St Trinian's cartoonist tells of Capital pupil

THE creator of the St Trinian's cartoons has spoken about the Edinburgh schoolgirl who inspired his famous drawings - and denied there was any romance between them.

Ronald Searle based his cartoons on Cecile Johnson's tales about her life at the St Trinnean's School, in the Grange.

The 86-year-old spoke about how he created the characters ahead of the release of a new St Trinian's film starring Rupert Everett and Colin Firth.

Mr Searle met the Johnston family when he was a soldier stationed in Kirkcudbright during the war.

Mr Searle said today: "I suppose it would have been lovely for the saga to have a delicious romantic aspect, but I'm afraid the suggestion is rubbish."