Mrs Bell (Cathy): the mother of the Bell family, she is a jolly, practical woman who sometimes worries about running the Bell household on not very much money, but always makes it work somehow.
Mr Bell (Alex): the father of the Bell family, he is always optimistic and often unworldly, but a very diligent clergyman. Mr Bell was cut off by his parents when he was accepted into the church, and he still has a slightly rocky relationship with them.
Paul: the eldest of the Bell children. Paul has always known that he will be a doctor, though the financial pressures on the family sometimes cause him to reconsider his future.
Jane: the second eldest of the young Bells, Jane has considerable natural talent as a dancer, and it is her dream to be trained as a ballet dancer. She is thin and pretty, always works hard and strives to be good.
Virginia (Ginnie): the third eldest, Ginnie is not bothered about being good and working hard. She is outspoken, rather wide and dreams of becoming games captain. She famously refers to herself as ‘Miss Virginia Bell’.
Angus: as the baby of the family we see Angus grow up a lot during the story. Angus has a beautiful singing voice but he claims he hates to sing and his ambition is to own a private zoo.
Mrs Gage: the lady who helps Mrs Bell keep the vicarage clean. She is a very cheerful person, a brilliant cleaner and a great friend to the Bells. Her husband Mr Gage is a greengrocer and she has five children.
Esau: the pet of the family – a very beautiful red cocker spaniel.
Uncle Jim: Cathy’s brother, a doctor and inspiration to Paul. His wife is Aunt Ann and his children are called Ricky and Liza. They live in a large, rambling house where the Bells spend their summer holidays.
Mumsdad and Mumsmum: Cathy’s parents. Mumsdad also used to be a doctor. The children secretly prefer their mother’s parents to their father’s.
Miss Bloggs: the rather irritating but very well-meaning lady who helps Alex Bell enormously around the parish.
Grandmother and Grandfather: Alex Bell’s parents. They are very rich but never help the Bells with their financial worries. Grandfather is a fierce-looking man and Grandmother a plump, neat person.
Uncle Alfred: Alex Bell’s brother. Unlike Alex, he followed his father into the wool trade so is very wealthy. He spoils his infuriating daughter, Veronica, rotten.
Aunt Rose: Alfred’s wife. She is very pretty but has an annoying whiney voice.
Veronica: the Bell children’s cousin. She is pretty but a terrible show-off and spoilt to death by her over-indulgent parents.
Miss Newton: the headmistress of St Winifred’s School.
Miss Bronson: the dance mistress at St Winifred’s.
Alison: Ginnie’s friend at school.
Mrs Primrose: the landlady at Hythe.
Noel Streatfeild was born in Sussex on Christmas Eve in 1895. She was the daughter of a curate so grew up in a vicarage, just like the Bell family. She was considered the ‘plain’ sister by her family but she was rebellious and had a passion and talent for performing. As vicar’s children, she and her siblings were constantly required to put on entertainment for the parishioners, including making all their own costumes.
During the First World War, Noel worked in the kitchen of a hospital for injured soldiers. After the war she won a place at (what is now called) RADA and then worked as an actress for ten years. She was in plays all over the world and also worked as a model in between acting jobs as she was very tall. Her change of career happened when her father died and she decided she needed a more sensible job. She was travelling home from Australia at the time and suddenly in a flash she realised she would become a writer.
Her first books were for adults and it wasn’t until 1936 that a publisher approached her and asked her to write a book for children. That same year her most famous book, Ballet Shoes, was published, which she said ‘poured off my pen, more or less telling itself’. She went on to write many more, well-loved books in the ‘Shoes’ series. Noel always researched her books very thoroughly and even went on tour with the circus to research The Circus is Coming, which won the Carnegie medal in 1938.
After a long and successful career as a writer, including being awarded an OBE in 1983, Noel Streatfeild died in 1986.
If you’d like to hear Noel Streatfeild speaking about her life in her own words, then visit the BBC website and listen to an interview that she gave to Desert Island Discs in 1976.
As Noel Streatfeild grew up in a vicarage she already knew about what life was like for the children of a vicar, and she drew a lot on her own experience when it came to writing The Bell Family.
The book was originally written as a radio serial for BBC Children’s Hour and ended up running for six years. It was one of the most popular programmes on air at the time. This was before people had televisions and some radio programmes were very popular. Ginnie, or Miss Virginia Bell, as she calls herself, was always the best-loved character. Noel said Ginnie was especially popular at the Women’s Institute (a club for women) and the first question she was always asked when she went to speak at WI meetings was ‘What’s the news of Miss Virginia Bell?’
