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Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 17 Oct 2017, 21:50
by Nick
timv wrote:Great-Granddad may have been based on a real person who Enid met or at least had heard tales about. I read in a local collection of memories and photographs of Stourton Caundle village that a Mr William Douch was the farmer at the farm which Enid later bought from c. 1890 to 1928, when he retired in his sixties, and he lived to the early 1950s when he was 91. It was his nephew from whom Enid bought the farm in 1956.
Possibly the latter or the workers who Enid relied on to run the farm told her about him and he was so intriguing that she put him in the book? Or did she know Stourton Caundle before she bought the farm? She clearly used the ruined chapel turned barn and the legends of a former castle somewhere on the farm for the book, and put its medieval owners the Lords Stourton into the book as the 'Lords Finniston'.
This book has a rare mention of a real place in a Famous Five book under its real name, ie Dorchester. But I suspect that Dorchester is behind Enid's creation of the town of 'Ravens Market' in Five Fall Into Adventure, ie the town near the gypsy camp where George is held prisoner by Jo's father. It is a market town and probably fairly large as it has a bus connection to 'Kirrin'; it is too far from the latter for the Five (minus George) to walk back there easily once they get lost in the woods and miss the last bus, but the tougher Jo thinks nothing of walking to the nearby woods from Kirrin and she takes the Five back on foot next day. Also, is Enid's mention of the nearest place to Red Tower's home (on a rocky coast like the 'Isle' of Portland) as 'Port Lynne' a hint at the nearby peninsula and naval base/ village of Portland?
Many thanks for posting that information.
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 08:58
by pete9012S
I really enjoyed this book. It was bought for me around the time of 1975/76. It was a really hot summer and the book seemed to capture that feeling seamlessly.
I thought the book had only just been written and it seemed modern and fresh and exciting to me.
According to chapter nineteen,it was the most exciting adventure ever had too!
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 10:26
by number 6
I was also bought this particular version of Finniston Farm in the 70's, Pete, with its distinctive bright cover. I probably received my copy around the same time as you. I, too, really enjoyed the story. As I remember, & as you stated, it was indeed an hot summer, which really set the mood for this adventure.
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 10:53
by Rob Houghton
1976 was the hottest summer ever with droughts and we had a bush fire behind our house by the canal, and the fire engine came down our drive. I was only 5 and it was the excitement of the summer, lol!
Funny how I never read a Famous Five novel as a child, despite my sister owning the whole set of Maxey paperbacks! I only ever read two Famous Five annuals, which I had for birthdays aged 9 and 10. I really missed out by not reading the series as a child.
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 12:36
by Moonraker
Rob Houghton wrote:1976 was the hottest summer ever with droughts and we had a bush fire behind our house
That explains why the sky was yellow, then.
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 12:44
by Rob Houghton
Moonraker wrote:Rob Houghton wrote:1976 was the hottest summer ever with droughts and we had a bush fire behind our house
That explains why the sky was yellow, then.
I'll just humour you, lol!
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 13:31
by Anita Bensoussane
I think Nigel is referring to Betty Maxey's cover for Five on Finniston Farm. It's a lovely picture, dreamy and idyllic.
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 14:43
by Rob Houghton
Ah! I was tying up what he said to the yellow skies earlier this week!
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 16:52
by Daisy
Rob Houghton wrote:Ah! I was tying up what he said to the yellow skies earlier this week!
So did I... no wonder I couldn't follow him.
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 16:53
by Moonraker
Spot on, Anita!
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 16:56
by pete9012S
---
Covers from 1995 and 2017 for comparison.
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 17:38
by Rob Houghton
That last one is undeniably a Great Work Of Art, Pete - way better than Maxey!!
Seriously though, apart from the very obvious lack of artistic merit the modern covers have, I dislike the fact that any cover could belong to (almost) any book - the Five just standing around looking bored. I find it really strange that these boring and uneventful covers actually sell books! At least all the older ones have some action depicted on them.
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 18:30
by pete9012S
What is the guy (Julian?) doing with that humongous sword?
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 19:16
by John Pickup
I don't know what Julian is doing with the sword but I hope he's preparing to run Junior through with it. One of the most obnoxious characters Enid ever created.
Re: Finniston Farm: really quite poor
Posted: 18 Oct 2017, 20:57
by number 6
By the looks of it, he's taken up some sort of medieval pole dancing!!