The Secret Seven v. The Famous Five

[chaletian]

Have just realised that the Secret Seven had 'SS' written on their door. Tee hee.

What are people's feelings in re the Secret Seven? Cuz I never actually liked them as much as, say, the Famous Five. It was the whole having a club to find mysteries, and then going out and finding them thing. It just seemed a bit desperate compared to the FF who were just larking about on exciting holidays and stumbled across them. The FF were having exciting fun anyway, on account of being on groovy holidays on islands or in gypsy caravans, whereas the SS seemed to do all their detecting in between prep and tea.

Ah, Five Go to Finniston Farm... a fine book indeed. There was a midden. For some reason, this always made me happy. Wasn't that how they knew there had been a castle there? It had all gone, and it was just the midden left. How cool is that? It's like archaeology for small children.

Comments

[auntie-pat.livejournal.com]

I always preferred the FF. I think I found the Secret 7 boring.

[megaleena.livejournal.com]

The SS was always aimed at younger folk, wasn't it? So I suppose it's more 'accessible' for little uns who couldn't go larking on the moors and stumble across flashing lights and strange noises. I always liked the cosy aspect of it; a place where they could go and sit and soemone would rock up and it didn't matter if they didn't because it was the shed, and there was always plenty of cocoa ans things for them.

That said, I always preferred FF because I fancied Julian.

[ladyguinevere83.livejournal.com]

So it wasn't just me then ;-)

[megaleena.livejournal.com]

*smirk*

[pim2005.livejournal.com]

That said, I always preferred FF because I fancied Julian

La la la... me too...

Famous Five all the way though - the Secret Seven were just pants in comparison.

[chaletian.livejournal.com]

Huzzah! Julian was my earliest book crush!!

[ladyguinevere83.livejournal.com]

I always far preferred The Famous Five. The Secret Seven seemed like an inferior copy (though I still read and enjoyed them). I've forgotton a lot of them though :-/

I quite fancy reading some FF actually. SLOC will be near my parents this weekend.... perhaps I should send him on an errand.

[violetcreme.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see The Shed is useful for something then !

I loved both equally, for their different reasons. I loved the idea of just stumbling upon a mystery yet at the same time, I loved the idea of having an actual *gang* set up with it's own meeting house to solve mysteries. I asked for a shed every year for Christmas with which to house my own meetings and was told, Santa couldn't fit it down the chimney.

A fair and accurate point.

[megaleena.livejournal.com]

Ah, it all becomes clear now...

[violetcreme.livejournal.com]

Alas, I think it does.

[nicci-cbb.livejournal.com]

I think you need to have a few words with your parents Cathy, Santa brings a huge Christmas tree down our chimney everytime...I'm sure what with being able to travel around the globe in one night he could have spared a little magic for your shed.

Totally with you on the wanting a shed thing though. We had a groovy treehouse built by my father with a balcony and rope ladder but somehow it wasn't the same as a shed.

[violetcreme.livejournal.com]

Santa brings the tree ? That's different ! So you don't have it up before Christmas Day ?

Clearly though my parents were deceiving me on this Shed issue and I was deprived yes, deprived.

I did try to build a treehouse but they were also on the dangerous side. I also tried to make a meeting place in a hedge and under the stiars but nothing could live up to a shed. Nothing. :le sob:

[nicci-cbb.livejournal.com]

We have a smallish tree in the dining room that we buy and decorate, but then we wait for Santa to bring the big one for the lounge. We go to bed just before midnight, then when we wake up, it's there. And I *swear* I've looked around beforehand to check if it's really Santa bringing it and you know what...no tree. So bah to those who don't believe in Santa.

[keladeekadys.livejournal.com]

I'm a Famous Five fan myself. Mainly because of my dad, he got me into reading them by telling me that there was a vicious dog in the books.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I think I was too old for the Secret Seven by the time I read them, whenever that was - I can't remember any of the childrens' names.

I always liked the 'Adventure' series best because they went on holiday to exciting places, and the 'Barney' series next after that.

[megaleena.livejournal.com]

Oh, I liked Barney too, but I only ever read a couple for some reason. I was a big fan of the Mystery series cos of Fatty!

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

Fatty was such an excellent character. I liked the way the characters in those books were forever disguising themselves, as well, and lived for the day I'd need to disguise myself in order to help solve a mystery, which sadly never came.

[megaleena.livejournal.com]

Yeah, cos a 14 year old boy can look like so many differnt people! *g*

[chaletian.livejournal.com]

Was Barney the one with a monkey called Miranda? I only had one of those books - I think it was the Ring o'Bells Mystery. Actually, that was once in danger of being My Only Book - my mother got so cross with me reading under my duvet when I was supposed to be asleep that she threatened to take all my books away, and I hid that one down the side of my bed in case she fulfilled her threat!!

The Five Find-Outers were *excellent*! Good old Clear-Orff! Actually, if anyone recalls the incident in Both Alike in Dignity when Elisaveta uses a hairpin to get the key out of the other side of the lock when evil Carlo locked her and Rafe in the cellar, that was where it came from - Fatty shows the others that he can get out of the locked boxroom!

[chaletian.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I loved the 'Adventure' series! Bill Cunningham - he was a manly man!

[pim2005.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes he was. Hmm, I only have two of those, I feel I ought to expand my collection. Once I've got the last two FFs that is.

*feels an EB reread coming on* La... I also feel the need for an icon. An FF icon. We are the famous five, Juliandickernanne, george and timmy the d-oooog.

[megaleena.livejournal.com]

By putting a newspaper on the other side of the door, pushing the key oiut and pulling it back under? I tried that but we had carpets :(

[chaletian.livejournal.com]

Eggsackerly. Carpets do ruin it... I need to find somewhere that has that kind of lock *and* a gap under the door, just to experiment. Cuz, frankly, I still have faith in Fatty's methods...

