Molesworth

by Phillip Hensher Willans, Ronal Geoffrey

Paperback, 1999

Status

Available

Call number

817

Collection

Publication

Penguin Books Ltd (1999), Paperback, 432 pages

Description

School is 'wet and weedy', according to Nigel Molesworth, the 'goriller of 3B', 'curse of St Custard's' and superb chronicler of fifties English life. Nothing escapes his disaffected eye and he has little time for such things as botany walks and cissy poetry with an assortment of swots, snekes andoiks. Instead he is very good at missing lessons, charming masters and putting down little brothers, in fact he is exceptional at most things except spelling. Wildly funny and full of sharp observations on life, the Molesworth tetralogy is magnificently complemented by the illustrations of Ronald Searle.

User reviews

LibraryThing member JollyContrarian
This is one of the funniest compendiums I have ever read. Gloriously, delightfully, and devastatingly accurate caricatures by the great Ronald Searle bring to life the hysterical adventures of the fearsome, loathsome nigel molesworth, the curse of st. custards, his grate frend peason, the oiks,
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cads, MASTERS and of course his own bro molesworth II chiz chiz chiz. the late author, Geoff Willans, was an for a short time a schoolmaster, and he obviously recorded EVERYTHING he saw while he was at it.
Maybe it's larking on an esoteric subject you have to have experienced to see the funny side - in which case it would be totally lost on those outside the English grammar school system of twenty years ago and more - but for my money there is no funnier book around. What's more I think JK Rowling owes Willans and Searle a debt - surely it is no coincedence that she named her legendary school of wizardry and witchcraft "Hogwarts" after a fictional Molesworthian Latin play?

Totally, utterly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Paul_Beattie
I was given this book by my dear old mum in 1985 when I was 13. Long gone were the days of St Custard's, even though I was going to a school which still had a boarding department. Indeed only a year or two later, the cane was dispensed with.

As noted below, this book is a satire of society and the
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public school system, but it offers a glimpse into a time - which although only 20 years (then) past - seemed so much very further away. I'm not old enough to remember the fifties and sixties, but it was a long way off the Eighties in which I read this book. Funny, satirical, downright silly, and even a bit reflective in parts, nigel molesworth, (for it is he), never garnered the same fame as the girls from St Trinians; but actually, his antics are a lot funnier.

Sadly, I don't think any of this will appeal to 13 year old today - chiz chiz - but for lads of a certain age, this book of skool life should prove to be a whiz of a read.

enuff said. ;-)
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LibraryThing member sloopjonb
the xciting adventures of nigel molesworth who is brave and daring and bold cheers cheers and sa ya boo sucks to all swots gurls and MASTERS who make his life hel chiz. Also contanes basil fotherington-tomas who is uterly weedstruck and believe there are faries at the botom of his garden. Xtra
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tuition in eng., fr., lat, hist. and MATHS not included. pub. grabber and grabber at 7/6 and well worth it.
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LibraryThing member isabelx
A compendium of Nigel Molesworth's four books about life at his prep school, St Custard's:
"Down with Skool! : A guide to school life for tiny pupils and their parents"
"How to be Topp : A guide to Sukcess for tiny pupils, including all there is to kno about SPACE"
"Whizz for Atomms : A guide to
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survival in the 20th century for felow pupils, their doting maters, pompous paters and any others who are interested"
"Back in the Jug Agane"

Very humorous, with wonderful illustrations. Here is Molesworth's attempt at reciting poetry in English class, while being sabotaged by his great friend Peason:

SIR THE BURIAL SIR OF SIR JOHN MOORE SIR AT CORUNNA SIR

(A titter from 2B they are wet and i will tuough them up after.)

Notadrumwasheardnotafuneralnote
shut up peason larffing
As his corse
As his corse
what is a corse sir? gosh is it
to the rampart we carried
(whisper you did not kno your voice was so lovely)
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot.
PING!
Shut up peason i know sir he's blowing peas at me
Oer the grave where our hero we buried.

(A pause a grave bow i retire and Egad! peason hav placed a dainty pin upon mine seat. Fie!)
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LibraryThing member AliceaP
The Compleet Molesworth by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle (co-creator and illustrator) had been on my TRL for ages. I was intrigued by the illustrations that were depicted on the cover and its comparison to my dear Roald Dahl. This is a classic children's series (bound together in its entirety
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here) about a boy named Nigel Molesworth who narrates his time in a boy's boarding school called St. Custard's. Willans captures the spirit of boyhood in a private boarding school especially well owing to his being a Headmaster himself. (This is even funnier once you get to know Headmaster Grimes who is particularly fond of the cane.) This book is replete with bad spelling (evidenced in the title) and absolutely stunning illustrations by Searle who was a satirical cartoonist (perfect for this series). Molesworth and his buddies get up to many hi-jinks and shenanigans which are generally instigated by our hero. Amidst all of this tomfoolery Willans and Searle have taken jabs at the inequalities of the classes by showcasing the Head Boy Grabber as only being placed in such a prestigious position because his parents shell out lots of money. (The Headmaster is greedy and generally does all he can to cut corners most notably with the selection of food offered to the students.) If you can get used to the bad spelling, grammatical errors, made-up slang, and seemingly arbitrary abbreviations for everything you will see why this has held up as a true children's classic. It's witty, cutting in its bluntness, and in general everything I hoped it would be. 10/10
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LibraryThing member denmoir
I read and reread this when I was 13 or 14. It captured for me the sense of struggle against the teachers, the school system and the other boys that is such a big part of being a teenager. It is still hilarious. Sadly the master cartoonist, Ronald Searle, has recently died but his masterpiece lives
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on.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1958
1984 (foreword)

Physical description

432 p.; 7.7 inches

ISBN

0141182407 / 9780141182407
Page: 0.2985 seconds