Malory Towers is one of my favourite series so here are my ten favourite moments from the books.

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10

Irene loses her health certificate
Second Form at Malory Towers

Irene loses her health certificate almost every term, but this is probably the funniest time.

Having approached Matron, Irene panics and starts emptying her case onto the floor looking for it. Only then does she feel a safety-pin pricking her chest and remember she has pinned her certificate to the front of her tunic, so that she wouldn’t lose it.

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9 

Felicity and Nora’s magnet trick
Last Term at Malory Towers

The magnet trick – stealing a Mistress’ hair pins with a strong magnet – is played a few times by the second formers but the last version is the best.

Felicity visits the sixth form classroom and steals Mam’zelle Dupont’s pins, which is funny, but it’s funnier when a hissing pellet leads the baffled sixth formers to a set of pins in a pun cushion up the chimney.

Nora then comes and steals the pins from Mam’zelle’s thoroughly re-pinned bun, and they find another pin-cushion behind the blackboard.

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8

Mary-Lou is brave
First Term at Malory Towers

Mary-Lou and brave aren’t often seen in the same sentence, but she definitely has her moments. Technically this is two moments, but who’s counting.

First, when the other girls have secretly manufactured a confidence-boosting scenario for her, she goes over and above. They mean for her to just throw the life-ring to Darrell as she pretends to have cramp, but as the ring is off for repairs she jumps in, fully dressed, to come to the rescue.

With that having worked to boost her confidence, she then goes creeping about in the night – when she’s afraid of the dark – to find evidence that Gwen was responsible for the nasty tricks and not Darrell.

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7

Mam’zelle Dupont’s treek teeth
In the Fifth at Malory Towers

The girls play a lot of tricks in their time at school, but this is the only time a teacher plays a trick, or indeed, a treek, instead.

It’s funny enough that Mam’zelle Dupont orders as set of terrible-looking fake teeth and goes around flashing them at the girls, but it’s hilarious when she gets cornered by Miss Grayling and a couple of parents of prospective girls, and has to try to hide them.

In the end she almost gets away with it but, in relief, flashes them a terrifying smile then has to hurry off to burst into laughter, dropping the teeth on the ground in the process.

The icing on the cake is Mam’zelle Rougier’s disapproval.

“I see no joke,” she said. “It is not funny, teeth on the grass. It is time to see the dentist when that happens.”

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6

Irene brandishes her hairbrush and almost takes out Belinda’s eye
In the Fifth at Malory Towers

This is just a little moment but it always makes me laugh. With twins Ruth and Connie having been separated at the end of the previous year, and Connie seemingly unable to let Ruth ‘go’, she comes to her twins’ dorm to check on her. The fifth formers are annoyed as they have seen Connie overshadow and control her twin for too long already. The girls all respond with a resounding clear out, but Irene sees fit to fiercely brandish her hair-brush and almost takes out Belinda’s eye in the process.

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5

Belinda accidentally ends the Mam’zelles’ feud
Second Form at Malory Towers

The two Mam’zelles, Rougier and Dupont are not alike and do not appear to be particularly good friends normally. Things get out of hand in the second form, as they are both trying to produce the French play and keep casting different girls – Mam’zelle Dupont casts her pretty favourites and Mam’zelle Rougier goes for girls who can actually speak French!

Belinda makes a few sketches of the Mam’zelles in unflattering ways – Mam’zelle Rougier stalking Mam’zelle Dupont with a dagger, aiming a gun at her from behind a bush, pouring poison into her tea.

Unfortunately Mam’zelle Rougier sees these unflattering caricatures of herself and marches the girls to Miss Grayling. It looks like they are all set to he punished harshly, but Mam’zelle Dupont finds out about it and has her say. She finds it all very funny and the truth about their falling out is revealed to Miss Grayling. In the end the two French women become friends in a move of solidarity amongst all the English girls.

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4

Miss Peters saves Thunder (and Mavis)
Third Year at Malory Towers

Miss Peters and Bill didn’t see eye-to-eye at first, Bill’s day dreaming drove Miss Peters demented, in fact, and she banned Bill from seeing Thunder. Bill thinks the woman is heartless but Miss Peters proves just the opposite. When Thunder develops colic she is out of bed like a shot, and rides off into the night to fetch the vet. She then stays up the rest of the night to take care of the horse. She also rescues Mavis whom she finds, soaking, by the side of the road that night – all round being a hero!

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3

Miss Grayling’s speech
Last Term at Malory Towers

Miss Grayling gives her speech every year, but we only see it in the first and last books. The speech is the same each time, but I particularly like the one in the last book as it so nicely bookends the series. It is Darrell who takes the new girls to see Miss Grayling at the start of that term, and Miss Grayling acknowledges her.

Six years ago I said those words to Darrell. She is one who has got a great deal out of her time here – and there is no one who has given more back than Darrell has.

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2

June rescues Amanda from the sea
Last Term at Malory Towers

Amanda, over-confident in her abilities and under-estimating the power of the sea, goes for a swim off the coast and gets into difficulties.

Luckily for her, June wakens early that day and decides to go for a swim herself – in the safe pool, of course. But she sees a swimmer  in trouble and manages to drag the boat from the boat-house to go to the rescue.

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1

Daphne rescues Mary-Lou from the cliff
Second Form at Malory Towers

Daphne goes out to look for Mary-Lou who has tried to take a parcel to the post office for her, only to find Mary-Lou has been blown off the cliff. Thinking quickly Daphne ties her mackintosh and tunic belts together and, holding on to a gorse bush with her feet, lowers the makeshift rope to Mary-Lou who is clinging to the cliff. As she isn’t strong enough to pull her friend back up, all Daphne can do is hold on until help arrives.

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Are any of these your favourites? If not, let me know what yours were!