Perhaps it's because I read Malory Towers first, but I felt that there was more character to the series - school and girls - than St Clare's. The characters seem to be more rounded than the St Clares ones, and there's a definite sense of place with Malory Towers being built on a cliff, in a castle-l...

I always felt sorry for Catherine in Malory Towers. There was nothing malicious or nasty about her - she was just too desperate to get people to like her, and it showed. (My interpretation of her character anyway.)

There's a female Bill in Malory Towers, and various male Bills, but I don't know of a Billie. (Isn't it convenient that all the tomboys have names they can conveniently shorten to a boy's name?) My real name appears twice in the same series, but with different spellings: once as Katherine, the head ...

I think there is a reference to Sherlock Holmes in one of the Secret Seven books, though she has to spell it out and says something about "the famous detective, Sherlock Holmes."

I was reading Secret Seven when I was about 7, and moved onto Famous Five a little later, but either will do.

I just supposed Susie was the annoying little sister that Jack and his friends didn't want tagging along after them.

[Billie:]Did anyone else have the wrong pictures on the cover of Five on a Hike together and the one preceding it? Sounds intriguing, Billie. Do you know the publisher and date? Anita They were Hodder and Stoughton, published around 1991. Each book had a different coloured striped down the side.

If it wasn't a Noddy book, and I can't be sure of that, it was the first Secret Seven book. I had a paperback three-in-one given to me for Christmas when I was about 7. I followed it up with the next 3 in the series at a school book fair (in those folding grey box/thingies they brought in to primary...

I think they're pretty good up to about Ruey Richardson: Chaletian,when it starts getting too silly. Mary Lou is too good to be true, though, I think. They are best up to about Highland Twins though.

I have recently got into Dickens, after studying an English Lit degree without reading more than one short piece by him as a set text... shocking! Had to rectify that, of course. I loved A Tale of Two Cities - found it a bit hard to get into, but even harder to get out of at the end! I loved it. I'v...

Belinda or Irene from Malory Towers!

That is a really hard question as they all have likeable attributes. Let's be honest, I'd like to be Julian with his no-nonsense confidence even though I don't particularly like arrogant people like that in real life. George is a fascinating character - but this "Don't call me Georgina!" ...

I find myself saying "Jolly good," I think it started when I was messing around saying "Jolly good show, old bean" on a regular basis around my friends, but the shortened version stuck. I also say "gosh" and "bother" because I don't like swearing. I'm aware it...

Edit: Just checked and it's Ruth who says to Nora: "Nora, Elizabeth is really babyish. And the babies at Whyteleafe are allowed to wear coloured socks, aren't they? I've seen them in the Kindergarten. Well, why not let Elizabeth keep her coloured socks, to show that she is really only a baby, ...

Malory Towers. I could picture that school more vividly. Having said that, I would probably have disliked many people - and been disliked by them. Having said that, to me, that seems to be a hazard of any school. I just never got on with other teenagers. Oh dear. Two "having said thats." i...