Staff Room

Please knock before entering, otherwise there'll be tea spilled everywhere. This is where members of staff retire to when they are sick and tired of you noisy lot trampling about. It's also the place to find out a bit about them!

Previous staff members:

Mr Wilkins from the Jennings books.

Today's staff member is Mr Quelch from Frank Richards' Bunter books.

Of all the school masters in popular fiction, there is one who today comes across at first reading as a prim priggish tyrant who is not afraid to mete out punishment at the drop of hat, and beat a boy on a whim. He's certainly not a schoolmaster you'd wish on any child, or indeed regret you never had yourself! Who? Why, Billy bunter's form master, Mr Quelch, of course.
You can see he's a foreboding looking chap, who's unlikely to give any sympathy to any boy, never mind one so frabjous as Bunter. And here, we can see that he has a temper too!

Now, you might by this point be thinking that Quelch is a deeply unsympathetic character who is nothing but a bully. But not so. Unlike many staff in school stories, he is very human - in fact he is less of a cardboard character than some of the more famous - Harry Wharton for example, who is nothing but a genial annoyance for my money. Quelch suffers great pangs of remorse and guilt about that smack later, and goes out of his way to make amends for it.

Quelch is definitely a "hands-on" teacher, though, of the sort that really did exist - of course nothing like it is allowed in schools today. Here he is apprehending Bunter after a spot of earwigging by the Fat Owl - and as you can see, it's not exactly the most gentle of approaches.

As to caning, well, Quelch is not a man to be crossed.

But Quelch can use his cane for other things too. It's too complex to explain the details, but his bravery shows when he is alerted to a snake in the bedroom, in Billy Bunter The Stowaway. Old Quelch is right in there with his stick, dealing with the situation. Hurrah for Quelch after all!

So don't run away with the idea that Quelch is all bad, or a bully. Quelch is really a studious man who demands high standards of his boys - but only because he cares about them. His pride and joy is "The History of Greyfriars", which it seems to take him at least fifty years to write. Nothing cheers him more than a few moments alone with his typewriter and the opportunity to add some more to this tedious work. But it's not tedious to Quelch.

No, Mr Quelch is a man whose high standards lead him to regretfully administer punishment, but who at the same time wants his boys to succeed in life. One wouldn't say he is a role-model, exactly - but certainly he is more of a human being than many fictional teachers, and one with some admirable qualities.

Billy Bunter books are available to buy from the School Shop.