Origin: The first of the St. Trinian's strips were published by the UK magazine Lilliput in October 1941.

Synopsis: As to be expected, the plot of The Belles of St. Trinian’s, based on Ronald Searle’s cartoons, is set around St. Trinian’s School. The school seems more like a house of ill repute or home for juvenile delinquents than a refined academy for "young ladies." The girls are little terrors; e.g., in a campy but well-suited sequence, when the students come back from holiday the town shuts down, closing shops and boarding windows.

Compounding matters, the school is in dire need of money to pay off its debts. Luckily for headmistress Millicent Fritton (Alastair Sim), her new pupil — the daughter of an Arab sheik — has insider information regarding her father’s record-breaking horse. On the other side of the spectrum, Millicent Fritton’s twin brother Clarence (also Alastair Sim) has employed his daughter Arabella (Vivienne Martin), a student at the school, to get insider information about the horse racing as he has his own horse in the running.

On top of all this, there are Ministry of Education employees gone missing, an undercover policewoman posing as the Games Mistress, and a secret distillery operated by the young girls out of their chemistry lab.

Prequels, Sequels and Follow-ons:

Blue Murder at St. Trinian's (1958)

The Pure Hell of St Trinian's (1960)

The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966)

The Wildcats of St Trinian's (1980)

St Trinian's (2007)

St Trinian's: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (2009)