Fedora runs off to laugh maniacally about scamming yet another group of people and sees another poster for a missing cat on the same tree she found the previous with a reward of £5000.

[1] Alexander uses numerous tactics to stay awake past his 7:30 pm bedtime by pestering his exhausted parents, such as taking time to put on a swimming costume, pretending to be interested in minute details of keeping his bedroom protected from creepy shadows, forcing his mother to search for his toys downstairs that he knowingly had in his room, and asking for water a few minutes later so that he could pretend to use the toilet.

The bully in question is Johnny Bullneck, a pale-skinned, overweight and angry-looking twelve-year-old who enjoyed interrogating students at random and torturing them if one of their answers displeases him.

Back in 1952, Algie visited his aunt Fanny and uncle Herbert, with his pet dog Stinker and his best friend Col in Kent for their summer holidays.

They decide to open the hamper and eat despite the time being 11 am and find scones covered in clotted cream, sardine sandwiches, a tin of spam, ginger beer and Uncle Herbert's tomatoes, along with the other families' donations.

The sun had disappears behind a cloud when they wake up and Algie is disappoints that Sam (the noted logical member of the gang) suggests leaving for home despite only eaten lunch.

The children attempt to apologise, even consenting to corporal punishment but Tregowan points out it will not bring the four apples back, so he has to squeeze every drop of juice out of them.

Ellie flees to the living room, grabs the fly swatter and beats it dead with one strike, her sister's corpse landing in front of her in a black pile.

When Willard was out of earshot, his parents frequently refer to newspaper reports about worldwide scientists' growing concerns over the shrinking sun, comment on the early sunsets, and his boiling hot bedroom.

When the last of the sunbeams are out, all the hovering particles mould together into a sphere outside of the window and explode, burning Willard alive as the reformed and recharged sun floats away towards the atmosphere.

They formerly belonged to a schoolboy named Tommy Knock, one of the best track runners in the county 50 years ago who failed to win a race that would cement his All England Schools Champion title.

He wins the semi-final race and is named the best 400m runner in British history by a magazine for young athletes, which is purchased by the St John Smythe family.

Known for his tantrums, Simon causes commotion in a clothes shop when he discovers the school uniform he will have to wear and locks his bedroom door when he gets home, vowing to die in the room if it means that he will never leave with his parents.

She will use a variety of methods to be convincing, such as placing thermometers in hot drinks, making herself cold at night, and create scars by waxing her limbs with plasters, only to be unusually excitable when her father arrives home at the end of every "sick" day with a get-well present.

Lorelei Lee's mother fails to find any medicine in any nearby pharmacies that match the prescription and asks her husband whether he has heard of "Medicus moribundus".

The night nurse turns her over to cover her back in leeches and then rubs poultice mustard all over her body, as Lorelei Lee screams that she is healthy and promises to go to school every day.

Lorelei Lee points out that brain surgery seems unconventional but Moribundus replies that his method is alternate too and takes out a giant injection from his medical kit.

A lisping Lorelei Lee suggests being injected in the head making the teacher laugh as he strokes his beard, which lookes similar to Moribundus' thin, black one.

Chico continues drawing, creating the enchanted land of Fiddle-Dee-Dee with a magical river where a blind sorceress lives in a castle and Knobbly Hobgoblins lurk in the caves.

It seems that due to the lack of "affection", the thumb has "controlled" the hands into becoming fidgety and Daffyd is constantly told off by his parents for sticking his fingers in different places, regardless of sanitation.

Jack pesters Frankenstein throughout his visit, isolating him in an empty room from Rosie and her guests, bombarding him with questions, interrupting constantly, and offering to show the foot verruca.

Disturbed, he turns to leave but stops when he sees severed heads of children hanging from wires over 30 transparent tanks of bubbling formaldehyde.

Some titles of the short stories are play on words: "The Matchstick Girl" is Polly Peach's job description but then she turns into a working matchstick when she attempts to defy her boss; "Athlete's Foot" refers to the fungal infection and the magic trainers making the wearer win running races; "The Cat Burglar" relates to Fedora scamming people, Tiddles the missing cat, and the phrase cat burglar; and "Jack in a Box" ends with Jack's father opening a box to show his wife the dummy of Jack, with no relation to the children's toy.

"[24] Although not explicitly stated, "The Chipper Chums Go Scrumping" is a whole-plot reference to The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton, and is written in her voice, specifically during the food porn paragraphs[25][26][27] and in the dialogue.

[15] Like the Channel 4 parody, "The Chipper Chums Go Scrumping" is about a group of children and their dog on a picnic in the countryside in a southern English coastal county (Dorset and Kent).

Farmer Tregowan is a Cornish stereotype: his surname begins with "Tre", and he is portrayed as aggressive and unpleasant,[39] refusing to accept the children's apologies when he catches them stealing from his orchard.

Tregowan is one of the numerous references to classism that appears in the short story, that itself is a reference to the criticisms that Blyton's children's stories frequently receive: the Famous Five members have been accused of being entitled and prejudice,[41] and that most of Blyton's books contain "snobbery";[42] Lou the working-class acrobat, who is revealed to be a thief/con artist, immediately dislikes the five children because they are staying in a caravan;[43][44] and Mrs Stick is also a twist villain with a smelly, rude child who helped kidnap and imprison a girl for ransom.

[...] The Sticks were so poor that they didn't have two pork chops to rub together, but what did the chums care, so long as the sun blazed down all day and the ginger beer flowed like wine!

"[45] Later, when Tregowan confronts the children, Sam thinks to herself that he looked "uncouth" with his five o'clock shadow and that he reminded her of "the sort of man the police were always chasing.

[2] It was also republished in issue 28 of the Braille at Bedtime series by the Royal National Institute of Blind People, along with "The Chipper Chums Go Scrumping" and "Prince Noman".