In 1954 Noel Streatfeild sat down and put some of the adventures of her famous Bell characters into a book, which became The Bell Family.
In the first edition of the book there is a note about the adaptation of the Bells from radio to novel form. It reads:
Now Noel Streatfeild has put the Bells and their doings into a book. She has done so in answer to countless requests from people of all ages all over the world. But The Bell Family is very far from being simply a ‘book of the serial’… She has created a family of characters who seem so real and alive that those who have had the misfortune never to have heard the Bells on the wireless will at once feel at home with them.
| 1) | What kind of caterpillar does Angus present to Paul at the beginning of the story? | |
| 2) | What colour dress does Mrs Bell wear to the ballet? | |
| 3) | Why does Angus show so little interest in his birthday cake? | |
| 4) | What confession does Jane make to Mumsdad at the zoo? | |
| 5) | Why does Angus envy his cousin Liza? | |
| 6) | What do the girls at St Winifred’s have to wear on special occasions? | |
| 7) | What does Ginnie forget to do when she presents some flowers to Aunt Rose? | |
| 8) | What makes Esau terribly sick at Christmas? |
One of the most striking things about The Bell Family is how poor the Bells are – they are often forced to go without and make the best of the little they have. This element of the story sometimes feels strange to us modern readers because, although the Bells are poor, they live in a big house and have a cleaner to help them.
In the early 1950s, people tended to have much less spare cash and the price of things like clothes and food was relatively high, compared with today. For this reason we see Mrs Bell dressing her children in hand-me-down clothes, re-upholstering an armchair with the velvet from an old house-coat (a sort of dressing gown) and holidaying at her brother’s house. In addition, after the Second World War, rationing on some essential things continued until 1954, the year this book was written.
Money matters…
So how did the old system of British currency work?
2 farthings = 1 halfpenny
12 pence = a shilling (or ‘bob’)
5 shillings = a crown
20 shillings = a pound
21 shillings = a guinea
Complicated, right?! That’s what the government of the 1970s thought too. Britain converted to the current system of money, the ‘metric’ system, in 1971, on a day known as Decimal Day.
How does money in The Bell Family compare to today’s money?
Mrs Bell says she needs 30 shillings for a new dress. In today’s money that is equal to about £120. Today, because of imports from other countries, changes in fashion, and the many other ways the economy has changed, you can certainly buy a dress for less than that.
What can we learn from the Bells?
Although it’s not much fun to be struggling for money the ‘make do and mend’ attitude of the Bell family is certainly admirable and we can still learn lessons from it today. In modern Britain we throw away millions of tonnes of food every year, and we are quite happy to chuck things out when they break, rather than try to fix them. The trouble is that our demand for new things puts a terrible strain on the natural resources of our planet so it is important that we all make a little effort to reduce waste. We can:
Reducing waste is something we should all try to do every day, but if you’re keen to supplement your pocket money too why not try one of these money-spinners…
Ideas for making money just like the Bell children (though no begging!)
1) Your favourite subject at school is
a) music
b) science
c) dance
d) games
2) Your idea of a perfect Saturday afternoon is
a) playing with your pets
b) playing cricket with friends
c) performing on stage
d) getting up to mischief and hatching secret plans
3) Are you most likely to be heard saying
a) ‘A woolly bear caterpillar isn’t a dear little anything’
b) ‘It seems a bit off to miss the coaching nets’
c) ‘You’re the most gorgeous mother in the world’
d) ‘Don’t be so ignorant my boy’
4) Which word best describes you?
a) inquisitive
b) determined
c) graceful
d) forthright
Mostly As: You’re Angus! An animal-lover, a collector and a confident kind of person, you’ll follow along with the pranks but always mean well.
Mostly Bs: You’re Paul! You’re ambitious – you always try to help others whilst working hard at your own projects.
Mostly Cs: You’re Jane! Sensitive, delicate and kind, you see to the heart of things and only want the best for those you love.
Mostly Ds: You’re Ginnie! Abrupt, straightforward and mischievous, Ginnie-types often get into trouble but are lovable for their naughtiness.
crêpe de chine – a fine, wrinkly fabric, usually made of silk.
ermine – fur from a stoat when it has its pure white winter coat.
organdie – a fine translucent cotton muslin that is usually stiffened and used to make pretty party dresses.
perambulator – a pushchair for babies, now known as a ‘pram’.
potage – thick soup.
red-letter day – in earlier times this meant a church festival or saint’s day; more recently, any special day.
verger – an ordinary person who helps with church services.
whelk – a type of seafood.