In what has become an ‘annual’ tradition I will look at the current year’s annual in two parts. (Apologies for the bad pun.)

You can see my review of the first annual from 2014 here and here, and then the 2015 one here and here.

So this year’s annual fits perfectly with the previous two. The cover this time is from Five on Finniston Farm. It’s a much closer up view this time, and there’s no background unlike on the other two annuals.

The content list looks interesting as always, nicely fitted onto an illustration from Five Go Down to the Sea.

THE FAMOUS FIVE AND ME

Our first article is a slightly unusual one – as it’s a personal piece. It is by ‘a fan and author’ called Hilary McKay (someone I’ve never heard of). I found this quite hard to read and understand thanks to the (endless) sets of brackets, LOTS OF SHOUTING CAPITALS and lots of short sentences. Lots. Of. Them. At the end it tells us that Hilary McKay has a new book out now, and hardly surprisingly it turns out to be published by Hodder. Oh – and it is “perfect for fans of Enid Blyton’s family stories”. Imagine that.

THE FAMOUS FIVE PLAY

This is all about the first Famous Five Play from 1955. It gets four pages and it’s a very interesting read as it covers the play from when Blyton first announced it in her magazine to its second run in 1956. I was aware of the play but I didn’t know the first run was an evening performance (very grown up as Blyton notes) with a Noddy matinee in the afternoons. Nor did I know that Ronny Corbett performed in both!

CAVES, SECRET PASSAGES AND TUNNELS

This is the sort of thing that makes me annoyed. (We all remember how much I hated Eva Rice’s book, yes?) We have a two page spread dedicated to underground features of the books (but not dungeons, fair enough) and it is woefully incomplete. They do know that though, and ask “have we missed any other(s)?.. There are dozens.” In a word, yes. They have included the Kirrin Island cave, the caves on Mystery Moor, The Billycock Hill Caves, The Wreckers’ Caves at Demon’s Rocks, the catacombs under Smuggler’s Top, the passage from Kirrin Island to Kirrin Quarry, (which is badly explained as leading from the fireplace into some caves then to the tunnel, when really it forms part of the dungeons – remember they knew there were two entrances to the dungeons but could only find the one under the large stone in the courtyard), and finally the passage in the thick walls of Faynights Castle.

So what’s missing, they ask? The vast caves in the hill above Merran Lake, the passage from Uncle Quentin’s study to the bedroom at Kirrin Farmhouse, the passage through the cliffs to Red Tower’s house, the cave system near the Roman dig on Kirrin Common, the underground tunnels in Magga Glen and the passage that led from Finniston Castle to the nearby chapel. So just a few, then!

TWO FAMOUS PASTIMES

Camping and Caravanning. Again I don’t think this is in any way complete. There’s no mention of them camping in the book with Camp in the title for a start!

WELL DONE, FAMOUS FIVE

I made notes on paper when I read the annual and the first thing I jotted was hideous. Extremely modern illustrations (possibly Jamie Littler’s?) and lovely updates like idiot for ass, and binoculars for field glasses. Worst of all it’s only a taster of what was already a very short story. If you want to know the rest you’d better get out and buy the relevant Hodder Colour Reader!

WHICH FAMOUS FIVE BOOK SHOULD I READ NEXT?

A short quiz to help you decide (if you’re not the sort to insist on reading them in order).

FINNISTON FARM REVISITED

This is about the illustrations as there are two shown which Eileen Soper reworked (at Blyton’s instruction).

A FAMOUS FIVE GAME

Taken from the back endpapers of Enid Blyton’s Magazine Annual No 1. It has been made larger which is nice, would make it easier to play!

THE FAMOUS FIVE MUSICAL

Information on the musical mentioned in the earlier section about the play. The musical (which I’m sure I’ve seen on DVD) was performed in 1996.

Bonus quiz: which actor from the photo went on to be part of a famous pop group?

HAPPY CHRISTMAS, FIVE

Another extract, this one with the same strange illustrations from previous annuals (remember that bathing suit post?)

WHAT’S WRONG?

Probably the least well-known of the three Pepys Famous Five games, this one asks you to spot the deliberate mistakes in some Eileen Soper illustrations. It is extremely hard! Thankfully the answers are given at the back of the annual.

And that’s the first half of the annual. I will leave the rest for another day.

I liked this title page as it looks like the children (and Aunt Fanny) are looking up at the title.

Next post: Famous Five Annual 2016 part 2