Errors in the books

[Nair Snehalatha]

Uncle Quentin must have been.Quentin.Barnard-- though we never hear of Aunt Fanny and her sister in.law , who is Julian's mother even.conversing on the phone
.In Secret Room Fatty's mother calls him Freddie, though it's not repeated in any other FFO's book.I guess Joanna and Joan are one and the same person in.Famous Five- And yes, is it James or Alf who looked after Timmy once? Maybe they both did
Apart from these which are minor errors , I dont find any major mistake in Blyton's books

[GloomyGraham]

Uncle Quentin must have been.Quentin.Barnard-- though we never hear of Aunt Fanny and her sister in.law , who is Julian's mother even.conversing on the phone

The four cousins shared the same family name of Kirrin before Julian's mother was ever called Mrs Barnard.

It's never explained in the books however if she is Quentin or Fanny's sister.

It's why I like to imagine Quentin was a second or third cousin of Fanny (the only daughter & heiress to the Kirrin properties) and they shared a common surname at the time of their marriage. And 'Mr Barnard' could have been a brother to either of the Kirrins, so obviously shared that family name.

[Anita Bensoussane]

But today I am wondering about the cat from the Barney mysteries where Sardine transitioned into Snoek.

I thought it was the other way round. Didn't Enid Blyton originally call the cat Snoek, but the name was later changed to Sardine (either by Enid or the publishers) because snoek was no longer eaten and many children wouldn't know what the name meant?

[Barnard]

Yes. The cat was called Snoek first and became Sardine later probably because children in the seventies would have no idea what snoek was.

[Debbie]

My theory on the surname of the FF is that their surname is Barnard.
However when they call themselves the "Kirrins" or other people call them that, it's often to people who knew their parents-like in Finniston farm, wasn't the farm wife a school friend of Aunt Fanny? Then introducing themselves as the Kirrins makes sense as that was how she would have been known at school.
I've done that, when I met a friend of Mum's unexpectedly, I referred to her by maiden name as it was far more likely they'd recognise that name (it's also far less common too).

Alternatively it could be because they'd "come from Kirrin.

They definitely have the same surname as we're told in Treasure Island that Quentin was the children's father.

[Daisy]

They definitely have the same surname as we're told in Treasure Island that Quentin was the children's father.

Quentin was George's father, but not Julian, Dick and Anne's. They are George's cousins and as they all have the same surname it sounds as if Julian and the others' father was a brother of Quentin.
Somewhere I read that Enid herself was asked about "Barnard" and she said it was a mistake.

[Jack400]

All Blyton readers will have noticed errprs or unlikely repeats in some of her most-loved series:


FFO - Bets asking what an 'anonymous letter was' when it had been clearly explained to her in an earlier story all about anonymous letters

RATIONING - no mention of it or its' effects on Britons from 1940 through to the mid-50s

I wonder whether Bets asked the question in order to ensure that any readers that hadn't read the previous book would still understand what was happening - without feeling patronised.

The books were surely intended to give escapism from life's less enjoyable aspects, not a history lesson or reminder of shortages.

[Wolfgang]

About the relationship of the parents of the Five, in "Treasure Island" it is explained like this:
‘What about Quentin’s?’ suddenly said Daddy. Quentin was his brother, the children’s uncle.

[Anita Bensoussane]

That's not really an explanation though! As we've said, there are other pieces of information that don't sit so easily with that.

[Wolfgang]

Yes, the Barnard slip, only mentioned once in "Fix" - I think there's a thread in which it was explained that Enid Blyton tried to blame the publishers for that when it was her own fault... But it seems to be obvious that she didn't think the whole relations through with all the consequences.
Actually in the German translation the problem about Kirrin island has been avoided - it's simply called Felseninsel (Rocky Island though we don't know if there's a rocky beach). But there's another problem though, at one time they're the Kirrins in German, another time the Kerns...

[Anita Bensoussane]

That's interesting, Wolfgang.

[Nair Snehalatha]

In Secret Room, when.Pip discovers the secret room and comes.back on that cold, foggy day to Fatty's where the others were, Fatty's shed is referred to as his 'den', which is inside his house--- whereas Fatty's shed is actually at the bottom of his garden, well hidden by shrubs and trees. Dont know if that is an error or whether the shed was used by the FFO later
.

[Bertie]

There's a couple of errors that I'm not sure are by Enid or the publishers.

In The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat, Fatty goes to question people at The Turret with, I think, Larry - and then it becomes Pip halfway through. Or it's the other way round.

And then, in The Mystery of the Strange Messages, Pip is on lookout outside of the house while the others search inside. But when Bets puts her hand in a hole to search there, and is startled by a mouse trap, Pip is suddenly indoors laughing about it. And then about a page later Larry, I think, goes out to replace him and Pip 'comes back in' talking about how cold it is outside.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I suppose a few errors and oddities are almost bound to creep in if an author writes as prolifically as Enid Blyton, with some series spanning many years. It's fun to note them and see if it's possible to make some kind of sense of things, but the occasional anomaly doesn't prevent the stories being enormously exciting and enjoyable.

[Moonraker]

... but the occasional anomaly doesn't prevent the stories being enormously exciting and enjoyable.

Yes, I was so enthralled with her books, as a child, I never noticed any errors!