Nigel Molesworth
Nigel Molesworth is the supposed author of a series of books (actually written by Geoffrey Willans), with cartoon illustrations by Ronald Searle.
The Molesworth books were the result of an approach by Willans to the cartoonist, Searle, to illustrate a series of books based on a column he had been writing for Punch. They appeared in instalments in the Children's Magazine The New Elizabethan.(described by Molesworth as 'the super smashing New Elizabethan ahem (advert.)' Punch. Searle had grown disillusioned with his (very popular) St Trinian's School series but had promised his publisher Max Parrish another Christmas best-seller. Searle was initially sceptical about another school-based project but was won over by the examples he was given to read by Willans. Between the initial publication in 1953 and Willans' death in 1958 aged 47 three books were completed and most of a fourth (Back in the Jug Agane) written; the Compleet Molesworth anthology was also under way. The first book, Down With Skool, was published in October 1953 and by that Christmas had sold, according to Searle, 53,848 copies[1], surpassing the performance of the previous year's The Terror Of St. Trinian's.
St. Custards
Nigel is a schoolboy at St Custard's, a fictional (and terrible) prep school located in a carefully unspecified part of England. Nigel's spelling is extremely uneven, a feature found endearing by fans. While in this article all proper nouns have been capitalised, purists might argue that 'Molesworth' should in fact be written as 'molesworth', and 'St Custard's' as 'st custards', as they are in the books. The phrase "as any fule kno"[2] (sic), appended to many of Nigel's pronouncements, has achieved fame beyond its author, and can sometimes be seen in the mainstream British press (usually in a satirical context; the phrase often appears in Private Eye).
The books in the series are, in order of publication:
- Down with Skool! A Guide to School Life for Tiny Pupils and their Parents (1953)
- How to be Topp: A Guide to Sukcess for Tiny Pupils, Including All There is to Kno about Space (1954)
- Whizz for Atomms: A Guide to Survival in the 20th Century for Fellow Pupils, their Doting Maters, Pompous Paters and Any Others who are Interested (1956)
- Published in the U.S. as Molesworth's Guide to the Atommic Age
- Back in the Jug Agane (1959)
- The Compleet Molesworth (1958)
- Molesworth (2000 Penguin reprint), ISBN 0-14-118600-3
They are part of a British tradition of children's books set at boarding school which also includes the likes of the Jennings and Billy Bunter stories, and most recently the Harry Potter books. Unlike these others, however, the Molesworth books do not consist of linear storylines, but rather feature Molesworth's wisdom on a variety of topics, as well as his fanciful daydreams. The topics covered include not only boarding school life, but also reveal much about 1950s Britain. Television (then still relatively novel to British households), space travel and the atomic age, the Davy Crockett Craze and "How to be a young Elizabethan" all feature, as well as more timeless topics such as Christmas, the French, journalism (with N. Molesworth, Ace Reporter), and gurls.
Author Simon Brett later wrote two sequels to the series in which a grown up Nigel offered his observations on subjects such as jobs, family, holidays and D.I.Y.
- Moleseworth Rites Again (1983)
- How To Stay Topp (1987)
Major characters
Some of the students at St Custard's:
- Nigel Molesworth, the self-styled "curse of st custards" and "gorila of 3B".
- Molesworth 2, his younger brother. Described by Nigel as "uterly wet and a weed it panes me to think i am of the same blud".
- Peason, Molesworth's "grate friend" (sic). His surname, never spelt correctly in the books, should presumably be Pearson.
- Gillibrand, another of Molesworth's classmates. His father is a General.
- Grabber Ma. Head of the School, "captane of everything" (especially "foopball") and "winer of the mrs joyful prize for rafia work". His parents are extremely rich, and Molesworth cynically opines that Grabber "could win a brownies knitting badge for the ushual amount".
- Basil Fotherington-Thomas. A sissy. He has curly blond locks and is prone to skip around the school girlishly saying "Hello clouds, hello sky".
Some of the staff at St Custard's:
- Headmaster GRIMES (sic). Headmasters "are always very ferce and keep thousands of KANES chiz moan drone"
- Sigismund Arbuthnot the mad maths master.
- the Matron
(many of the faculty and staff are anonymous)
Quotes
- "'Reality,' sa molesworth 2, 'is so unspeakably sordid it make me shudder.'" (Whizz for Atomms)
- "As any fule kno" - e.g. "a chiz is a swiz or a swindle, as any fule kno"
- [on music] "I can only tell you that if you get the whole lot of minims crotchets and quavers mixed up together it is like an atomic xplosion cheers cheers cheers." (How to Be Topp)
- [on grandmothers] "Most boys have 2 grans" (Down With Skool); "Grandmothers are all very strikt and they all sa the same thing as they smile swetely over their gin and orange. It is a grandmother's privilege to spoil her grandchildren GET OFF THAT SOFA NIGEL YOU WILL BRAKE IT." (How to Be Topp)
- [On Latin] "Fancy a grown man saying hujus hujus hujus as if he were proud of it it is not english and do not make SENSE." (How to Be Topp)
- [on sport] "It is a funny thing tho your side always gets beaten whichever skool you are at. That is like life i supose." (How to Be Topp)
- [on grown ups] "Grown ups are what's left when skool is finished."
- [on History] "History started badly and hav been geting steadily worse."
- [on smoking] "You have caught me. Sir, like a treen in a disabled spaceship"
See also
External links
- Molesworth Books at the BBC
- Review in the London Review of books
- A very fine homage to Molesworth and St Custards