The Famous Five, Ranked
We all remember Enid Blyton’s adventure novel series, The Famous Five, first published in 1942. These books, beloved by children, are still remembered today, nearly eighty years later. The books centered around the adventures of the Famous Five, otherwise known as Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy. Their adventures often involved secret tunnels, hidden spaces, long hikes, lost treasure, and so much more that engaged the readers well. The simple prospect of going on another adventure with the Five was incredibly exciting, so much so that Blyton’s novels even inspired films, and part of what made the novels so great was the Five themselves. All of them were exceptional characters that did a great job of adding to the plot points and proving themselves throughout the twenty-one books. However, some of the Five stood out more than others and became far more enjoyable. So without further ado, here is the Famous Five ranked, from least admirable to most admirable.
5. Anne
Anne is the youngest out of the five. She is the sister of Dick and Julian, as well as the cousin of George. She is sometimes known for getting scared more easily than the other five when they are on adventures. During their holidays, they often visit Kirrin Island (specifically Kirrin Cottage where George, Aunt Fanny, and Uncle Quentin live). There, she assists the maid Joanna with domestic tasks. These may include planning, organizing, preparing, cleaning, and more. She often aids Joanna with preparing meals specifically for when the five go outside of Kirrin Cottage.
It becomes evident early on that she does not like adventuring as much as others. In fact, one chapter of Five Fall Into Adventure is titled, ‘Anne Doesn’t Like Adventures.’ However, she also does not like being left behind, which she sometimes is. She is taken care of by her brothers, Julian and Dick, because she is not as old as they are and she is a girl. However, she does not mind this as much as George does. Consequently, Julian suggests that she should stay behind every so often on adventures to keep her out of danger.
Especially in the early books of the series, Anne shows that she has a big mouth. She almost gives away secrets that the five of them share to George’s parents, and has to be stopped by Julian, Dick and George, who get angered and vexed by this. Nevertheless, Anne is still very helpful at times. For instance, she has commendable hearing and on several occasions has shown that she can hear noises considerably farther than the others can.
Furthermore, she sometimes actually figures matters out and catches onto things quicker than the others, which she is very proud of. For example, in Five on a Hike, she theorizes that the man that came to Dick’s window in the middle of the night thought that Dick was someone else who had the same name, which explains why the man called Dick by his real name despite not knowing him. This is something that the others had not quite considered, so they are impressed when Anne shares her theory with them.
Additionally, the adventures that the five fall into on their school holidays require a lot of physical activity (especially for Julian, Dick, and George). This is because they often visit rural areas or go for long walks or hikes. Every so often, they travel to other places as well, such as Billycock Hill and Demon’s Rocks. In these places, their adventures center around finding lost treasure or artifacts, or finding out that criminals are attempting to cause trouble. Because of this, the adventures also require a lot of climbing through dark tunnels, climbing up ropes and much, much more. It is clear that Anne finds more difficulty, less pleasure, and sometimes even more fear than the others while doing these things. Despite this, she keeps adventuring with the other four, which proves that she is incredibly brave. She frequently displays her courage and resourcefulness throughout the series, and plays a notable role in the Five’s adventures.
4. Julian
Julian is the oldest of the five, and often has to make responsible decisions during their adventures. He is the older brother of Dick and Anne, and cousin of George. He is known for being taller than the others, and being the oldest. He is the leader of the five, and is frequently trusted by Aunt Fanny, Uncle Quentin, and Joanna to watch out for the other four and make sure that no one gets hurt, and takes this job very seriously, always watching out everyone, making the decisions about their activities, and overall, being the group’s captain.
During Five on a Hike, he made a well-structured plan for the five of them on their hike, including where they would travel, where they would rest, and where they would sleep (inns and farmhouses). However, this plan got muddled when Dick was given the map which would later result in their adventure. On adventures, when any of the others find anything interesting, they often look to him for approval or his thoughts, even though this is never stated explicitly.
