Herbert Geoffrey Willans,

RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

, (4 February 1911 – 6 August 1958), an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

writer and journalist, is best known as the creator of

Nigel Molesworth Nigel Molesworth is a fictional character, the supposed author of a series of books about life in an English prep school named St Custard's. The books were written by Geoffrey Willans, with cartoon illustrations by Ronald Searle. The Moleswo ...

, the "goriller of 3B" and "curse of St. Custard's", as in the four books with illustrations by

Ronald Searle Ronald William Fordham Searle, CBE, RDI (3 March 1920 – 30 December 2011) was an English artist and satirical cartoonist, comics artist, sculptor, medal designer and illustrator. He is perhaps best remembered as the creator of St Trinian's S ...

. Willans was born in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...

(now Izmir) in Turkey, where his father was a superintendent of the Ottoman Aidan Railway. He was educated at Blundells School in Tiverton, and became a schoolmaster there. He enjoyed sailing in small boats. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

he took part in the

Greek campaign The German invasion of Greece, also known as the Battle of Greece or Operation Marita ( de , Unternehmen Marita, links = no), was the attack of Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usu ...

and the

Battle of Crete The Battle of Crete (german: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta, el, Μάχη της Κρήτης), codenamed Operation Mercury (german: Unternehmen Merkur), was a major Axis airborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island ...

in the Eastern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, serving on the corvette . He later joined the carrier . Molesworth first appeared in ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' in 1939, and later became the protagonist and narrator of four books: ''Down with Skool!'' (1953), ''How to be Topp'' (1954), ''Wizz for Atomms'' (1956) and, after Willans's death, ''Back in the Jug Agane'' (1959). All four were collected in ''The Compleet Molesworth''. Comic misspellings, erratic capitalisation and schoolboy slang are threads running through all the books. According to Ronald Searle in his obituary of Willans in ''The Times'': "His cunning was more refined than Bunter ... Willans was delighted that schoolmasters, far from feeling publicly disrobed, were in fact giving away his books as end of school prizes." Willans wrote other books. A review in ''The Times'' described his novel ''The Whistling Arrow'' (1957) as having a futuristic aeroplane as the 'heroine'; "It is his apparent strength in writing about planes and the people that flew them." The reviewer compared it with one of

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...

's earlier novels. The idea of a 'whistling arrow' was popularised by the Walt Disney Studio film ''

The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men ''The Story of Robin Hood'' is a 1952 action-adventure film produced by RKO- Walt Disney British Productions, based on the Robin Hood legend, made in Technicolor and filmed in Buckinghamshire, England. It was written by Lawrence Edward Watkin and ...

'' (1952), starring

Richard Todd Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd (11 June 19193 December 2009) was an Irish-British actor known for his leading man roles of the 1950s. He received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor n ...

, where arrows that whistled were used as signals between

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

and his outlaw band. Willans also co-wrote the screenplay for the film '' The Bridal Path'' (1959), which starred George Cole, but he died of a heart attack in London at the age of 47 before the film was released. He also wrote a number of other, mostly humorous, books, including ''The Dog's Ear Book'' (also with Searle), ''My Uncle Harry'' (an exploration of the British gentlemen's club), ''Fasten Your Lapstraps!'' (an account of the early days of intercontinental flight) and ''Admiral on Horseback'' (a more serious one about the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Bibliography

Molesworth

*''Down with Skool! A Guide to School Life for Tiny Pupils and their Parents'' (1953) *''How to be Topp: A Guide to Sukcess for Tiny Pupils, Including All There is to Kno about Space'' (1954) *''Whizz for Atomms: A Guide to Survival in the 20th Century for Fellow Pupils, their Doting Maters, Pompous Paters and Any Others who are Interested'' (1956) **Published in the U.S. as ''Molesworth's Guide to the Atomic Age'' *''Back in the Jug Agane'' (1959) *''The Compleet Molesworth'' (1958) **''Molesworth'' (2000 Penguin reprint), *''The Lost Diaries of Nigel Molesworth'' (2022)

Other titles

*''Shallow Dive'' (1934) *''Romantic Manner'' (1936) *''One Eye on the Clock'' (1943) *''Admiral on Horseback'' (1954) *''The Wit of Winston Churchill'' (1954), with Charles Roetter *''Fasten Your Lapstraps! A Guide for All Those who Wing the World in Super-comfort and Super-luxury in Super-aeroplanes'' (1955) *''Crisis Cottage'' (1956) *''My Uncle Harry'' (1957) *''The Whistling Arrow'' (1957) *''Peter Ustinov'' (1957) *''The Dog's Ear Book'' (1958)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willans, Geoffrey 1911 births 1958 deaths English humorists English children's writers English male screenwriters People educated at Blundell's School 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century English male writers People from İzmir Royal Navy personnel of World War II