to think uncle quentin is an abusive prick?

[gymboywalton]

And that aunt fanny should have left him years ago?

I also think that Julian, dick and Anne's parents are crap too, send the kids to boarding school and then send to someone else for every bloody holiday.

I don't remember much of uncle Quentin - but didn't he give Georg an island? That's a pretty cool present!

You're right about the cousins parents though! The poor neglected mites!

Yes, he is awful. So rude & very much of the 'man of the house' approach, pandered to by the wimminz because he is very busy & important.

Aunt Fanny should LTB.

No!aunt fanny gave her the island. Quentin just shouted at her a lot, . Locked the dog outside as a punishment etc etc

He constantly had everyone tiptoing around on eggshells because he's so busy and important. Wanker.

Didn't he turn out to be a traitor or something in the end?

No!!!!!!!

Agree it was George's mother's island. Uncle Quentin wasn't a traitor though, just a right royal pain.

I agree that he was a complete pain. Also wondering about these parents who keep letting their children go off on holidays where they end up getting tied up and held hostage by men with guns - surely you would think twice before letting them set off on their next holiday! Wasn't Anne 9/10 or something and Julian was only 12!

Loved the FF books when I was younger and have passed them on to DS :)

It might have been in that BBC spoof from the late eighties, come to think of it

As you were.

Cabbage are you thinking of the one with French and Saunders and the Germans?

I'd love to ditch my children on an island with a tent and lashings of ginger beer for the summer. They're 6 and 3, would SS be ok with that?

For some reason when I read this title I immediately thought of Withnail and I.....wasn't that an Uncle Quentin as well?

Five Go Mad In Dorset was the spoof....funny as fuck...

Yes yes. Part of the canon, y'see

DF and DUnc genuinely went on a biking hol at around 12 and 10 respectively, in the 1960s. Panniers and a youth hostel. What larks!

pst C4 not bbc

I started to wonder as I got older if Uncle Quitting was on the spectrum. Struggling with social interaction and obsessive about work. Loved the books when I was younger.

We were listening to one of the books in the car recently which opened with an elderly lady approaching J, A and D's mother to ask if they could come and spend a few weeks in a remote cottage with no running water or electricity to keep her grandson company while she was away. I think he was about 10. My 7 yo DS said "Cool!" - my DH and I were more

Probably preferable to a week or two with Uncle Quentin though

Will somebody please tell me what you are all talking about?

Famous Five books by Enid Blyton...

Uncle Quintin is a character in the famous Five books Andrew.

I wanted to be Anne,

She was always the most sympathetic character, I wish I had my own island, with a ruined castle and everything,

Think I liked the Mystery Moor and Demon's Rocks ones best.

All jolly good fun.

I wanted to be George.

Thank you FatalCabbage and Aspiringhuman.

My parents were sniffy about Ms Blyton as were a lot of educated middle-class parents of their generation ('52 vintage and a good year too!) so I never read them, or the Secret Seven. I was allowed the Adventure series, goodness knows why.

George was my hero too...as a child I never thought about the parents of A, D and J that much..as an adult it is a bit more Uncle Quentin was a bad tempered, self absorbed character though. No wonder George was temperamental!
I still loved the books though.

I just wanted 'adventures' like them still do

I never thought about the parents either, even Uncle Quentin,

Never thought about the dangers of kids roaming about the countryside on their own.

I just loved the books, although her school stories were my favourites.