A Leader in the Chalet School Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jacynth Hardy

Jack is the daughter of Ruth Lambert, Gay Lambert's cousin. Jacynth Hardy, now a professional cellist, lives with the Lamberts when not touring. Because having two Jacynths in the house would be confusing, Ruth and Tommy call their daughter 'Jack' for short and several characters muse that it suits her, because she's a tomboy.

Her parents decide that both she and Anne will go to the Chalet School once Jack turns eleven. When Len asks after Gay, Jack says that she was teaching in Australia and now has children of her own, and Len passes the news on to her classmates.

Answer: Pansy

Jack's dormitory mates in Pansy (in the Swiss years, the dormitories are all named after flowers) include Wanda von Eschenau, her 'sheepdog' and a relative of Maria von Eschenau; two Dutch girls, Arda Peik and Renata van Buren; Ghislaine Touvet, a French girl; Gretchen von Ahlen, Frieda von Ahlen's daughter; and Rosemary Wentworth, the only other British girl. Len is the dormitory prefect and is responsible for making sure the girls behave and get up on time. To Len's irritation, Jack bombards her with questions about the school. One night, Jack is unable to sleep due to the cold and Len notices the radiator isn't working.

She goes to look for Matron and accidentally drops her torch, making Jack think the school is being burgled. The fault turns out to be an airlock.

As the whole dormitory has woken up, Matron gives them hot milk and sends them back to sleep.

Answer: 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' by Jules Verne

In order, the scenes are: Trott learning to spell the word 'cat' ('Das Buch von Trott' by André Lichtenberger); the meeting of the Pickwick Club ('Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott); Anne Shirley smashing her slate over Gilbert Blythe's head ('Anne of Green Gables'); Heidi going to town ('Heidi' by Johanna Spyri); the Lunatic Gentleman courting Mrs Nickleby ('Nicholas Nickleby' by Charles Dickens); Fritz shooting a porcupine ('Swiss Family Robinson'); Rémi being found in the snow ('Sans Famille' by Hector Malot); Oliver asking for more ('Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens); and Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley leaving the Seminary ('Vanity Fair' by William Makepeace Thackeray). Len plays Anne in the 'Anne of Green Gables' scene. Jack is not a big reader and only recognises 'Swiss Family Robinson' (which she spells wrong). Matron is not happy about the prospect of the girls' sheets being ruined!

Answer: Cobbler's wax

Margaret takes an immediate dislike to Jack, thinking she's too confident for a new girl, and is annoyed when Jack gets a book out of the library that she wanted. In English class, Miss Andrews tells Jack off about her work and praises Margaret's, and Margaret gives Jack a smug look. Jack has been having a bad day and this is the final straw. Jack has swiped some cobbler's wax from her brother and while Margaret is out of the room, Jack puts cobbler's wax on her chair and when Margaret sits down, her tunic gets stuck to it.

She has to take the tunic off and as punishment, Jack is condemned to spend the Saturday evening doing mending for Matron, and will also have to pay for any repairs to the tunic. Margaret is not very popular in the form and few of the girls are sympathetic to her.

Answer: Miss Burnett

Jack has also stolen some bath salts from her mother and puts them in the teachers' bath, and Miss Burnett gets a shock when the water starts foaming. Len figures out that something is up with Jack and Jack admits she put the bath salts in the teachers' bath.

As the staff bathroom is forbidden territory for the girls, Len takes Jack to Miss Burnett to own up. Miss Burnett has calmed down by this point, but tells Jack that as the prank could have happened to any of the teachers, she has committed a crime against all of them and as a result, she will have to miss winter sports on Monday and apologise to the entire staff. Len offers to accompany Jack on her punishment walk and tells Jack not to bear grudges against Margaret.

