Blyton People By Series Trivia Quiz

Answer: Secret Seven

The "Secret Seven" series consists of 15 books written between the years of 1949 - 1963. They are a society with a badge, a secret password and their own headquarters in a garden shed. If there's no mystery to solve they come up with things to do like helping people in their community. Unlike most of her other stories these children attend day school so a lot of their adventures occur during term time.

Peter is the head of the society and has a very strong sense of right and wrong but he is also very bossy with the other members. Janet is his sister, she is much braver than the other girls in the club and is also very observant and has a good memory. Jack is Peter's best friend and the only one who will stand up to him. He's always forgetting the password and has a terrible younger sister called Suzie who causes lots of trouble for the seven. George and Colin are best friends who go to the same school as the other boys and Colin is often the one who stumbles across something suspicious leading to their mysteries. Pam and Barbara are the final two members, they are both friends of Janet's but spend a lot of time giggling rather than being much help. Peter and Janet also have a dog called Scamper who is an honorary member of the club.

Answer: St Clare's

"St Clare's" is one of Blyton's school series. It contains six books written between 1941 and 1945. The order of these books is unusual in that there are three books in the first form and one each in second, fourth and fifth forms.

The location of St Clare's is unknown but it is not on the coast and it doesn't have any clear house system. The girls sleep in dormitories and share common rooms until they reach the fifth form when they are allowed to share private studies and have the lower forms do small jobs for them.

The first book begins with the twins Pat and Isobel O'Sullivan who have been spoiled at their fancy prep school and their parents decided to send them to the more down to earth St Clare's. The girls are very unpopular at first and are called "the stuck-up twins" by the other girls but they eventually learn the school values and become steady, responsible people who are joint head girls of the school by the series end.

Allison is the twins' silly cousin, Hilary the dependable head girl of many forms, Carlotta the wild circus girl and Mirabel the loud, sports fanatic. Other main characters include the wild Bobby, hot-tempered Janet, the shy Gladys and the beautiful but very self centered Angela.

Answer: Five Find-Outers

The Five Find-Outers are also sometimes referred to as 'The Mystery Series' as every book begins with "The Mystery of... ". It is a set of 15 books written between the years of 1943 and 1961 and set in the small village of Peterswood. All but Fatty have known each other for many years - they meet him at the beginning of the first book.

Larry (Lawrence Daykin) was the original leader of the group but passes the leadership over to Fatty at the beginning of the third book. He is smart but often scornful of the younger members and is somewhat jealous of Fatty. Fatty (Frederick Algernon Trotteville) received his nickname from his initials but also his rather large build. He is an only child with many wealthy relatives so always has more money than the others. He loves to create disguises and is very clever but has no modesty about his talents. Pip (Philip Hilton) is Bet's older brother and he often teases her; their parents are very strict and take a dim view of their antics. Daisy (Margaret Daykin) is Larry's younger sister, it was her idea to form the club and she is the most practical member of the team. Bets (Elizabeth Hilton) adores Fatty and is usually the first to recognise him in his disguises. She is also the one who often stumbles across the vital clue to solve the mystery - although she is not always aware of it. Then we have the obligatory pet - in this case, Fatty's black Scottish Terrier called Buster.

At the beginning of the series Larry is 13, Fatty, Pip and Daisy are all 12 and Bets is only 8 but the mysteries take place over consecutive holidays so they would be much older by the last book.

Answer: Naughtiest Girl

This series has three full length books and one novella written between 1940 and 1952. The main character is 12 year old Elizabeth Allen who begins the series as a very naughty and spoilt only child. She is schooled at home but after making too many Governesses leave with her bad behavior her parents decide to send her to boarding school. Elizabeth is horrified and vows to be so bad that the school will expel her and she tries her hardest to make this happen. Of course she eventually learns to love the school but the books chart her growth as she learns to control her bad behavior.

Whyteleafe school is very different from Blyton's other schools. It is co-educational and very progressive, particularly for the era. The school is run by the children with a type of government made up by monitors and led by the head boy and girl. The teachers take a more advisory and supervisory role.

Other main characters include Joan Townsend, Elizabeth's best friend throughout all three books; Robert Jones, the sulky bully who is Elizabeth's enemy in the second book but becomes a good friend; the clever mimic, Jennifer Harris, who keeps white mice and the jealous, spiteful Kathleen Peters who also becomes a new person. Julian Holland only appears in book three but he is an extremely charismatic character. Clever, funny and popular, he has life easy until tragedy strikes and he must learn how to deal with adversity.

Answer: Adventure Series

This series consists of eight books and was written between the years of 1944 - 1955. Each of these adventures is set in an exciting remote place - a Cornish island, the Northern Isles and the Greek Islands. A Welsh mountain, Scottish castle and a valley, river and mountain in strange distant lands.

The children in this series are two sets of siblings. Phillip and Dinah Mannering and Jack and Lucy-Ann Trent. Jack and Lucy-Ann are orphans being raised by an uncle who does not want them. Mrs Mannering takes over their care and eventually adopts them.

Thirteen year old Philip loves all animals and always has some sort of one living on him - he is always teasing his sister with them as she does not like them. He always stays calm and optimistic in a crisis. Dinah is 12 and has a very fiery temper and is known to sulk but she is also very independent and resourceful. Jack is the eldest at 14 and he is more interested in birds and food than anything else. He owns a pet parrot called Kiki who shares in all their adventures. Eleven year old Lucy-Ann is the youngest of the group and is very timid but also very affectionate with everyone. She doesn't like their adventures but won't let the others go anywhere without her.

