Respect for elders seems to have gone out of fashion too. While spanking of children is far less common than it was 80 years ago, it is not yet a criminal offence in England. But there is not a word of it in today's Famous Five. In 1942, Uncle Quentin had said of his daughter: 'Where's George? She wants spanking.' Now, he says: 'She wants a good talking too.'īlyton wrote that the girls' 'gay voices sounded all up and down the platform', but in the updated version, their voices are instead 'happy' Now the passage says simply: The inned at George. It seemed so queer to the other children to hear Georgina called 'Master George'!' The words were emphasising the key plot component of Georgina/George's tomboy nature - but that was clearly too contentious for modern readers. In 1942, Blyton had gone on: 'The inned at George.

So when Anne wonders why Georgina has not greeted her and her brothers, she originally remarked: 'Isn't she queer - not wanting to welcome us.' In 2023, she says: 'Isn't she odd - not wanting to welcome us.' There is also evidently modern nervousness around skin colour.Ī description of 'a brown-faced fisher-boy' is 'changed to a suntanned fisher-boy'. But nervousness over the word is such that in the current Hodder Children's Books edition available in 2023 bookshops, that it is banished entirely - and replaced variously with 'peculiar', 'odd', 'strange', 'funny', 'weird', and 'amazing'. In the 1942 edition, 'queer' was very much Blyton's favourite adjective, used as often as twice on one page, and applied to everything from cormorants to waves. Never, of course, with any reference to sexuality. Her first Famous Five adventure - Five on Treasure Island - introduced youngsters Julian, Dick and Anne and their tomboy cousin Georgina, or George, plus her dog Timothy. The hundreds of millions of fans of Blyton, born in East Dulwich, south London, in 1897, may be similarly surprised at changes to current editions of some of her most popular books.

Daily Mail analysis has found the books have been stripped of many of the much-loved author's key words, such as innocent uses of 'queer' and 'gay'

First term at malory towers