Five Fall Into Adventure: the best FF book?

[Fiona1986]

Thanks all for confirming what I thought!

[Courtenay]

And as absolute proof that Jo is not Welsh... nowhere in any of those three books does she ever say "look you", "whateffer" or "to gootness"!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I don't think Enid Blyton ever says that Jo is Welsh, but when the Five first meet her Julian wonders if she might be:

"You owe me an ice-cream," she said, in her sing-song voice. Julian wondered if she was Welsh.

(Chapter 5 of Five Fall Into Adventure)

[pete9012S]

Well spotted Anita!

[Deejay]

I did not think that gypsies/travellers were particularly associated with Ireland, but perhaps I'm wrong (despite being Irish myself).

My mistake sorry!

[Deejay]

And as absolute proof that Jo is not Welsh... nowhere in any of those three books does she ever say "look you", "whateffer" or "to gootness"!

So no mention of her saying ‘diolch’ or ‘bore da’ or was she Aily in disguise?

[Fiona1986]

I did not think that gypsies/travellers were particularly associated with Ireland, but perhaps I'm wrong (despite being Irish myself).

My mistake sorry!

There are Irish traveller communities in the UK, and they are sometimes referred to as gypsies though I don't know if that's correct or not. They have featured on programmes like My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding etc on channel 4.

I knew I should have waited for Anita's judgement That would possibly explain the assumption others have made about Jo being Welsh but as it's a single comment it isn't exactly 'proof' of her Welshness.

[Boodi 2]

I think that the Irish Travellers have no connection with Romany/Roma Gypsies, thus I am surprised to hear that they featured on programmes such as My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding! By coincidence, about two years ago a group of Irish Travellers appeared in a town not too far from where we live in the south west of Germany and there was an article about them in the local newspaper. I did not hear any more about them since, so I assume that they moved on elsewhere.

[Deejay]

I did not think that gypsies/travellers were particularly associated with Ireland, but perhaps I'm wrong (despite being Irish myself).

My mistake sorry!

There are Irish traveller communities in the UK, and they are sometimes referred to as gypsies though I don't know if that's correct or not. They have featured on programmes like My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding etc on channel 4.

I knew I should have waited for Anita's judgement That would possibly explain the assumption others have made about Jo being Welsh but as it's a single comment it isn't exactly 'proof' of her Welshness.

Maybe I wasn’t wrong then! We don’t seem to know for sure whether Jo was Welsh or not.


Is gypsy considered a PC term now or not? Gypsies, travellers etc, what’s the difference?

[Boodi 2]

With regard to Deejay's question: Irish Travellers are a nomadic indigenous ethnic group. Although they are often referred to as "Gypsies", Irish Travellers are not genetically related to the Romani, with genetic analysis showing them to be of Irish extraction, and that they likely diverged from the settled Irish population in the 1600s, during the time of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. The centuries of separation led to Travellers becoming genetically distinct from the settled Irish and since 2017 they have been recognised as a distinct ethnic group by the Irish government, despite the fact that they only represent 0.7% of the total population of the Republic of Ireland. I think that today the term "Gypsy" is NOT considered very PC and terms like "Roma/Romani" or "Traveller" are preferable.

[Chrissie777]

How could I miss this thread 3 years ago? I'm glad it got revived.

"Five fall into Adventure" is not my most favorite FF book, but for me it's definitely a lot better than "Mystery Moor", "Caravan", "Camp", "Billycock Hill" and "Finniston Farm".
I didn't read "Five on a Hike together" before I was in my early twenties.

Since the autumn/winter of 1965 I prefer the FF sequels centered around Kirrin Bay and Kirrin island, the first 3 books are my favorites plus "Five on Kirrin Island again" and "Five have plenty of Fun".
"Five on a Secret Trail" is another favorite which I would still list higher up than "Five fall into Adventure" as it has all the important ingredients for a thrilling story (an underground passage, a ruined house, mysterious lights etc).

[Deejay]

With regard to Deejay's question: Irish Travellers are a nomadic indigenous ethnic group. Although they are often referred to as "Gypsies", Irish Travellers are not genetically related to the Romani, with genetic analysis showing them to be of Irish extraction, and that they likely diverged from the settled Irish population in the 1600s, during the time of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. The centuries of separation led to Travellers becoming genetically distinct from the settled Irish and since 2017 they have been recognised as a distinct ethnic group by the Irish government, despite the fact that they only represent 0.7% of the total population of the Republic of Ireland. I think that today the term "Gypsy" is NOT considered very PC and terms like "Roma/Romani" or "Traveller" are preferable.

Thanks Boodi.

[StephenC]

Getting back to the original question of Fall Into Adventure, being the best FF book, it certainly raised the bar, in my view, of the FF series, and started the run of great books that lasted until Mystery Moor in 1954. The six books from Get Into Trouble in 1949, to Mystery Moor, were certainly the high water mark of the series, I thought. Fall Into Adventure, was one of the rare books where the adventure started from the first chapter, and keeps on going at a cracking pace. And Red Towers was one of EB's best villains, I thought. And of course, Jo, who must rate equally with Ern Goon, as probably the best support character, that EB created. Such a pity that she only graced three FF books.

[kirstleecurry]

Taking this slightly off-topic for a moment (it was that or start a whole new thread)...

More than once I've seen Jo described as Welsh, but I'm having a hard time working out why. I've not that long ago read Five Fall Into Adventure, Five Have a Wonderful Time and I just finished Five Have Plenty of Fun the other week. I can't remember her as having an accent or anything that would suggest Welsh, and she doesn't seem to have a surname let alone a Welsh one.

Any ideas on what I've missed?

Years late to the table here... maybe it's because Jo is described with a 'sing-song' accent, and I'm pretty sure EB describes most of her Welsh characters as having the same?

[Moonraker]

Is gypsy considered a PC term now or not? Gypsies, travellers etc, what’s the difference?

According to my grandson, the term gypsy/gipsy is not to be used any longer. We walked along an old track called Gypsy Lane, a few weeks ago. When I told him I played along Gypsy Lane as a child, he said that I was not allowed to say that anymore! I gave him a brief history of gypsies and he fully agreed that this new 'rule' was absurd.

True gypsies have their own culture. Roma (Gypsies) originated in the Punjab region of northern India as a nomadic people and entered Europe between the eighth and tenth centuries. They were called "Gypsies" because Europeans mistakenly believed they came from Egypt.

This is yet another example of our language and world history being dumbed down. I can only think that travellers/tinkers etc - not true gypsies - have had the word used in a derogatory tone. I remember as a child some rough/grubby looking boys were referred to as Gyppos.