays. But he is a loving husband, father, and uncle. He is also very proud of his daughter. He can be very forgetful because he finds it hard to stop thinking about his work. Even though he is a famous scientist, his work does not make him much money. In the first book, it is mentioned that he is the brother of Julian, Dick, and Anne's father.
- Julian, Dick and Anne's mother is a very nice woman. In Five Go Off In a Caravan, she convinces the children's father to let them travel in a caravan. She is called Mrs. Barnard in Five Get Into a Fix.
- Mr. Roland is introduced in the second book. He is a tutor who coaches the Five during their holidays. He later tries to steal Uncle Quentin's important papers but is caught by the Five.
- Lucas appears in Five Have a Mystery to Solve.
Why Are the Books So Popular?
Enid Blyton used to write about nature early in her career. Because of this, the books have a strong feeling of the outdoors. They show a detailed but perfect picture of the countryside. The books make it seem normal for children to explore this landscape without their parents watching them.
The books are written in a style that felt old-fashioned even when they were new. They do not mention specific political events or new technology. For example, the characters do not watch television much. They also do not use radios often, even though George's father works with advanced technology.
Some people have said the books can be a bit repetitive. They often use the same ideas, like unfriendly people who turn out to be criminals. Or the discovery of a secret passageway. Blyton wrote very quickly and could finish a book in a week. This meant she wrote all the stories in a series herself. This was different from other book series of that time, like Nancy Drew or The Hardy Boys.
The way girls are shown in the books is interesting. Anne is the youngest and most delicate character. This is a contrast to the bold and strong-willed George.
Do the Characters Grow Up?
The Famous Five characters seem to stay young forever. They have endless holidays but do not get much older. This is called a floating timeline. Floating timelines allow a series to have many episodes without a clear end. But it means the characters do not grow up. J. K. Rowling, who wrote the Harry Potter series, said she wanted her characters to grow up. She did not want them to be stuck as children like Julian in the Famous Five.
Famous Five on Screen and Stage
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The Famous Five books have been made into movies, TV shows, and even plays.
Movies
The Children's Film Foundation made two movies based on the books: Five on a Treasure Island (1957) and Five Have a Mystery to Solve (1964).
Danish director Katrine Hedman also filmed two Famous Five stories. The actors were Danish, and the movies were first released in Danish. These movies are De fem og spionerne (Five and the Spies) (1969) and De 5 i fedtefadet (Famous Five Get in Trouble) (1970).
In Germany, a series of movies have been released:
- Fünf Freunde (2012, based on Five on Kirrin Island Again)
- Fünf Freunde 2 (2013, based on Five Get into Trouble)
- Fünf Freunde 3 (2014, based on Five on a Treasure Island and Five Fall into Adventure)
- Fünf Freunde 4 (2015)
- Fünf Freunde und das Tal der Dinosaurier (2018, meaning "Five Friends and the Valley of Dinosaurs")
Television Shows
The 1978–79 Series
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The first Famous Five TV series was made by Southern Television and Portman Productions for ITV in the UK. It had 26 episodes, each thirty minutes long. The series starred Michele Gallagher as Georgina, Marcus Harris as Julian, Jennifer Thanisch as Anne, Gary Russell as Dick, and Toddy Woodgate as Timmy. It also featured Michael Hinz as Uncle Quentin and Sue Best as Aunt Fanny. Most of the outdoor filming happened in the New Forest and parts of Dorset and Devon. This series was set in the present day, about fifteen years after Blyton's last novel.
The 1995 Series
A later TV series, also called The Famous Five, started airing in 1995. This show was a team effort by several companies, including Tyne Tees Television and the German channel ZDF. Unlike the earlier series, this one set the stories in the 1950s, which is around when the books were written. It made TV episodes for all the original books. Among the young actors, Jemima Rooper, who played George, is probably the most well-known. Julian was played by Marco Williamson, Dick by Paul Child, and Anne by Laura Petela. In this series, Aunt Fanny was called Aunt Frances.
Famous 5: On the Case
A new animated TV series called Famous 5: On the Case began in 2008. This show is set in modern times. It features the children of the original Famous Five: Max (Julian's son), Dylan (Dick's son), Jo (George's daughter, a tomboy like her mom), and Allie (Anne's daughter). It is not said if their dog is related to Timmy. This new series was made by Chorion (who owns the Famous Five rights) and Marathon. Disney also helped create it. Chorion says that these new shows stay true to the mystery and adventure themes of Enid Blyton's classic books. A total of 26 episodes were made.
The 2023 Series
On June 26, 2023, the BBC announced that a new TV show of The Famous Five was being filmed. This is a joint project with the German channel ZDF. The series will have three episodes, each 90 minutes long. It aims to bring the stories to a "progressive new audience." The creator of the series is Danish film director Nicolas Winding Refn.
Other Ways to Enjoy the Famous Five
Audio Dramas
Hodder Headline made audio dramas of the books in the late 1990s. These were released on audio cassette and CD. All 21 original stories were made into audio plays.
In Germany, the 21 original stories by Enid Blyton were also released as Fünf Freunde audio dramas in the 1970s. The voices were done by the German voice actors for the first TV series.
Theatre
A musical called The Famous Five was created in 1997 to celebrate Enid Blyton's 100th birthday. It was later released on DVD as The Famous Five – Smuggler's Gold – The Musical.
A brand new musical version first opened at the Tabard Theatre in London on December 8, 2009.
Gamebooks
Two sets of gamebooks were published. These books let you choose your own adventure. You read a small section, then pick from two or more options. Each option sends you to a different page. The first series was written by Stephen Thraves. These stories were loosely based on the original books. They came with things like maps, dice, and codebooks.
The second series, written by Mary Danby, was called "The Famous Five and You." These books had shorter versions of the original stories. They also had extra text for the different choices you could make. These books were based on the first six original Famous Five books.
Comics
A weekly comic strip based on the 1978 television series was published in Look-in magazine from 1978 to 1980.
Six comic albums were released in France between 1982 and 1986. They were called Le Club des Cinq. Most of these comic books were based on Famous Five books created by Claude Voilier. The first three of these have also been released in English.
Beginning in September 1985, a series of monthly comic magazines called Enid Blyton's Adventure Magazine were published. Each issue had a full comic book story adapted from the Famous Five novels. This series ended in the 1990s.
In Spanish: Los Cinco (serie) para niños
