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209:; its female pupils are bad and often well armed, and mayhem is rife. The schoolmistresses are also disreputable. Cartoons often showed dead bodies of girls who had been murdered with pitchforks or succumbed to violent team sports, sometimes with vultures circling; girls drank, gambled and smoked. It is reputed that the
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In the first two films, St
Trinian's is presided over by the genial Miss Millicent Fritton (Sim in drag), whose philosophy is summed up as: "In other schools girls are sent out quite unprepared into a merciless world, but when our girls leave here, it is the merciless world which has to be prepared."
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St
Trinian's is depicted as an unorthodox girls' school where the younger girls wreak havoc and the older girls express their femininity overtly, turning their shapeless schoolgirl dress into something sexy and risqué by the standards of the times. St Trinian's is often invoked in discussions about
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for girls, a
Catholic school established by the Sisters of Mary Ward. Growing up in Cambridge, Searle regularly saw the girls on their way to and from school; they originally inspired his cartoons and characters. The Perse School for Girls' Archive area holds several original St Trinian's books,
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In the films the school became embroiled in various shady enterprises, thanks mainly to Flash, and, as a result, was always threatened with closure by the
Ministry. (In the last of the original four, this became the "Ministry of Schools", possibly because of fears of a libel action from a real
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The St
Trinian's girls themselves come in two categories: the Fourth Form, most closely resembling Searle's original drawings of ink-stained, ungovernable pranksters, and the much older Sixth Form, sexually precocious to a degree that may have seemed alarming to some in 1954.
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During his BBC interview Searle agreed that the cruelty depicted at St
Trinian's derived partly from his captivity during World War II but stressed that he included it only because the ignoble aspect to warfare in general had become more widely known.
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In the films, the Fourth Form includes a number of much younger girls who are the most ferocious of them all. It is something of a rule of thumb that the smaller a St
Trinian's is, the more dangerous she is—especially when armed, most commonly with a
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294:. The school was of the experimental sort, and allowed its pupils a certain degree of freedom and autonomy in their own educational choices. The school's original building is now part of the
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In the 1950s, films were developed that were based on the cartoon series. These comedies implied that the girls at the school were the daughters of dubious characters, such as
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owing to the war). Searle was puzzled as to why two schoolgirls should seem so keen to return to their school, an
Academy for Young Ladies in Dalkeith Road known as
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The school has no fixed motto but has had several suggested ones. The school's motto is depicted in the original movies from the 1950s and 1960s as
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became a student at "St Searle's School for Young Ladies". Towards the end of the arc, Commandere Dai Thomas exclaims, "I took a look at the
190:. After the war, in 1946 Searle started making new cartoons about the girls, but the content was much darker compared to the earlier years.
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806:), numbered 1922 and named "St Trinneans" (sic). This model is bright pink and has a pair of uniformed schoolgirls as driver and fireman.
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664:(1954). The lyrics of the original theme song by Sidney Gilliat (c. 1954) imply that the school's motto is "Get your blow in first" (
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and included the school song, with words accredited to Sidney
Gilliat (1954). In the 2007 film, a new school song, written by
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given to the school by Ronald Searle. He also based the school partly on the former
Cambridgeshire High School for Girls (now
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were used as names for the fictional towns near which St Trinian's School was supposedly located in the original films. In
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for whom the school is a source of constant frustration and nervous breakdowns. Searle's cartoons appeared in the
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Minister of Education.) The first four films form a chronological quartet, and were produced by
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1097:. London; New York (respectively): Perpetua Books; London House & Maxwell. pp. 46–48.
1074:. London; New York (respectively): Perpetua Books; London House & Maxwell. pp. 44–45.
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A poem in one of Searle's books called "St Trinian's Soccer Song", by D. B. Wyndham Lewis and
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172:. The series was Searle's most famous work and inspired a popular series of comedy films.
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style of dress worn by the girls was closely modelled on the school uniform of
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Searle published his first St Trinian's School cartoon in 1941 in the magazine
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Rear of St Leonard's Hall, Pollock Halls of Residence, University of Edinburgh
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for Girls until World War II, when the school was moved to the countryside
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s comedy films was made, featuring well-known British actors, including
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During 1941 Searle had gone to the artists' community in the village of
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St Leonard's Hall, Pollock Halls of Residence, University of Edinburgh.
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http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst10257.html
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Fictional buildings and structures originating in comic books
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for girls, where the teachers are sadists and the girls are
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here "The Cambridge Schoolgirls who inspired "St Trinian's"
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stick—though none of them can ever be considered harmless.
