Class acts at St Trinian’s
QUESTION Apart from Barbara Windsor, did any of the St Trinian’s schoolgirls go on to major acting roles?
A NUMBER of the St Trinian’s schoolgirl actresses — who were a handful during filming, by some accounts — went on to become household names.
Shirley Eaton, an uncredited sixth former in The Belles Of St Trinian’s in 1954, found worldwide recognition a decade later as the gold-painted Bond girl in the 1964 film Goldfinger.
This launched her long career in films, which included Doctor At Large and Doctor In The House and three Carry On movies: Carry On Sergeant, Carry On Nurse and Carry On Constable.
Jill Gascoine, a schoolgirl in The Pure Hell Of St Trinian’s in 1960, went on to find fame as Letty, the captain’s wife, in The Onedin Line.
She also played Maggie Forbes, the first high-ranking policewoman on British TV, in The Gentle Touch and the same character as a private investigator in the spin-off series C.A.T.S. Eyes.
The Great St Trinian’s Train Robbery in 1966 featured two schoolgirls who went on to find fame. Sally Geeson starred as Sally Abbott, Sid James and Diana Coupland’s daughter, in the popular TV show Bless This House.
Margaret Nolan was in five Carry On Films, played a masseuse called Dink in Goldfinger and appeared in many TV shows including Steptoe & Son, Budgie and Crown Court.
Carol White, a schoolgirl in The Belles Of St Trinian’s and Blue Murder At St Trinian’s in 1957, found lasting fame in Ken Loach’s hard-hitting TV drama Cathy Come Home and his film Poor Cow.
She starred in many movies, notably as the eponymous Dulcie in Dulcima alongside John Mills.
Danny Darcy, Reading, Berks.
QUESTION After which St James is Newcastle FC’s ground named? Why does it have a Gallowgate End?
ST JAMES’ Park is named after St James Street, which takes its name from St James’s Chapel at Barras Bridge.
This chapel existed in the 14th century as an appendage to St Magdalen’s Hospital, which had been founded for the care of lepers by Henry I in the 13th century. Edward Burrell, the Master of the hospital, was also ‘Provisour of the chapell of St Jaymes’.
St Magdalen’s owned land in Spital Tongues (meaning outlying land of the hospital) and Castle Leazes (meaning to glean or gather crops) and there is evidence of a burial ground between these areas and Barras (meaning barrows or burial grounds) Bridge.
Leper hospitals were often dedicated to St James the Less, who is associated with the most obscure Apostle, James, son of Alphaeus.
London’s St James’s Park is named after the Hospital of St James the Less, founded in the 12th century for ‘14 maidens that were leprous’.
St James Street, Newcastle, is off Strawberry Place. In the Middle Ages, strawberries were wrongly thought to be a cure for leprosy and were grown near leper hospitals.
Newcastle FC’s famed Gallowgate End is named after the street by St James’ Park along which criminals were taken to the gallows at Town Moor near Fenham Barracks.
The last execution was on August 23, 1844, when Mark Sherwood was hanged for the murder of his wife Ann.
eddy Stowell, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear.
QUESTION How do psychologists explain celebrity shoplifters?
WHAT prompts celebrities to steal seems to be the rush they get from it.
There are a number of explanations why people steal without having any economic need to do so. This can become addictive, which is why they repeat their behaviour, despite the risk of arrest.
In his 2013 book Men Of Steal, psychologist Dr John C. Brady examines shoplifting as a crime committed for various reasons by different groups of people.
His second book published that year was Why Rich Women Shoplift — When They Have It All.
Brady identifies 16 categories of shoplifting, which include professional criminals who shoplift for personal gain and those who see it as levelling the playing field between rich companies and poor customers.
There are also trophy shoplifters who want to possess a high-priced product, such as trainers, to show off, but can’t afford to pay the price. There may also be peer pressure, such as teenagers egging each other on to steal.
Brady identifies seven groups of shoplifters: psychologically motivated (kleptomania, thrill-seeker, attention seeker); impulse-driven (because they can); economic (poverty-driven need); age (delinquency); those who need to support alcohol and/or substance abuse; mental or medical impairment (Alzheimer’s, dementia, lack of understanding); and an inadvertent act when someone behaves out of character.
Celebrities have no economic need to shoplift, but may be thrill-seekers or attention seekers.
Robert Sutherland, Northampton.
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