The Terror Of St Trinian's And Other Drawings

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· 116 ratings · 18 reviews

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Sep 10, 2011 Bill rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this book very much, the humour, the drawings and the story. St Trinians were originally a cartoon series, featuring a nasty girl's school in England where the girls were armed and dangerous. There were a number of books and also a number of movies. The plot of this story, The Terror of St Trinian's doesn't really matter, but basically, it's a competition between gang leader, one Angela Menace and Head Girl, Chloe Languish, over the rights to handsome Board of Education inspector, Rupe I enjoyed this book very much, the humour, the drawings and the story. St Trinians were originally a cartoon series, featuring a nasty girl's school in England where the girls were armed and dangerous. There were a number of books and also a number of movies. The plot of this story, The Terror of St Trinian's doesn't really matter, but basically, it's a competition between gang leader, one Angela Menace and Head Girl, Chloe Languish, over the rights to handsome Board of Education inspector, Rupert Rover. It was one of those unique books, that I think I just found by accident, but there were laugh out loud moments and many chuckles. I will have to try and find the other books in this series, if even just for the excellent drawings. It was fun to read. 4 stars ...more

May 21, 2020 Angelika rated it it was ok

I expected something different. At least some kind of story. I did like the St Trinian part, the rest was very outdated with a huge lack of women.

Mar 14, 2019 Kim rated it really liked it

I have watched the St Trinian's movies and enjoyed them a lot, so when I found out about this book I just had to give it a try.

I must admit I thought this would have a written story about this school. Instead I found a collection of drawings and a short explanation about the author and his work. I must say that knowing the movies were based on these drawings did make me appreciate them even more. I really liked the drawings a lot and the small "story" sentences really made me laugh quite a few t

I have watched the St Trinian's movies and enjoyed them a lot, so when I found out about this book I just had to give it a try.

I was a bit disappointed that this didn't contain more story but all in all it was a fun little surprise.

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This book contains the works of "St Trinians", "from Merry England, etc", "The Hand of Authority", "Souls in Torment", a selection from "Molesworth", and "The Rake's Progress".

Ronald Searle is one of the 20th century's most influential and revered cartoonists. His work influenced Korky Paul and Quentin Blake, and his work on "St Trinians" is similar in style and scope to that of his American contemporary Charles Addams' "Addams Family" cartoons.

"St Trinians" is a one joke cartoon where a gothic

This book contains the works of "St Trinians", "from Merry England, etc", "The Hand of Authority", "Souls in Torment", a selection from "Molesworth", and "The Rake's Progress".

"St Trinians" is a one joke cartoon where a gothic girls' boarding school is home to murderous students out the torment their peers while the teachers look on in abject horror - until the reader finds out they're in on it too! The series contains some of his best art and its memorable archness helps make it among his most famous cartoons.

The "Molesworth" selection is great but I highly recommend buying the actual book which is pure magic.

The others were excellent too, especially the "Rake's Progress", a series of short vignettes charting the lives of members of society ("The Artist", "The MP", "The Union Leader", etc.) and contained some great jokes and some strangely un-relatable ones whose humour is lost on this twenty-something but probably not if I were a twenty-something in the 50s/60s.

The art is what's on show in the book and it is deceptively simple and completely unique and inspired. If you're new to Searle I recommend this as it gives the new reader a fine glimpse into the illustrious and illustrative life of one of the best artists England has ever produced.

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Enjoyable and funny, but I am not going to count this in my books of 2011 list because it's only pictures and looking at it doesn't really count as "reading" something.

I loved the film The Belles of St. Trinian's so I knew what to expect of the girls, but the (e)book still made me laugh out loud on many occasions!

Enjoyable and funny, but I am not going to count this in my books of 2011 list because it's only pictures and looking at it doesn't really count as "reading" something.

I loved the film The Belles of St. Trinian's so I knew what to expect of the girls, but the (e)book still made me laugh out loud on many occasions!

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Apr 16, 2015 Elizabeth rated it really liked it

I liked this. It is a collection of illustrations and they're all pretty good and I found myself enjoying the whole thing as a whole. I really liked the St. Trinian's illustrations as well as the The Rake's Progress. There was also one illustration that looked like two penguins (the logo) who were tired, with one asking the other "Read any good books lately?". I really appreciated that one. I liked this. It is a collection of illustrations and they're all pretty good and I found myself enjoying the whole thing as a whole. I really liked the St. Trinian's illustrations as well as the The Rake's Progress. There was also one illustration that looked like two penguins (the logo) who were tired, with one asking the other "Read any good books lately?". I really appreciated that one. ...more

Interesting. I think I'll stick to the movies though.

I found a few of the comics funny, and there were a few I didn't really get. Not sure if it's a cultural thing or generational... probably the latter.

Interesting. I think I'll stick to the movies though.

