Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

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Re: Readathon 2011

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I enjoyed re-reading Five On a Hike Together, which has always been one of my favourite Famous Five books. Haven't time to comment at the moment, but I was just wondering whether people prefer to continue the discussion on this thread, or start a new thread. If we have the discussion here, I'll change the topic title to "Five On a Hike Together - Readathon".
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Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Timmylover »

I think that a change of the topic title would be a good idea, Anita, especially as there have already been so many postings on the 'Readathon 2011' thread.

Five On A Hike Together is also one of my favourites. The events move on at a fast pace, everything taking place within just a few days. I love the fact that the whole adventure is precipitated by Timmy getting stuck in a rabbit hole. The description of the bewildered, injured Timmy is very touching and he really does play a prominent role in the story as the supreme protector, and quite a cheeky one, who takes revenge on Maggie and Dirty Dick for stealing the Fives' food.

Unlike in the previous readathon book Five Go Adventuring Again, food plays a very conspicuous role here. From Dick attempting to eat four sandwiches stacked on top of each other, to Timmy's discriminate choices of what to snaffle from the baddies' tents. Those breakfasts made my mouth water, especially as they were eaten when the Fives' tummies were, unusually, very empty.

Enid Blyton portrays the desolate, scary atmosphere of the location of Two Trees and Gloomy Water beautifully. Although the adventure is a potentially dangerous one, Timmy ensures that it never becomes so. I also enjoyed the surreal image of the four children tramping across the moors with hundreds of thousands pounds worth of jewellery in their scruffy rucksacks, and the baddies getting stuck in the marsh. This is quickly transposed to the image of them being chauffeured back to school, in style, in a police car.

All in all I find this book to be a very satisfying and enjoyable read.
Last edited by Timmylover on 01 Feb 2011, 18:20, edited 1 time in total.
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Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Fiona1986 »

Well thankfully i managed to finish the book today - I bravely brought out my 1953 copy at lunch time and luckily it managed to avoid all the bits of tuna pasta the little one flings about as he feeds himself.

All I'll say for now is I really enjoyed reading this book for what must be at least the 20th time, and I definitely have a lot to say about it but I'll do that oncE I'm home for the night and on my laptop rather than the iPhone! Look forward to seeing every one doses comments too!
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Moonraker »

Hike has always been one of my top Five's, and I welcome the chance of re-reading it. As with Kirrin Island Again, we start at Anne's and George's school. Rather a charming introduction to the story, with shades of Enid's School series thrown in - impatient mistresses, coaches taking gaggles of girls to the station, etc. It would seem that the boys' school is just over the moor - something that hadn't been hinted at in previous books. I was trying to locate these schools - maybe one in Exeter and the other in Plymouth? Of course, knowing Enid, they could be anywhere! However, Dartmoor is firmly suggested as there is a prison to be found (shades of Christie's The Sittaford Mystery). This plants a firm sense of eagerness (is that a word?) in the reader's mind, as it is pretty obvious it will have a relevance to the plot.

We are once more subjected to some more of Enid's errors and a lack of proofreading on behalf of Hodder & Stoughton.Chapter Two starts with Dick having a conversation with himself. Obviously the first paragraph should be credited to Julian. Later in the same chapter, we have Julian and George going into the village store, when in the next paragraph, Anne and George look into the same store! More of Enid's 'sportism' - the brainy duo, Willis and Johnson wre not that likeable, Johnson was "awful at rugger" and they spent considerable time 'swatting'. How disgraceful, when they could me marching around Devon telling the lower classes how to behave. Ju and Dick then get on one of those wonderful buses of which Enid is so fond. They are always 'little', they exist solely to take 'people to market' and usually have an idiot conductor in charge.

We then get into the 'rounds of bread' lesson. I cannot read this wretched paragraph without trying to work out what Enid means! What is a 'round of bread'? I thought a 'round' was two slices, which you put the filling into and then cut in half. Therefore, one round makes two sandwiches. It seems here that the opposite is true. Sixteen rounds only make eight sandwiches - maybe they aren't cut, and they eat them whole? So is a round just one slice?

Chapter Three has them trekking off - George is sweating in her 'thick blazer' and needs Ju to tell her to take it off. Just like a boy! I smiled at the thought of girls being told what to wear, as both Anne and George took Julian's advice, which made him 'look with approval' at their brogues'! You dirty rascal, Ju!

