The Secret Seven

[Ming]

What sort of clubs do you belong to, Ming? Any secret ones and if so do you solve mysteries?

That's a secret - you said it yourself. Secrets shouldn't be revealed.

[Rob Houghton]

I'm not nit-picking, but I notice several people are spelling Susie as Suzie? I am wondering if this is yet another update in modern reprints?

This time, I stand corrected!

Just lazy - didnt bother to check how to spell Susie, which of course, is 'Susie with an 'S' not Suzie with a 'Z'...'

[Moonraker]

15 All!

Ming, I didn't want you to reveal any secrets, just the names of the clubs you belong to!

[Julie2owlsdene]

I'm slowly making my way through these books, never having read them as a child. Just begining Puzzle for the Secret Seven which I bought from Ebay, 1958 edition, and it's so lovely to read about Jack saying his mother won a whole pound at a whist drive. And when the seven went to the fair, Peter and Janet's mother said she'd give them five shillings to add to the pound.

The seven worked out that they'd have around two shillings each, with Susie and her friend Binky.
Two shillings to spend, which these days is 10pence. I wonder how much money the seven would need these days to go to the fair?

[Julie2owlsdene]

Just about to finish Secret Seven on the Trail. One part was really interesting, which says, Zeb speaking. "Would you like to walk along the line with me and I'll show you some switches that send a train off into a siding. It's about a mile up the line."

How times how changed. These days because of all the Health and Safety, that would not be possible. A mile is quite a way, walking along ballast, and a high visibility vest has to be worn at all times.

How so much more laid back and innocent was the world of Enid Blyton
Probably why I escape so much between the pages of her books.

[Petermax]

How times how changed. These days because of all the Health and Safety, that would not be possible. A mile is quite a way, walking along ballast, and a high visibility vest has to be worn at all times.

Quite! A track safety certificate or train working licence is also required in addition to the high visibility vest, shame on Miss Blyton for encouraging trespass on the railway. Edith Nesbit also made the same grave error with The Railway Children. The film version released around 1970 lead to numerous instances of children wandering along operational railway lines in emulation of Jenny Agutter & Co!

[Moonraker]

shame on Miss Blyton for encouraging trespass on the railway.

A valid point, Petermax. It doesn't seem very responsible to give children the idea of it being fun to walk along a railway line and pull levers to change points. Of course, they were accompanied by a railway official, but it would still seem to encourage kids to do the same. I can remember crawling down the embankment near Salisbury (Fisherton) Tunnel when I was 9 - my school playing field led to the fence - and placing a penny on the rail to see the result of a train running over it. A Battle of Britain led Waterloo train certainly flattened it!

Taking the other extreme, Alan Titchmarsh had to don a hi-vis jacket in yesterday's Chelsea Garden Show programme, as exhibits were still being set up, Guess he didn't want to be hit by a flying cactus.

[Rob Houghton]

The seven worked out that they'd have around two shillings each, with Susie and her friend Binky. Two shillings to spend, which these days is 10pence. I wonder how much money the seven would need these days to go to the fair?

Quite! Our local 'Mop' fair is held in October each year, as well as others nearby through the summer. Most rides are £1.50 - £2.00 each, and even 'Hook a Duck' is £2.00 now!!

'Here,' said mother, 'Take this £100 to spend between you...'
'But that won't go very far between nine of us!' moaned Jack...

[Alicia]

I agree with you about thinking of Nazis, though I usually think more of ships when I read about the badge. I prefered Famous Five.

[Danger Bird]

Merged with an older topic.

I haven't read any Secret Seven since I was a child. I enjoyed reading them but thought there were too many main characters. I'd liken it to all the dwarves in the Hobbit, by the end of the book I still couldn't name half of them!

Reading this forum, it seems that a lot of people don't really rate the Secret Seven books. So does anyone like them? Are they worth revisiting as an adult?

[Faraway_Tree]

I remember not liking the Secret Seven series much as a child, but I think this might be because I read them after the Famous Five, and I think that the Secret Seven was written for younger readers.

I remember getting annoyed that the girls never seemed to be allowed by the boys to do anything interesting... although to be fair the same could be said of many other books, including the Famous Five!

I would like to re-read the Seven books now actually, to see if I maybe enjoy them more.

[Stephen]

I suppose they've always been the "books I love to hate" for me over the years. Peter the arrogant little tyke, poor pathetic Jack, utterly useless Pam - and the "awful" yet very clever Susie who can outwit them all yet still gets unfairly ostracised! This is nothing like the friendships and teamwork of the Famous Five, the Trents and Mannerings, and the Five Find Outers. But I've read a few over recent months and they've stirred a few nostalgic memories here and there. I still think the twist in 'Secret Seven Mystery' is very good (I didn't see it coming the first time round!) And in the case of 'Look Out, Secret Seven', I found some of it disturbingly gritty and realistic for a Blyton, and with the odd detail change you could almost imagine it being set today.

[Fiona1986]

Like Faraway Tree, I read all the Famous Fives first, then a random few Secret Seven titles I happened to have. The SS's adventures/mysteries pale in comparison to the excitement of the Famous Five's adventures, and are not as sophisticated as the mysteries of the Find Outers. Maybe if I'd read them when I was younger I'd have liked them more. Most of them I read as an adult, and while they're by no means 'bad', they just don't really capture my interest. I'd be hard pushed to remember more than a few details/happenings from the SS series.

[Lucky Star]

The SS are a sort of junior version of the Famous Five. In one of the books Blyton even plugs the FF by having the Seven read some of the FF books. I think anyone who came to them after reading other, more "grown up" series' probably doesn't like them that much. I think they are ok, most of them are fairly entertaining little stories although some of the characters are clearly not much more than padding.

I have terrible trouble telling one book from another though; the titles really are the most meaningless that Enid ever chose.

[Moonraker]

The SS are a sort of junior version of the Famous Five.

I have always thought they were more akin to the Mystery series. I suppose having a shed and a yappy little dog at its core made me think so! I love the SS, mainly because of nostalgia. I always imagine the village setting to be like Peterswood rather than Kirrin. Enid even (erroneously?) called it Peterswood in one story.