Answer: Send them down to Inter V

The teachers despair of the poor standard of work in Vb; although Margot Maynard, Ruey Richardson, Francie Wilford and a few other girls are hard workers, others - such as Prudence Dawbarn - are not. Miss Annersley and Miss Wilson decide to take drastic measures and Miss Annersley calls the form into her study to warn them that they have until next term to improve their form average, and anyone whose work is still poor by then will go down to Inter V. Margot is upset about this as she has been working extra hard and feels it would be unfair, and Len tries to intervene on Margot's behalf. Miss Annersley tells her that Margot and the other hard workers have the potential to influence the other girls and should encourage them to work harder.

Answer: She fills Gwen's boots with water.

Jack is in a free period and cannot find anything to interest her, as her main interest is mechanical things and all the other girls are playing games or doing their own hobbies. She goes to the hall to look at the Honours Board and is caught by Gwen, who is in the process of pinning up a list of remedial exercise sessions. Gwen asks her what she's doing there, but Jack refuses to say and Gwen tells her off and makes her sit in the Sixth Form common room and read. Jack is furious at being patronised by Gwen.

When the Sixth Form are going for a walk, Gwen finds that her boots have been filled with water and Monica Caird has to lend her a pair. Len wonders why Jack hasn't asked her any questions lately and Jack admits that she pranked Gwen in revenge. Len tells Gwen, who is confused as to why Jack would be angry with her when she was just doing her job.

She gives Jack a conduct mark, but also offers to give her her brother's old train set to play with when Jack explains that machinery is her main interest.

Answer: Bilious attacks

Miss Bertram has bilious attacks (in modern day terms, her symptoms are similar to a migraine) where she has terrible headaches and feels sick. She is in a terrible mood as a result and when she takes Jack's form for Saturday morning mending, she gets easily irritated with them.

She goes to Matron and rests up, but returns to work the following Monday as Miss Andrews is ill with flu and she doesn't want them to have any more staff shortages. When she opens her desk drawer, a toy snake jumps out. Unfortunately, Miss Bertram has a phobia of snakes and faints, and Len has to send for Matron. Matron reports the matter to Miss Annersley, who asks each girl if she knows anything about it. None of the girls admit to having done it, including Jack, but because Jack has previously played pranks, the other girls assume it was her and pressurise her to own up. Miss Bertram later goes to the Sanatorium for treatment.

Answer: Miss Andrews

Miss Annersley puts the form on silence until someone owns up to putting the snake in the drawer. Most of the form are angry with Jack and believe she is lying about the snake, though Wanda and Barbara Hewlett stick up for her. Miss Andrews goes to visit the Maynards for the weekend and Len tells her about the incident with Jack's form. Miss Andrews is embarrassed and reveals that she was the one who put the snake there; she had confiscated it from Anne de Guitry during a class, put it in the drawer and forgot about it. Joey calls Miss Annersley and Miss Andrews and Len explain everything, and Miss Annersley calls Jack's form into her study and apologises. Margaret breaks down in tears and when Miss Annersley gets her alone, she confesses that she saw Miss Andrews put the snake in the drawer, but kept quiet because she was jealous of Jack's friendship with Wanda and wanted Jack to get into trouble. Miss Annersley sends her to bed to rest up and tells the rest of the form, but asks them not to be harsh on Margaret because she has been deeply unhappy over the past week and regrets what she did.

She also explains that Miss Bertram had been ill on Saturday and unwilling to take time off.

Answer: 'Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.'

Although Jack has been cleared of the snake incident, there is still a lot of bad feeling in her form and she, Wanda and Barbara have fallen out with the other girls over it. The other girls are aware that what they did to Jack was wrong, but have no idea how to remedy it. Len reminds Jack that her reputation as a prankster is the reason why the girls automatically thought she was the one who put the snake in the desk.

She then asks Jack if she said her prayers, and if she said all of 'Our Father', and Jack later realises that Len was referring to the line about forgiving other people's trespasses. During a rest period, she recommends a book to Renata and Renata apologises on behalf of the form.

The tension in the form ends, much to the teachers' relief.