16 May 2013

The Battle Song of St. Trinians - updated


After watching one of the original St. Trinians movies I could NOT get the theme song out of my head, and thought perhaps if I post it here and someone else will listen to it, it might jump into your head and out of mine.
Maidens of St Trinian's, gird your armour on.
Grab the nearest weapon; never mind which one.
The battle's to the strongest; might is always right.
Trample on the weakest; glory in their plight.
St Trinian's! St Trinian's! Our battle cry.
St Trinian's! St Trinian's! Will never die.
Stride towards your fortune boldly on your way,
Never once forgetting there's one born every day.
Let our motto be broadcast: "get your blow in first!"
She who draws the sword last always comes off worst.
Reposted from 2010 to commemorate the recent death of Ronald Searle, who created the iconic illustrations of St. Trinian's.

The first two or three films from the 1950s and 60s, starring Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell, and George Cole, were memorable components of my childhood cinema education (the later remakes were eminently forgettable). Cartoon via Fictions.  Ronald Searle tribute blog here.

Addendum:  Reblogged from 2012 because of a report in The Telegraph that the school which served as the inspiration for St. Trinian's will now be admitting... boys.
From 2014, they will be allowed at Perse Girls' junior school, part of the Stephen Perse Foundation - a group of independent schools in Cambridge...
The new system will see girls and boys aged 10 to 16 taught alongside each other in creative subjects and sports but separately in other lessons. They will however, also share facilities such as libraries and eating areas.
Tricia Kelleher, principal of the foundation, said this would allow the school to "remain true to its single sex roots" while at the same time, embracing the "best of all worlds".
She said the move was in response to requests from parents and would go some of the way to redressing the deficit of places for boys in Cambridge schools, adding it was not fair that girls "should have all the fun"...

Mr Searle, a sketch artist for the Cambridge Daily News, now the Cambridge News, said that as a teenager attending Boys' Central School in Cambridge, he would see the girls on the way home from school. 

In a letter to the school he said Perse Girls was a "positive source of inspiration" and added: "But I hope the school won't hold that against me, so many years after the crime." 
I don't dare play the video this morning, or else I'll have an earworm all day.

9 comments:

  1. Well, I hope you are happy now! I am sure the tune you had stuck in your head is gone, because, it's now stuck in my head. Thanks a lot!

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  2. I love The Belles of St Trinian's! It's been years since I've seen that movie, but it was one of my favorites as a kid. Thanks for the reminder!

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  3. I loved the first three St. Trinian's films.

    I also love Margaret Rutherford - imagine my thrill when I chanced upon the 1950 "The Happiest Days of Your Life" with she and Alistair Sim as headmasters! It seems likely inspired by the Searle cartoons and I think may have sparked the idea of making the movies - at least the first three.

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    Replies
    1. Sadly, that 1950 movie is not in our library system. Sounds good.

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  4. You want an earworm? One with hair legs and spiky dorsals? Here ya go:

    Son of Svengoolie: Canceled! :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QDJRLb8C3w

    Lurker111
    P.S.: Now you know why I post anonymously.

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  5. Reading out the lyrics to my girlfriend, had her in stitches ! She's 25 and 'doesn't watch black & white films ...' - after my encouragement, she says she'll try early St. Trinian's . She loved the original Blue's Brothers too ;-)

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  6. Who sang the original st trinians battle cry song


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  7. I often wonder what would've happened if - due to a terrible bureaucratic mix up - Hermione Grangier's Hogwarts letter went astray, and she wound up going to St. Trinians instead. 🙂

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  8. Would love to get the battlecry ringtone

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