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The musical score for the St Trinian films was written by
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The school's coat of arms was originally shown as a black
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on a field of white. This was later changed to a white
880:"8: II. Ronald Searle & the St Trinian's Cartoons"
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in the past? With them about, who needs the perishing
543:. Reviews were mixed. A second new St Trinian's film,
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as the headmistress, and also playing her brother);
232:. The institution is often referred to as a "female
164:from 1946 until 1952. The cartoons all centre on a
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Cover of a modern re-issue of St Trinian's drawings
60:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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817:paid tribute to both Searle and St Trinian's in a
410:as Sgt Ruby Gates, a beleaguered policewoman; and
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841:records. Have you any notion what this school's
1362:St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold
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1336:St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold
626:St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold
546:St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold
798:produce an "unorthodox" model of a British
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963:"Revealed: belles of the real St Trinians"
1207:St Trinians animated by Uli Meyer Studios
360:(1952; text by Timothy Shy, pen-name for
221:, which Searle's daughter Kate attended.
160:comic strip series, created and drawn by
136:. For the actual progressive school, see
120:Learn how and when to remove this message
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470:at the time of filming (transferred to
301:Searle's St Trinian's was based on two
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27:British gag cartoon comic strip series
1290:The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery
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960:Goodwin, Stephen (October 22, 1998).
794:The gauge 0 model train manufacturer
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1459:Comics characters introduced in 1941
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584:The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery
504:The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery
498:Later other headmistresses included
478:groups of schoolgirls running amok.
58:adding citations to reliable sources
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666:Semper debeatis percutis ictu primo
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1004:Desert Island Disks: Ronald Searle
950:(Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1990)
741:by removing the content or adding
606:taking on the Joyce Grenfell role)
515:, was released. The cast included
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236:", as if it were a reform school.
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1439:British comics adapted into films
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1129:from the original on 2021-12-12.
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800:Schools Class steam locomotive
509:In December 2007, a new film,
441:The Happiest Days of Your Life
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1484:Fictional locations in comics
1355:St. Trinian's: The Soundtrack
1282:The Pure Hell of St Trinian's
1140:E/10 Schools class Locomotive
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576:The Pure Hell of St Trinian's
418:as the civil servants at the
1309:The Wildcats of St Trinian's
599:The Wildcats of St Trinian's
438:. They had earlier produced
320:Long Road Sixth Form College
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1474:Female characters in comics
1274:Blue Murder at St Trinian's
1266:The Belles of St. Trinian's
1118:Original St. Trinian's song
860:Category:St Trinian's films
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804:named after British schools
771:Between 1968 and 1972, the
675:, states that the motto is
568:Blue Murder at St Trinian's
464:Blue Murder at St Trinian's
215:James Allen's Girls' School
197:of the type of posh girls'
10:
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1424:Child characters in comics
948:Ronald Searle: A Biography
662:The Belles of St Trinian's
560:The Belles of St Trinian's
379:In the 1950s, a series of
348:Back to the Slaughterhouse
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1444:British comics characters
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1009:– Retrieved 20 April 2020
737:Please help Knowledge to
354:The Terror of St Trinians
1145:. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
1093:Webb, Kaye, ed. (1959).
1070:Webb, Kaye, ed. (1959).
918:Source: Downloaded from
784:The Belles of St. Lemons
549:, was released in 2009.
424:films' main title design
358:Angela's Prince Charming
329:
188:prisoner of the Japanese
1429:Boarding school fiction
1197:Link to the first movie
932:The St. Trinian's Story
687:—"May Eton Flourish").
336:Hurrah for St Trinian's
296:University of Edinburgh
132:For the 2007 film, see
1209:Retrieved January 2013
1185:Ronald Searle and the
1095:The St Trinian's Story
1072:The St Trinian's Story
781:ran a series entitled
311:Perse School for Girls
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1464:Comics set in schools
1449:Comics about children
1046:"St Trinian's (2009)"
934:(Penguin Books, 1959)
420:Ministry of Education
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69:"St Trinian's School"
1494:Fictional tricksters
1434:British comic strips
739:improve this section
677:Floreat St Trinian's
657:In flagrante delicto
640:skull-and-crossbones
450:Bernadette O'Farrell
256:St Trinnean's School
228:, crooks, and shady
170:juvenile delinquents
138:St Trinnean's School
54:improve this article
1419:1952 comics endings
1244:St Trinian's School
751:independent sources
362:D. B. Wyndham Lewis
342:The Female Approach
134:St Trinian's (film)
1504:Gag cartoon comics
1454:Comics about women
1414:1946 comics debuts
707:In popular culture
305:girls' schools in
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193:The school is the
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