''Five Go to Billycock Hill'' is the sixteenth novel in the ''Famous Five'' series by

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have be ...

. It was first published in 1957.

Plot

The Five are camping on Billycock Hill, near the farm of Toby, a boy who loves jokes and pranks. When Toby's cousin Jeff, a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

pilot, and Jeff’s friend Ray are reported to have defected and stolen the newest aeroplanes, the Five and Toby are shocked. The media later reports Jeff and Ray crashed their planes and drowned at sea. Toby refuses to believe that Jeff was a spy, as he had always seemed a trustworthy man. The Five attempt to comfort the distraught Toby. Later that day, Toby's younger brother Benny's pet piglet, Curly, appears with a message leading the children to find Jeff and Ray imprisoned in Billycock Caves. The children then rescue the pair.

Characters

*Julian – oldest of the Five *Dick – brother to Julian *Georgina (George) – cousin of Julian, Dick and Anne. She is a tomboy *Anne – younger sister of Julian and Dick *Timmy – George's faithful dog *Toby – an amusing boy from Julian’s and Dick’s school *Mrs Thomas – Toby’s mother, a kind and hard working farmer’s wife *Mr Thomas – farmer and dad to Toby *Benny – Toby’s younger brother, a funny little boy who says "runned" instead of "ran" *Curly – a funny, curious pig belonging to Benny *Jeff – Toby’s cousin, a pilot, of whom Toby is proud and brags about *Ray – another pilot who also vanishes *Mr Gringle – the strange and absent-minded owner of the Butterfly Farm *Mr Brent – business partner of Mr Gringle *Will Janes – a criminal who lives at the Butterfly Farm. He used to do odd jobs before he made friends with the wrong folk *Mrs Janes – a poor witch-like woman who was always under attack by her son Will Janes

Adaptations

The

gamebook A gamebook is a work of printed fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices. The narrative branches along various paths, typically through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages. Each narrative typically does not ...

''The Secret Airfield Game'' (1986) was based on this novel.

External links

*
''Five Go To Billycock Hill'' at www.enidblyton.netEnid Blyton Society page
1957 British novels 1957 children's books Hodder & Stoughton books Famous Five novels {{1950s-child-novel-stub