He can sometimes be prideful, which is another aspect of Julian that has never quite been stated by Blyton, but is evident throughout the novels. Though he is caring, it is clear that he does believe that he is stronger and more suited for certain ventures than the others, especially the girls. He cares a lot for his sister Anne especially, occasionally telling her to stay behind. However, Anne does not mind this as much as George. Sometimes, Anne will even look to Julian to comfort her during troublesome times.
Despite this, his protectiveness can be questionable at times. He does not allow the girls to participate in activities that require more strength on their adventures, though he does allow George to do this sometimes if she has previously proven that she can. He has stated before that girls need to be taken care of at all times, and are different from boys, and he has been incredibly firm about this decision. Julian has called himself the chief before as well.
Despite his minor flaws, Julian plays a major role in nearly every one of the Five’s adventures. He is often the one who completes important tasks, such as making decisions, protecting the others, solving mysteries, and mainly helping the group move forward in their adventures. Julian frequently does work such as boat-rowing and other things that are helpful on their adventures. He uses his logical thinking to figure out motives. For instance, on Five on a Hike, he figured out that Nailer was trying to get a message to Dirty Dick, and was waiting for a prisoner to escape. He frequently displays his strength, bravery and cleverness all through the books, and eventually grows from a boy into a young adult by the end of the series.
3. George
Georgina “George” Kirrin is the cousin of Dick, Anne and Julian, and is the same age as Dick. She is known for being a tomboy throughout The Famous Five novels, and though her name is Georgina, she insists on being called ‘George’ and will not respond otherwise. She often scowls when people call her by her full name. She looks like a tomboy, with her short, curly hair, which often results in people mistaking her for a boy at first glance.
She loves Timmy a lot, as he is technically her dog, though the other Julian, Anne and Dick spend a lot of time with Timmy as well. Even though she was initially not allowed to have him, and this was because Uncle Quentin, her father, did not like having him in the house, she still took care of him anyway. George also has her own boat, which she often uses to fish in Kirrin Bay. She lived in Kirrin Cottage with her mother and father before she began to attend Anne’s boarding school. Quentin Kirrin is a brilliant scientist, so he must not be disturbed while he is doing his work, and often gets angry and irritable if he is.
George is known for her hot, fiery temper, which often makes her vengeful towards those who cross her. She gets this temper from her father, who has it also; he gets incredibly upset whenever he is disturbed or when George or one of the others does something troublesome that they are not supposed to. She can be judgemental sometimes, and forms an opinion about others based on what she notices about them. She gets jealous of others sometimes, such as Ragamuffin Jo, who got Timmy to lick her on the hand, and this made her spiteful towards Jo. These qualities make Jo difficult to get along with at times, but Julian and the others often make sure that her temper is under control.
Despite this, she proves to be extremely helpful and resourceful all throughout the novels. She possesses many skills that only Julian and Dick had at the time, despite being a girl, as at that time, it was very rare for girls to possess these skills. These may include her ability to row really well on a boat, bike quickly, run quickly and much, much more, which is definitely a good thing for the Five on their ventures, as sometimes they have to escape from places quickly. She often impressed Julian and Dick with what she can do, especially early on.
Furthermore, her defiance and bravery often comes in handy when the five of them are faced with antagonists. She is also incredibly strong, which comes in handy when she needs to escape or get something from people quickly. For example, in Five Are Together Again, she, along with Timmy, push two men into the ocean. She has incredible nerve in many of the books, and will often do things that she believes are correct even though Julian, Dick and Anne tell her not to, which often ends up benefiting the Five. She frequently displays her immense strength and courage just as much, if not more, than Julian and Dick.
2. Timmy
Timothy, also called by the names ‘Timmy’ and ‘Tim’ is George’s pet dog, and is a mongrel in the book series. Though he is technically George’s dog, he has a lot of interaction with Julian, Anne and Dick as well, and always accompanies them on their adventures on their holidays. Because of this, he always gets incredibly excited when he sees the Five, and starts barking at them and jumping on them. When not on holidays with the five, he lives in a kernel with the other pets at George’s boarding school. There, George visits him often and takes him out for walks.