It's good to know that Dartmoor is a 'queer place'. This warms our cockles for the pleasures that lie ahead. I rather liked the little comedy featuring Tim getting stuck and hurting his leg. What a pity that pompous Julian's timetable didn't allow for this, in spite of him bragging that he's planned it all out pretty well. Wouldn't his time have been better spent playing rugger?

I loved the way Enid got Ju, Anne and the dog out of the way. We could now settle down with a bit of quality time with Dick and Anne - my favourites. Tim had taken the spotlight and three-fifths of the group marched off to Spiggy House, leaving D&A in Beacon Village (how Enid loved the suffix 'Village' to many of the places - maybe an inspiration from Corfe Castle Village?) to find Blue Pond Farmhouse. I love it when the Five split up. We had a similar break with George and Anne in Secret Way. It is a great way to further develop the characters. It is also good to see how they manage without Julian there to boss them around.

En route to Blue Pond Farmhouse, the daring duo meet an inbred local, who only says 'ar', sounding more like a puffin than a human. Beleiving the village idiot, they wander off, and the adventure begins. Bells start ringing. Is it a wedding? No, it's an escaped prisoner, they later learn. More classic Blyton in the form of the deaf old woman and the thug-like son - a similar couple reside on Billycock Hill, I wonder if they relocated? Poor old Anne is whisked up to a pretty disgusting attic-room which had a jug of water by the mattress! How long had that been there, and why???? The adventure is really gathering speed now, as we get poor old Dick in a barn, with someone banging on the window, and dropping a note through a (convenient) hole in the glass. Exciting stuff.

I really enjoyed this scene, and although having read the book many times, still found it hard to put the book down! What a skill Miss Blyton had to keep a story suspenseful when you know it off by heart.

Julian is at his most pompous in these early pages. Even Dick tells him off for being so pompous, and says he sounds like his headmaster! So far, we have been treated to so much that must have inspired The Comic Strip to write their spoof adventures. I can't read it without hearing the voices of those talented actors. The 'inn-woman' was a classic Blyton character. Ju doesn't ask if the pub is serving breakfast to non-resident, he just marches up in his arrogant way (the woman is working-class, after all) and demands to know, "What have you got?"! What is it with these people that everything they cook/sell has to be home grown? "Our own cured bacon and our own eggs. Our own honey and the bread I make myself. Will that do? And coffe with cream (which materialised into coffe and hot milk, later - another blooper). I loved Julian's description of the prison bells, "The bells say 'Look Out! Warning! A prisoner has escaped! Lock your doors. Guard your folk'" Wonderful, especially, 'Guard your folk'!

So far so good! I am ready to start on Chapter Nine - and I can't wait!
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Re: Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Fiona1986 »

Oh dear, I hadn't realised we were to present our readings as it were in essay fashion :shock:

To pick up on a couple of your points Nigel, I don't seem to have the same error in my copy (I have dick talking to himself but not the other one you mentioned).

I too was confused by the rounds of bread as they seem to contradict each other as Ju asks for 8 rounds each (4 sandwiches) but Anne says eight sandwiches that's 16 rounds!

Again I shall submit my essay later just had to share those thoughts!
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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Re: Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Moonraker wrote:I smiled at the thought of girls being told what to wear, as both Anne and George took Julian's advice, which made him 'look with approval' at their brogues'! You dirty rascal, Ju!
:lol: George comes across as surprisingly meek in this adventure. I thought she was supposed to be the strongest swimmer, yet it's Julian and Dick who dive down to the sunken boat to retrieve the loot.
Moonraker wrote:I loved the way Enid got Ju, Anne and the dog out of the way. We could now settle down with a bit of quality time with Dick and Anne - my favourites.
You're doing a bit of a Blyton yourself there, Nigel - two Annes and no George! :lol:
Moonraker wrote:En route to Blue Pond Farmhouse, the daring duo meet an inbred local, who only says 'ar', sounding more like a puffin than a human.
I love those inbred characters. Rather like the country yokel in The Railway Children (1970s film version) who replies "I dare say" to everything!
Moonraker wrote:Poor old Anne is whisked up to a pretty disgusting attic-room which had a jug of water by the mattress! How long had that been there, and why????
I wondered about that too. I certainly wouldn't have drunk the water. It had probably been there since Mrs. Taggart last had a guest many moons ago, and would be all stale and stagnant. Ugh!
Moonraker wrote:And coffee with cream (which materialised into coffee and hot milk, later - another blooper).
And the promised honey transformed into syrup and marmalade!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

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Re: Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Nick »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:
Moonraker wrote:Poor old Anne is whisked up to a pretty disgusting attic-room which had a jug of water by the mattress! How long had that been there, and why????
I wondered about that too. I certainly wouldn't have drunk the water. It had probably been there since Mrs. Taggart last had a guest many moons ago, and would be all stale and stagnant. Ugh!
I always assumed that they were there because that was the old lady's room and she opted to stay on the couch for the night?

