Fotherington-Thomas
Encyclopedia
Basil Fotherington-Thomas is a classic fictional character in a series of books by Geoffrey Willans
and Ronald Searle
starring the archetypal English prep school
boy of the 1950s - Nigel Molesworth
- who is the supposed author.
Nigel is a schoolboy at St Custard's, a fictional (and terrible) prep school located in a carefully unspecified part of England. Nigel's spelling is extremely uneven, a feature found endearing by fans. This extends to Fotherington-Thomas's name: Nigel always misspells it 'Fotherington-Tomas'.
Whilst Nigel epitomises the worthy inky and earthy school boy, Fotherington-Thomas is the opposite, being an effete and loathed sissy
. Fotherington-Thomas is reported to bear a certain resemblance to Little Lord Fauntleroy
; whilst he is also a student at St. Custard's school, he is regularly dismissed as a being a 'gurl' and a sissy by Molesworth due to his curly blond locks and his questionable tendency to skip around the school saying such things as "hullo clouds, hullo sky". In several footballing scenes in the books, Fotherington-Thomas plays in goal. He is a surprisingly talented tennis
-player.
Fotherington-Thomas also occasionally appears as a name in Private Eye
magazine, usually as a pupil of the spoof public school St. Cake's.
In the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series Century, Episode 2 (Paint it Black),and set in 1969, Fotherington-Thomas makes a brief cameo appearance, in which he has gay oral sex with an anonymous working-class friend. He appears to be involved in the sixties rock music industry, but is subsequently drowned by assassins associated with Oliver Haddo (an alternate-universe Aleister Crowley
).
Geoffrey Willans
Herbert Geoffrey Willans , an English author and journalist, is best known as the co-creator, with the illustrator Ronald Searle, of Nigel Molesworth, the "goriller of 3b and curse of St. Custard's"....
and Ronald Searle
Ronald Searle
Ronald William Fordham Searle, CBE, RDI, is a British artist and cartoonist, best known as the creator of St Trinian's School. He is also the co-author of the Molesworth series....
starring the archetypal English prep school
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
boy of the 1950s - Nigel Molesworth
Nigel Molesworth
Nigel Molesworth is the supposed author of a series of books , with cartoon illustrations by Ronald Searle....
- who is the supposed author.
Nigel is a schoolboy at St Custard's, a fictional (and terrible) prep school located in a carefully unspecified part of England. Nigel's spelling is extremely uneven, a feature found endearing by fans. This extends to Fotherington-Thomas's name: Nigel always misspells it 'Fotherington-Tomas'.
Whilst Nigel epitomises the worthy inky and earthy school boy, Fotherington-Thomas is the opposite, being an effete and loathed sissy
Sissy
Sissy is a pejorative term for a boy or man who violates or does not meet the traditional male gender role. Generally, sissy implies a lack of the courage and stoicism which are thought important to the male role...
. Fotherington-Thomas is reported to bear a certain resemblance to Little Lord Fauntleroy
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Little Lord Fauntleroy is the first children's novel written by English playwright and author Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was originally published as a serial in the St. Nicholas Magazine between November 1885 and October 1886, then as a book by Scribner's in 1886...
; whilst he is also a student at St. Custard's school, he is regularly dismissed as a being a 'gurl' and a sissy by Molesworth due to his curly blond locks and his questionable tendency to skip around the school saying such things as "hullo clouds, hullo sky". In several footballing scenes in the books, Fotherington-Thomas plays in goal. He is a surprisingly talented tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
-player.
Fotherington-Thomas also occasionally appears as a name in Private Eye
Private Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
magazine, usually as a pupil of the spoof public school St. Cake's.
In the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series Century, Episode 2 (Paint it Black),and set in 1969, Fotherington-Thomas makes a brief cameo appearance, in which he has gay oral sex with an anonymous working-class friend. He appears to be involved in the sixties rock music industry, but is subsequently drowned by assassins associated with Oliver Haddo (an alternate-universe Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
).
Books featuring Fotherington-Thomas
- Down with Skool (1953)
- How to be Topp (1954)
- Whizz for Atomms (1956)
- Back in the Jug Agane (1959)