Enid Blyton’s very Famous Five

Famous author Enid Blyton has sold more than 600 million books since the 1930s. Translated into 90 languages, she is the fourth most translated author in history – a position she has held since 2019.

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Famous for writing children’s books, the late author’s most popular series, The Famous Five, features the exciting adventures of a group of four children and their dog, Timmy. The books are loved by generations of young readers.

Prolific author

Born in Dulwich, London, in 1897, Blyton wrote about a wide range of topics including natural history, education, mystery, fantasy and the Bible. Her first children’s book, Child Whispers, was published in 1922, launching her long career as an author that lasted for more than 40 years.

She remained a prolific writer until the publication of her final two books in August 1965, The Boy Who Came Back and The Man Who Stopped to Help. Dogged by ill-health in later life, she died in 1968, at the age of 71. She has left a legacy of 762 books, her most popular being the Famous Five series, followed by the Secret Seven and Malory Towers.

There are 21 Famous Five books in total. The author hadn’t intended the series to continue for so long. Initially planning between six and eight books, the children’s adventures proved so popular that Blyton continued writing them until 1953. More than two million copies of the Famous Five books are still sold each year.

While academics have criticised them for their old-fashioned social attitudes, children still love the sense of adventure they conjure up.

The Famous Five theme

The Famous Five consisted of two boys, Julian and Dick, two girls called Anne and Georgina (George) and her dog, Timmy. Most of the books in the series take place during their school holidays. They always have an adventure, usually involving catching criminals or finding lost treasure.

Plenty of the action is set near George’s family home at the fictional Kirrin Bay, including on Kirrin Island, said to have been inspired by the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. Many of the places the children visit during their school holidays are centuries old and have smugglers’ tunnels and secret passages, adding to the intrigue.

Blyton’s first Famous Five adventure, Five on a Treasure Island, was published in 1942 and set the tone for many years of detective work. The landmark book launched their adventures in spectacular fashion, igniting young readers’ imagination.

During the school holidays, the Famous Five take a break with family members in the picturesque coastal village of Kirrin. Their adventures begin when they find an old shipwreck off Kirrin Island. They begin looking for treasure, but none can be found, so they search for clues as to where it’s gone.

However, they’re not alone – someone else has the same idea and their rival is also on the treasure trail. Who will find the clues and reach the treasure first? This exciting, rip-roaring adventure delighted children at a time when Britain was in the grip of World War II, taking them on a journey of hope and excitement.

It’s easy to see why modern-day celebrity readers such as pop icon Gary Barlow, War Horse author Michael Morpurgo and TV presenter Lorraine Kelly reportedly love this classic adventure tale.

Sense of adventure

The timeless sense of adventure inspired by Blyton’s children’s books is the reason why they have remained so popular over several generations. Famous Five fans on the World of Enid Blyton website have listed their top five in the series, with Five Go to Smuggler’s Top being voted number one.

Published in 1945, it starts in a most dramatic way, with an old tree crashing down on the family home! The children end up visiting spooky Smuggler’s Top – an old house on a hilltop in a sleepy coastal town.

A strange light starts flashing from the house at the dead of night, leading the young detectives to believe it may be a signal. Secret underground passages and a sinister servant at Smuggler’s Top seem like pieces in a jigsaw – but will the Famous Five solve it in time?

The other fan favourites in the series are Five on a Treasure Island, Five Go Off in a Caravan, Five on a Hike Together and Five Go Down To the Sea. All of the books describe vividly the great outdoors enjoyed by most kids growing up in the 1940s to 1960s.

This was the great era of British camping holidays, long before kids spent hours shut in their room, playing video games or scrolling through social media. In Five Go Off in a Caravan, published in 1946, George suggests they should go on a caravanning holiday.

Julian’s parents agree and the families hire two caravans. They drive to their holiday destination, Merran Lake, where they befriend children who are part of a travelling circus. Below the campsite is a network of caves, where thieves have hidden stolen treasure.

The Famous Five, helped by their new circus friends, Nobby and his chimpanzee Pongo, decide to outwit the criminals and return the stolen items to their rightful owners. It just goes to show, you never know what might happen on a caravan holiday!

Five Go Off to Camp

The author’s seventh book, Five Go Off to Camp, was published in 1948 and featured the infamous ghost trains that were heard at night on the lonely and spooky moors. Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy were off on a camping trip with Mr Luffy, the boys’ schoolteacher.

On arriving at their campsite, close to a farm, they make friends with a local boy called Jock, who lives with his mother and stepfather at the farm. The visitors hear about a network of old, abandoned railway tracks under the moors.

A security man known as “Wooden Leg Sam” at the old rail yard tells them how “spook trains” travel along the deserted tracks. He tells the children to stay away and chases them off.

When Jock’s stepfather, Mr Andrews, hears of their conversation about the spook trains, he tells the children they must stay away from the railway yard. He also tells Jock not to meet his new friends for the next few days. However, Dick and Julian sneak off with Jock for the next two nights to try and see the ghostly trains for themselves. Sure enough, they see a mysterious train coming out of the abandoned tunnel.

Spoiler alert

Without giving too much away, it’s safe to say fans of the Famous Five will realise a gang of criminals is involved. There is some exciting action in which Timmy the dog plays a role, as the children find themselves in more danger than in any of their other adventures.

The beauty of Enid Blyton’s novels is her vivid description of the children’s surroundings, creating a picturesque backdrop for the adventure and setting the scene. Arriving at the wild, wind-swept, lonely yet beautiful moors in Mr Luffy’s car, the children are thrilled to be on a camping holiday.

Adaptations of the book

Five Go Off to Camp was adapted for children’s television in 1978, when it featured in an episode of the Famous Five TV series produced by Southern Television for ITV. A second Famous Five TV series, in 1996 again, featured Five Go Off to Camp, showing the story’s timeless appeal. The Haunted Railway Game, released in 1983, was based on the novel.

The Famous Five are often referenced in modern culture. The Comic Strip Presents (a group of comedians including Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Nigel Planer and others) parodied the plot with the comedy, Five Go Mad in Dorset, in 1982. They invented the phrase “lashings of ginger beer” that was later wrongly attributed to Blyton.

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