pete9012S wrote:Oh and it would be interesting to see what the Brockhampton red backed edition says too!
I have the book sitting beside me, Pete, so if you can give me chapter and verse I will look it up for you.
It's about halfway down the last page of chapter one... I presume it's the fourth paragraph from the bottom, unless paragraphs have been altered in different versions!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
There must have been some small changes as early as the 1950s, I'm sure, as editions of the Adventure series that were published after 1952 had Kiki's "God save the King" changed to "God save the Queen". Really, it makes sense to remove the reference to Julian being 16, since the Five's agelessness is thus preserved!
Society Member
It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
Katharine wrote:I do remember once sitting down and working out how old they all were - I think I was just bored and it was something to do. I wouldn't say it bothered me, as I still read and enjoyed the books, but it probably niggled me for a little while, as I like things to be consistent.
I did the same when I was in my twenties and finally owned all the FF books.
Chrissie
Society Member
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
Rob Houghton wrote:It's really only since reading articles in the Journal etc that I even realised that the Famous Five, Find Outers, Secret Seven etc had adventures that carried through the years in a chronological order. Reading them as a child I never discovered this and thought they were just miscellaneous adventures set at various times of the year. I never read them in order as a child and so for all I knew five or six adventures could have taken place in one year.
Rob, actually British children were lucky: in the old red hardcovers EB mentions which adventure of the FF it is. In the German translations there never was any mention of it. The entire EB introduction in each FF sequel is missing.
Chrissie
Society Member
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
Yes - even the paperbacks today are still numbered in the same chronological order - but I never took much notice of that as a kid. Mind you, I only read two Famous Five annuals when I was young, and none of the real Famous Five novels.
I did read a lot of Secret Seven and Find Outers and others, and as I say, I just presumed the Find Outers had maybe seven or eight mysteries to solve in one year. I was used to things like 'Scooby Doo' where they solved a mystery every week, so the thought of the mysteries taking place over a number of years never occurred to me. As far as I was concerned they all could have happened within just a few months.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
I presume it's the fourth paragraph from the bottom, unless paragraphs have been altered in different versions!
