About famous five age...

[Oscar Spain]

Is possible that Julian had 23 years old in Five are together again?
Because if you follow the books, this is the correct age... But reading the book, he looks like a child yet!

[Julie2owlsdene]

I don't think Enid worried too much about age as the books progressed, if she had have done then I don't think there would have been as many Famous Five books. It's like James Bond, he's ageless too.

[Daisy]

Enid never intended there to be so many Famous Five books. After the sixth, however, children asked for more and more until 21 were written in all, but of course the children had to stay young, so after saying in one of the books that Julian was 16, their ages were not mentioned again and they stay at about that age until the end. In most of the other series also, the characters age much more slowly than you would expect if you try to work out when each story takes place. It is only in her two main school stories series that the girls age according to the school terms and these have only 6 books in each.

[Aurélien]

Is possible that Julian had 23 years old in Five are together again?
Because if you follow the books, this is the correct age... But reading the book, he looks like a child yet!

If you want more detail, Oscar, then Sooty on this EBS site, and Ian Mander off-site elsewhere have already set their likely ages out for each book. My humble apologies for not having the links to post here for you, but I didn't note them down.

[Philip Mannering]

This is a discussion argued in the Talk About Blyton section in Keith's site. Enid seems to have stopped ageing the characters after some books. The discussion can be seen here.

[Oscar Spain]

Oh! Thank you very much! Now, reading all this I can undestand that Enid never thought to make a real serial, just one book and another.
Thanks!

[Stephen]

Something else I've noticed very apparent "age-freezing" in is The Simpsons. It's very noticeable when they have flashbacks. In the early episodes, Homer might think back to his teenage years surrounded by hippie culture and 1960s music. But in later episodes, he's only shown to be a small child in the late 60s, and a teenager in the 70s. Also, I'm sure an ealy episode talking about Bart's birth categorically states it's set in 1980 - which would now place him in his late 20s! But of course as he's forever 10, the writers have to ignore these discrepancies.

[Lucky Star]

I remember reading a Just William book which had an introduction giving an overview of the series' popularity and timeless appeal. I cant remember who wrote th eintro and I no onger have the book but the sentance which stuck in my mind was "it was unthinkable that William should ever reach his twelfth birthday". William of course always gave his age as eleven and three quarters. The meaning is that some characters are forever frozen in time, their exploits depend upon them being a certain age and their audience would feel that they were simply not the same if they grew to adulthood in the normal timespan. I'm sure Blyton realised this as the books went on being written and probably made a conscious decision to simply drop all age references.

[Lenoir]

I remember reading a Just William book which had an introduction giving an overview of the series' popularity and timeless appeal. I cant remember who wrote the intro and I no longer have the book but the sentance which stuck in my mind was "it was unthinkable that William should ever reach his twelfth birthday".

I have a book with that introduction and it is exactly as you say!
It is the Armada “William the hero” which was originally “William and the brains trust”.
It doesn’t say who wrote the intro, but it could have been her niece Richmal Ashbee as the publishers acknowledge her assistance in “editing this edition”.

The Five age 1 year between the first and third books, from one summer to the next, but Julian stops at 16 it seems, as that EB.net site says.

[Lucky Star]

Thank you for confirming my shaky memory Lenoir. I must have a look on ebay to see if I can find that book again. The FF books were aimed at children and Blyton must have realised that no child was going to identify with a bunch of twenty somethings rushing around the country on bicycles, eating ham sandwiches and asking their parents for permission to go off to stay at friends houses etc.

This lack of aging is not unusual in fiction; the obvious "adult" example is James Bond. By my reckoning that character should be in his late 60's or early 70's by now yet he remains as he always has been. The movie companies get around the issue by simply not mentioning his age and replacing the actor who plays him every couple of years for a younger one. It would be unthinkable to have an old, grey haired man playing Bond as it would be unthinkable to have a grown up Famous Five travelling by car and booking into hotels for their hols.

[Oscar Spain]

unthinkable to have a grown up Famous Five travelling by car and booking into hotels for their hols.

Sure?
How many people of this forum would read today a Famous Five books with an thirtysomething Julian...

[Philip Mannering]

unthinkable to have a grown up Famous Five travelling by car and booking into hotels for their hols.

Sure?
How many people of this forum would read today a Famous Five books with an thirtysomething Julian...

It would be rather interesting, but that depends upon the writing, I think. There are some laughable FF fanfics on internet.

[Pippa-Stef]

Two Points here!

One I have tried and continously failed to write a grown up famous five, duly because I have to admit have reinvented them a bit too much in my head .

And Two; This timeless aspect of the Famous five is alos apparent in the Lone Pine books by Malcolm Saville who up until about Not Scarlet But Gold I think, states in each of his Forewords that he does not intend the Lone Piners to age. When it comes down to it however, he changed his mind stating that as the time gap between the books being written and published so much time had passed that his audience grew up and were reading them to thier kids, so he began to age the characters ever so slightly. Although in Saville's case the Twins, grew up slower than the other characters, so he could still claim it to be a children's book.

There just my two pennies worth!

[Aurélien]

This timeless aspect of the Famous five is also apparent in the Lone Pine books by Malcolm Saville who up until about Not Scarlet But Gold I think, states in each of his Forewords that he does not intend the Lone Piners to age. When it comes down to it however, he changed his mind stating that as the time gap between the books being written and published so much time had passed that his audience grew up and were reading them to their kids, so he began to age the characters ever so slightly. Although in Saville's case the Twins, grew up slower than the other characters, so he could still claim it to be a children's book.

And, of course, *looking over shoulder ready to duck any old boots hurled by Moonraker* there is also the terrific if less widely known 14-book CHERRYS series by Will Scott, with excellent maps, coloured dustjacket pictures, and internal line-drawings by the late Lilian Buchanan, who (naturally) likewise illustrated some Blyton books.

Returning to the topic, Ian Mander's chart of FF ages through all 21 books can be found here.

[Oscar Spain]

Oh!, yesterday arrived my Society Journal, then I´m a member now!
Where could I read the continuation books?
Thank you!

By the way, the table added by Aurélien is fantastic!!