Third Year at Malory Towers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wonderful

Or, as Zerelda pronounces it, 'wunnerful'. She describes everything as 'wunnerful', from English accents to Darrell's dad and, like many American characters in Enid Blyton books, thinks England is a quaint little country. The Rivers agree to pick her up on the way to school as her grandma and Darrell's grandma are friends. Darrell is surprised to discover that Zerelda is only fifteen, as she wears make-up and looks much older. Darrell takes an immediate dislike to her, not helped by Zerelda falling asleep in the car when Darrell tries to tell her about Malory Towers. Alicia and the other girls (besides Gwendoline) mock Zerelda's habit of calling everything 'wunnerful'.

Answer: Seven

Bill's real name is Wilhelmina, but she hates being called by her full name and will only answer to 'Bill'. Alicia knows about her through one of her brothers, who is friends with one of Bill's brothers. She comes from a big family and is the only girl of eight children. Bill and her brothers all arrive at school on horseback; her horse is a black stallion called Thunder, and she keeps him at school.

Her father also breeds racehorses.

Answer: Molly Ronaldson

Molly Ronaldson is a big, energetic girl in the Fourth Form who is in charge of Games this year. Darrell idolises her, not least because she is good at her job and has an eye for spotting talent, and eagerly hopes that Molly will pick her for the lacrosse team. Zerelda dislikes her because of her size and because she cannot understand the mentality of girls who love sports and take very little interest in their appearances. Darrell, meanwhile, cannot understand why Zerelda spends so much time on her hair and make-up and has so little interest in ordinary schoolgirl activities.

Margot Maynard, Monica Marilliar and Elfie Woodward are all Games Prefects from Elinor M Brent-Dyer's 'Chalet School' series.)

Answer: She keeps getting conduct marks.

The Fourth Form are studying for their School Certificate and are a hardworking group in general, and Zerelda struggles to keep up with them. She also repeatedly gets conduct marks, which count against the entire form and put them at risk of missing their half-holiday, and her work does not improve despite Miss Williams, her form teacher, and Lucy, the class representative, pulling her up. Both Mam'zelles are appalled with her French as well. Zerelda's conduct marks turn the form against her and Miss Grayling decides to move her down to the Third Form.

Miss Peters, the Third Form's teacher, is a no-nonsense type and warns the girls not to give Zerelda a hard time for being moved down. Alicia thinks Zerelda could not care less, but little does she know that Zerelda is putting on a brave face and trying to be a good ambassador for her homeland.

Answer: She thinks Bill cares more about her horse than her classmates.

Although Miss Peters likes horses, she gets irritated with Bill's obsession with Thunder and her lack of concentration in class. She threatens to stop Bill seeing Thunder if it carries on, and will not let Bill ride alone. When Bill argues, Miss Peters points out that Bill already has enough leeway as it is and that she needs to think about other things too.

Bill also angers the other Third Formers when she neglects her classroom duties and gets Mary-Lou to do them instead, so she can spend more time with Thunder. Belinda draws some pictures of him, but refuses to give them to Bill because she worries Bill will just spend time staring at them. She eventually agrees to lend Bill a picture, but on condition that she stops shirking her duties and joins in with the rest of the form, otherwise Belinda will take it back.

Answer: A tablecloth and a curtain

Mavis is a genuinely talented singer, but has an enormous ego and is constantly talking about what will happen when she becomes an opera singer. Zerelda, who is obsessed with film stars, wants to be an actress and has previously played Lady Macbeth. Gwendoline encourages her to recite lines from 'Romeo and Juliet', and they try to commandeer a practice room, only to be kicked out by a very angry Irene, who throws things at them. They find another practice room and Zerelda wraps herself in a curtain and tablecloth, and lets her hair down while hamming it up as Juliet.

Janet, a Fourth Former, comes to use the piano and Zerelda throws a book at her, but Matron catches her in the act and drags her off to her office to make sure that Zerelda has not damaged the curtains and tablecloth. She also insists on plaiting Zerelda's hair, much to Zerelda's disgust.

Answer: Miss Peters comforts Thunder and gives him sugar.

