And as any fule kno...
QUESTION As a child I loved the Molesworth books. What is known of their author Geoffrey Willans?
GEOFFREY WILLANS’S great creation was schoolboy Nigel Molesworth, the Curse of St Custard’s.
His books, beautifully illustrated by Ronald Searle, feature chapters on how to avoid lessons and torture adults – outraging parents and delighting schoolboys for decades.
Molesworth was famous for his awful spelling and insight into school life: ‘Every skool hav a resident buly who is fat and roll about the place clouting everybode.’
His catchphrases ‘chiz’ (a swizz, swindle or scandal), ‘enuff said’ and ‘as any fule kno’ have passed into the language.
Willans was born in 1911 and was a pupil at Blundell’s, an independent school founded in 1604 in Devon, southwest England.
In 1929 he was a teacher at Sutherland House, Surrey, run by a martinet called Bradnack, thought to be the model for the St Custard’s headmaster, Grimes.
He then taught at Cran Brea School, Bromley, from which he was sacked for swearing at the boys. By 1939 Willans was writing for British satirical magazine Punch and others.
He had also published a couple of sub-Evelyn Waugh novels: Shallow Dive in 1934 and Romantic Manner in 1936.
During the Second World War, he served as a sub-lieutenant on HMS Peony, taking part in the Battle of Crete. He later served on the carrier HMS Formidable.
After the war, he became a reporter and covered the 1948 Olympics.
The character Nigel Molesworth made his first appearance in Punch in 1939 and his last in the magazine in 1941.
It is fair to say he would never have entered the public consciousness after this had it not been for cartoonist Ronald Searle, who was famous for creating St Trinian’s.
In 1953, Searle was disillusioned after being asked for yet another instalment about the naughty schoolgirls for the Christmas market.
He decided to placate his publisher by collaborating with Willans instead.
The combination was fertile, and the cast grew to include dubious masters and schoolmates such as the very wet Fotherington-Thomas (‘Hello, clouds! Hello, sky!’)
There were four books: Down With Skool! in 1953; How To Be Topp in 1954; Wizz For Atomms in 1956; and Back In The Jug Agane in 1959. These were later collected in The Compleet Molesworth.
During this time, Willans also wrote novels, the best being My Uncle Harry, an exploration of the gentlemen’s club, and a biography of actor Peter Ustinov.
He co-wrote the screenplay for the film The Bridal Path, which was released in 1959, but he did not get to enjoy his success. He died on August 6, 1958, of a heart attack, aged just 47.
Mike Woodman, by email.
QUESTION During the world wars, how were conscientious objectors treated in Germany?
GERMANY treated its conscientious objectors in a very different and harsher way to how they were dealt with in Britain.
During the First World War, British conscription laws provided limited exemptions on religious grounds.
Conscientious objectors, for religious or pacifist reasons, had a right of appeal to a tribunal. If their case was considered legal, they were permitted to undertake other work, usually in what was called the Non-Combatant Corps, though many joined the army as medical orderlies.
Most appeals were turned down and the conscientious objector could be jailed if he still refused to join the military. Out of 750,000 cases, only 16,600 won their case during the First World War. This rose to 60,000 during the Second World War.
In Germany, while some consideration was given to religious groups, conscientious objectors who refused military service had no right of appeal and were sent to prison or mental asylums. There are no reliable figures for the number.
In 1938, as a preparation for war, the Nazi government passed laws that made any form of avoidance of military service a crime. It was known as Wehrkraftzersetzung, which can mean subversion of the war effort, undermining military morale or sedition and defeatism.
While these laws initially applied only to the military, in 1939 they were extended to the civilian population. The maximum penalty was the death sentence.
Conscientious objectors found guilty of Wehrkraftzersetzung were routinely sent to concentration camps, which amounted to a death sentence. They could earn their release if they took up military service.
During the Second World War, there were between 14,000 and 30,000 convictions for Wehrkraftzersetzung. Bob Dillon, Edinburgh.
QUESTION The Doffcocker Inn in Bolton, England, has been called the Calendar Pub because it has four floors, 12 rooms in the cellar, 52 doors and so on. Are there any other calendar buildings?
A SIMILAR idea to this – but on a smaller scale – is the Pack o’ Cards Inn in Combe Martin, Devon, England. It was said to have been built as a private residence from the winnings of a card game.
Built on a plot 52ft by 53ft to denote cards in a pack with and without the joker, it has four floors, to represent the suits, with 13 doors per floor and 13 fireplaces per floor for the cards in a suit.
There were 52 stairs and 52 windows, some of which were later blocked up. Phil Alexander, by email. ST BOTOLPH’S church in Lincolnshire is a famous calendar building.
Seven doors to the church represent the days of the week, the 12 pillars in the nave represent the months of the year and the 24 steps to the library represent the hours in a day.
There are 52 windows, which represent the weeks in a year, 60 steps to the chancel roof for the seconds in a minute, and 365 steps to reach the top of the 275ft tower, the famous Boston Stump, which represent the days in a year.
The name ‘Boston’ is thought to have evolved from ‘Boltoph’s Town’. Ron Harman, Berkshire.