[megaleena.livejournal.com]

We could rip the carpets up from somewhere!

[violetcreme.livejournal.com]

Aha ! Was having a convo about this the other day and trying to remember details but yes, always wearing fake beards and the like ! It's all coming back to me !

Children in disguse always looks like children in disguse though I've found. Not overly effective.

[nicci-cbb.livejournal.com]

Hmm, not sure whether I should admit to this but my friend and I frequently dressed up in disguise and went looking for adventure. Possibly it was the wrong way round, I seem to recall the Find-outers dressed up AFTER stumbling across some kind of skullduggery, but for two kids on a quiet village, the dressing up was likely to be the only adventure we'd be involved in.


And I can say that the getting out of a locked room thing *does* work. I can't remember exactly when I discovered this, but it was possibly shortly after finding that orange juice really is invisible ink...

[mrsrev.livejournal.com]

I just read everything I could lay my hands on! But yes, FF are great. And I don't know if it's still there, but in 1998 we stayed at a farmhouse B&B near Cheddar, and it turned out to be where "Five go to Billycock Hill" was filmed. I was the only person in our party who actually thought this was cool. In fact, I was probably the only one who knew what it meant ... :-(

[squirrela.livejournal.com]

I never really liked SS because I always felt they went looking for mysteries and the books I read had them making silly mistakes. So I always felt it a silly series to read in comparason with the FF.

That said, I always liked the 'adventure' series as well - because the children were children, and there was always 'Bill' to help them out in one way or another. Or other adults - though I admit that the FF were not completely without this kind of aid.

I read one of the series with Fatty and co in them when I stumbled across them as an 'adult' - by which I mean I was a teenager (at least) and therefore supposedly too old for that kind of book *rolls eyes*

[ex-fragilecl106.livejournal.com]

Totally with you on the FF Vs S7 thing. I could never get into the S7 - there were too many of them and the eldest lad character was really annoying. Much more deserving of a slap than good old dependable Julian....

Favourite FF book has to be Five Run Away Together. Ah I want to go home and read it now....

Did you ever read the Enid Blyton ...Of Adventure series (e.g. Castle of Adventure, Island of Adventure)? They were also pretty good but there was a bird instead of a dog, so I recall, which was a poor substitute.

[chaletian.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes... possibly S7 is a better way to abbreviate!!

Kiki the parrot - remember those ones well! Philip and Dinah... was Philip the one who always had animals bopping around, or am I confusing him with Gerald Durrell? As you do...

[violetcreme.livejournal.com]

I has the 'Adventure....' series on tape and listened to them every night for years. They were so well done ! Had an ensemble cast and sound effects and atmosphere unlike so many spoken books which are read by one person.

I want to listen to them now dammit !

[gingerelanor.livejournal.com]

Ooooooooh, that sounds awesome! I LOVED the Adventure books much more than FF or SS. I loved Jack and Lucy Ann's red hair in particular. And I LOVE books on tape.

[violetcreme.livejournal.com]

These were the of the best I've ever heard. I used to go into John Lewis and buy them with my pocket money, although I don't have the complete set more's the pity. They had a narrator and then a cast of children and was of hte same standard you'd hear on Radio 4 easily, great atmospheric sound effects etc.

I've got them at home, I'll rip them next time I'm there and upload for you !

[gingerelanor.livejournal.com]

Oooooooooh! That sounds awesome, and WOW, thank you.

*does adoring worship dance*

[ex-fragilecl106.livejournal.com]

But then for some odd reason I forgot to abbreviate F5 in the same way!

Ah KiKi that's the one... And yes Philip could apparently communicate with the animals a la Dr Doolittle. Very bizzare!

[elegaer.livejournal.com]

Five on Kirrin Island again. Almost genuinely scary!

Timmy was lovely. And Julian was just utterly fanciable!

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

I'm sure somewhere there is the line 'you're good for a girl'. I used to get cross (and yet still I read them...)

I liked Dick more than Julian (who was always a bit too bossy for my taste) but then I've always had a thing for sidekicks. The Secret Seven were a bit blah after the Famous Five - and can you imagine baking *that* much cake for a few kids in a shed?

[balooky.livejournal.com]

The one thing I liked about S7 was Susie, the annoying sister they wouldn't let join. I think I identified with her :) And the way she set up a rival gang - class

[kittykatkins.livejournal.com]

Definitely preferred the Adventure lot, but still loved FF! And Dick *swooooon* He was yummy, whereas Julian was just bossy and a bit snobby!

[balooky.livejournal.com]

And Dick was going to be a doctor ;)

[nicci-cbb.livejournal.com]

Where where where did that come up? I don't remember it. hmm, may require a re-read.

[gingerelanor.livejournal.com]

My mother says I only started actually reading because of the Secret Seven. I mean, I COULD read, but I didn't like it until I discovered SS. I was probably about 6 or 7, I think. I moved on to FF a bit later, and yes, they're much better. I can't remember anything at all about SS now (after racking my brains, I think that I possibly remember that one of them might have been called Janet, although I'm far from sure), and I remember loads about the FF.

[donna-k.livejournal.com]

I never liked the FF. I don't know why, because I loved the SS and the Mystery books, but I could never get into the FF. I am obviously the abnormal one on your flist!

And I'm still dying to find out if the key/newspaper thing would actually work - I thought it would be wonderful to be locked in a room and be able to get out!

[nicci-cbb.livejournal.com]

Donna it does - I've tried it a long time ago.

[b-liz.livejournal.com]

Definitely the Famous 5 over Secret 7. I love the fact that one of the SS books makes a direct reference to the FF books!

[b-liz.livejournal.com]

And of course the FF had a dog who could climb a rope *g*