The Demon Headmaster
Encyclopedia
Gillian Cross
Gillian Cross is a children's author. She won the 1990 Carnegie Medal for her book Wolf and the 1992 Whitbread Children's Book Award for her novel The Great Elephant Chase....
which were later adapted as a television series starring Terrence Hardiman in the title role and Frances Amey as Dinah.
The title character is a strange being with the powers of hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
and a desire to take over the world
Hegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
, as he believes it will be better under his ordered rule. He has piercing light green eyes, which he normally hides behind dark-tinted glasses – removing these in order to hypnotise his victim(s).
He is referred to only as 'the Headmaster' both in the books and on television, except when he takes on an alias – such as the Computer Director in The Prime Minister's Brain, and on each occasion he uses a title rather than a name. However, it would appear in this same story that he does have an actual name (though we are never told what it is), which he enters into the list of people with security clearance for emergencies on the computer at Number 10 Downing Street, and which Dinah Hunter later deletes and replaces with a security warning. The idea of him having a real name is again used in The Demon Headmaster Takes Over when his clone- possessing his hypnotic powers and personality while lacking any of his personal knowledge- attempts to force Dinah to reveal his name to him so that he can take control of the powerful computer known as the Hyperbrain, which requires an identification system to grant control of it to another, with the Headmaster unable to take control as he cannot remember his name.
Even a close reading of all the Demon Headmaster books reveals virtually nothing about the title character and/or his background. It is never made clear whether or not he is human; however, given that his clone — created after his 'death' in the fourth book - possessed his hypnotic powers and desire for control despite lacking any of the original Headmaster's memories, it is clear that he is far from normal.
Reading order
- The Demon Headmaster - ISBN 0-19-275374-6
- The Prime Minister's Brain - ISBN 0-19-275372-X
- The Revenge of the Demon Headmaster - ISBN 0-19-275373-8
- The Demon Headmaster Strikes Again - ISBN 0-19-275388-6
- The Demon Headmaster Takes Over - ISBN 0-19-275389-4
- Facing the Demon Headmaster - ISBN 0-19-275369-X
- Beware of the Demon Headmaster - ISBN 0-19-275236-7 (a short story about the Demon Headmaster, without the other characters)
The Demon Headmaster (1982)
Dinah Glass moves in with Lloyd and Harvey Hunter and at first does not like them. Soon she discovers that at her new school, the Headmaster is very strange and she finds herself saying things like, "I think the Headmaster is a marvellous man and this is the best school I've ever been to". With the help of her new friends, SPLAT, the children at the school who are immune to the Demon Headmaster's hypnotic powers, she successfully stops the Headmaster's plot to hypnotise the country through the Eddy Hair Television Show and she gets adopted by the Hunters. This became the first three episodes of the first series of the television adaptation.The Prime Minister's Brain (1985)
Dinah wins a place in the final of a computer competition, and she and SPLAT go to the finals. Little does she realise that the computer competition is a plot by the Demon Headmaster to take over the world, by hacking into the Prime MinisterPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
's computer (The Prime Minister's Brain) and hypnotizing the Prime Minister, thus allowing him to meet the other world leaders and gain control of them himself. This became the last three episodes of the first series of the television adaptation. (Later republished as The Demon Headmaster and the Prime Minister's Brain following the success of the television series.)
The Revenge of the Demon Headmaster (1994)
When Ingrid turns up at a SPLAT meeting she is raving about Hunky Parker, a new TV show. It's the latest craze, she says, and soon everyone will be hooked. The other SPLAT members disagree until Ingrid shows them her Hunky video, which Diana eventually realises is due to subliminal messages in the tape. Tracking the source of Hunky Parker merchandise, SPLAT learns that it has been created by the Demon Headmaster, attempting to trigger riots for new merchandise that he can use to exert his control over the populace.The Demon Headmaster Strikes Again (1996)
Dinah's father is headhuntedRecruitment
Recruitment refers to the process of attracting, screening, and selecting qualified people for a job. For some components of the recruitment process, mid- and large-size organizations often retain professional recruiters or outsource some of the process to recruitment agencies.The recruitment...
for a new job at the Biogenetic Research Centre, but little do they know that the Demon Headmaster is the director. This time his lust for power sees him meddling with evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
itself. He has created an Evolution Accelerator: a machine to speed up the evolution process and produce the perfect human, beginning with the development of a fast-growing poisonous creeper that attacks Lloyd. But for this, he needs Dinah's DNA – combining it with a lizard to create Eve, a human/lizard hybrid who possesses Dinah's intellect but lacks her emotions – and then put her into terrible danger, pitting her against Eve to test his theories. This became series two of the television adaptation.
The Demon Headmaster Takes Over (1997)
When the army starts dismantling the research centre, Dinah contacts Professor Claudia Rowe, who's an expert on botanical sciencesBotany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
and has expressed an interest in the creeper. Then weird things start to happen. Libraries start closing and their books are taken away. Telephones stop working, and there is no internet access. People start talking like robots, even Claudia Rowe, and more and more of the population seem to be wearing strange badges. Dinah's search leads her to the university where she finds the mysterious Director developing "Hyperbrain", a computer with superhuman intelligence and deadly potential. SPLAT swiftly realises that, although the original Headmaster was killed when he fell into the Evolution Accelerator, the machine still recorded his DNA and was thus able to create a clone
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
, lacking the original's memories but retaining his lust for control. This became the third and final series of the television adaptation.