Answer: Faraway Tree

There are three 'Faraway Tree' novels written from 1939 - 1946. In the first novel "The Enchanted Wood", three siblings move to the country near some large woods. They come to find out that the woods are magical and in the middle is the Faraway Tree.

This is an enormous tree whose branches reach up into the clouds, it is home to many magical creatures and the very top has a ladder that leads into a magical land. This land changes all the time and the books are all about the strange happenings and adventures they have in them - some lands are very pleasant but others are very horrible.

The ages of the children are not given but Jo is the eldest. He looks after his sisters and is the one who usually manages to think of a way out of their sticky situations. Next in line is Bessie, who is the most sensible of the three and tries to keep the other two out of trouble, and Fanny is the youngest. Connie is a spoilt young girl who comes to stay with the children in the third book. She is known for being very nosy and not learning to stay out of other people's business.

Of course, some of the best characters are those who live in the tree including Moonface, Silky the fairy, Dame Washalot, the Angry Pixie, Mr Whatzisname and the Saucepan Man.

In the modern reprints the children's names have been changed to Joe, Beth and Frannie.

Answer: Secret Series

"The Secret Island" was the first book in this series. It was written in 1938 and was originally intended as a single novel but public demand led to four other books over the next 15 years. It is also the earliest published book out of all those in this quiz.

At the start of the book we meet Peggy, Mike and Nora Arnold whose parents disappeared two years ago while flying to Australia. They are staying with an aunt and uncle who treat them as unpaid servants on their farm. They meet a boy called Jack who lives with his grandfather on a nearby farm but his grandfather is ill and gets taken to live with an aunt who has no room for Jack and he is left behind. The children decide to run away and live together on a secret island that Jack knows of.

Peggy is the eldest of the Arnolds and is very responsible and likes to take care of everyone. Mike and Nora are twins who are a year younger than her. Mike is a very reliable boy but Nora often forgets to do things or doesn't take the time to do them properly. Jack doesn't know how old he is but his upbringing has taught him to be very self sufficient and he has many skills that help them all survive on the Island.

At the end of the novel the children's parents are found alive and there is a joyful reunion. Of course they adopt Jack into the family and buy the island for them all.

Answer: The 'R' Mysteries

The 'R' Mysteries, sometimes called the Barney Mysteries, are a series of six books written from 1949 - 1959. The series gains its name because each mystery begins with the letter 'R' - Rockingdown, Rilloby Fair, Ring O'Bells , Rubadub, Rat-a-Tat and Ragamuffin. Blyton only meant to write four books in this series but bent to popular demand and wrote the final two.

The children in this story are 14 year old Roger and his 13 year old sister Diana. These two are never overly given any special characteristics beyond being average, nice children who are driven mad by their cousin Snubby. Snubby is 11 and an orphan so he comes to stay with them in the school holidays. His real name is Peter but he is called by his nickname which is derived from his snub nose. Snubby is cheeky and likes to play tricks and, with his spaniel Loony, is always getting in everyone's way and creating chaos.

The fourth member is 15 year old Barney who they meet in the first book. Barney is also on his own but he does have a living father somewhere and it is his quest throughout the series to find him. He moves around working at fairs and circuses and is a very strong and steadfast character shaped by his need to take care of himself. He always happens to be working nearby wherever the children are during the holidays. He finally finds his father at the end of book four.

Answer: Malory Towers

The Malory Towers series consists of six books, written between 1946 and 1951, with one book per form. This girls boarding school is set somewhere on the coast in Cornwall, each form has 40 students with ten in each house division. The 'houses' in this series are four towers - North, South, East and West - and the majority of the stories and characters are centered around those in the North Tower.

The main character is Darrell Rivers who begins the first book as the new girl in school and ends the last one as the head girl. Darrell is a responsible, friendly girl who excels at study and sports - her only fault is her hot temper which she struggles to control throughout the series. It is believed she is named after Blyton's second husband Kenneth Darrell Waters.

Sally Hope is her best friend, another dependable girl but with a jealous streak. Shy, timid Mary-Lou is in all six books as is scatterbrain Irene who is a maths and music genius. Clever, witty Alicia is well-liked but she does have a spiteful side as 'Dear Gwendoline Mary' knows only too well. Gwen is a spoilt, lazy girl who is perhaps the only character that learns nothing from her time at the school.

Answer: Famous Five

Blyton only intended to write about seven 'Famous Five' books but their huge popularity led to the publishing of 21 books between 1942 and 1963. The Five consist of siblings Julian, Dick and Anne Kirrin, their cousin George and her dog Timmy.

Julian is the eldest - at the beginning of the first book he is 12. Julian is portrayed as tall, intelligent, dependable, reliable and kind. He is the leader of the group and is always taking care of his younger sister. Dick is 11 and also very responsible but he does have a bit more of a cheeky nature and teases the others. George is also 11, her real name is Georgina but she desperately wants to be a boy. She can be very headstrong and has a bad temper but is also very loyal to her friends. Anne is the youngest at 10. She gets easily frightened and doesn't really like their adventures although she loves 'playing house' and doing all of the domestic duties. Timmy is a very large mongrel that has great loyalty to George and the others and physically protects them on numerous occasions.

An interesting factor is how old the five were at the end of the series. As far as can be worked out they reached their midteens and stopped there. Julian is mentioned as being 16 in book number 9 but the children never appear to age beyond this. In a realistic time line - counting on which holidays Blyton mentions each book begins in - Julian would have been 23, Dick and George 22 and Anne 21 at the time of the last book.