The name 'Kirrin'

[Courtenay]

Yes, I found the thread where it was discussed originally (and posted the link earlier), which confirmed that the bloke is a Christian minister and Bible scholar. Apparently not a very good one...

[Katharine]

I've just found a story in 1930s school girl annual which talks of the 'Province of Kirin', in Northern China. It appears to be a fictitious place.

[Courtenay]

Now that's interesting... "Kirin" (with only one r) is actually a Japanese word for a mythical creature with horns and hooves (called a "Qilin" in China), but also used in modern times to refer to a giraffe. Or a brand of Japanese beer.

[mynameisdumbnuts]

Or a brand of Japanese beer.

Five Have Plenty of Fun in a Whole New Way

[Courtenay]

(sorry )

[mynameisdumbnuts]

Oh, very good!

[KEVP]

A "Kirin" in Japanese is very similar to the creature we call a Unicorn in English.

[Courtenay]

It is, to some extent. I looked up the Wikipedia page on the Qilin / Kirin when I was typing my earlier post (I knew the term "Kirin" from having done Japanese at school and was aware it meant a mythical creature as well as a giraffe, but wanted to check up on the details) and it's very interesting reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qilin" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TheAngryPixie]

Merged with an older topic.

Probably been covered before.

But, ok.

So George got Kirrin Island from her mum. Kirrin Farm, Kirrin Cottage, Kirrin Island - all named after her mother's family.

So, was it established if Quentin and Fanny were related since George's surname is Kirrin, or did she & Fanny stick with Fanny's family name for whatever reason?

[Fiona1986]

You'll find various opinions/theories in the threads I've linked below, but no consensus has ever been reached that I know of!

Famous Five Fluffs

Errors in books

[pete9012S]

I read recently that Enid was very confident about her characters first names. I think it was in someone's post?
But, when it came to giving her characters a last name she was less confident.

How much easier the whole Kirrin debacle would have been if Enid had not told us the Famous Five's last names...or built a Castle, Village, Farm etc etc around them!

Ah, yes, it was part of Duncan's recent post:

This might explain a lot:

She tells us in Chapter 14 of The Story of My Life, which was published in 1952, that she sits in her chair, shuts her eyes and waits until the characters appear in her mind's eye. In a 1953 letter to Peter McKellar, she says:

'I shut my eyes for a few minutes, with my portable typewriter on my knee - I make my mind blank and wait - and then, as clearly as I would see real children, my characters stand before me in my mind's eye. I see them in detail - hair, eyes, feet, clothes, expressions - and I always know their Christian names but never their surname.

More than that, I know their characters - good, bad, mean, generous, brave, loyal, hot-tempered and so on. I don't know how I know them - it's an instinctive as sizing up a person in real life, at which I am quite good. As I look at them the characters take on movement and life - they talk and laugh (I hear them) and perhaps I see that one of them has a dog, or a parrot, and I think - 'Ah, that's good. That will liven up the story.'

Then behind the characters appears the setting, in colour, of course, - a ruined castle - an island - a row of houses. That's enough for me. My hands go down on my typewriter keys and I begin. The first sentence comes straight into my mind, I don't have to think of it - I don't have to think of anything.'

[Daisy]

If you're interested, AngryPixie, there is a fanfic story in the Cave which attempts to explain the relationship between Quentin and Fanny. "Five Delve into the Past".
https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/con ... =fivedelve" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MarkL]

Here's the family tree based on "Five Delve into the Past":

[Bertie]

What's 'Five Delve Into The Past'?

And I'm not great at reading family trees - I can obviously remember the relationships between the characters we're told about in the books. But as they're all surnamed Kirrin in that tree, does that mean that they're all from the same family background? How does it work with the Kirrin land / castle / cottage / farm originally being from Aunt Fanny's family? So she's definitely Kirrin. But if both fathers are Kirrin brothers as well (and at one point the mother is Fanny's sister), then are they all related to the Kirrin ancestry who owned it all or just Aunt Fanny?

[Hannah]

You can find Find Delve into the Past on the society website, Bertie.

@Mark: I once made a family tree too and will look for it to compare, unfortunately it has disappeared
I remember that there was one contradiction in the story and l think it is this one:

"Maybe we will," said Julian, "after all the Harold that Harry is writing to, is our great-great-great grandfather, isn't he?" as he counted off the 'greats' on his fingers.

I probably placed Harold like you but this doesn't match.