Tophole!

We can't pronounce it, but we know quite a bit about it, even though attempting to draw up floor plans defeated us - and not only because EBD contradicts herself almost as soon as she takes us through the front door for the first time.Transcript available at https://topholepodcast.wordpress.com/2023/12/26/s1e9-the-house-that-shall-not-be-named/You can email us at topholepodcast@gmail.com - please be patient as I don't often check the inbox! We also have a page on Facebook. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How on earth did Jack and Joey afford their huge house, 11 children, and multiple wards and adoptees? Let's find out...Transcript available at topholepodcast.wordpress.comYou can email us at topholepodcast@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you remember the fanzines of the pre-digital age, you might remember Folly, the best of them all. Today I'm talking to Folly's editor, Sue Sims.Links mentioned in the episodefollymagazine.co.uk (you may need to go to follymagazine.co.uk/articles rather than the homepage)sevenstories.org.ukEpisode transcript at topholepodcast.wordpress.comContact us at topholepodcast@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

EBD didn't just write school stories, and today we're looking at her historical novel for adults, Elizabeth the Gallant. Apologies for the earlier audio mix-up - we've now corrected this.Transcript available at www.topholepodcast.wordpress.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a Wendy week (woo!) and today we're considering the Chalet School's consumption of caffeine and nicotine. Probably best not to listen if you're doing Stoptober or have recently switched to green tea. If you have hardback or GGBP editions of the second half of the series, you have the advantage over us, so please do let us know if we left out anything significant. But do bear in mind that this was our third attempt to record this particular episode so we rather lost track of what we had and hadn't discussed! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Miss Dene was on the stairs and she was a cannibal" is the unfortunate summary of this term whiich we later get, but it doesn't put off Miss Ferrars. Hopefully the staff fill her in on all the other things that happen during this eventful term on St Briavels. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a Wendy week and we're talking about hair - washing it, cutting it, styling it - at the Chalet School. Also some top beauty (and gardening) tips along the way as we relate our own hair experiences.The YouTube video we refer to is "I tried 500 years of Haircuts" by Morgan Donner. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gwyn Jones is the only artist to have created a book cover for every single Chalet School book (and a few extra ones, as Armada divided some of the original hardbacks when publishing them in paperback). In this interview, she explains how she became a professional illustrator, and provides a fascinating insight into how she created the Chalet School book covers of the 1980s and 1990s - covers which played a large part in the renewed interest in the books at that time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We start with a review of Elinor M Brent-Dyer's The Chalet School and Barbara - bears, shoe lockers, and how long is prep exactly? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Enjoy the Chalet School books? This is the podcast for you! We are launching on 5 September, so here are the provisos regarding pronunciation, spoilers, and affectionate disrespect, which will apply throughout. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.