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Famous Five
Enid Blyton first wrote of the Famous Five in 1942, in Five on a Treasure Island. In that first book, brothers and sister Julian, Dick and Ann meet for the first time with their tom-boy cousin, Georgina, who prefers to be called George. Timmy the Dog - the fifth member of the Famous Five, belonged to George; in the TV series he was portrayed as a collie, but I'm sure in the old hardbacks my mother gave me to read, he was drawn as something looking more like a Setter. Mind you, its probably 25 years since then, and my brain is rather addled now!George lived in Kirrin Cottage with Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny (cue the double-enterndres). George has hidden her dog Timmy from Uncle Quentin, since he is a miserable git and doesn't like dogs. Initially suspicious of her cousins, George eventually befriends them, and they go on to have many adventures.
The Famous Five books are as politically incorrect as you can get, and are written to portray a innocence in children that probably never actually existed in reality. Ann was portrayed as a delicate flower, and couldn't hope to deal with any situation with as much 'spunk' as George. Similarly Dick, the younger brother strived to live up to the elder 'Jules', but never quite got there.
In 1982 'The Comic Strip Presents' came up with the frighteningly accurate parodys, Five go Mad in Dorset and Five go mad on Mescalin, starring Peter Richardson (Julian), Adrian Edmondson (Dick), Jennifer Saunders (Ann) and Dawn French (George). Can you tell which of the pictures is the real Famous Five ???
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