Fotherington-Thomas
After Nigel Molesworth himself, Basil Fotherington-Thomas is probably the best-known character from Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle’s Molesworth books. He is “uterly wet and a sissy” and skips around while saying things like “hello clouds, hello sky.” Amongst British males of a certain age (ie. mine) the phrase “a bit Fotherington-Thomas” is used to criticise cultural manifestations that are, well, a bit wet and weedy. For example, the phrase was recently used to describe certain aspects of the film Avatar, and as a comment on a paricularly flowery wine.
Looking again my old Molesworth books after reading of Ronald Searle’s recent passing, I found it surprising that Fotherington-Thomas’s appearances are so few and far between. Far less well-remembered characters such as Peason and Grabber appear much more frequently. I can only guess that Fotherington-Thomas is so well-remembered because we all recognise him from our own schooldays. After all, every class in every school, be it a posh boarding school or a state comprehensive like the one I attended, has a girly boy who’s far girlier than any of the girls. Along with the fat kid and the slow learner, no class is complete without a Fotherington-Thomas.
