‘Shut up’ is out: now The Famous Five are being censored
First Roald Dahl, now Enid Blyton: a new edit of a 63-year-old Famous Five story has axed ‘offensive’ phrases such as ‘shut up’, ‘don’t be an ass’, and ‘don’t be an idiot’.
The phrases “Shut up”, “Don’t be an ass”, and “Don’t be an idiot” have been quietly cut from Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, in the latest example of children’s literature being rewritten to suit modern sensibilities.
The move comes less than a month after UK publisher Puffin was forced into a backdown after attempting to remove words such as “fat” and “ugly” from Roald Dahl classics including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
An audiobook of one of the Famous Five’s adventures, The Famous Five Short Story Collection, has been edited in recent months to delete the phrases, uttered by the child characters beloved by generations of readers.
The first tale in the collection, Five Have a Puzzling Time, was first published in a children’s comic in 1960.
Famous Five stories censored to remove 'idiot', 'ass' and 'shut up'
It involves the Five – cousins Julian, Dick, George and Anne, as well as faithful dog Timmy – venturing to wild Kirrin Island to investigate mysterious lights.
In the original version, George wakes her cousin Anne, who says: “Oh George, don’t be an ass. As if you could get your boat and row across the bay in the middle of the night!”
This phrase has suddenly been deleted from the audiobook, which now has Anne saying: “Oh George. As if you could get your boat and row across the bay in the middle of the night!”
In the original, George’s cousin Julian also rebukes her, saying: “Shut up, George. Be sensible.”
In the audiobook, “shut up” has been deleted and Julian simply says: “George, be sensible.”
The Famous Five, which Blyton first released in 1942 and continued writing through to the 1960s, is notable for the inclusion of a female character – Georgina Kirrin – who dresses and acts as a boy, and refuses to answer to any name except “George”. Other “tomboy” characters appear in the series, including a girl named Henrietta who insists on being known as Henry, and demands to be treated as a boy.
Those references appear to have been left untouched in the new edits.
At least two instances of “Don’t be an idiot” have been cut from the Famous Five Short Story Collection audiobook, including in another story called George’s Hair Is Too Long, where George insists on getting a haircut because she looks too much like a girl.
Dick’s exclamation “Don’t be an idiot’’ has been cut from that story in the audiobook.
However, another instance of “shut up” remains in the story, this time uttered by a thief apprehended by the children.
“You shut up and clear off,” the man tells Julian and Dick in both the original and audiobook editions.
The phrases “shut up” and “idiot” also remain in a Hodder Children’s Books edition of the same book, available in e-bookstores as a downloadable title.
However, the e-book has been purged of the word “ass”, with Anne’s phrase “Don’t be an ass” amended in the e-book to read “Don’t be an idiot”.
As Blyton readers will know, “ass” is used in her books in the traditional English sense to mean “donkey”.
Blyton has been the subject of debate over the representations of characters in her stories, including the Golliwogs in the Noddy books. Names have been altered in some of Blyton’s other books, including Dick and Fannie in The Enchanted Wood becoming Rick and Frannie.
In 2010, publisher Hodder Children’s Books, an imprint of international books giant Hachette, released a series of “contemporary” adaptations of the Famous Five books, removing phrases like “housemistress” in favour of “teacher” and “mother and father” becoming “Mum and Dad” to make them more appealing to modern readers. In 2016, the overhaul was abandoned.
Hodder Children’s Books publishing director Anne McNeill was quoted in The Guardian in 2016 saying: “The feedback we have had, six years on, shows that the love for The Famous Five remains intact, and changing mother to mummy, pullover to jumper, was not required. We want Enid Blyton’s legacy to go on. Millions of readers have learned to read with her.”
Blyton, born in 1897, is one of the world’s most enduring and beloved storytellers and her books, which also include the Secret Seven, Malory Towers and St Clare’s series, have remained in print since her death in 1968.
Her descendants sold Blyton’s estate after her death and the majority of her works, including The Famous Five, are now wholly owned by Hachette.
Audible, which distributes the audiobook, said the title was wholly owned by Hachette, which provided the recording. Hachette Australia said the title was overseen by Hachette UK, which did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
