History Headscratchers / TheFamousFive

** It is stated in the first few pages that the siblings' father and Uncle Quentin are brothers who have not exactly kept in touch — before being sent to stay with him when their parents opt to have a holiday without them, they've only ever seen him once. This is despite the fact that they have always holidayed in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry, which is where Kirrin (the coastal village where Quentin, Fanny and George live) is. If the family name is Kirrin (see above), it would be somewhat amiss of the siblings' parents not to have taken them to the place where they get their name from at some point, especially if they were holidaying in the area.

** Also in this one, Sooty does not know Quentin's surname, leading him — when they are both kidnapped — to address him as "Uncle Quentin" rather than "Mr [insert surname here]". But surely, as a schoolmate of Julian and Dick, he knows ''their'' surname, in addition to which he knows Quentin is their uncle, so why does he not use their surname to address him? He'd have a 50-50 shot of getting it right (and actually ''would'' be right since, as stated above, Quentin is Julian and Dick's father's brother).

* What is their surname? They must all have the same one, as their fathers are stated (in ''Five on a Treasure Island'', the first novel) to be brothers. The [[https://famous-five.fandom.com/wiki/Famous_Five_Wiki Famous Five Wiki]] says it's Kirrin, although this is never definitively confirmed in the books. It is stated that George's family used to own most of the land around the village of Kirrin, and they still own Kirrin Island. If everyone's surname is indeed Kirrin, though, surely that would mean that they are ''all'' part of the landowning family — with George 's part of the family still owning what 's left of the estate as (presumably) Quentin is the eldest son. Unless, of course, the landowning side of the family is Fanny's family — which would make more sense given that it is specifically George's family that still owns Kirrin Island, which she says she will own one day (Fanny having presumably inherited it as there were no sons in her generation, which is also the case with George who is an only child). In this case, though, they'd all have a different surname, as Kirrin would be Fanny's maiden name which (given the time at which the books were originally written) she'd'be stopped using when she married Quentin.

** It is stated in the first few pages that the siblings' father and Uncle Quentin are brothers who have not exactly kept in touch — before being sent to stay with him when their parents opt to have a holiday without them, they've only ever seen him once. This is despite the fact that they have always holidayed in the West Country, which is where Kirrin (the coastal village where Quentin, Fanny and George live) is. If the family name is Kirrin (see above), it would be somewhat amiss of the siblings' parents not to have taken them to the place where they get their name from at some point.

* What is their surname? They must all have the same one, as their fathers are stated (in ''Five on a Treasure Island'', the first novel) to be brothers. The [[https://famous-five.fandom.com/wiki/Famous_Five_Wiki Famous Five Wiki]] says it's Kirrin, although this is never definitively confirmed in the books. It is stated that George's family used to own most of the land around the village of Kirrin, and they still own Kirrin Island — meaning that if everyone's surname is Kirrin, Quentin must be the eldest son. Unless, of course, the landowning side of the family is Fanny's side of the family — in which case they'd all have a different surname.

** It is stated in the first few pages that the siblings' father and Uncle Quentin are brothers who have not exactly kept in touch — before being sent to stay with him when their parents opt to have a holiday without them, they've only ever seen him once. This is despite the fact that they have always holidayed in the West Country, which is where Kirrin (the coastal village where Quentin, Fanny and George live) is.

* What is their surname? They must all have the same one, as their fathers are stated (in ''Five on a Treasure Island'', the first novel) to be brothers.

** Also in this one, Sooty does not know Quentin's surname, leading him — when they are both kidnapped — to address him as "Uncle Quentin". But surely, as a schoolmate of Julian and Dick, he knows ''their'' surname, in addition to which he knows Quentin is their uncle, so why does he not use their surname to address him? He'd have a 50-50 shot of getting it right (and actually ''would'' be right since, as stated above, Quentin is Julian and Dick's father's brother).

** It is stated in the first few pages that the siblings' father and Uncle Quentin are brothers who have not exactly kept in touch — before being sent to stay with him when their parents opt to have a holiday without them, they've only ever seen him once, despite the fact that they have always holidayed in the West Country, which is implied to be where Kirrin (the coastal village where Quentin, Fanny and George live) is.

** It is stated in the first few pages that the siblings' father and Uncle Quentin are brothers who have not exactly kept in touch — before being sent to stay with him when their parents opt to have a holiday without them, they've only ever seen him once, despite the fact that they have always holidayed in the West Country, which is implied to br where Kirrin (the coastal village where Quentin, Fanny and George live) is.

* ''Five on a Treasure Island'' begins with the three siblings meeting their cousin George for first time. It is never established which of their respective parents are siblings, but how come these cousins — who are of a similar age (being younger than Julian but older than Anne, George is probably the same age as Dick, the middle child of the siblings) — don't meet until they are over the age of ten? Granted, the siblings and their parents would appear to live in London while George and her parents live in the coastal village of Kirrin, but it is mentioned that the siblings have hitherto spent their summer holidays with their parents at Polzeath (which is in Cornwall); Kirrin is heavily implied to be somewhere in the West Country, so it seems odd that there would have never been some sort of family get-together at some point when the Londoners were holidaying in the same region where the villagers live.
** It would appear that the parents are not in regular contact, otherwise the three siblings would have likely known in advance that George doesn't like to be called Georgina. The only reason they get sent to Kirrin for the summer is that their parents are going abroad and for some reason cannot take the children with them, and therefore send them to stay with relatives.

** It would appear that the parents are not in regular contact, otherwise the three siblings would have likely known in advance that George doesn't like to be called Georgina.

* In ''Five Have Plenty Of Fun'' how come the kidnappers didn't realize that [[AccidentalKidnapping they got the wrong kid]] even after seeing her in broad daylight. They should have known how their target is supposed to look in the first place.

* ''Five on a Treasure Island'' begins with the three siblings meeting their cousin George for first time. It is never established which of their respective parents are siblings, but how come these cousins — who are of a similar age (being younger than Julian but older than Anne, George is probably the same age as Dick, the middle child of the siblings) — don't meet until they are over the age of ten? Granted, the siblings and their would appear to live in London while George and her parents live in the coastal village of Kirrin, but it is mentioned that the siblings have hitherto spent their summer holidays with their parents at Polzeath (which is in Cornwall), and Kirrin is heavily implied to be in the West Country — so it seems odd that there would have never been some sort of family get-together at some point when the Londoners are holidaying in the same region where the villagers live.

* In ''Five Go To Smuggler's Top'', Sooty mentions that the secret passage has an entrance from the dining room. When George is desperate to rescue Timmy, why does she not use that entrance? Also, when they do get into the passage later, George says "Do you remember Sooty telling us there was a way into this passage from the dining room?", leading them to discover the way into the catacombs; but this still does not answer why she could not have entered the passage that way to rescue Timmy.