I'll share my thoughts overall when I have a little more time but great comments and observations so far.
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Re: Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Timmylover »

Until a couple of days ago, when I acquired some 'modern' Famous Five editions, I'd never been able to do any comparisons between the original and updated texts.

In my 1951 H & S edition Dick says: "I can't bear Maggie. Horrid common voice and hard face. Ugh!"
This has now been amended to: "I can't bear Maggie. Horrid mean voice and hard face. Ugh!"
So that's OK - Maggie still has a hard face but is no longer "common" - just mean!

In the 1951 edition George says, of Dirty Dick: "His surname ought to be Golliwog. Or Tarzan."
I'm sure that Enid wrote this to make her 1950s readers laugh. This has been changed to:
"His surname ought to be Hairy. Or Tarzan."

I'd be interested to read of more changes that others note between the original and updated texts.
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Re: Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Moonraker »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:
Moonraker wrote:I loved the way Enid got Ju, Anne and the dog out of the way. We could now settle down with a bit of quality time with Dick and Anne - my favourites.
You're doing a bit of a Blyton yourself there, Nigel - two Annes and no George! :lol:
I proof-read this four times as I knew there'd be mistakes!
Fiona wrote:Oh dear, I hadn't realised we were to present our readings as it were in essay fashion
Is there any other way? :wink:
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Re: Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Nick wrote:I always assumed that they were there because that was the old lady's room and she opted to stay on the couch for the night?
Must admit that hadn't occurred to me, probably because the loft room seems so bare and unlived-in. It's certainly a possibility though.
Timmylover wrote:In my 1951 H & S edition Dick says: "I can't bear Maggie. Horrid common voice and hard face. Ugh!" This has now been amended to: "I can't bear Maggie. Horrid mean voice and hard face. Ugh!"...

In the 1951 edition George says, of Dirty Dick: "His surname ought to be Golliwog. Or Tarzan."
I'm sure that Enid wrote this to make her 1950s readers laugh. This has been changed to:
"His surname ought to be Hairy. Or Tarzan."

I'd be interested to read of more changes that others note between the original and updated texts.
My 1978 Knight paperback (TV cover) still has "common" and "Golliwog". However, it has been mentioned before on the forums that Maggie was wearing a turban in early editions. My book describes her thus (near the beginning of Chapter 15): "She was wearing trousers and had a jacket draped round her shoulders. She was also wearing sunglasses, and smoking a cigarette. She walked quickly and they could hear her voice. It was sharp and determined." I was wondering how much that differs from the original?
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Re: Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Timmylover »

Here's the 1951 description, Anita.

"She was tall, with her hair done up in a wool turban. She had on trousers and a jersey and a short coat. She walked quickly and they could hear her voice. It was sharp and determined."
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Re: Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Lucky Star »

Five on a Hike Together has long been a favourite of mine too. In fact I think that, of the eleven books which were to follow, none would ever beat Hike and only a couple would come up to it in terms of plot and atmosphere. For some reason I always have an image of fog in my mind whenever I think of this book. It must be something to do with the name Gloomy Water as no fog features at all in the story. Heavy rain is partially to blame for the gang falling into trouble in the first place but otherwise they enjoy good weather throughout.

The book does have one of the darker atmospheres of the Five books though. Enid gives us a very realistic and lucid description of Dick and Anne's growing worry as they search in the rain for their accomodation and the scenes at Mrs Taggart's place are genuinely scary what with a frightening son, an escaped convict, clanging bells and dark, foul weather.

