"To Serve Them All My Days" by R. F. Delderfield Quiz

Answer: fake epileptic fit

What Chad Boyer and his classmates did not know was that "Pow-Wow" Jones was a recent inhabitant of shell-shock wards, so easily recognised that the apparent fit was a fake. The ease with which he took charge of the situation was the first step in becoming a great teacher.

Answer: Archy and Starchy

The older Gosse brother's first name was Archibald, reduced to the diminutive Archy. When his younger brother joined the school he was given the rhyming name of Starchy.

Answer: bell ringer

"Nipper" Shawe was the smallest boy in the school when he arrived, and had been totally overwhelmed. He was given the job of ringing the school bell to indicate the end of lessons, meal breaks, prep and bedtime etc. He took to the job with great enthusiasm, and it was the making of him.

Answer: Annunciator

Stratton-Forbes was given the task of passing the news to David Powelett-Jones that his wife had given birth to twin girls. He did the job loudly and clearly and was immediately renamed "Annunciator", which was soon shortened to "Nun".

Answer: Spats

Spats were a cloth shoe covering worn to protect their uppers from mud and dirt. They were a fashionable accessory which had mostly disappeared by 1930. "Spats" Winterbourne, who kept quiet about his artistic abilities, holed up in a sheltered cave on the moor to escape the attention engendered by the sensational details of his actress mother's activities leading to the divorce.

Answer: Stoker

Monk returned from his summer holiday in Austria with a gaudy pipe. He felt that he had to continue smoking it after he failed to be ill the first time. When he left school, he took up rowing and gave up smoking altogether.

Alcock decided to make an example of Monk. In an elaborate ceremony in front of the whole school, Monk's pipe was laid on a kitchen tray and smashed into small pieces by the hammer wielding headmaster.

Answer: Sax

Once he had left school, "Sax" Hoskins trained as a professional musician. Eventually he returned to the school with his own band, the Rhythemateers, to give a free two-hour long concert.

Answer: Ruby

During Religious studies, the teacher quoted the Bible passage from Proverbs, "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies". When Bickford raised his hand to ask, "Please Sir, what was Ruby's?", he got his nickname along with a caning.

Answer: Clark

Charles Sprockman was renamed in favour of Clark Gable. His mother, Julia, had briefly taught in the school some years before. "Clark" was a very popular boy who played the banjo.

Answer: Tuppence

Algy, the original headmaster of the school, mistakenly thought that "Blackbird" was her nickname after her father made a joke based on a record that she was playing. Her father, David Powlett-Jones, was known as "P.J." to the staff and "Pow-Wow" by the pupils.