Five on a Hike Together

[timv]

There's Madame Tatiosa in Circus of Adventure, one of my favourites, who is mostly seen in the background of events and is talked about as a troublemaker and plotter but who only appears 'close to' when she is one of the 'mysterious foreign tourists' who call on the Cunninghams/ Mannerings and take a close interest in Gussy. She is pretending to be Italian, but Philip and Dinah's mother exposes her by saying something in Italian which she doesn't understand; she is recognised by Gussy , who has no doubt seen her back in Tauri-Hessia where she is the meddling wife of the PM and the sister of plotting nobleman Count Paritolen. She is said (I think by Bill as well as Gussy, and in that case presumably reflecting his MI6 'briefers' ?) to be a stronger character than the PM and good at manipulating people. She later appears when Jack is investigating Borken Castle, the Count's home in Tauri-Hessia, to try to find the others , as she comes up a secret passage into the grand reception-rooms and he sees her meeting the Count - and this is a crucial part of the plot as it means that he can use the passage to get out of the castle and later bring Bill in that way to recognise the KIng.

I have wondered if the 'Prisoner of Zenda'-style goings on in Tauri-Hessia and the plots against the current ruler, involving bringing in a relative currently in the UK as a replacement, owed something to Enid recalling newspaper stories of the overthrow of child-sovereign King Michael of Rumania (a cousin of the Duke of Edinburgh who only died recently, in his 90s) by his exiled father Prince Carol in 1930 - with C returning home secretly from the UK by air, as Gussy does. Rumania had a well-known and much resented major female political 'fixer' in the 1930s, ie the new King Carol's mistress Madame Lupescu, who was supposed to be manipulating him; and 'Tatiosa' is close to 'Tatoi' , the Greek home of King Carol's abandoned wife, Princess Helen of Greece. (Goings-on in Rumania were signposted in the UK by the regular visits, newspaper interviews, and 1930s autobiography of Carol's British mother Queen Marie, grand-daughter of Queen Victoria and first cousin of George V.) One of those things that impossible to prove; but Enid makes her a more effective 'baddie' by her having a background role and her popping up at unexpected moments. Presumably after the plotters were defeated she had to get out of TH in a hurry!

[timv]

NB: 'rescue the King' is what I meant at the end of paragraph 1

[Moonraker]

If you click on the pencil icon in the top right-hand corner of your post, timv, you can then edit your post. I make so many typos, I have to do it all the time!

[timv]

Thanks, that may come in useful!

[IceMaiden]

That's an interesting point of view - I've never thought I sound childish by calling my mother's sister 'auntie' even now when she's pushing 80, and I'm in my 50s, but then I still enjoy reading children's books, so maybe I am still a child at heart?

I know someone a few years ago thought I was strange to still enjoy having a cake on my birthday.

My mum is 66 and still calls and refers to her 82 year old aunt "auntie", as do all of her sisters! I'm afraid I disagree on it sounding childish, if you've always known someone as 'auntie x' or 'uncle y' it's really odd if they suddenly stop being that, too odd perhaps to be able to do so.

I'd think it was strange if you didn't enjoy a cake on your birthday . One of the greatest things to look forward to on a birthday is the cake and it must have candles (though perhaps not one for each year! ) or it's just an ordinary cake .

[Moonraker]

That's an interesting point of view - I've never thought I sound childish by calling my mother's sister 'auntie' even now when she's pushing 80, and I'm in my 50s, but then I still enjoy reading children's books, so maybe I am still a child at heart?

My mum is 66 and still calls and refers to her 82 year old aunt "auntie", as do all of her sisters! I'm afraid I disagree on it sounding childish, if you've always known someone as 'auntie x' or 'uncle y' it's really odd if they suddenly stop being that, too odd perhaps to be able to do so.

Our late daughter-in-law had a wonderful aunt who lived in a remote part of Devon. She was a real Enid Blyton character, and a visit was greeted by a moaning table loaded with a real EB farmer's wife's spread. Although not our aunt, this wonderful lady commanded such respect, that she was always known as 'Auntie'. Even though she was no blood relation to us, we wouldn't have dreamt of calling her Ethel. I just think that today, it is a much more informal world (in the west, at least), and these titles will eventually die out - when reaching adulthood, anyway. I think I have said elsewhere, that as a child, we visit a cousin of my grandmother's (born in the 1880s), and she was always referred to as 'Cousin Alice'. For even an adult to have called her Alice, would have been unthinkable.

[Anita Bensoussane]

'Auntie' sounds amazing, Nigel.

[Moonraker]

She was a real treasure, Anita.

[Bertie]

Just re-read Five on a Hike Together once more, in an attempt to give it yet another go at appealing to me.

I probably enjoyed it a little more than I remembered, but still mostly found the usual pros and cons as I always do. I quite like the first and last 50 pages or so, it's always the middle part - where all the settings are gloomy and most of the people they meet unpleasant - that puts me off the most.

I've talked a lot about the gloominess, which I know gets positively described as 'atmospheric'. And the fact that they've only got a few days this time takes away the 'cosy' feel right from the start, compared to the usual lovely sounding 'start of the holidays' intros, etc.

The different 'feel' I don't think ends there, though. There's a few FFO elements as well - obviously the Goon-like policeman is the most obvious. And when George says, "Julian, you're a genius! How do you manage to think of things like that?" We're told, '"Oh, just brains'", said Julian, pretending to look modest' - which is a very Fatty-esque scene.

And I'd say that different feel includes Timmy in this book as well. Long before book 10, he's well established as a very sensible dog, more like a human character and more grown up and mature than George, etc. But in much of this he's described more like Buster and Loony - being madcap and more disobedient and going off only to come back with different things in his mouth, etc. In the final third he feels very familiar, but until then he feels more of an amalgamation of a few of the other series dogs rather than the usual Tim.

It's also a bit strange at the end when strong characters like Julian and George are pleased to think of an adult (Mr Gaston) taking charge. I can imagine Anne thinking like that, but not Julian and certainly not George saying "it's a sort of safe, comfortable feeling when we hand over to the grown ups". George said that!

Anyway, that's how the books always felt to me. And after giving it another go after such staunch defences of it here, it still pretty much feels that way to me. More readable than I remembered, but an overall different feel that I just don't like as much.

At least I keep giving it more goes.