Posted by Dave Thewlis on December 05, 1997 at 17:57:25:
In Reply to: Re: Inconsistencies (Was: Water on the carbide) posted by Robert Hill on December 02, 1997 at 10:08:27:
"It is also, if not exactly an inconsistency, then very nearly one,
that after being led in S&A to believe that her real name is Victoria
(as in the icing on her cake), we find in Swallowdale that it was
Bridget all along."
I think this is a real inconsistency. Swallowdale tells us that she
was really named Bridget but was being called "Vicky" because of looking
like Queen Victoria at a young age. But in Swallows and Amazons the cake
indeed has "Victoria" on it, and as pointed out in an earlier article (actually
in S2M) it's highly unlikely anybody would would use the formal form of a
nickname rather than a real name on a birthday cake.
My hypothesis is that when he wrote Swallows and Amazons Ransome clearly meant
her name to be Victoria, but that by Swallowdale he had decided to change it
to Bridget, whether in emulation of the real Brigit or not I do not know.