Nancy Wilmot
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#1: Nancy Wilmot Author: Rachael,  PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:29 am

Please discuss Nancy here:

 

#2:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 1:50 pm

Nancy is a character who doesn't seem to feature a huge amount as a pupil (unlike Hilary Burn) but then we see a lot more of as a staff member.

She sounds like an ideal staff member - sunny-tempered, popular with the pupils, a good friend, and able to take on responsibility when needed.

I've not got to the Swiss books in my re-read so can't think of more off the top of my head.

Oh apart from the fact that she's referred to as plump or hefty, but as (if I remember right) she's about five ft 10 and 10 stone - at that height and weight I don't think she'd be plump at all!

Liz

 

#3:  Author: Polly, Location: Essex PostPosted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:56 pm

She certainly wouldn't be plump at that height and weight. I'm nearly 5 feet 8, and my ideal weight would be around 10 stone, so there is no way she would be overweight if that is her height!

 

#4:  Author: Laura, Location: London (ish) PostPosted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 5:51 pm

But equally I think at one point a 'hefty 15 year old' was described as being 8 stone!

 

#5:  Author: Polly, Location: Essex PostPosted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 10:15 pm

Was everyone in EBD's world a twig then?!!! Shocked

 

#6:  Author: Steph, Location: Blackpool, Lancashire PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 6:47 pm

I think so! I remember in Oberland (I think) Peggy, who is always descrbed as 'slight' is mentioned as being only about 7 stone, which struck me as being a bit on the thin side. I know she was small, but she'd have to be under five foot for her not to look unhealthy, and I doubt she's as small as that Laughing
That was one thing that always annoyed me about EBD's description of Nancy, the fact that one of her main distinguishing features was that she was plump. I personally don't really care how fat or thin she was, to me she always seemed like lots of fun, even when she was a mistress and I think she was able to be a good teacher who was strict when she needed to be and yet was able to retain the mischevous, fun side as well.

 

#7:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:13 pm

Actually, Peggy was always described as small so she may well have only been around five foot.

 

#8:  Author: Nicci, Location: UK PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 11:19 pm

KB wrote:
Actually, Peggy was always described as small so she may well have only been around five foot.


I always imagined Peggy as slight but tall - but that may be the influence of the Armada cover of Peggy getting off the train... she doesn't exactly look short there.

 

#9:  Author: Joan the Dwarf, Location: Er, where am I? PostPosted: Sat Mar 26, 2005 8:42 am

EBD's whole treatment of people's weight always annoys me. It seems to be extremely rude to make "personal comments" about people - except when it's about their weight, then it's open season! Eg in Genius/Fete the staff meet Winnie Embury on the ferry, and immediately afterwards they bitch (there is no other word!) about her weight - comments like "house-end" Shocked . And in Reunion, they hadn't seen Maynie for decades, what's the first thing they say to her? What's happened to you, you used to be thin!!!

At these points though I just take a few deep breaths and remember that from the photos I've seen, EBD herself was most definitely not twig-like. Very Happy

 

#10:  Author: Lisa_T, Location: Belfast PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 12:22 am

Wish fufilment, obviously!!! Laughing

 

#11:  Author: Joan the Dwarf, Location: Er, where am I? PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 12:46 pm

Lisa_T wrote:
Wish fufilment, obviously!!! Laughing


Shall I say "Joey"? Cool

Just been reading CS and Oberland - Peggy's described as 5'2". At this height the absolutely minimum healthy weight is 6.7 stone, so she's only just OK. I'll go with Hester's comment: "Peggy, you're a scrag!". Maybe after she's been in Switzerland for a bit she puts on some weight - after all, the UK was still in rationing at that point, whereas in the Oberland they had thick, rich hot chocolate covered in cream for elevenses each day Shocked

 

#12:  Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:09 pm

Going back to Nancy Wilmot -if she was 5' 10" - then being 10 stone is the absolute least amount she should be for her height. Even if she's shorter it can't be by much as she's always described as tall, and appears to be taller than Hilda (who is taller than Margot Maynard and therefore must be 5' 9"!) Therefore Nancy would appear slim, not 'chubby' or 'hefty'. Not quite sure where EBD got her ideas on correct weight from. Rolling Eyes

 

#13:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 2:48 pm

Since my dictionary has "stone" as "a varying unit of weight, now legally 14 lbs in Great Britain," is it possible the meaning has changed since EBD?

Because I can never remember what a stone is, nor do the arithmetic in my head, I never much notice actual weights. What strikes me is that "plump" tends to be a compliment, usually implying good health. I haven't figured out the cut-offs between "plump," "fat," and requiring operations for "glands."

 

#14:  Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 3:20 pm

No Kathy, a stone has been 14 pounds for all of the 20th century - EBD would have known it as such! Basically Nancy would have weighed 140lbs at the lower end of the normal range for someone of 5' 10".

 

#15:  Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 10:18 pm

I like Nancy in the books. Was she meant to be scatterbrained when she was a pupil or am I muddling her up with someone else?

 

#16:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 11:54 am

You might be thinking of Maisie Gomme?

Liz

 

#17:  Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:13 pm

Thanks, Liz. I was thinking more along the lines of always forgetting her umbrella or something. Is that completely different?

 

#18:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:42 pm

OOAOML was the person always trying to forget her umbrella. Nancy Wilmot was described as placid and good-natured.

 

#19:  Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester PostPosted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 2:47 pm

At least she was always referred to as being plump and pretty - a lot of books treat the two terms as being mutually exclusive which is really depressing for people like me!!

I thought it was unfortunate that the girls nicknamed her "Willy" though!

 

#20:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 9:32 pm

Alison H wrote:
I thought it was unfortunate that the girls nicknamed her "Willy" though!


I very much doubt that the word had the same connotations when EBD first used it that it does today - that's one of the problems with reading a series from that time now. And what else could they have called her? 'Bill' was taken.

 

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