Famous Five in Secret Seven books

[Philip Mannering]

In Secret Seven on the Trail Susie makes her own club, the "Famous Five". And in Secret Seven Win Through Colin has a set of Famous Five books; Five Go Down to Sea is mentioned. I was surprised at these connections. I mean, they were published side-by-side; not a hundred years apart from each other. Of course, there are authors who mention classic books by old authors. But in this case, Enid Blyton the author is mentioning a series which are written by her. A plug to the more popular (I assume) FF series? Could it be because Enid wanted to encourage her younger readers to start reading some of the older series by her? I don't know. The Find-Outers' village is also mentioned in the last book, but many people (including me) believe it's just a blooper. This isn't, though. They were mentioned in two books. Does anyone know the reason?

[Petermax]

I too was surprised to see a reference to the Famous Five when reading Secret Seven Win Through as a child. My guess is that Enid Blyton simply wished to plug the Five series as being a natural progression from reading the Secret Seven. There is also of course the possibility of her sense of humour at work.

[Lenoir]

Yes, Fatty reads Sherlock Holmes and other detective and mystery novels to inspire him, but the Secret Seven remain loyal to their creator when it comes to reading!

She might have just been doing a bit of promotion of course, but I also suspected she might be having a laugh there as it does appeal to my sense of humour too. What made it even funnier is that the thief took some of the books. What a temptation - who can resist a collection of original Famous Fives? I can imagine him sitting in the secret cave, reading about wreckers, high teas and giants with false teeth, not to mention glass towers and spook trains.

In the last book Janet is reading a book which sounds very much like “Smuggler’s Top” as well.

[Stephen]

In one of the Wishing Chair stories, Chinky mentions visiting the Faraway Tree to which Peter or Molly comment that they've read the books and always wanted to go there. In the Wishing Chair universe, the Faraway Tree exists in real life AND in books! So this is making out the books aren't children's fiction, but an account of a real place!

My head hurts just trying to think about this!

While this and the Famous Five/Secret Seven case might be partly Enid Blyton plugging her books, I think there is some deliberate humour going on there - perhaps above the target readers' heads, but it'd have made her smile! I like this sort of "post-modern irony" in television shows from time to time, so it was great to see Enid doing it back in the 40s and 50s!

[Moonraker]

In the Wishing Chair universe, the Faraway Tree exists in real life AND in books! So this is making out the books aren't children's fiction, but an account of a real place!

I wonder which part of Dorset that would be then?

[Lucky Star]

In one of the Secret Seven books Colin slides down a tree tearing his trousers and one of the girls tells him that it wouldn't have happened if he hadn't treated the tree like a Slippery Slip! Blyton put quite a few references to her other books in the SS series, so many that I am inclined to think it was promotion rather than a sense of humour. She may have been trying to promote some sort of continuity in childrens reading of her books, Faraway Tree to Secret Seven to Famous Five. Given the popularity of her work and the loyalty of her fans it would appear to have worked.

[Philip Mannering]

Yes, maybe she was encouraging seven/eight year olds to read slightly older books - Famous Five. I wonder if the village's of the FFO name could be the same? Hmm, I don't think so (contradicting myself!). That really seems a blooper to me. Well, we aren't likely to know now.