Talk About Blyton!

Famous Five – The Aging Of The Five

April 15, 2008 – HRHMabs says: By the last few books of the Famous Five series, since their ages were no longer mentioned and they got inexplicably frozen in time, what age does everyone imagine the Five were around the time of Stories such as Five On A Secret Trail, Fix Get Into A Fix, etc? (Pretty much all the last/later stories.) I personally always think of Julian around 16-17, (As I recall, the last time his actual age was mentioned was in Five Fall Into Adventure, and he was 16 then.) Since they all stopped aging (nice work Enid! lol*) after Five Go To Mystery Moor I always felt that was the most logical age to stick with. It makes sense given how much time they spend without any adults around, but also keeps them young enough to be considered 'kids' to some degree. What does everyone else think? In the book reviews on this site, one of the reviewers seems to have gone with the idea of Julian being 13 after the 'age freeze', but I always thought of him as much older. Any opinions? :)
April 18, 2008 – rogoz says: This an old problem, but the Novels were set for preteens not adolescents - so the five never really grew up. Their apparent ages are situation-specific rather than fixed to some yearly time-line except in the last novels where they seem to grow up - a bit. Julian in book 3 'Five Run Away Together' could easily be over 20 as he struts about like some sort of Lord Kirrin with the Stick family.
April 18, 2008 – Fiona B says: I'm sure Aunt Fanny mention Julian is "Almost 18" to Uncle Quentin at the beginning of one of the later books but I may have just imagined that. Many authors stop characters (mostly children) from aging to allow a series to continue. For example, the Babysitters books by Anne M. Martin begin with a bunch of 12 year olds in the 7th grade. They quickly become 13 year olds in the 8th grade, but never age further despite various story lines set at Christmas, Valentine's Day, Summer holiday, Halloween and Christmas (more than once each). If the kids in these books aged "correctly" they would be far too old to be doing whatever it was the books were based on very quickly!
April 19, 2008 – Tuba says: In most of the books aging is never mentioned. I think so that not only us but also the authors are confused about the characters ages.
January 14, 2009 – Sophie says: I was thinking about the ages of the five the other day, for they start at twelve but I don't think they really get older, but it's a book so things don't have to be real. Personally I think It's easier sticking to one age for you get the feel for them more. Also if they aged wouldn't Anne and George change for they would reach adolence which would change them and I don't think George would be 16 or 17 and still be so tomboyish. On the whole I think it doesn't really matter whether they age or not but I really don't feel them ageing.
December 4, 2010 – Georgia121 says: I'm sorry but I have to say in the first Famous Five book julian is 12 and there are 21 books how old are they now because its not summer holidays in every book please help me!
Fatty says... Fatty says: It's best to suspend belief in the ageing process on this one, Georgia!
March 14, 2011 – Sofia Aggelidou says: I have to agree with Rogoz at this question. Characters never grow up. Many children lots of years now have met Julian as a 12-year-old boy and I see him now as a 21-year-old boy! So, they never grew up! Anyway, if you go and check at the Famous Five, up on this page, there is a title ''Blow those Time Lines! '' on your left hand! I find hard to believe that Julian is 23 on their last adventure, Dick and George 22 and Anne 21! In that case it's better to stay 12, 11 and 10-year-old children!
August 7, 2012 – Matt says: So there is a section on this web site that lists the varying ages of The Famous Five and how, in reality Julian would be around 21 years old by the 21st book. I recently read in a newspaper article that this was down to the fact that Enid Blyton originally only intended to write 6 stories and aged the five over these 6 stories. Julian went from 12 to 15 years old over these 6 books. The stories became so popular that Enid Blyton went on to write a further 15 stories but the aging timeline had already started. This is only an article I read but could explain their ages in the later books. Matt (Avid Famous Five reader and now getting my son into the books).
January 23, 2013 – EB's GF says: According to me Julian will be 21. George and Dick will be 22. Anne will be 20. But I find it hard to believe. I don't think Enid wanted to picture the characters than 18 (Julian) 17 (George and Dick) and 16 (Anne) or it could be 16 (Julian) 15 (Dick and George) and 14 (Anne) On Enid Blyton Society, it is said that it is 23 (Julian) 22 (Dick and George) and 21 (Anne). I am sure it is either my first suggestion or my third suggestion though I must say it is more likely my third suggestion as the children are still going to school.
June 23, 2015 – Mariak says: I don't think we need to give much relevance to their ages. Simply considering that Julian is the oldest, Anne the youngest and Dick and George in between, will do the trick. After all, it's a book series targeted at children. Even if Julian is supposed to be over 23 in the last book, it would be best not to stress on it.
February 1, 2022 – PEter says: In the first book, Julian is 12, Dick and George are 11, and Anne is 10. In the last book, I thought they were in their 30s, I just wipe that thought out of my mind.
Daisy says... Daisy says: Julian was 16 in Five Fall into Adventure, according to Enid's writing. I think it's wise to just keep them at around that age. Remember one book wasn't a whole year gone, they were adventures in summer holidays, winter, term times of school. So three books could be in that year.
February 11, 2022 – Adaa says: By the last book Julian will be 18, George and Dick 17 and Anne 16. I figured this out by reading the 3rd book. In it its clearly said by Anne that there are three holidays in a year- summer, winter and easter.
Fatty says... Fatty says: Agatha Christie's Poirot was retired in his first appearance in "The Mysterious Affair at Styles". 40 years later he was still solving murders - where he would have been over 100! I wouldn't worry about ageing, Malcolm Saville's Lone Pine Five hardly aged over decades.

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