Miss Peters bans Bill from seeing Thunder every day, but discovers that Bill has been disobeying her and sneaking out to see her beloved horse after Miss Potts spots Bill in the stables. Miss Peters goes to the Third Form common room looking for Bill and Darrell runs out via the back stairs to warn her, and is forced to hide in the hay in the stables when Miss Peters shows up. Miss Peters is angry with Bill for disobeying her and threatens to have Thunder sent home, and sends Bill away. However, Darrell is surprised when Miss Peters begins talking gently to Thunder and petting him, and Thunder responds positively, showing he knows and likes her.

Darrell leaves, thinking Miss Peters has gone, only to find Miss Peters doing up her shoes. Miss Peters is angry with Darrell for going behind her back to warn Bill and hiding. Meanwhile, Bill is crying in the dormitory.

Answer: Sally has a fight with Alicia.

Mavis finds a poster for a local talent contest and tries to talk the other girls into going, but they refuse as they think it will just be a poor quality show and the teachers would not want them to. Mavis decides to sneak out anyway, as she thinks it will be an opportunity for her voice to be discovered. At night, Bill hears Thunder in pain and goes out to see him, followed by Darrell. Bill is terrified that Thunder will die and refuses to leave him, so Darrell runs to fetch Miss Peters. Miss Peters gets Darrell and Bill to walk Thunder round the yard and stop him lying down, while she phones the vet.

The vet is at a farm helping with calving, so Miss Peters rides over to the farm to get help. Luckily, the cow has finished calving, so the vet rides over to the school with Miss Peters to help Thunder. On the way back, they find Mavis lying in the road, and it transpires that the talent show organisers refused to let her perform, and she missed her bus and had to walk home in the rain. She later becomes ill with bronchitis, loses her voice and has to stay in the sick bay. Miss Peters and the vet take care of Thunder and send the girls to bed, and Bill thanks Miss Peters over and over for saving her horse.

Answer: No

Zerelda can genuinely be funny when she tries, but when she acts Juliet for the girls, she takes it seriously and cannot understand why they are laughing at her hammy performance. Miss Hibbert is furious with Zerelda's audition, thinking Zerelda is fooling around, and tells her that Juliet is a sweet young girl and Zerelda is ruining Shakespeare's lines. She sends Zerelda away to wash off her make-up and change her hairdo. Even Gwendoline is forced to admit that Zerelda cannot act.

Miss Hibbert calls for Zerelda and gives her a pep talk, saying that she does not have the talent to be an actress, and that she should be herself instead of trying to be something she is not. Zerelda takes this lesson to heart and when Mavis asks for Zerelda to come and see her, she tells Mavis that at least Mavis actually has a talent, while Zerelda has nothing. Both of them decide to be themselves, act their age and stop hyperfocusing on acting and singing, since Mavis has to rest her voice and Zerelda is never going to be an actress.

Answer: Sneezing pellets

Alicia's brother sends her some pellets that a friend of his invented, which will cause people to sneeze if soaked in saline solution. Originally, she plans to play the trick on Miss Peters, but the girls change their minds and play it on Mam'zelle instead after Miss Peters helps save Thunder. Sally, who has been ill with mumps for half the term, refuses to join in and Alicia - who has been hanging out with Darrell, as her best friend Betty is also off sick - mocks her for it. The pellets make Mam'zelle and Miss Potts sneeze, but Mam'zelle has to lie down and Miss Potts figures out that it is a prank. Darrell tells her that Sally refused to have anything to do with it, and she is exempted from the class punishment, though she insists on joining in with the other girls in solidarity.

Molly has selected Darrell as a third reserve after seeing her practice, and she is eligible to play in a lacrosse match as three of the girls in the team are ill, but the match is on the day of the Third Form's punishment and Miss Potts refuses to let Darrell off, despite Sally's pleading. The match is cancelled and rescheduled, and Darrell initially thinks Molly has left her out after looking at the list of reserves, only to discover from her classmates that she is in the actual team. Darrell turns out to be the heroine of the match when she scores the winning goal.