I found a few of the comics funny, and there were a few I didn't really get. Not sure if it's a cultural thing or generational... probably the latter.

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Feb 27, 2014 David rated it liked it

I'd thought I was fairly familiar with Searle's cartoons. Apparently I was wrong. All the cartoons collected here were new to me. The St. Trinian's section is the best. The rest were dull, a bit dated. I'd thought I was fairly familiar with Searle's cartoons. Apparently I was wrong. All the cartoons collected here were new to me. The St. Trinian's section is the best. The rest were dull, a bit dated. ...more

Aug 21, 2016 Lynne rated it liked it

Sadly dated, particularly in its depictions of 'the girls' and the pursuit of the perfect Prince Charming, but Searle's drawings remain an utter delight. Sadly dated, particularly in its depictions of 'the girls' and the pursuit of the perfect Prince Charming, but Searle's drawings remain an utter delight. ...more

Mar 27, 2015 Mckinley rated it it was ok

Horrors and terrors - mostly the school students. Along with other sets of illustrations.

Jun 28, 2015 Hoang-Anh rated it really liked it

witty and poignant, too good for a gloomy afternoon reading time

I think this is the edition I read. If so, it contains the cartoon "Hand up the girl who burned down the East Wing last night." I think this is the edition I read. If so, it contains the cartoon "Hand up the girl who burned down the East Wing last night." ...more

This is amazingly similar to the 1960s films. A bit of a hoot and great illustrations by Ronald Searle.

Ronald William Fordham Searle, CBE, RDI, is an influential English artist and cartoonist. Best known as the creator of St Trinian's School (the subject of several books and seven full-length films). He is also the co-author (with Geoffrey Willans) of the Molesworth series.

He started drawing at the age of five and left school at the age of 15. In April 1939, realizing that war was inevitable, he ab

He started drawing at the age of five and left school at the age of 15. In April 1939, realizing that war was inevitable, he abandoned his art studies to enlist in the Royal Engineers. He trained at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology, currently Anglia Ruskin University, for two years, and in 1941, published the first St Trinian's cartoon in the magazine Lilliput.

In January 1942, he was stationed in Singapore. After a month of fighting in Malaya, Singapore fell to the Japanese, and he was taken prisoner along with his cousin Tom Fordham Searle. He spent the rest of the war a prisoner, first in Changi Prison and then in the Kwai jungle, working on the Siam-Burma Death Railway. The brutal camp conditions were documented by Searle in a series of drawings that he hid under the mattresses of prisoners dying of cholera. Liberated late in 1945, Searle returned to England where he published several of the surviving drawings in fellow prisoner Russell Braddon's The Naked Island. Most of these drawings appear in his 1986 book, Ronald Searle: To the Kwai and Back, War Drawings 1939-1945. At least one of the drawings is on display at the Changi Museum and Chapel, Singapore, but the majority of these original drawings, approximately 300, are in the permanent collection of the Imperial War Museum, London, along with the works of other POW artists.

Searle produced an extraordinary volume of work during the 1950s, including drawings for Life, Holiday and Punch. His cartoons appeared in The New Yorker, the Sunday Express and the News Chronicle. He compiled more St Trinian's books, which were based on his sister's school and other girls' schools in Cambridge. He collaborated with Geoffrey Willans on the Molesworth books (Down With Skool!, 1953, and How to be Topp, 1954), and with Alex Atkinson on travel books. In addition to advertisements and posters, Searle drew the title backgrounds of the Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder film The Happiest Days of Your Life.

In 1961, he moved to Paris, leaving his family and later marrying Monica Koenig, theater designer and creator of necklaces. In France he worked more on reportage for Life and Holiday and less on cartoons. He also continued to work in a broad range of media and created books (including his well-known cat books), animated films and sculpture for commemorative medals, both for the French Mint and the British Art Medal Society.[2][3] Searle did a considerable amount of designing for the cinema, and in 1965, he completed the opening, intermission and closing credits for the comedy film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. In 1975, the full-length cartoon Dick Deadeye was released. Animated by a number of artists both British and French, it is considered by some to be his greatest achievement, although Searle himself detested the result.

Searle received much recognition for his work, especially in America, including the National Cartoonists Society's Advertising and Illustration Award in 1959 and 1965, the Reuben Award in 1960, their Illustration Award in 1980 and their Advertising Award in 1986 and 1987. In 2007, he was decorated with France's highest award, the Légion d'honneur, and in 2009, he received the German Order of Merit. His work has had a great deal of influence, particularly on American cartoonists, including Pat Oliphant, Matt Groening, Hilary Knight and the animators of Disney's 101 Dalmatians. In 2005, he was the subject of a BBC documentary on his life and work by Russell Davies.

In 2010, he gave about 2,200 of his works as permanent loans to Wilhelm Busch Museum Hannover (Germany), now renamed Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst. The ancient Summer palace o

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