The Chalet School and Barbara Trivia Quiz

Answer: To help look after the Maynard children

As anyone who's read the 'La Rochelle' series - especially 'Janie Steps In' - will recall, Barbara Chester was a delicate baby and her parents had several health scares throughout her life. Anne Chester focused all her attention on Barbara to the detriment of Beth, who was expected to help with her younger siblings and wrongly came to believe that Barbara had replaced her. Anne also indulged Barbara's every whim, and she became a spoiled brat as a result.

However, after an episode of measles, she recovered to the point where she was considered well enough to go to a local school, and later begged Anne to let her join her sisters at the Chalet School.

At the beginning of the book, Barbara is fourteen and Beth is accompanying her on the train to Basle.

She is due to help Joey Maynard - who has recently moved to Switzerland, as Jack is head of the new Sanatorium - look after her younger children and is also employed as a governess.

Answer: Gentian blue

Mary-Lou Trelawney and her form are discussing the new uniform when they first appear, and all of them agree that they like the colour. The uniform worn by Mary-Lou's year is a gentian blue tunic/gymslip, a cream blouse and a gentian blue blazer with a silver and crimson badge. The uniform is later changed to a blue and crimson dress in 'Ruey Richardson: Chaletian'.

Answer: She makes a mess on the bathroom floor.

Barbara is used to having Anne do everything for her at home, including tasks like brushing her hair. When she has her first bath, she spills quite a bit of water over the edge. Matron insists on her doing it properly as Barbara has curly hair, which gets tangled easily.

She also tells Barbara off for making a mess on the bathroom floor and has Barbara help clean it up. Miss Annersley later explains the circumstances, and also that Barbara has had health problems in the past.

Answer: Julie Lucy

Julie is in the same year as Bride, Tom and Nancy, but was off school for a long period of time due to an attack of peritonitis (see 'Changes for the Chalet School'), and has had to make up for the time she missed as a result. The other three girls have all gone to the finishing branch at Welsen.

Some of Julie's friendship group are still at the Chalet School, such as Madge Herbert (who is in charge of the school library), Annis Lovell (who is Games Prefect) and Rosalie Way (who is Staff Prefect).

Answer: Unterseen

Miss Dene accompanies the Upper Fourth forms to Unterseen, and Mary-Lou invites Barbara to tag along with her and the Gang, much to Barbara's delight. Vi Lucy, Barbara's cousin who has been asked to look after her, is relieved to see that Barbara is settling in and has become much more outgoing. Miss Dene takes the opportunity to tell the girls about a bit of Swiss history, and they get to sample the local dishes.

The girls do go on a trip to Berne later in the book, and the excursions to Sion and Solothurn happen in other books.

Answer: Nancy Wilmot

Nancy Wilmot was something of a bit part character in the Tyrol years, having joined the Chalet School after the merger with St Scholastika's in 'The New Chalet School'. However, she plays a bigger role in the Swiss books when she returns as a mistress, and takes Barbara's form for maths. Biddy O'Ryan knows about it, but refuses to give the game away.

The girls like Miss Wilmot much more than Miss Slater, the previous maths teacher, who moved jobs to another school and did not want to move to Switzerland due to the language barrier.

Answer: Mary Woodley

Mary Woodley is jealous of Vi Lucy and Barbara's friendship, even though they are cousins and Vi doesn't like Mary at all. She complains to Betty Landon about it and accuses Barbara of showing off for being fluent in French (her mum spoke it at home), but Betty just laughs at her for being jealous. Caroline later encounters Vi and Barbara, and Barbara tells her she should put her library book in the common room instead of her locker, but Caroline decides to chance it.

She later gets into trouble with Matron for leaving a book on the floor, and accuses Barbara of taking it out of her locker and leaving it there to get her in trouble. Barbara denies it, but Mary taunts her and encourages the form to gang up on her.

She later tells Vi about it, but Vi is furious and refuses to believe that Barbara did it.

She confronts Caroline and defends Barbara to the form. Vi recalls that someone else was in the cloakroom, but can't remember who; however, Mary was standing nearby when the girls were talking about the book, and it is implied that she is the one who took the book out of the locker and left it on the floor.

However, she is never found out.

Answer: A blizzard

Barbara's form go to the Rösleinalp, an area above the Platz. Barbara is in a group with Mary-Lou and various other members of the Gang, with Miss O'Ryan in charge. It starts to snow heavily and the group are caught in a blizzard, with heavy fog. Luckily, a pair of friendly mountaineers find them and take them to their chalet to rest and have coffee, and then accompany them to the station. Dr Maynard and his colleagues meet the group and give them a lift back to the school. Verity-Ann Carey is so tired that she sleeps through being carried, undressed, put in a hot bath and then put to bed! (The other answers are all references to other books in the series; the Nazis were in 'The Chalet School in Exile', the avalanche happened in 'Trials for the Chalet School' and the cockchafers were in 'Theodora and the Chalet School'.)

Answer: A flower pot race

The identity parade consists of the girls wearing masks and hoods, with only the lower halves of their faces showing, and they have to guess who's who by height, teeth, ways of walking and so on. Then they get divided into groups, with the Seniors being given slips of paper with instructions for some kind of recipe on and having to guess the recipe, and the Middles being given letters and seeing how many words they can make. Next is a fishing contest with magnets, where the girls take it in turns to 'catch' metal rings with numbered tags representing the size of the 'fish'. Finally, the girls pull crackers and each gets a paper hat.

They have to race across the floor on mats, using brooms to help steer, while keeping their hats on. (Emerence Hope cheats by pinning hers on with a hair grip.) Mary-Lou, much to her annoyance, misses out on the race due to her having hurt herself on the stairs, but the teachers get her to guess who the winners will be. Barbara gets into the final race, which Elinor Pennell wins.

Answer: Strangers at the Inn

'Strangers at the Inn' is written by Madge Russell and features scenes set in various public houses and inns; a modern day pub, a Tyrolean inn during the Napoleonic Wars and a dodgy pub during the Children's Crusade. In each scenario, a group of strangers - a family of three, a man injured in battle with his family, and a group of child Crusaders - ask for hospitality and are given it, as a reminder of the original Christmas story. Two scenes set in the Thirty Years' War and the Hundred Years' War have to be cut for time. Nora Penley and Sybil Russell play Joseph and Mary, and Joey's baby daughter Felicity has a cameo in the Napoleonic Wars scene.

At the end of the play, Miss Annersley invites Madge up onto the stage for a round of applause, much to Madge's embarrassment. (It's not stated what Barbara's role in the play is.)