Book Review : Down with Skool!

by Geoffrey Willans
A guide to school life for tiny pupils and their parents
(Name : Anmol S. Bedmutha
Div : B - 20270
BM 70’s Activity 3)
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About the Author:

Herbert Geoffrey Willans - 4 February 1911 – 6 August 1958,
an English author and journalist, is best known as the creator of Nigel
Molesworth, the "goriller of 3B" and "curse of St. Custard's", as in the four
books with illustrations by Ronald Searle.
Geoffrey Willans, author of Down With Skool!, How to be Topp, Whizz
for Atomms and Back in the Jug Agane, was born and educated in England,
and spent time not only as a tiny pupil but also as an extremely perceptive
schoolmaster. After active service during the Second World War he joined the
BBC as a feature writer. His writing appeared frequently in publications like
Punch, Liliput and Blackwoods before his untimely death in 1958, at the age
of fortyseven. Ronald Searle was born in Cambridge in 1920 and was
educated there at the Cambridge School of Art. On the outbreak of the Second
World War he left his studies to serve in the Royal Engineers and in 1942 was
captured by the Japanese at Singapore, then held by them for three and a half
years. He is a hugely successful graphic artist and pictorial satirist. As well as
his collaboration with Geoffrey Willans on the Molesworth books and his
invention of St Trinians, his work has been the subject of numerous
exhibitions across the world and appears in several major American and
European collections. He moved to Paris in 1961 and then, in 1975, to a
remote village in Haute - Provence.
Willans was born in Smyrna (now Izmir) in Turkey, where his father was
a superintendent of the Ottoman Aidan Railway. He was educated at Blundells
School in Tiverton, and became a schoolmaster there. He enjoyed sailing in
small boats. During the Second World War he took part in the Greek
campaign and the Battle of Crete in the Eastern Mediterranean, serving on
the corvette HMS Peony. He later joined the carrier HMS Formidable.
Molesworth first appeared in Punch in 1939, and later became the
protagonist and narrator of four books: Down with Skool! (1953), How to be
Topp (1954), Wizz for Atomms (1956) and, after Willans's death, Back in the
Jug Agane (1959). All four were collected in The Compleet Molesworth.
Comic misspellings, erratic capitalisation and schoolboy slang are threads
running through all the books.
According to Ronald Searle in his obituary of Willans in The Times: "His
cunning was more refined than Bunter. Willans was delighted that
schoolmasters, far from feeling publicly disrobed, were in fact giving away his
books as end of school prizes."
Willans wrote other books as well. A review in The Times described his
novel The Whistling Arrow (1957) as having a futuristic aeroplane as the
'heroine'; "It is his apparent strength in writing about planes and the people
that flew them." The reviewer compared it with one of Evelyn Waugh's earlier
novels. The idea of a 'whistling arrow' was popularised by the Walt Disney
Studio film The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952),
starring Richard Todd, where arrows that whistled were used as signals
between Robin Hood and his outlaw band.

About the Book & Its Arrangement:

Down with Skool, is the first in a series of books about Nigel Molesworth
the terror of St. Custard's Boys School. Geoffrey Willans and illustrator Roger
Searle worked together on a comic diary of Molesworth's school escapades for
Punch magazine from 1939 to 1942. Down with Skool was their first
published book (1953), which became so popular that several books followed
before Willans died suddenly of a heart attack. Willans a former headmaster,
and quite possibly a young prankster in his early years, most likely based
Molesworth on his own experiences and memories. I thought Searle’s
illustrations were brilliant and without them Molesworth probably wouldn’t
have become so well-known.
 Nigel Molesworth shares his cynical and quirky philosophies on life at an
English boarding school with this guide for students. One hilarious example of
both Willans and Searle’s collaboration is an invention that Molesworth has of
THE Molesworth-Peason Lines Machine. This machine was created by Nigel
and his best friend in response to write-offs punishment. The drawing shows
Molesworth pedaling a tall bicycle that is rigged with paper, an inkpot, and
over half-a-dozen pens. The pedaling puts in motion the pens, which
simultaneously complete multiple sentences of “I must be good,” expediting
written punishment in a most enjoyable way.

While reading this book, I even found connections to the Harry Potter
series, taking place at another school for boys, and I’m pretty sure J.K.
Rowling was a Geoffrey Willans fan. Molesworth calls his favorite jokes
“wizard wheeses,” he fears brainy and athletic “gurls” with names like
Hermione and Millicent, and he was once forced to perform in a Latin play
entitled “The Hogwarts.” And, though dated, I can see how these books may
have inspired the popular comic series Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.

Molesworth is famous for his horrendous spelling and use of slang. I’m
not entirely sure, but I think that ‘chiz’ (used rather frequently) is the British
way of saying ‘geez.’ Molesworth refers to himself as Molesworth 1, since he
has a younger (less intelligent) brother who is known as Molesworth 2.
Getting adjusted to the character’s phonetic way of spelling takes a bit of time.
But after reading along, I soon found myself using a cockney accent with an
‘inside-my-head voice.’ I also made a cool discovery about an expression that
Molesworth is famous for: “Any fule kno that.” This became the catchphrase
and title of a rockin’ Deep Purple song!

Other Series Books:

 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 Atomic Age
 Back in the Jug Agane (1959)
 The Compleet Molesworth (1958)
 Molesworth (2000 Penguin reprint)

Content and Chapter Summaries:

1 HEAD BEAKS AT BAY
From Beak to Tail - Kanes I Have Known by N. Molesworth
Two Short Speeches for Headmasters
1. Begining of Term
2. Prize-Giving at the School Sports

2 BOO TO SIR or ARE MASTERS NESESSESSARY?

All masters are weeds and love the Kane
Warning: some masters are keen—Masters are swankpots
Masters are sloppy and like gurls.
Know the Enemy or Masters at a Glance

3 A TOUR OF THE CAGES or MASTERS ONE BY ONE

1. English Masters Poetry - The Brook Literrary Corner
2. Latin Masters
3. French Masters
4. Maths Masters - Scenes in the life of Pythagoras useful for conversations at
luncheon with maths masters
5. Singing Masters - Table of Grips and Tortures for Masters

4 LESSONS AND HOW TO AVOID THEM

1. Botany Fragrant Leaves from My Botany Book
2. History - Untold History
3. Science - The Molesworth-Peason Lines Machine
4. Divinity
5. Geography - End of Term Geog paper with answers
6. General Knowledge - How to Succeed with Masters Flight of the Ink Dart

5 IN LOCO PARENTIS - Skool Prospectus

An Ideal Setting
A Corner of the Playing Fields
A Peep into Matron’s Room Academic
The Football Team Visiting the Skool

6 HOW TO TORTURE PARENTS

Skool plays displays bunghts and jamborees Country Dancing
Assembly of the Wizzo Space Ship—Reading Aloud
Parents at a Glance

7 SKOOL FOOD or THE PIECE OF COD WHICH PASSETH

UNDERSTANDING
1. Etiqutte
2. A Nightmare: The Revolt of the Prunes Curtain Speech

Recommendation and Views:

On the plain basis, as per my view if you are a general reader or fond of
reading book irrespective of age base or specific output from reading, you
should definitely read the book because on the overline all the metaphors and
PUN are so aptly expressed the what a person really inclines and what actually
is important according to a human behaviour be it be a child, parent, or any
other being.
Whereas if you are generic reader for specific kind this book would not
much appeal you being on the generality basis.