Of dated language, Awful swotters and Enid Blyton

After sensitive text revisions which included replacing the word "tinker" with "traveller", "mother and father" with "mum and dad" and "awful swotter" with "bookworm" were made to Blyton’s 21 Famous Five books in 2010 in an attempt to make them more appealing to modern children.

The publisher has now decided to do away with the initiative because the new versions have failed to work. Anne McNeil, publishing director of Hodder Children's Books, on Friday, told the Guardian that the publisher's "sensitive reworking" of Blyton was not received well by readers.

“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,” McNeil said.

She also said, "We want Enid Blyton's legacy to go on. Millions of readers have learned to read with her," Hodder sells more than half a million copies of the Famous Five books a year, with Blyton amassing more than 500m lifetime sales.