St Trinians School
St Trinian's is a fictional girls' school created by Ronald Searle, a British cartoonist. The school is the antithesis of the Enid Blyton-type posh girls' schools, in that its pupils are wicked (and often well-armed). The teachers (or "mistresses", as female teachers in Britain were often known at the time) are also disreputable.
From preliminary sketches, St Trinian's became a series of films featuring such British screen luminaries as Alastair Sim (in drag as the schoolmistress, but also playing her brother), George Cole as Flash Harry, and Joyce Grenfell as Crawfie, a beleaguered policewoman. The school became embroiled in a number of shady enterprises, thanks mainly to Flash, and, as a result, were always threatened with closure.
There was a real St. Trinnean's [sic] School for Girls in Edinburgh until the end of World War II, and it did provide the name for Searle's fictional girl's school (the daughters of a friend were pupils). The school's existence came to light when The Scotsman announced a reunion coffee party for old girls in September, 1955 (the fictional school had become so fixed in the national consciousness by this time that the typesetter adopted Searle's spelling in the advertisement rather than the correct spelling). In an interview with the Sunday Express, the Headmistress firmly denied that her girls were anything like their fictional counterparts.
There are plans to make a new film, possibly with Kylie Minogue.
Books
- Hurrah for St. Trinian's (1948)
- The Female Approach (1950)
- Back to the Slaughterhouse (1952)
- The Terror of St. Trinians or Angela's Prince Charming (1952 - text by Timothy Sly)
- Souls in Torment (1953)
Films
- The Belles of St Trinian's
- Pure Hell at St Trinian's
- Blue Murder at St Trinian's
- The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery
- The Wildcats of St Trinian's (with Maureen Lipman taking on the Joyce Grenfell role)