Food always plays a large part in any Blyton book, especially a Famous Five but even I am astounded at the quantities they eat in this book. They have no sooner finished an army's breakfast than they are tucking into a gargantuan lunch. :shock: As regards the sandwich debate I have always considered "a round" to be a slice of bread. Thus two slices (or rounds) make one sandwich which adds up perfectly to Anne's calculations of sixteen rounds of bread for eight sandwiches. And I had completely forgotten about Golden Syrup till I read it here. Its been years since I had that. :lol:

Julian is at his authoritive peak here. I note that he issues all the instructions as to what everyone should carry and wear on the trip. Later it is rather obvious that he and he alone makes the spur of the moment decision to rent camping equipment and follow up the mysterious message thus abandoning the hike completely. The others merely look at each other in confusion and wait till they are alone to find out what hes up to. He does have a good moment though when he takes on that obnoxious policeman in Reebles. That guy was like Mr Goon; without the sense of humour! :x

My 1968 paperback has the Golliwog reference and refers to Maggie as having a "common" voice. It also has the error of Dick's conversation with himself although the mistake of having the wrong people go into the shop has been rectified. Incidentally it seems that Enid may have disapproved of women wearing trousers. She writes; Anne and George didn't like the look of the woman either. She was wearing trousers and had a jacket draped around her shoulder. It sounds as though the wearing of trousers instantly marked Maggie out as a bad lot. :lol:
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Re: Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

Hike is one of my favourites and one I’ve not read in quite a while, so it was good to give these pages an airing once more. Enid wastes no time in whetting our appetites when the adventure begins with Anne and Dick getting themselves lost, hearing those frightening bells, warning of the escaped prisoner and ending up at Mrs Taggart’s old farm house.

Dick receiving the message instead of Dirty Dick is a nice way of leading the Five into making the decision to abandon their hike to see what the message could mean at Gloomy Water.

I won’t go into the story as we’ve all read it and know what happens, so instead I’ll pick up on a few things from the book which I found interesting. Julian of course, as already mentioned, is very pompous and bossy! I had to grin when reading the scene at the farm house where they had dinner just after visiting the ‘angry policeman’. The farmer’s wife was saying she could provide them with, home-made meat pie, or ham or tongue and decided to put the lot on the table as they all looked as pleased as Punch! Julian of course says, “it’s too marvellous for words. We shan’t want any sweet after that!” My own thought was, “you’re not getting any greedy s*d. Staying with Julian a moment, Enid even writes that Maggie ‘is a little afraid of him.’ It was also kind hearted of Dick to leave Mrs Taggart ‘a shilling’ for allowing Anne to stay in that horrid room.

On exploring the burnt ruin, Julian was quite prepared for them to stay in a blackened room with a mouldy carpet still on the floor! It was even more surprising that Anne found somewhere else, the cellars! I think I would have preferred the blackened out room!

I loved Julian’s words regarding Maggie. “I don’t like her she looks as hard as nails. A good companion for Nailer!” And the way he was so ‘grown up’ not backing down when they were told that they shouldn’t be there at Gloomy Water.

Dick also has his own opinion of Maggie. “Horrid common voice and hard face!” Then George goes on to say about Dirty Dick, “his surname should be gollywog or Tarzon!”.

Still an excellent read and a good story, and I like Enid’s ending when the inspector salutes them and says, “I’m proud to have met you Famous Five.”

You can almost hear Enid herself saying these words, full of pride and satisfaction for these characters she’s created. One can fully understand how proud she was of her characters as if they were part and parcel of her own family.
Julian gave an exclamation and nudged George.
"See that? It's the black Bentley again. KMF 102!"

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Re: Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Lucky Star »

I have just noticed that Eileen Soper made an error as well. In the picture depicting Maggie and Dirty Dick rowing on the lake the name Cheeky Charlie can be clearly seen painted on their boat. In the text however it is Merry Meg that the pair are rowing about in. Didn't H&S employ any proofreaders in those days? :lol:
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Re: Five On a Hike Together - Readathon

Post by Francis »

Lucky Star wrote:I have just noticed that Eileen Soper made an error as well. In the picture depicting Maggie and Dirty Dick rowing on the lake the name Cheeky Charlie can be clearly seen painted on their boat. In the text however it is Merry Meg that the pair are rowing about in. Didn't H&S employ any proofreaders in those days?
.

Not quite as obviously wrong as George looking the wrong way down a telescope on the dust wrapper of "Five on Kirrin Island again"! Still we can forgive Eileen anything - her illustrations in this book are marvellous. She particularly shows Julian as looking very grown-up - no wonder teachers and parents are happy for the girls to go with him making the arrangements. Imagine the mess if Uncle Quentin was in charge!

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