Facing the Demon Headmaster (2002)
The new club Purple is the place to go – if you can get in – and Mandy's cousin, Ellie, persuades Dinah and her friends to come along too. The man everyone wants to see is DJ Pardoman whose face keeps changing from Elvis to MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
to Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
. His electronic mask is mesmerising but no one knows who he really is. When the kids visit his website they find an online competition: the person who finds out DJ Pardoman's true identity will be allowed to lift off the mask. Dinah, thinking the whole setup strange, joins in out of curiosity. In her search she stumbles across something amazing: her real father might be alive after years of thinking he was dead. Dinah must find out more. But she only realises the truth of these strange coincidences too late. This time the Demon Headmaster is intent on ensuring that Dinah will not interfere with his plans.
Short stories
Back in 1998, Puffin Books released a series of goody bags on certain themes and featured a notepad, pencil, rubber etc, the usual goody bag type stuff, but the main part was that there was a small book in it. In the 'Fantasy' goody bag there was a book calling 'Crash Landing & Other Stories' by Gillian Cross. This book contains 3 short stories about the Demon Headmaster or people similar to him.The first story, called 'Crash Landing', is set at some point after The Prime Minister's Brain,
and is about the Demon Headmaster crashing his getaway helicopter in a small village, although he is identified only as 'the Visitor'. It features SPLAT-type characters, including a lead named Charity who actually reads the Demon Headmaster books in the story, Charity defeating the Headmaster by using mirrored sunglasses to trick him into hypnotising himself.
The second story, called Carnival!, doesn't explicitly identify one of its characters as the Demon Headmaster, but from the illustrations and description it is obvious that it is him.
The third story is called 'Maths Homework', and features a teacher referred to as Old Webster. This isn't the Demon Headmaster but is a very similar character. In fact the introduction to the story says... 'Maybe you think you have spotted the Demon Headmaster somewhere. Are you sure? Things aren't always what they seem.'
In the front of the book it says that 'Crash Landing' was first published in Shark And Chips And Other Stories, and that 'Carnival' was published in the Young Telegraph in 1996. The third story is not mentioned.
Dinah Glass/Hunter
Dinah is the main character in the story The Demon Headmaster by Gillian Cross. She arrives in the story at the Hunters' house as a foster child, having been brought up in a children's home. She is extraordinarily intelligent, but she normally keeps this a secret. Her intelligence causes the Headmaster to take an interest in her, and makes her pivotal in his plans to win a national school quiz competition for nefarious ends, as well as other subsequent plots, made easier by the fact that she is the only member of SPLAT not immune to his hypnosis. At the end of the first story, Dinah is adopted by the Hunter family and becomes Dinah Hunter.Lloyd Hunter
Lloyd is the founder and leader of The Society for the Protection of our Lives Against Them or SPLAT as it's known. Lloyd is one of only five children in the entire school whom the Headmaster is unable to hypnotize. Lloyd comes across as arrogant and cocky at times and also isn't the brightest kid at school unlike his now proper sister, Dinah, but Lloyd has shown on more than one occasion he is by no means stupid and is a more than capable leader of SPLAT even though he does come across as bossy and hates people stealing his thunder. Lloyd at first is very hostile towards Dinah and also takes the longest to accept her out of all the members of SPLAT but eventually it is Lloyd who is the first to suggest his parents adopt Dinah.Harvey Hunter
Harvey is a pleasant laid back boy, very different to his older brother, Lloyd. It's clear he is very close to Lloyd possibly because Lloyd has always looked out for him at school and helped him stay out of trouble with the Headmaster. Harvey accepts Dinah into the family and SPLAT a lot quicker than Lloyd and the others do and soon is as close to his new sister as he is his brother. Harvey seems to understand Dinah more than Lloyd does and is more prepared to listen to her.Ian
Ian acts as Lloyd's second in command in SPLAT. Ian, like Harvey, is very laid back and very much the joker of SPLAT. Ian will often break any tension with a well timed joke and acts as a good foil to the more serious Lloyd.Mandy
Mandy is one of the more mature members of SPLAT and seems to be the motherly influence in the society. She is the best at soothing people like Lloyd and Ingrid when they get in a temper and is generally the most level headed of the gang although she is not above making the odd snide remark when Lloyd's plans backfire.Ingrid
Ingrid is the youngest member of SPLAT but she's no pushover. Ingrid is generally the most childish member of SPLAT, prone to sulking when things don't go her way or the others don't listen to her. The fact that she's the youngest does mean that she is generally ignored if she makes a suggestion although nine times out of ten she'll be right.TV adaptation
For more detail see: The Demon Headmaster (TV series)The Demon Headmaster (TV series)
The Demon Headmaster is a British television series based on the children's books by Gillian Cross of the same name. Made for CBBC, the drama was first broadcast between 1996 and 1998...
In 1996, the Demon Headmaster books were adapted by the BBC to make a television series based on the books. the series proved popular with the children of the 90's and ran for three series from the 2nd of January 1996 to the 22nd of January 1998. The first series contained six episodes, and aired twice weekly from 2 January to 18 January 1996, the second series contained seven episodes, and aired once a week from 25 September to 6 November 1996, and the third series contained six episodes, and aired twice weekly from 6 January to 22 January 1998.
The first series of the show was split into two distinctive story lines, with the first three episode adapted from the first book in the series "The Demon Headmaster" and the last three were adapted from the second book "The Demon Headmaster and the Prime Minister's Brain". The next series, series two, was one story adapted from the fourth book "The Demon Headmaster Strikes Again". The final series, Series Three was adapted from the fifth book "The Demon Headmaster Takes Over".