Timmy loves to chase rabbits, which was made especially clear in Five on a Hike. However, this put the Five in a quagmire, because Timmy had gotten his foot stuck in one of the rabbit holes, and Anne had to yank it out, but Timmy ended up getting hurt. So, Julian and George had to take him to a doctor called Mr. Gaston, while Dick and Anne had to go to the place they planned to spend the night. However, they end up getting lost and reach a farmhouse, and this is how the adventure began.
Despite his love for rabbits, Timmy is always loyal to George and the five, and is never flighty when they need him. On adventures, he frequently displays his ability to frighten the enemies of the Five. Sometimes, the Five will use Timmy to make anyone following them scared. He is also incredibly strong and can fight off grown men on his own without assistance. The Five often say that he is just as strong as multiple policemen, if not more.
Because of this, he often helps to protect the Five. When they are all sleeping, he is the first to wake up to a noise from somewhere in or around the house, and immediately starts barking to warn the Five. However, in Five Fall Into Adventure, he is unable to hear the noise of someone climbing up the tower, because a Ragamuffin Jo had most likely drugged him. Other than this, he is mainly able to protect his friends when needed.
As readers, we often get to hear Timmy’s inner thoughts and what he thinks about things. Often, he will get excited near rabbits or when he hears about the holidays. Timmy is definitely a smart dog, and as made clear in Five Are Together Again, he somehow knows whenever George is coming home, and they say that this may be because he can read railway timetables (though, of course, this is impossible). Timmy frequently displays his loyalty, affection, strength, and intelligence throughout the Five’s adventures, and is definitely more helpful than most people may think.
1. Dick
Dick is the younger brother of Julian and older brother of Anne, as well as cousin of George. He is about the same as George is, one year younger than Julian, and one year older than Anne. Dick makes plenty of humorous jokes about the others and pulls their legs, which makes some of them, especially Julian and George, get a bit irritated at times. He is also known for enjoying food much more than the others. For example, in Five on a Hike, he attempted to bite into bacon, egg, ham and pork sandwiches stacked on top of one another to see how it would taste.
Additionally, Dick is incredibly kind and always gives others a chance to redeem or prove themselves. In Five Fall Into Adventure, the Five meet a tomboy named Jo at the beach one day, and the others are not fond of her, especially George, who feels slightly insecure around her after she managed to get Timmy to come to her, despite George’s calls to him. However, even before she displays some of her better qualities, Dick does not hate her as much as the others do, and instead is kind to her which proves advantageous later in the story once the Five need their help. This is one of Dick’s unique traits that the others do not demonstrate as clearly or as often.
However, Dick most likely has the least clear personality out of the Five, and there are not too many words that can accurately describe his character, unlike the others. George is clearly a brave, stubborn tomboy with a fiery temper; Julian is evidently the leader of the Five, and is bold, protective and a little prideful; Anne is perspicuously a more shy yet brave girl who enjoys an adventurous life but is not fond of danger; Timmy is a loyal and strong dog who can easily protect the Five. Dick’s personality is more difficult to put into words, but with that said, he is the most admirable, amusing, and unique character.
Though Dick is protective of Anne, he does not clearly display this as much as Julian. He likes Anne to be safe and content with herself, however unlike Julian, he does not stop her from doing things that he believes are not right for her as much as Julian does. To add on, though he does possess many character traits that would make him just as good a leader as Julian, if not better, unless he needs to, he does not try to guide, assist and lead the way. Instead, he is a kindhearted, entertaining person whose help comes in handy often, which makes him much more likeable.
Dick plays a major role in every one of the Five’s adventures. He often helps Julian with more difficult tasks that Julian believes the girls will not be able to or should not complete. These tasks may include biking while carrying things, retrieving items, rowing while the Five are out on a boat, or any of the more physically demanding tasks that come with their adventures. He and Julian have split up on several occasions before as well, such as in Five on a Hike. Julian, Timmy and George went to a doctor named Mr. Gaston’s house so he could treat Timmy, while Anne and Dick went to a farmhouse for the night, where he took good care of her. He frequently displays his kindness, courage, and helpfulness throughout the novels.
